Athletics European Championships 7 June–12 June. Ylen channels. See shipping information at this link.
It was quickly completed. Oliver Helander scored 84.35 in his first attempt in the javelin qualification. The qualifying limit of 82 meters was crossed by throwing.
Helander had said in advance that he would put everything into his first qualifying throw.
He is the most realistic hope for a medal among the remaining Finnish athletes. Otherwise, it may happen that Finland is left without a medal at the European Championships, as happened in Berlin 2018. In Munich 2022, Finland won no fewer than four medals.
Helander’s qualifying backlash was strong. His best of the season is 84.43, which is the best among Europeans.
Helander’s current coach, spear legend Tero Pitkämäki 16 times in your competition. Only twice did Pitkämäki go further in qualifying than Helander now.
Swipe in the wrong place
Well before the start of qualifying, TV pictures showed Helander holding his groin area, grimacing and looking in pain.
– It’s not a very relaxed-looking walk now, said ‘s commentator Kimmo Porttila.
– That body language doesn’t look very good now. As if there were problems with the groin. Unfortunately, something is wrong, expert Tuomas Raja your comp.
– Oh! That grimace doesn’t bode well at all, lamented another narrator Johannes Oikarinen.
Later, TV footage again picked up Helander, who stopped his warm-up. Waving the leg didn’t seem to work. The man grimaced again.
Helander has suffered from bad injuries in his career and had a reputation as a “glass” thrower. Often the competitions or the competition throws in the competitions have fallen short.
Now, however, the man is physically fit. And that was underlined by a convincing qualifying performance. Before the qualification, coach Pitkämäki told what caused Helander’s grimacing. The reason was downright funny.
– Yes, everything is fine. Nothing more amazing. There, you were sweeping the hot gel too close to sensitive areas. That’s a little bit of a joke. We laughed here in the maintenance tent, Pitkämäki smiled before qualifying.
– No physical problems, a small slip in the wrong area.
Naturally, Pitkämäki’s comments made ‘s newsroom laugh. “A classic joke”, thought Porttila.
– These competitions are remembered for special events and twists. That message from Tero was comforting to hear, expert Raja grumbled.
It wasn’t a closer or a groin, it was just a careless swipe.
– Have to put Mickey away for a while, Raja laughed.
Underlining the special features, the results service of the games crashed again, as has happened several times during the days of the games.
Pitkämäki did not praise Helander’s qualifying fight more highly.
– Such a basic one. Technically, not terribly good. Throwed the spear in a good position, so it goes 84 in its current condition.
– We need better footwork for the final, the support was pretty weak. Let’s try to improve it to fight for medals. Good thing I only had to throw once.
According to Pitkämäki, Helander’s warm-up throws were very loose. With only one throw to qualify, Pitkämäki believes that his protege will be physically sharp in Wednesday’s race.
“I went to the wrong address”
Helander arrived at the interview calm, relieved and very confident.
Qualifying hasn’t always been very easy for you. Now with number one in. Has the qualifier been cleared completely?
– Well, it was quite a long time ago. And I knew it would go like this.
Your coach Tero Pitkämäki already had time to comment that technically it wasn’t even the best possible throw, but the current condition is just so tough. So can we conclude that there is still a lot to spare?
– I don’t even remember when the throw felt so bad. I was surprised that it went that far. Maybe another meter can come.
How confident are you?
– It’s a safe feeling.
What are the final expectations?
– Yes, we will go get the medal.
Then there is this other case to deal with. We saw pictures of you suffering from the training field, and then Tero had time to reveal that the reason would be the hot gel. So you swiped a little in the wrong place?
– Well, yes, I put it in my groin. I went to the wrong address. It wasn’t so nice to be there, but we got through that too.
Did its effect wear off in good time?
– Yes yeah.
However, this is a slightly more special situation. Could it be that when such a small injury happened, it took away some thoughts, removed some pressure or took some excitement away?
– Thoughts elsewhere at least. I was feeling pretty confident anyway, so it didn’t affect the work in that way.
Are you going to use the same gimmick before the final race?
– At least not on purpose. Let’s see what happens.
Toni Keränen and Lassi Etelätalo throw the qualifier in group B at 3:25 p.m.
Urheilu follows the European Championships moment by moment in this article.
Athletics European Championships 7 June–12 June. Ylen channels. See shipping information at this link.