Comment: Kristiina Mäkelä is an unfathomable race athlete – not even Wilma Murto can do the same | Sport

Kristiina Mäkelä, 31, who ends her career this season, is one of the best Finnish general athletes of the 2000s.

VAASA.

Finnish women’s athletics is currently struggling very hard. At the beginning of the previous decade, the situation was completely different.

Tough spearwomen Mikaela Ingberg and Paula Tarvainen were responsible for good international investments in the first decade of the 21st century. After they finished, the women’s side did not have athletes for a long time who could be expected to place in the finals at the World Cup or Olympic level.

The pioneer of Finnish women’s pole vaulting Minna Nikkanen became the number one name in Finnish women’s athletics in the early 2010s. The tenth place in the World Championships with a record-breaking result of 460 remained the best ranking success of my career.

Based on the statistics, Nikkanen is a World Cup medalist Tommi Evilän level, good race athlete, even if Somero’s woman doesn’t have a medal.

After Nikkanen, a triple jumper entered the picture Kristiina Mäkeläwhich brought Finnish women’s athletics into the limelight again.

Huge value competition balance

Mäkelä and a quick echo Nooralotta Neziri are both athletes born in 1992. 15 years ago, they had a reputation for tough promises. Both of them reached the youth competition medals in their sports.

However, as the younger of the two, the luminous Neziri was the one who garnered almost all the attention. Neziri appeared on the cover of many sports magazines in Finland.

Although the 100-meter hurdles is a much more volatile sport than the triple jump, Neziri has not been successful in the prestigious competitions in the best possible way. He has never made it to the finals in the value races on outdoor tracks.

On the other hand, Mäkelä, his peer, is at his best in value competitions. He has bounced on the outdoor tracks no less than seven times to the finals of the awards.

To the final of the European Championships three times. Twice in the World Championships. Also twice in the Olympics. On top of this, the top 8 rankings of indoor tracks.

Since 2016, no Finn has reached the finals as many times as Mäkelä in prestigious outdoor track competitions. The one six years younger than them has gotten closer Wilma Murto, who has reached the final six times. Five of them have come in the years 2021–2024. Mäkelä in 2016–2022.

Javelin thrower Lassi at Etelätalo has a reputation as an iron competitive athlete, which was proven at the European Championships in Rome. When talking about the number of places in the finals, Etelätalok also pales next to Mäkelä.

The best possible result with your own concept

Kristiina Mäkelä is an example of a Finnish athlete who has trusted that her own path will produce the best possible result. Mäkelä has not been afraid to try a new coaching vision during his career. During his career, he has been coached by, among other things Markku Leppänen, Suren Ghazaray and the current coach Tuomas Sallinen.

Mäkelä has also trusted in what kind of competition season suits his body best. He has become known especially in recent years as an athlete who competes very sparingly.

In the triple jump, the legs are hit hard. In this, Mäkelä has been far wiser and has made a race plan that serves him best for the value races.

On the other hand, the flip side of the coin has come to the fore in value competitions, where you have to jump both the qualifying and the final competition. In the qualifiers, Mäkelä has been very successful, but in the final held a day or two later, the best blade has been eaten.

It is interesting that on the outdoor tracks, a bet better than the qualifying performance has only been seen twice in the final race. A couple of years ago, he jumped to the European Championship silver in the final with a Finnish record of 14.64.

So the best of my career came in the most important place of my career. With silver, Mäkelä has maximized or even exceeded its potential perfectly.

Mäkelä’s wonderful career ends this season. If Mäkelä makes it to Paris, he will have the opportunity to put the icing on his already handsome career.

In Paris, Mäkelä can leave behind an Olympic champion Heli Rantanen in his third consecutive Olympic final place. That would be quite a trick.