Jerry Jokinen walked a 20 kilometer walk in a time that was close to his record. Aku Partanen achieved his best ranking in his career.
Joel Sippola,
Petra Manner,
Emma Jump
Athletics EC Championships 7.6–12.6. Ylen channels. See the schedule and broadcast information of the games at this link.
A 20-kilometer walk seems like a trip where it’s impossible to do exactly the same time. Finnish walker Jerry Jokinen however, showed at the European Championships in Rome that everything is possible.
The young athlete who won medals at the European Youth Championships in Espoo last summer missed his record of 1:24.41. This is SE for under 23-year-olds. Jokinen was 22nd in the final results.
Urheilu’s commentator Jarmo Lehtinen was surprised by Jokinen’s very precise work.
– He walks exactly the same time. Pages for every second. How can he do that? That requires the walker to work around the clock.
Jokinen stated at the finish line that he was at a record pace at the start.
– At some point I froze a little. I had to regain my strength a bit and took a speed bump at 15 kilometers. Afterwards I thought I shouldn’t have taken it. I fell out of the group. Without it, I probably would have set my record, Jokinen says.
Partanen was thirsty for a medal
Race walker Aku Bearden offered the Finns something to be excited about. The experienced Finnish walker struggled for good positions throughout the race.
Partanen’s final ranking was fifth, which is his best ranking at the competition level. A year ago at the World Championships, he was sixth on this trip.
No Finn has reached the 20 kilometer walk for EC medals. It’s been 26 years since Finland’s last competition walking medal. Partanen’s coach Valentin Kosonen was silver at the 1998 European Championships.
The victory of the race now went to Sweden Perseus for Karlström.
Partanen joined the top group right from the start. After more than half an hour, he jumped onto the bow for the first time and increased his speed.
A little later, the top group broke up and the Finn dropped out of the top three.
– I was looking for a medal, but it wasn’t quite enough. The two Frenchmen fought for places 4–6. Quite OK. However, everything was given, so you can’t joke about it.
Kononen gave his protégé a clean slate for his performance.
– An awesome accomplishement. He twisted and twisted and fought. Pikkainen was left with a toothache, because a medal was sought. Then again in the next games.
Ojala was rejected
Aleksi Ojala was disqualified due to four technical fouls. The warnings came in a short time.
– According to the judges, the technique was not good and they were flagged off the track. This is the nature of the sport, a disappointed Ojala stated.
From Ojala’s point of view, getting to the finish line would have been very important in view of the Olympic place in Paris. There are few opportunities for a place in the competition.
– The Kaleva competitions (in Vaasa) decide a lot. Let’s see what the situation is after that, Ojala summed up.