The player Tomas Järvisen has both Czech and Finnish citizenships. He has not yet decided which country he plans to represent in the adult competition. In the junior series, Järvinen represents the Czech Republic.
Tomas Järvinen, 17, finished second in the 19-year-old heptathlon of the Czech Open Championship in Prague over the weekend. Järvinen’s score of 5512, representing Ahkera in Lahti, is the best Finnish score ever for 18-year-olds.
He held the former unofficial Finnish record for 18-year-olds Jaakko Ojaniemiwhose record 5497 was from 1998.
Ojaniemi says that he follows Järvinen, who holds Czech and Finnish citizenships, with interest.
– A really talented and potential guy. He still has a lot to develop to the adult level, but he is on good pace at the moment.
Järvista is coached in Finland by his father Mika Järvinenwho has coached, for example, the Czech decathlon World Cup gold medalist Tomas Dvorak. According to Järvinen, the boy has only been practicing for the match seriously and goal-oriented for about a year. The amount of training has remained moderate, partly due to the illness of the last couple of winters.
Tomas Järvinen, who lives in Prague, has trained on average four times a week, which is significantly less than his Finnish peers.
– Still a lot to do. Hasn’t been trained to mess up. Tomas has not been involved in the kind of athletics rumba that a guy of that age and level would have been in Finland. There is considerable potential. The results achieved through doing the work have not yet been measured at all, Mika-isä says.
Although the younger Järvinen has not practiced athletics for a long time, he has a background in sports. Hobbies have included tennis, soccer, floorball and hip hop dancing.
Explosive power as a strength
Järvinen set his record in four sports at the Prague competition. The height was impressively exceeded 210 and in the 60 meter fences the clock stopped at 8.11. According to Isä-Järvinen, the results in the jumping and sprint events are due to Tomas’ good speed characteristics.
– Tomas runs 100 meters in 11.20 seconds and 60 meters in 7.10 seconds. Those are the times that, when you look at the training backgrounds, there is speed potential anyway. Especially fast and explosive power production is a gift received at birth.
Ojaniemi estimates that Järvinen’s level in jumping sports and especially in height is already really tough.
– He is quite even. Maybe the throws are the weakest at the moment, but he’s a relatively tall guy. Roughly 190 centimeters, so the shaft still doesn’t have enough power for throws. But surely with time it can be fixed, Ojaniemi analyzed.
The 193-centimeter youngster weighs about 74 kilograms. Mika Järvinen says that Tomas hasn’t done strength training yet.
– There are reserves in use. When you do them little by little and you get a little muscle, it will affect what you do.
In juniors in the colors of the Czech Republic
A promising dual citizen raises the question of country selection. Will Järvinen represent Finland in adult competitions in the future?
According to Mika Järvinen, it is too early to think about representing the country at the adult level. In the junior series, Tomas plans to represent the Czech Republic.
– Let’s look at the situation again over the years. Tomas has not yet represented either country in the prestigious competitions. In principle, it is still possible to choose either, but Tomas decided in the fall that the junior season will be spent in Czech colors.
Which country the athlete represents in his first youth competition determines the right to represent the youth competition. The first start of the adult competition, on the other hand, decides the right of representation for adults.