Athletics | Vieremä’s Cooper-horror developed into a multiple Finnish champion in less than a year: “Community is important to people”

In Vieremälä Mikko Kauppinen it’s been a busy year.

Eleven months ago, Kauppinen rose from complete obscurity to national media attention, when his hard running result in Cooper’s test was published on the Facebook page of his school, Vieremä High School.

At that time, among other things Harri Kirvesniemi thought Kauppinen’s Cooper result of 3,830 meters was really hard, because Kauppinen had been running only for his own pleasure and had not been part of the programmed training.

“The endurance base is rarely good for such an age stage. I hope he gets excited about competitive sports. At least that’s what I would hope for as such a top sports person”, Kirvesniemi said and his wish came true a little later.

A few countries a week later, Kauppinen got to Iisalmeinen Sami Karjalainen for coaching.

At the end of February, Kauppinen surprised many experts when he won the 3,000-meter championship (with a time of 8:59.78) and won bronze in the 800-meter race (1:59.17) in the Helsinki Sports Mill.

In May, Kauppinen won the 19-year-old boys’ six-kilometer championship in cross-country skiing in Nakkila.

Read more: Mikko Kauppinen was jogging in a remote village in Savoia wearing rubber boots while solving math homework – then a wild result in Cooper’s test changed everything

Then it was already time for the track season, at the beginning of which Kauppinen gained experience from different trips.

In July, Kauppinen also challenged having grown up in Vieremä Iivo Niskanen In Cooper’s test for the town’s renovated athletics arena.

Niskanen ran the result 4,130 meters and Kauppinen 4,120 meters.

Read more: Iivo Niskanen and Vieremä’s 19-year-old promising runner Mikko Kauppinen covered more than 4,100 meters in Cooper’s test

A couple of weeks later, at the Kaleva Games in Joensuu, Kauppinen finished 13th in the 5,000 meters and got a time of 15:00.59.

This week, it was the youth championships in Vaasa. There, Kauppinen won three championships in the 19-year-old category, with 800, 1,500 and 5,000 meters.

“It feels good that this is now over and the job is done. I set goals for myself, this time I succeeded. The moods are on the border of neutral, on the side of a little positivity,” commented Kauppinen On the website of the Finnish Sports Association.

Before becoming a competitive athlete, Kauppinen ran runs on his own in his native Vieremä. He has enjoyed competitions and group exercises.

“Competing with others is a great thing. A sense of community is important to a person,” Kauppinen said.