The European Championships for under-23s will be held in Espoo on the 13th-16th. July. shows the races live. See shipping information here.
In athletics, it is really rare to be able to defend one’s junior championship victory. If, on top of that, you can do it in your home competition, you are talking about a unique situation.
From such a starting point, a javelin thrower goes to the under-23 European Championships in Espoo Topias Laine, who is defending his championship from two years ago. Laine, born in 2001, defeated struggling Portugal with her record 81.67 “volt throws” in Tallinn by Leandro Ramos.
At that time, Laine was competing with throwers a couple of years older. Now he is defending the championship, challenged by athletes born in 2002–2003.
– Of course I’m going to defend the championship. I hope we can get a lot of people there so that it’s a good feeling to compete, good-natured Laine is feeling her unique situation.
Laine competed at the youth competition level for the first time in 2018. At that time, she won bronze at the under-18 European Championships. Like others born in 2001, he missed the World Youth Championships due to the corona pandemic.
For those born in 2001, the Espoo Games are the last of their careers in prestigious youth competitions. He has not yet competed in the adult competition.
– It’s been a great place to show off and take a measure of the top young people in Europe and the world. They have been good stages on the way to the prestigious competitions for adults.
A different kind of Finnish thrower
Laina is considered a modern thrower in Finnish javelin throwing. His strength is based on speed.
Laine has covered 100 meters in the best time of 11.03, which is hard currency for a thrower. Since his record run three years ago, Laine has not run a hundred, so now the journey could be even more challenging.
– I’m certainly a javelin thrower with a slightly different style than the majority. I have my own strengths, which I try to play through. Let’s stick to them and try to do well against others.
The wave has at least partly reminded me of the 2016 Olympic champion Thomas Röhler. At his best, the German, who nabbed real terrifying arcs, is known as a resilient javelin thrower.
– I have followed a little on social media. Röhler and Magnus Kirt are a bit of the same style of throwers. Some ideas can come from somewhere, but we still try to trust our own process and what the coaches have planned, says Laine.
There are still spearheads
There are several really interesting young track and field athletes in Finnish athletics. For example, a 400-meter hurdler can be counted as such Viivi Lehikoinena pot thrower Silja Kosonen and a 7-player Saga Vanninen.
On the other hand, the men’s javelin throw has not come by Oliver Helander after a new awesome name. Helander broke big already in 2018.
In addition to Helander, some young throwers have seen individual 80-meter lunges. However, the wave is reminiscent of last summer’s harvest.
– Lassi Etelätalo took the prize medal (EC bronze) and there were five of us eligible for last year’s EC. There is width and a lot of reasonably good throwers.
Laine adds that there are also promising Finnish throwers on the youth side. Two years ago Janne Läspä and Onni Ruokangas won medals in the under-20 competition.
The brightest gold nugget of the sport is only 16 years old Top Parviainenwho threw 84.52 in the 700 gram javelin last year as the under-18 European champion.
So is there any concrete support that a young Finnish javelin thrower would need on his development path?
– I can’t say about that. Probably not, Laine acknowledges.
The Ukrainian is the favorite
Laine is the defending champion of the Games, but he is not the favorite in Espoo. The top name in the statistics is Ukraine Artur Felfnerwhose best throw of the season at the European Team Championships is 82.24.
The 19-year-old Ukrainian has a lot of potential, as his record was broken last summer at 84.32. None of the other throwers in this age group has broken the 80 meter mark this year.
Laine is second in the statistics with a result of 79.87. The Finns have a strong representation in the top echelons, because Aleksi Yli-Mannila (77.78) and Läspä (77.24) are in fifth and sixth place.
– Felfner has thrown a really hard result last season. At least there will be a tough competition against him. I think that more than 80 meters is required for the championship, Laine says.