An incredible medal haul. Historic races. Espoo’s sensation.
Finnish athletics received a lot of positive column space in July of last year, when the European Championships for under-23s had ended in Espoo. The balance of the Finnish team from the Games was ten medals: three gold, three silver and four bronze. The result is Finland’s best in the history of the under-23 European Championships.
Cut to today. What’s up with the ten EC medalists now? Has the rise of talent continued when they are at the most favorable stage of their adult career in terms of development?
When the 2024 season is over, only the shot putter will be out of ten medalists Emilia Fabric has been able to improve his record – i.e. ten percent of the domestic stars of the Espoo Games.
When the review is extended to all Europeans who have won EC medals in Espoo and their development during the current year is examined, Finland stands out from the rest of the front.
In Espoo, 59 athletes won individual medals in the men’s series. 35 of them, or 59 percent, have improved their record this year.
If the four Finnish men who won a medal are left out of the calculations, the percentage of men who improved their record is 64. The percentage for women is 53 percent – and 59 percent without Finns.
Why did Finns lag behind other Europeans?
A managerial legend Jukka Härkönen reminds that Finland has always been able to produce athletes who do well in the European Championships at a very young age, considering the number of inhabitants and the practice of athletics. The challenge has been in the transition phase from youth series to adults.
– There is room for serious consideration in this matter. In many sports, training is based on the principle that through strength you get results quite quickly. Character training is so intense that the skills of the sport are left aside. And then when you’re in the adult league, you can’t even practice sports as much as you should anymore, Härkönen, 71, says.
Härkönen emphasizes that he does not specifically mean Espoo’s medalists. He talks about the problem at a general level and in the long term.
With its ten medals, Finland finished seventh in the Espoo medal table.
Of the eight countries that have collected the most medals, most of the medalists have been able to improve their record this season. Among other things, each of Germany’s eight medalists has set their record.
Close training is a condition of life
Härkönen emphasizes that the situation of the Finns who succeeded in Espoo is not catastrophic.
The review period is only one year. However, its results raise the question of why the stars of the control countries have been able to take a step in the right direction in their careers, while the Finns have not.
A Lithuanian from Espoo’s medalists Mykolas Alekna has thrown the discus world record this year as well as the Olympic silver in Paris and bronze at the European Championships in Rome.
Norway, who won the decathlon gold Markus Rooth was crowned Olympic champion in Paris.
British runner Keely Hodgkinsonwho ran in Espoo for bronze in his side event at 400 meters, won gold in the five ring games in his main distance at 800 meters. In addition, he won the EC gold for the trip.
Also, eleven other athletes who won a youth European Championship medal in Espoo won medals at the European European Championships in Rome in the early summer.
Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji won gold in the 100-meter hurdles in Rome. The record improved in a year from 12.47 to 12.40.
Italy’s Lorenzo Simonelli won the men’s hurdles. The record was 13.33 in 2023. Now it is 13.05.
Switzerland’s Timothé Mumenthaler was crowned king of the 200 meters in Rome. He improved his record from 20.50 to 20.28.
It should be noted that the starting levels of Espoo’s medalists until 2024 differ significantly from each other.
For example, a pot thrower Silja Kosonen has not improved his record this summer, but despite that he finished fourth at the European Championships in Rome and fifth at the Paris Olympics.
Instead, a walker who reached EC bronze in Espoo Jerry Jokinen reached the 22nd place in the European Championships in Rome with a time that exceeded his record.
This summer, seven of Finland’s ten youth European Championship medalists qualified for a place in the adult European Championship.
Even though Kosonen was the brightest spot of the summer out of seven, Härkönen reminds us that Kosonen, who has developed into one of the most reliable throwers in the world, has practically been standing still for four summers regarding his record.
Silja Kosonen’s, 21, season’s best was 73.97. The record 74.19 is from last year. He already threw 73.43 in 2021.
Juho Alasaari, 20, who jumped Seiväskulta in Espoo with a score of 571, has completed military service this year. This summer’s best result is 552.
Saga Vanninen’s summer, 21, was filled with health problems.
Topias Laine threw 81.35 in the summer. The record 81.67 is from 2021.
Härkönen’s message to talented Finnish track and field athletes is simple: the athlete must be able to train daily under the watchful eye of a coach.
