EUGENE. Located in the middle of the University of Oregon campus, the Hayward Field track and field stadium has been a haven for US track and field athletes for over a century. Pyhättö was originally built for the university’s American football team in 1919, but athletics entered the picture in 1921, when six running tracks were built around the lawn.
Since then, the stadium has changed many times, but in the American athletics culture, one thing is and will remain: the position of running sports is set in stone. For example, four of the five people found in the stadium tower of Hayward Field, gleaming with its newness, are runners: the founder of the sports equipment manufacturer Nike and a great running coach Bill Bowerman1960 Olympic 400m gold medalist Otis Davisa local running legend who tragically lost his life at a young age Steve Prefontaine and the reigning Olympic bronze medalist in the 800m Raevyn Rogers.
The only non-running specialist found in the tower is the decathlete Ashton Eaton. He is still remembered in his sport for his sometimes shocking running performances. All five athletes mentioned above are connected by the local University of Oregon. In any case, the representatives of throwing sports shine by their absence.
It is 10 o’clock local time on Sunday morning. There is half an hour before the first sport to start at the stadium, the heptathlon hurdles. The side of the pedestrian street that starts at the foot of the tower has been filled again with food and side product stalls serving competition guests.
The ramp starting at the other end of the street goes around the entire stadium and is the only thing that separates the arena from the practice field, where the athletes warm up. The main Finnish stars of the morning can be found on the practice field, those who made their way to the shot put final starting at 11:35 a.m. Krista Tervo and Silja Kosonen.
Spectators who bought tickets have arrived at the World Cup area well in time. Several passers-by stay on the edge of the ramp to watch the warm-up of the throwers.
Nowhere else can the public watch prestigious race athletes so closely. The situation is special, especially for shot putters, who are used to competing hidden from the eyes of the general public.
Thanks in particular to the improved result level of Finnish female throwers in recent years, shot putters have become a visible part of the main domestic athletics competitions. In the majority of games, the number of spectators is still lower than right now on the training ground.
As you continue your tour of the stadium, behind the stadium’s giant light board you’ll find one of Hayward Field’s lesser-known attractions: the University of Oregon Track and Field Hall of Fame.
In the United States, getting into a prestigious competition team is considered valuable. If the choice goes to the Olympics, it will know a nameplate on this campus – whether the athlete was the last in his competition or the Olympic champion. The athlete can appear in several places on the street, because every Olympic journey knows a new memorial stone.
A surprising encounter
When Hayward Field has been circled, two Finnish men in their fifties wearing Huuhkajie jerseys are walking towards the starting point, i.e. the stadium tower. In the introduction, it becomes clear that these are not just any supporters.
Those who ran in Espoo’s Tapiai Mikko Mikkola and Juha Tuominen were among the promises of national sprinting at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. The main achievement was running in Finland’s colors in the youth national matches against Sweden.
The closest Tuominen of the duo came to the national top was in 1991: the 400-meter record set at the age of 19 is recorded as 48.35. With harder results in mind, Tuominen headed to the United States to Beaverton after receiving a scholarship.
He is one of the few Finnish track and field athletes who have competed at Hayward Field since the 1990s.
– I had to run here on the old stadium a couple of times. My hardest time was 48.60, Juha Tuominen, who aimed for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but ended his career due to injuries in the same year, remembers clearly.
– Oh that it would be great to run on that track, but not with these legs, Tuominen adds.
Mikkola has arrived at the World Championships from Espoo. Tuominen, on the other hand, is staying in the largest city in the state of Oregon, in Portland, which is less than a couple of hours’ drive from Eugene. The study trip that started in 1991 became a permanent journey for Tuominen, 50.
On the other hand, Tervo, 24, and Kosonen, 19, will represent Finland in the moukari finals. In the case of Tervo, there has even been talk of a medal.
However, during the warm-up throws, it quickly becomes clear that everything is not right. Two of Tervo’s throws end up in the net, which does not bode well.
– The points will come, at least, Mikkola vows to believe.
– Of course we hope for a medal, even though we came a little behind another sport, Tuominen says and refers to his bread sport 400 meters, where the men’s and women’s preliminaries are run.
Strange premises
The settings for the women’s moukari final are very exceptional. The sport debuted at European Championship level in 1998, at the World Championships a year later and at the Olympics in 2000, and only twice, in 2008 and 2009, has a single Polish or Russian thrower been seen on the podium.
Now, however, the Polish star of the sport is missing from the ring, suffering from injuries Anita Wlodarczyk like his countryman, the reigning World Cup silver medalist Joanna Fyodorow. The reason for the absence of the Russians hardly needs to be repeated.
