Urho Kujanpää managed well considering the situation in the men’s pole vault final, says Urheilu expert Jaakko Ojaniemi. According to an expert, the smell of a medal is wafting in the javelin final on the closing day of the European Championships in Munich.
Urheilu’s expert Jaakko Ojaniemi’s three picks from the European Athletics Championships. Ojaniemi’s extracts can be read every morning on ‘s website and in the app.
The expected and somewhat boring Duplantis show
Saturday night’s men’s pole vault final was the expected one Armand Duplantis show, as the Swede jumped only five jumps in the competition and won the European Championship with a new competition record of 606. Germany’s runner-up Bo Kanda Lita Baehre remained in the result 585.
– No one can really challenge Duplantis at the moment, so it makes the competitions boring, Urheilu’s expert Jaakko Ojaniemi admitted.
According to Ojaniemi, the superiority of “Mondo” has many factors. Duplantis’s Running Speed is better than others and it shows above all in the way he comes to the hole. His jumping skills and confidence have also impressed Ojaniemi.
– Even now, he didn’t fall at all in the race. It is quite rare in parallel bars. When you combine that enormous certainty with the fact that he is physically and technically the strongest of all, then it looks like that.
Appeared in the finals of adult competitions for the first time Urho Kujanpää finished tied for ninth place. He got over the starting height of 550 on his second, but 565 was too much this time. According to Ojaniemi, it was a tough place for Kujanpää to start the competition so high, so compared to that, the Finnish jumper did well.
– Urho still needs good success to get over 565. Now one jump was reasonable. I think this was a good kick forward for him, Ojaniemi said.
In Ojaniemi’s opinion, in order for Kujanpää to be able to fight for the top places in international competitions, he should first of all improve his running speed and physics.
– Urho has the technique right when he is at his best. In the running speed, let’s give some leveling.
Hurske needs hard openings and a button run
Reetta Hurske is among the runners who made it directly to the semi-finals of the 100-meter hurdles. He will run on Sunday in the third semi-final at 20:26. Hurske himself told Urheilu that he would have been ready to run in the preliminaries as well, but Jaakko Ojaniemi believes that the Tampere native will have an immediate impact.
– Reetta has previously been able to make good runs right from the first run. Now all he has to do on the net court is make such hard openings that he is immediately ready to shoot.
This season, Hurske clocked his best time of 12.88. Because he is the fourth fastest in his semi, when the two best of each heat and the two fastest of the heats make it to the final. In Ojaniemi’s opinion, Hurskee, who ran in the semi-finals at the World Championships, has a difficult chance of reaching the finals.
– His running looked a little better at the Kaleva Games in Joensuu, so hopefully he will have gotten his running in better condition by Napsu. It would be important for Reetta to be able to run now, which is the best run of this summer, Ojaniemi said.
– In general, the level may have dropped from the World Cup. If Reetta has been able to raise her own level and the others have come a little behind, then the place in the final may be close. But it requires quite a bit of running. What is realistic is that he gets a good run and a 12-start time.
Or now, Lassi Etelätalo?
In Finnish terms, the European Championships in Munich will culminate in the men’s javelin final, which starts on Sunday at 20:50. Finland has two men in the finals: Lassi Etelätalo and Toni Kuusela. Jaakko Ojaniemi admits that he has a tickling feeling about the race, and the smell of a medal hangs in the air.
– Germany’s Julian Weber and the Czech Republic Jakub Vadlejch are clear favorites as they have the potential to throw 90 meters. It would be a miracle if there wasn’t a winner from that duo, but I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if one of them failed.
No thrower was convincing in the qualification, as in group A no 80 meters were exceeded at all and in group B Vadlejch threw 81.81 and Weber 80.99. Vadlejch has thrown no less than 90.88 and Weber 89.54 this season. On the other hand, both knew that they don’t have to throw a crazy curve to get to the final.
– The medal will probably come off with 83-85 meters. I believe that Lassi will play everything he can find. He has been close to a medal before and he probably knows himself that now is the chance of his life to take that medal.
Toni Kuusela has appeared from time to time in recent years. Last summer he threw a record 85.03 and this summer the stick has flown at his best 84.01.
– Toni is a surprise card. In the qualifying, the javelin didn’t start in a good position and still it flew almost 80 meters. Toni has the potential to throw it 85 meters, so you can expect anything from him, Ojaniemi said.
– If Toni gets his throw right and to that 84-85 meters, then he will be in the medal fight.
The European Championship week in Munich can be seen on channels from August 11 to August 21. You can find live broadcasts, highlights, the competition schedule, interesting news and topics on ‘s competition page.