FAR SPORTS JUNE
Racewalker Veli-Matti (Aku) Partanen, 20, set a new Finnish record in the 10-Km road walk of 58 minutes 38 seconds at the Annual Taabori Olympic Walks at Hyrylä on April 14. The old record by past World 50K Champ Valentin Kononen was 21 seconds slower. In the women’s 10K Anne Halkivaha scoreed a personal best of 46:35, the 4th fastest ever by a Finnish woman. Two young walkers Aleksi Ojala and Eemeli Kiiski sliced under an hour and a half for the first time in the 20K, finishing in 1:29:16 and 1:29:41
Jussi Utriainen qualified for the Olympic B Standard of 2:16:34 at the Rotterdam Marathon on April 15. to place 19th.. Fellow Finn Marten Boström ran it in 2:21::03. Winner was Yemane Adhene of Ethiopia in a PB of 2:04:48.
Finnish hurdler Emma Millard won a 400m hurdles race at Conway, North Carolina in a Finnish season’s best of 1:00.57 to that point. Ville Wendelin was 4th in the men’s 200m run in 21.92 seconds, also a Finnish season’s best. Winner was Cornelius Tyler of Charleston Southern University in 21:10. Meanwhile, at the Mount Sac Relays in Walnut, CA on April 17, Mira Tuominen of Valkeakoski was 19th in the women’s 10,000m run with a Finnish season’s best of 35:42:42, with winner Kara Millhouse of Penn State running it in 3:31:57. Janica Mäkelä was 13th in the A division of the women’s steeplechase in 10:51.87. In the men’s 3000m Steeple, Joonas Harjamäki was 18th with a Finnish season’s best of 8:58.33. Harjamäki was 3rd in the 1500-meter run at the Brutus Hamilton meet at Berkeley, CA on April 28 in 3:54.67, another Finnish season’s best so far.
Matti Kinnunen, wrestling in the 60Kg division at the European Championships at Sofia, Bulgaria guaranteed himself a spot on the Olympic team with three wins in a tourney ending on April 21. Matti wrestles for the Imatra Power Twisters. .
Jarkko Kinnunen gained the Olympic B ranking in the 20K racewalk at Podeprady, Czech, Republic,, finishing second in 1:23:12,,a race won by Slovakia’s Matej Toth in 1:21:54, meeting the A standard. Aku Partanen, fightring hard to qualify for the Olympics in the 20K, was DQed. Kinnunen is already qualified in the 50K at London, his prime distance. In Naumberg, Germany, Anne Halkivaha walked a PR in the women’s 20K to place 6TH in 1:37:15 to make the Olympic B standard.. Winner was Germany’s Sabine Krantz in 1:33:02.
Emma Millard was 4th in the 400m hurdles with an SB of 58.90 at the Steve Scott Invitational at Irvine, CA on April 29, while Annemari Korte was 4th in the 100m hurdles in 13,69. Matti Välimäki was 7th in the men’s 400m in 48:13. Jarkko Järvenpää was 3rd in the 10,000m run at Marberg, Germany on May 6th in 29:08.63, a personal and Finnish season’s top. Winner was Germany’s Philipp Phluger in 28:45:76.
Valtteri Jokinen (60Kg) and Johanna Ylinen (63Kg) have qualified for the Finnish judo Olympic team.
In beach volleyball, Finland;s best, the Nyström twins,, Emilia and Erika, had their greatest career victory on May 9 in Beijing. They defeated the world’s all-time best team, USA’s Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, 15-21, 21-17, 16-14. The American team holds two Olympic and three World Championship golds.
At this writing, the World Men’s Hockey Championships have just gotten underway. in Helsinki and Stockholm. Defending champion Finland had a couple of worrisome starts, defeating Slovakia and Belarus by 1-0 scores. Great on defense but with top teams looming ahead they need a more vigorous offense. Fortunately, in their third game Finland dumped Switzerland, 5-2. Here in North America the Stanley Cup playoffs are well underway. Stay tuned. .
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