– In the case of young people, close coaching is vital. In the world, it is a requirement for many equipment companies and big sponsors in order for them to start supporting the athlete. Local coaching should also be recorded in the support decisions of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Härkönen emphasizes that the responsibility for results lies not only with the athlete but also with the coach. Sometimes painful decisions have to be made in coaching a talented athlete: the abilities of the coach of a few young medalists are enough to take the protégé to the absolute top.
As such examples, Härkönen mentions two South African world champions, a high jumper by Jacques Freitag and an 800-meter runner Mbulaeni Mulaudzinas well as having achieved Olympic and World Championship silver as a long jumper Godfrey Mokoena.
– A coaching relationship is neither a marriage nor a dating relationship. It’s a professional relationship. There is no debt of gratitude for anything if a coach who achieved good results in the youth phase is unable to move his athlete forward.
Härkönen reminds that an athlete has only one career, while a coach can have many.
– Deceased Esko Papinaho stated in the fall of 1994 that his skills are not enough to take From Heli Ranta to the top of the world. He stated that Heli needs a more experienced coach. Leo Pusa was selected as the new coach, and the rest is history. Esko did a wonderful groundwork, to which Leo was able to tune in to success.
– When talking about a young promising athlete who should be refined to the top, finding an expert coach should not be a matter of chance. These promises are not until the queue. Here, clubs and associations play a significant role.
Despite his criticism, Härkönen considers the level of Finnish athletics to be reasonable.
Although the athletics team was left without a medal at the Olympics for the third time in a row, it achieved its best result of the 2000s in terms of points and places in the finals, both at the Olympics and at the European Championships.
– At the European level, the situation of Finland’s top athletes is good. The game changes when we go to the World Championships and the Olympics, because the global level of athletics is so terribly tough. A place in the final is already a hell of a feat, says Härkönen.
At the same time, Härkönen considers the situation in men’s field sports to be worrying.
– A year from now, there won’t be much need for qualifiers at the Kaleva Games. The level is very poor, and there are very few entrepreneurs.
Finni admits the challenges
Director of coaching and training of the sports association Jarkko Finni is surprised when Urheilu presents him with percentages of the development of all Espoo medalists.
– Of course, it’s about taking one year, but that’s a really tough reading, Finni states.
– Long-term follow-up of the 20-22-year-old series allows you to make the best prediction regarding the development to become a successful adult.
– The Italians have done research on this. Their main result was that only about 20 percent of the talents in the top 200 in the all-time statistics for under-18s ended up in the top 200 in the general category in their sport, says Finni.
In the under-18 series, the reliability of a prediction made solely on the basis of the result is therefore weak. According to Finn, the prognosis changes to moderate for those under 20 and good for those under 23. The prognosis is especially good if the performance development has continued after the under-20 series.
– We have such examples, among others Jukka Keskisalo and Tero Pitkämäki.
In the sports association, Finn’s responsibility is to build the path for juniors in such a way that the athletes’ development serves to unlock the maximum in the adult phase. SUL’s athlete path is aptly named without haste to the top.
Finni says that he himself is an example of the dangers of the progression of too steep feature training.
– I had a broad sports background when I specialized in athletics at the age of 15 and received my first training programs. My training was quite brisk in terms of power, which led to rapid development.
Finni was quoted quickly in the decathlon circles. In 1990, he achieved silver under the age of 20 at the World Championships on adult equipment with 7,698 points. At that time, Finni was only 18 years old.
Development stalled when Finn’s Achilles tendon broke a good week after the World Championships.
– Achilles was already inflamed at the World Junior Championships. It is impossible to name one reason for the fatal injury, but in my training, especially in strength, the progression was hard between the ages of 15 and 18.
– It is possible to develop a young athlete quickly so that the potential is quickly discovered or measured. At the same time, however, later development is eaten.
Finni talks about robbery farming training.
– I am not saying that this is in any way a big phenomenon in Finland. In the youth phase, it is above all about creating capabilities to serve the peak phase, i.e. success in adulthood. It demands a lot from a coach when many young people – including me at one time – feel that they are immortal, says Finni.
Step by step
Finni also points out that if a medalist in the youth category does not achieve success in the adults, it is not automatically a matter of “wasting” the talent.
– In Finland, an athlete who has won a medal in youth competitions is often automatically assessed as a special talent. It is at least as important to look at how and with what kind of training the results have been achieved. Has the individual development potential been measured during the teenage years, or has the success of the teenage phase come as a byproduct of the progressive journey towards the demands of the peak phase?
– I would say that both extremes can typically be seen in the winners of youth competitions – in all countries, says Finni.