According to the statistics, the coming years will be important in Saga Vanninen’s journey to become a success in his sport. According to Urheilu’s expert Jaakko Ojaniemi, Vanninen needs to take a leap in his results level.
Aino Paloniemi,
SpongeBob Forsberg
Saga Vanninen is the only Finn who has won two youth World Championship golds with his fresh under-20 heptathlon world championship.
In the heptathlon, Sweden’s match legend has won two World Youth Championship golds Carolina Klüft (2000 and 2002) and Bulgaria Svetla Dimitrova (1986 and 1988). ME points for under-20s are in Klüft’s name. The Swedish giant collected 6,542 points at the European Championships in Munich in 2002 at the age of 19.
Next, Vanninen will compete in the European Championships in Munich, which will be held at the same stadium where Klüft won his record points.
Sports expert Jaakko Ojaniemi According to Klüft, breaking Klüft’s world record would require Vannisne to level up very hard, and 6,500 points is not a realistic goal for Vannisne this summer.
– Those points are not achieved by individual good performances, but the whole range of sports should be at a harder level.
However, Vanninen can reach his new personal record in Munich. In the past season, Vanninen has played three even sevens games. According to Ojaniemi, the new record and the result of more than 6,300 points require a little fitness spike.
Vanninen’s record score of 6,271 is from last year, when he won his first junior world championship in Kenya.
How would a new personal record be achieved, and where are the differences between Vanninen and Klüft as seventh-place finishers?
Points especially for jumping and 800 meters
At the age of 20, Klüft exploded to the top of the world and 7,000 points. At the age of 21, the Swedish athlete already had Olympic gold, World Championship gold on both the outdoor and indoor track, and European Championship gold.
– He reached his best level at a very young age. Saga will hardly match 7,000 points at the age of 20. Klüft developed at the age of 18-20 at his best, 500 points in a season, which is really fierce.
Vanninen’s two previous seasons have been very similar in terms of results, which is why Ojaniemi is hoping for a jump of a few hundred points in the next few years. Vanninen is consistently strong in each of the seven sports, but points could be squeezed especially from the jumping sports and the 800-meter run.
Vanninen and Klüft’s result development in the high and long jump. The story continues after the graphics.
Vanninen was not satisfied with his height competition result of 1.72 at the World Championships for under-20s in Colombia. Vanninen’s height record is from two years ago and this season’s top result is from Midsummer. High jump and long jump are important sports for Vannin considering the future, Ojaniemi estimates.
– In the jumping disciplines, Vannis has the opportunity to take relatively big points with great success.
According to Ojaniemi, another clear development target can be found 800 meters away. In the heptathlon, the distance run last is often the one where the competitors stretch to their best and collect crucial extra points.
– There was no need to run a terribly hard time in Colombia, when the championship had already been decided before that. It would be nice to see a tight spot before the 800 meters, because on that distance even five seconds can make a significant point difference.
Vanninen’s and Klüft’s performance in 800 meters. The story continues after the graphics.
Towards the 6,500 point threshold
Vanni also has his own strengths compared to the Swede. In the shot put, Vanninen has been recording top results for several years. Vanninen’s shot put record of 14.90 is from last season, and Klüft threw further than that for the first time at the age of 22.
According to Ojaniemi, Vannis also needs to improve in the shot put, because the level has dropped a little from before.
Vanninen and Klüft’s result development in the shot put. The story continues after the graphics.
Last season, 18-year-old Vanninen was also stronger than Klüft in the javelin throw, long jump and 100-meter hurdles. This season, Vanninen has fallen short of his results from a year ago, and at the age of 19, Klüft has better statistics than Vanni in each of the three sports.
Within a year, Klüft improved his 100-meter hurdles result by 0.74 seconds. In the same time, Vanninen has improved his result by three hundredths.
Vanninen’s and Klüft’s performance in the javelin and 100-meter hurdles. The story continues after the graphics.
If Vanninen reaches his record and 6,300 points at the European Championships, he will fight for points positions, according to Ojaniemi. That would be a tough feat for Vanni. In the coming years, according to Ojaniemi, Vanninen will probably reach 6,500 points, and he sees no limits to the Finnish player’s success even after that. With the number of points, you reach close to the top of the world and can fight for hard positions.
– I hope that in the future, he would be able to make internationally good matches with more than 6,500 points continuously. That would be tough.
Vanninen’s and Klüft’s performance in 200 meters. The story continues after the graphics.
This is how Saga Vanninen evaluates himself and the background of his success as a septuagenarian.
This year, the Finns won three medals from the Under-20 World Championships held in Cali, Colombia. Competition success came on the fourth day of the competition, when Saga Vanninen secured the heptathlon world championship, Max Lampinen was the moukari competition and Juho Alasaari pole vault second.
In the women’s 4×400 meter relay, the Finns reached a new under-20 Finnish record no less than twice. The Finnish team, Ronja Koskela, Katriina Wright, Aada Aho and Veera Mattila, ran the first record 3:34.10 in the heat.
The relay women, who finished fourth in the final with a time of 3:33.15, improved the record again by almost a second. The former SE improved by as much as 4.4 seconds overall. In addition, Finland Ilona Mononen ran fifth in the 3,000 meters, being the best European in the race.
The successful years of the Finnish Youth Athletics World Championships date back to the 90s. In the light of the results, the Lisbon Games from 1994 appear the brightest of all, from which the Finns brought a total of seven medals. However, the medal statistics of recent years deny any change, and medals have started to arrive regularly again.
The European Athletics Championships will be held in Munich from 15 to 21. August. follows the games on its channels, Areena and Puhee.