Harry Siitonen's "Sports So Far" [Track & Field and Hockey]

GOOD SPORTS for FAR for Aug. 2011

Ari Mannio was the only Finnish event winner in the European Premier League Championships June 18-19 at Ismir, Turkey, when he threw his javelin for 81.24 meters. Jonathan Åstrand ran the 2nd fastest Finnish 200 meters ever in 20.50 to meet the A Standard for the Daegu World Championships. Jaysoma Ndere of Norway was the winner in 20.32. Turkey won the team championships, while Finnish athletes were 8th.

Merja Korpela (below) came close to the women’s Finnish record in the hammer when she flung the orb for 69.30 meters at the Kuortane Elite Games on June 25.. It plopped on the ground only 0.33 short of Mia Strömmer’s old national record.

Antti Kempas, 30, won a 50K racewalk at Dublin, Ireland on June 26 in a time of 4:02:36 to qualify for the B Standard for the Daegu World Championships. Jarkko Kinnunen has already achieved the A standard for the 50K walk at Daegu. Speaking of Kinnunen, he walked a personal best of 2:12.06 in the 30K Finnish National Championships at Kauhava on June 12. It was the 3rd fastest 30K ever walked by a Finn, superceded only by past European 50K Champ Reima Salonen and past 50K World Champ Valentin Kononen. Anne Halkivaha won the women’s 20K walk at Kauhava in 1:42:46, to successfully defend her 2010 title.

Finnish National Hockey League millionaires are reaping even more bucks in contract signings for the forthcoming 2011-12 season. Forward Jussi Jokinen, 28, was content to re-sign for a three-year contract with the Caroline Hurricanes to total $9 million. He was just about to become a free agent and obviously the ‘Canes didn’t want to lose him. Then, Ville Leino signed a 6-year pact with the Buffalo Sabres for $17 million. He played for Philadelphia last season who had decided to let him go. A lucky firing for Ville! Veteran Sami Salo, 36, of the Stanley Cup runner-up Vancouver Canucks got a year’s extension on his contract for 2 million. And a lucky break for Sean Bergenheim, 27, who played last year for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who signed on with the Florida Panthers for $11 million, with a 2.75 million annual guarantee.

Finland’s Minea Blomqvist has had some so-so seasons in recent years on the US LPGA golf tour. But at LPGA’s Wegman Championships at Pittsford, NY, she started like a house of fire, with a pair of 69s in the opening two rounds, to put her in 3rd place from the lead. But as so frequently happens to her, Blomqvist fell apart on the final two circuits with scores of 77 and 78. So she ended up in a tie for 69th place to earn a measly $6,145 while the world’s top women’s golfer Yani Tseng of Taiwan, 22, won the tournament going away by 10 strokes and took home $375,000.

Sami Itani of Finland scored a personal best of 7710 points to finish fifth in the European Cup Super League Decathlon Team Championships at Torun, Poland July 2-3. Winner was Andres Roja of Estonia with 8114. Russia won the team championship with Finland eighth. The same weekend Finland’s hardy perennial Niina Kelo, 31, was 7th in the European Cup Women’s Premier League Heptahlon Championships at Bressanone, Italy. Kelo was the top Finn with 5718 points and won the shotput and javelin throws outright. Heptathlon winner was Karolina Tyrminska of Poland with 6297. Poland became the team champion while Finnish women were 5th.

Last, and least, your scribe is tooting his own horn. Since I can’t straighten my knees out enough
anymore to compete in my beloved racewalking without getting disqualified, I thought I’d try a hand in track and field for the first time in about 35 years, this time in the masters men’s age 85-89 division. I entered the Pacific Association Masters Championships at Folsom, CA on June 11 and took part in the shotput, and 100 and 200-meter track runs. The results weren’t much but with the paucity of men in my age division, I came home with two first place medals and one third. The following weekend, I entered a masters invitational meet at the University of California track at Davis. I was the oldest athlete on the track and the only one in the 85-59 year bracket. I came home with a haul of four chunks of the gold— in the shot, the 50, 100, and 200-m runs. My secret weapon wasn’t athletic prowess, but old age. Hey, when you live in a senior housing complex where half the residents are on walkers or wheelchairs, I just want to celebrate the fact that I can still hold my own on the track without falling on my face. Older is bolder!

Contribution by Harry Siitonen


CONGRATULATIONS, HARRY!!!