The competition starts slowly in terms of results. That’s to be expected. Moukari women are like slow-warming diesel engines, because in the history of the competition, the majority of the throws that entitled both gold medals and duller puddles have only been seen in the last three rounds of the final. Entry to it requires the athlete to be in the top eight after three rounds.
After two rounds, Tervo’s shares are not high. The cage has rattled and with the second throw only 69.04 came off. Before his third throw, Tervo psychs himself up to such an extent that an overload is at least close. Moukari hits the net again, and the final is clapped for the SE woman. It is not unclear to anyone in the audience how disappointing the final is for Tervo.
Instead, Kosonen, who threw the youth world record last year, will make it to the next round with a result of 70.49 and is sixth after three rounds. Rahkei has room for improvement, because in the qualifying leka had flown out of Kosonen’s hands to 72.15.
However, the Finns have moved close to their maximum level already in qualifying, as Kosonen’s 72-meter was the fourth best result of his career and Tervo’s 73.83 was his third best result.
After three final rounds, it is already clear that at least 74.86 is required for bronze. In other words, a new Finnish record. The idea that maintaining the points, i.e. staying in the top eight, is the maximum result for Kosose.
Echoes of the past
While the women’s freestyle final is underway, the men’s 400m preliminaries, which Tuominen has been waiting for, have started on the Hayward Field track.
The shot put is forced to take a back seat when the crowd cheers on the athletes going around the track.
Although the races are held at the same location and on the same size track as in 1921, the platform is completely different. Now the runners advance on the course on the mondo coating, known for its speed, while the original surface was brick rubble.
The tracks were built from brick rubble until the 1960s. The last time the production method was used was at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where Juha Tuominen’s father made his debut, who in the 1960s held the SE of the 400-meter hurdles for a long time Jaakko Tuominen.
Isä-Tuominen still appeared at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, but both journeys in the five ring games ended in the semi-finals. Jaakko Tuominen did not achieve any prestigious medals in his career, but his best finish was Fifth place at the 1966 European Championships in Budapest – 0.4 seconds from bronze.
Against this background, Jaakko Tuomis could not naturally be titled as an athletics legend. But when a prominent position at sports equipment manufacturer Nike and as a promoter of its athletes is added to the resume, the status of the ex-runner who went missing in the city of Astoria, Oregon in 2001 is put in a new light.
Final result according to the level
The preliminary stage of the 400-meter fences attracts the attention of a large audience, which the Moukarina women only get to enjoy between heats. Running does not affect the concentration of the Finnish spectators.
In the final rounds, Kosonen throws two more times further than the best of the first three rounds, but the moukari final ends with the number one in the world statistics by Brooke Andersen to the party.
The World Cup gold is the second in a row for the United States in the sport. The USA’s level of play is described by the fact that even the defending world champion DeAnna Price wasn’t even involved, the country still gets a bronze in addition to the gold. The silver goes to Canada.
Kosose, who ended up in seventh place, becomes the first Finnish woman in the points standings at the World Championships in 17 years.
The three best throwers in the world statistics who participated are also the top three in Sunday’s World Cup final. These three have also been the season’s three most reliable scorers.
Throwing throw coach Kalle Lehmusvuori sign that the lifeblood of success in value competitions is primarily a consistently high level of results, not the spike throw of the season. Sure, we might see that in the final, but the probabilities don’t reflect that.
– The basic level means a hell of a lot. It’s a big difference if the range is normally 72–74 meters. If the fork is bigger than this, the throw is more sensitive to failure, says Lehmusvuori and refers to the range of Tervo’s competition results, which is 68–74 meters.
The sports coach also signs that performing in the milieu of the World Championships in Oregon takes some getting used to. Last year, at the Tokyo Olympics, Kosonen and Tervo got stuck in the qualifiers, but in Oregon both performed well in the qualifiers and Kosonen also in the finals.
Looking ahead to the European Championships in Munich in a month’s time, Kosonen was the third best European and Tervo the fifth.
– These situations (throwing in front of more than 10,000 spectators) are difficult to practice. I wouldn’t see any mistakes being made. Today the leka flew this far, the result must be respected. Our athletes weren’t ready for medals yet, but now they have reached the door, says Lehmusvuori and refers to Kosonen’s and Tervo’s first place in the finals of the prestigious adult games.
The day’s competitions have ended. The crowd spills out of the stands at Hayward Field.
– There was no medal, but it went pretty much as imagined, Juha Tuominen exclaims outside the stadium.
Medals are important in elite sports, but not the only measure. This comes to mind when you look at the feet and the plaques below them, which depict track and field athletes who represented the University of Oregon in the Olympics.
If only medals were considered a prerequisite for the plaque, the street of honor would be significantly poorer. And if Jaakko Tuominen, Krista Tervo or Silja Kosonen had been athletes at the University of Oregon, everyone’s name would be pretty in the alley. Bringing it twice.´
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