FALL OCTOBER SPORTSThe Finnish women’s orienteering relay team came up with the gold for the second year in a row at the World Championships held this year at Feclaz, France in late August. The Finnish team covered the distance in 1 hour 42 minutes and 42 seconds and consisted of Anna-Maija Fincke, Merja Rantanen and anchor Minna Kauppi (at right). Sweden was second and Czech republic third.
Leena Puotiniemi, 35, became the first Finnish woman in five years to win the Helsinki City Marathon on Aug. 20 in a fine time of 2:38:06 which also made her the Finnish national marathon champion for this year and qualified her for the 2012 London Olympics where the A standard is 2:43. Usually won by Russian women, this time second place went to an Ethiopian and 3rd to a Kenyan. An amazing note is that Puotiniemi only started running for the first time three years ago at age 32. Jaakko Kero was the first Finnish male in the marathon in 5th place in 2:34:22.
Sari Essayah of Finland was re-elected to the Racewalking Committee of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) at its convention at Daegu, South Korea, for another four-year term on Aug. 24. She was the women’s world racewalking 10K champion in 1993 and the European 10K champion in 1994. She is a former member of the Finnish Parliament and is now serving as a member of the European Parliament representing Finland.
Finland’s outstanding heavyweight boxer Robert Helenius scored his 16th professional win with no losses when he knocked out former WBO World Heavyweight Champion Sjarei Lahovitz of Belarus on a 9th round TKO at Erfurt, Germany on Aug. 29. Helenius said it was the toughest bout of his career.. He had earlier knocked his opponent to the canvas in the 7th round. Helenius has now defeated three ex-world heavyweight champions. He holds the WBA and WBO International Heavyweight titles at this moment Finnish athletes made their worst showing in the 26-year history of the World Track & Field Championships held in late August and early September in Daegu, South Korea. The 12-member Finnish squad earned no medals nor did they gain any consolation points in the case of a country’s athletes scoring at least an 8th place in finals competition. A bad early omen was cast when Finnish women’s pole vault champion Minna Nikkanen tore her thumb while training in Daegu on the eve of the meet, eliminating her from competition. Only two Finnish men qualified for the finals in their events, Olli-Pekka Karjalainen in the hammer and Antti Ruuskanen in the javelin. Both finished in 9th place in their finals.
Jonathan Åstrand made it to the semis of the men’s 200-meter sprint and that was it for him. In the men’s 50K racewalk Jarkko Kinnunen in pre-race interviews said he was in the finest shape of his career and hoped to medal but finished a disappointing 15th in 3:52:32, which time was plenty good enough to earn him a berth in the 2012 London Olympics. Fellow Finn 50K walker Antti Kempas was disqualified on a technicality after 38 kilometers. So it’s back to the drawing board for Finnish athletics if they expect to do better in the London Olympics or the European Championships in Helsinki next year.
On the plus side. Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne was awarded the prestigious Vezina Trophy for being the best goalie of 1910-11 season in the National Hockey League, determined by a poll of its general managers. With his 33 wins last season, he was key to leading the Preds into the NHL playoffs for the first time in their history. Rinne, 28, was signed by Nashville in 2005. A native of Kempele, he is 6’5” and weighs 205 pounds. He has also played for the Finnish national team.
Finland's Minea Blomqvist shot her best golf this year on the US Circuit on Sept. 11 when she shot a two under par 211 (72-70-69) and finished in a 4-way tie for 31st place. Her paycheck for the day was $13,062. Winner in this LPGA tourney at Rogers, Arkansas was the world's top women's golfer Yani Tseng of Taiwan who took home $300,000, posting a playoff score of 201.
Additionally, Finnish men edged out their Swedish counterparts in the 71st Annual Finland-Sweden Dual Athetics Meet, 206 to 194 points, at the Olympic Stadium In Helsinki Sept. 9-10. But Finnish women lost to the Swedes for the 11th year in a row by a lopsided score of 182-225. Among outstanding results were Jonathan Åstrand's dual victories in the 100m (10.40 secs) and 200m (20.01) sprints. In the 200 he defeated an outsanding Swedish runner John Wissman who had won in the dual meet 6 times at this distance. Eemeli Salomäki, Mikael Westö and Jere Bergius won a triple win in the pole vault. Olli-Pekka Karjalainen won the hammer for his 12th year in a row. Although they didn't do that well at the Worlds in Daegu a week before, Antti Ruuskanen (82.02) and Ari Mannio (81.64) had a double win in the javelin. 2006 European Steeplechase champ Jukka Keskisalo won his 3000m event in 8:48.09 and 2005 World bronze medallist Tommi Evilä prevailed in the long jump with 7.88. Jarkko Kinnunen, Heikki Kukkonen, and Aku Partanen sped to a triple win in the men's 10,000m racewalk. The outsanding Finnish woman was Karin Storbacka who took both the 800M ((65.54) and 1500m ((4:46.28) runs. Finnish women also took a double in the discus, with Tanja Komulainen (56.55) and Sanna Kämäräinen (54.34). European junior champ Nooralotta Neziri was outstanding in taking the women's 100m huredles in 13.13.5. Powerhouse Merja Korpela was the hammer winner with 66.49, and Anniina Laitinen prevailed in the 400m hurdles in 59.73.
-- Harry Siitonen
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