Urheilu’s moment-to-moment coverage of everything from the Kaleva Games in Vaasa.
He won the fourth Kaleva Games javelin championship of his career with a score of 84.67 Lassi Etelätalo proved again that he is an athlete in the final throws.
Etelätalo overthrew the leader of the competition for silver Toni Keränen.
– The sixth throw is as valuable as any other throw. Lassi knows it and once again he showed it, Urheilu’s expert Tuomas Raja glowed.
In the javelin final, Finland’s defending champion threw third Oliver Helander. The recent EC bronze medalist’s javelin arc of 81.53 carried a centimeter further than his record throw in the final competition Eemil Porvarin 81.52.
The experienced 36-year-old value race athlete still gets satisfaction from beating his younger peers.
– These championships have been shared with Oliver in recent years. Oliver, who threw earlier, cheated, so I had to step forward and take the championship away from the younger ones, Etelätalo said with amusement.
The duo has dominated the highest podium place at the Kaleva Games since 2018.
Etelätalo’s winning throw of 84.67 is the third best mark of his career. The record is 86.44, which brought bronze at the 2022 European Championships in Munich.
The top three travel to Paris
Etelätalo admitted after the javelin final that throwing the qualifying and final competition on consecutive days is no longer an easy combination. In the final, Etelätalo missed its penultimate throw and gathered strength to the last.
However, the throwing hand is still in at least reasonable condition.
– I could see from that that it can still go somewhere, Etelätalo said.
For Etelätalo, which suffered from injuries, last season was challenging due to a heel infection.
The top three in the javelin competition will also represent Finland at the Paris Olympics. Expert Raja believes that each of them has a say in the Paris javelin competition.
– Yes, it’s a tough trio. Toni Keränen has now beaten Oliver Helander, who is an EC medalist, in the last two races, and then comes Lassi, who also has medal experience.
Fluctuating profit level
At the Kaleva Games Silja Kosonen showed again that he is in great shape when he captured the fourth championship of his career and threw a steady shot with certainty around 70 meters.
Holding the Finnish record with a result of 74.63 Krista Tervon the race was sad when he was completely without a result. Tervo was also unsuccessful in Paavo Nurmi’s games a couple of weeks ago.
According to Raja, the situation of Tervo, which is on its way to the Olympics, is becoming alarming.
– Now you have to put on your thinking cap. It’s hard to conjure up such a situation in a month that the throw would start hitting familiar readings, Raja estimates.
Competing in the women’s high jump at the Olympics Ella Junnila was second in the finals of the Kaleva Games, when he jumped to the championship Heta Tuuri. However, Raja would not be worried about Junnila.
– There is now a training session on. This was not the race we were aiming for.
The Olympic ranking closes at midnight
Ending his career this season Kristiina Mäkelä is one of the Finnish athletes who has to fight for the Olympic place until the last. Before the Kaleva Games, Mäkelä was ranked 35th, while there are 32 places for the Olympics.
– That’s exactly where we’re at. I have no problem with that. At least I have done everything, Mäkelä calmly assessed after the competition.
Mäkelä’s winning score of 13.74 brought him the 11th championship of his career, but Mäkelä was not completely satisfied after the competition.
– Today was a bit of a challenging day and the wind was difficult. The condition of the moment is not enough to be able to succeed under any circumstances. It’s a shame that I couldn’t organize a good and balanced performance.
– The result improves the stations. He is slightly outside the Olympic ranking, but we will stay excited, Raja said about Mäkelä’s situation.
In general, the level of results at the Kaleva Games was low, according to Raja, and a large part of the athletes were left without the additional points necessary for the Olympic ranking. Raja anticipates that the Finnish national team may remain below 30 athletes.
The Olympic ranking closes at midnight and all countries must register their athletes for the Paris Olympics by July 8 at the latest.
At that time, the actual composition of the Finnish team will also be confirmed.
– There were clear disappointments for some, which I would have thought would be improved here. We have a large group of athletes who now have to follow what is happening in the world, such as Kristiina Halonen and partners in the 400m hurdles.
Urheilu’s moment-to-moment coverage of everything from the Kaleva Games in Vaasa.