Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Siitonen Sports Report WrapUp for Jan 2015

Winter Sports are now in full swing around the world and the most exciting
development is Kaisa Mäkäräinen's commanding early lead in the Women's World
Cup biathlon series. She has won three of the first five events held, including the
biathlon pursuit at edition time at Hochfilzen, Austria. A past Finnish Olympic
champion Kaisa is off to an auspicious start with three golds, one silver and one
bronze. In this shoot and ski sport (Ampumahiihto) Kaisa is the World Cup
defending champion from last season. In her season's opener at Ostersund, she was
second to Daria Domratsheva of Belarus by 27.9 seconds on December 5. Next day
she bronzed in the sprint at the same site behind winner Tina Eckhoff of Norway. On


Dec. 7, Kaisa broke into the winner's column in the biathlon pursuit.
Moving on to Hochfilzen on Dec 12, which she won without penalty over Italy's
Karin Oberhof in the 7.5 k sprint by 10.4 seconds. She was surprised by the ease of
her win as she felt shaky from an ongoing bout with the flu. The next day was a
washout for the Finnish women in the team relay as Kaisa was unable to do her
second leg, dropping Finland out of the running in that interrim event. But today was
a different story. Kaisa M. came out like gangbusters in the pursuit still under the
weather, so she slowed down at the end to save her strength and still defeat
Jekatarina Glazynna of Belarus by 13.4 seconds. She only missed one of her shots
from a standing position but was perfect in the rest. She now leads runnerup Daria
Domratsheva by a huge 77 points who was only 8th in today's heat.


Also at this writing, Sweden just defeated Finland in the final of the Men's Floorball
(Salibandy) World Championships at Göteborg for its eighth world title in this
mostly European event now in the tenth year it's been held. Finland has won it twice
and has been runnerup in six of them. Czech Republic defeated Switzerland for the
bronze, 3­2. Finland led its western neighbor, 2­0, after the first period. The
Svenskas tied it up with two goals in the second and won in the third on Henrik
Stenberg's goal at the 47­minute mark. The next world championships will be held in
Latvia in 2016.


On Dec. 12, Riitta­Liisa Roponen won her second World Marathon Cup cross-
country title in a row in free style, edging USA's Holly Brooks by three minutes at
Lavigno, Italy. Olympic champ Iivo Niskanen topped the field in the 15k cross-
country classic style at the Suomi Cup in Jounasjärvi, with Sami Jauhojärvi in
second 19.3 seconds behind. In the women's 10K classic, Krista Parmakoski
prevailed with Iivo's sister Kerttu Niskanen in second 12.4 seconds slower. Iivo
Niskanen dominated the 15k World Cup at Ruka with Jauhojärvi in third. Kerttu
Niskanen won her fifth career World Cup medal by taking the bronze at Davos,
with Norway's Therese Johaug the winner and Marit Björgen third. Niskanen was
58.5 seconds behind Johaug. Anne Kyllönen was eighth and Laura Mononen tenth.
Also, Winter Olympic medallist Enni Rukajärvi silvered in slopestyle snow boarding
at Breckenrdge in the United States. Juha Mikkonen scored a career­best fourth
place in a World Cup XC sprint at Lillehammer, Norway won by the host country's
Patrick Golberg. Finnish star figure skater Kiira Korpi made a successful comeback
after a two-­year injury layoff by winning the Zagreb Open.


In swimming, Jenna Laukkanen set a new Finnish NR of 1:06.24 in the 100m
breaststroke at the Finnish short course championships at Espoo. She broke her old
record by 0.22 seconds. Tanja Kylliäinen established a new Finnish mark of 4:35.91
in the 400m medley at the world short course championships at Qatar where
unfortunately she fell short of making the finals. Finland's Ville Lång won the
Scotland Open in badminton, the first Finnish Grand Prix triumph in the sport since
1992. He defeated Taiwan's Tzu Wei Wang in the final, 17­21, 22­20, 21­16. "My
best career win," said Lång.


Eva Wahström successfully defended her weight division's European boxing title by
narrowly decisioning Kenya's Fatuma Zarika at Kotka, 79­75, 77­76, 79­76. A four-
round preliminary bout unveiled a potential new Finnish sensation, Togo­born
Nordeen Toure who flattened Serbia's Nemansa Krstin in the opening stanza. The
referee never bothered to count as the Serb was out cold. Dubbed the "Togo
Tornado," this middlewight slugger who was raised in Ghana, came to Finland in
2011 and has won all three of his pro bouts by one­round knockouts. Initially
homeless in Finland, living in parks and eating out of garbage cans, Toure is now
under the tutelage of veteran Finnish manager and fight promoter Pekka Mäki.


Suomen Urheiluliitto (SUL), the Finnish Athletics Association, awarded European
Javelin Champion at Zurich Antti Ruuskanen as Finland's 2014 Athlete of the Year
at a gala presentation in Helsinki. Runner Sandra Eriksson, who set new Finnish
steeplechase record during the season was dubbed Women's Athlete of the Year.
Oskari Mörö was named Sprinter of the Year with an NR in the 400m hurdles and
who finished eighth in the event at the European championships at Zurich. Minna
Nikkanen with a new women's pole vault NR,was crowned Jumper of the Year.