The ranking system favors athletes who diligently chased points and toured the Games, and it does not necessarily prove the claim that the level of Finnish athletics is rising that much, writes HS sports reporter Ari Pusa.
Joensuu
Joensuu and Munich has an interesting link to Finnish athletics.
Joensuu has organized the Finnish athletics championships, the Kaleva Games, three times: in 1972, 2002 and 2022. The Summer Olympics were held in Munich in 1972 and the European Athletics Championships in 2002, as well as this year.
In the Olympic Games 1972 Lasse Virén ran for two golds at 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Pekka Vasala was first in the 1,500 meters and Tapio Kantanen ran for bronze in the 3,000m hurdles.
There was only half an hour between Virén’s five-ton run and Vasala’s run, which created the concept Munich’s Golden Half Hour.
in the 2002 European Championships Janne Holmén ran a surprise gold in the marathon. Heli Koivula was second in the triple jump and Mikaela Ingberg third in javelin.
If history is to be believed, Finland should be very successful again in the prestige games held in Munich, but, but.
August Finland is sending a large team of around 70 athletes to the European Championships starting on the 15th. Medal expectations are high, but no rain of medals should be expected.
Based on the World Championships in July, Finland could get up to twelve athletes in the points, i.e. in the top eight at the EC level.
When only European athletes are included in the WC results, four Finns would have medals in their sport: Kristiina Mäkelä in the triple jump (2nd), Silja Kosonen in the puck throw (3rd), Lassi Etelätalo ace of spears (3rd) and Wilma Murto in the pole vault (4th).
Based on the World Championships, sixteen Finns would be ranked 9–16.
However, the results of the World Cup are misleading. The competitions went down badly in Europe. No European country got two World Cup golds in Eugene.
If Silja Kosonen is successful, she is also high in the shot put at the European Championships.
When let’s look at the current ranking of the European Championships, only one medal would be in store for Finland: by Oliver Helander bronze spear ace. Etelätalo, spearhead of the major championships, was sixth in the World Championships, but is only tenth in the EC ranking based on his results.
According to the ranking, six other athletes would make it to the top eight: Sara Kuivisto 800 meters (8th), Murto (4th), Mäkelä (5th), Senni Salminen in the triple jump (7th), Aleksi Ojala in a 35 kilometer walk (5th) and Krista Tervo in pot throwing (4th)
Based on the result limit, you can go directly to the European Championships between July 27, 2021 and July 27, 2021. with quotations made in July 2022.
The majority of Finns qualify for the European Championships based on a separate scoring system, the ranking. The average of the five best races is calculated for it.
The system favors athletes who diligently chased points and toured the Games, and it does not necessarily prove the claim that the level of Finnish athletics is rising that much.
Many European countries did not send all their best to the World Cup. The European Championships are completely different competitions.
For many Finns, the European Championships are the biggest chance to succeed in their careers, even if the team does not have an official medal goal.
“It’s the athlete’s job”, the coaching director of the Finnish Sports Association Jarkko Finni says.
However, ranking and comparing results is mainly for fun and speculation. Janne Holmén started the Munich European Marathon 2002 ranked 36th.
Topi Raitanen overcame the lethargy that plagued him at the World Championships and returned to top form at the Kaleva Games.
Joensuu The Kaleva Games hit a good and bad seam for the athlete. Since the majority of the EC team has already been named, in terms of the selections, the stakes remained small in Joensuu.
Those selected for the Games only competed for the rankings, tried to avoid injuries or took the Kaleva Games as a good preparation for the European Championships.
“There was a lack of sensitivity,” Wilma Murto said.
“Kaleva’s competitions will be forced as intermediate competitions,” said Lassi Etelätalo.
The other was in previous years, when hard results were achieved in the Kaleva competitions in order to get to the prestigious competitions at all.
In Joensuu, he had the hardest result internationally Top Raitanen in obstacles. In his time of 8:21.10, he was five seconds short of his record and at the same time fell short of next year’s World Championship limit.
The last athletes of the Finnish European Championship team will be selected on Monday. For a long time, Finland will have three relay teams for the Games: women’s and men’s relays (4×100 m) and women’s long relay (4×400 m).
One an interesting additional name comes from the United States, when Katrina Wright complained to the EC message group if he would like to travel to Europe. Wright, 19, is a dual citizen of Finland and the United States. His father has family roots in Eastern Finland.
Last Tuesday, Wright competed for the first time in the Finnish national team at the World Junior Championships, where he reached the semi-finals in 400 meters (53.95). In the Kaleva Games, he would have been fifth in his time.
In May, he ran the eighth best time of all time in Finland and the second best time of the season, 52.60.
Read more: The coach was so sure of Sari Killinen’s EC selection that he had already bought the plane tickets to Munich: “This is a dream come true”
Read more: Lassi Etelätalo won the javelin championship with his last throw, Toni Kuusela a place in the EC – HS followed the Kaleva Games
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