SPORTS SO FAR... 
Finnish athletes are beginning their winter sports season. Poland's Justyna Kowalzyk won a two-lap five-kilometer cross-country skiing sprint at Muonio Finland on Nov. !1, followd by six Finnish women:
Laura Ahervo, Anne Kyllönen and
Mona-Liisa Maivalehto. Kowalzyk repeated the feat the next day, with
Aino-Kaisa Saarinren only 0.5 seconds behind.
Riitta-Liisa Roponen was 3rd, 11 secs behind Justyna. A spoiler for the season came early with
Juha Lallukka, 32, failing both A & B samples in drug testing. He has denied it and the case is still being processed at last report.
In one of the last running events of the year, the Nordic Countries Women's 7.5K Championship was won by Norway's Tone Hjalmarsen in 28 minutes 46 seconds on Nov. 12. The silver went to Finnish steeplechase record-holder Johanna Lehtinen, six seconds behind.
Noted veteran Finnish woman runner
Sinikka (Leppälä) Keskitalo died at age 59, after severe illness on Oct. 25 at Tampere. The oldest of 15 childrenn born at Jalasjärvi on Dec, 14, 1851, she only started her running career at age 30, having to work for 15 years as a baker and
seamstress to support her family prior to her running. Coached by her husband Tapio Keskitalo, she placed third in her first marathon which was for the Finnish national title at Seinäjoki in 1982 in a time of 3:43:58. Among her other accomplishments were five Finnish national championships in the marathon, the last at age 40, 15th in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, 8th in the 1987 Rome World Championships, 4th in Seoul Olympics in 1988. Her personal best was 2:33:18 in the 1986 Boston Marathon in which she was 5th woman. In the 1991 World Masters Athletics Championships in Turku (at which I served as a volunteer track official and interpreter), Sinikka won championships at four distances in the Women's 40-44 year age group. Besides her husband Tapio, she is survived by her son Miikka and his family.
Osku Palermaa became the first Finn to the World Professional Bowling Championship on Nov. 20 in Las Vegas. In the final, he defeated USA's Ryan Shafter, 203-177. The previous best by a Finn was Mika Koivuniemi's 2nd place in 2004.
A Finnish women's XC skiing team placed third in a 4x5K sprint in a World Cup event at Sjusjoen, Norway Nov. 20., won by Norway. The Finnish team consisted of Krista Lahtenmäki, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen, and Riikka Sakasoja-Lilja. The men's seasons's World Cup opener in the Nordic Combimed was at Kuusamo's Ruka with the winner Norway's Magnus Krog. Top Finn was Janne Ryynänen who was in 3rd place after the initial ski jump.
Leo-Pekka Tähti (pictured at top), world champion wheelchair racer in the 100-meters in Switzerland this year, was named Finland's Athlete of the Year 2011 by the Finnish Athletics Assiociation (SUL) Minna Nikkanen was chosen woman athlete for her 4th place in the pole vault at the European Indoor Athletics Championships with a National Record of 460 centimeters.
USA's Sarah Hendrickson, 17, was the winner of the first women's World Cup ski-jumpimg event ever held on December 3 at Lillehammer, Norway with marks of 100.5 and 95.5 meters, Finland's Julia Kykkänen, of Lahti, also 17, was 14th with 88+86m.
After a mediocre season on the LPGA US women's tour, Finland's top golfer Minea Blomqvist, had to compete in a qualifying contest at Orlando Beach, FL, to get a card for the 2012 professional women's US tour. She finishd 9th out of the 20 who qualified, with a 5-round score of 70+75+73+75+70. The top 80 of the season automatically get a tour card for the coming season, with Blomqvist ranked only 112th in 2011.
Robert Helenius of Finland won the vacant European heavyweight boxing championship in a controversial 2-1 split decision over Britain's hard-charging Derec Chisora in the title bout before 12,600 fans at Helsinki's Hartwall Arena on Dec. 3
. Heavily favored, the taller Helenius
appeared on the defensive and seemed passive for most of the 12-round bout, with Chisora the aggressor. Most fans thought Helenius had lost. The Briton said he "was robbed" and demanded a rematch. After the fight, Helenius said he thought he had broken a bone in his right hand in the first round and every time he landed a right it was painful. A medical exam afterwards deternuined no break but a severe injury. Thus, it was the Finn's 18th professional win wiithout a loss.
-- Harry Siitonen
