Siitonen's Sports So Far : March 2014

Sports So Far... March 2014

It's too bad that Sports So Far's March editorial deadline falls in the early stages of the Winter Olympics that began on Feb. 8 in Sochi, Russia. But our first Finnish medalist emerged the next day. She was Enni Rukajärvi, 21, of Kuusamo who earned a silver in the women's slopestyle snowboarding, a brand new Olympic event.

Gold medalist was USA's Jamie Anderson, who has been a consistent winner in practically all of the slopestyle competition during this current season. Rukajärvi has been a leading competitor as well, and a year ago won several of these snowboarding events. The President of Finland Saul Niinistö and his First Lady Jenni Haukio were in the stands to witness Enni's feats, and the next day sponsored a coffee and cake reception for her, as Rukajärvi was still dazed by her accomplishment.

Norway's fabulous Marit Björgen won the 15k combined cross-sountry skiing championship (7.5k traditional, 7.5k freestyle) on Feb. 8 as expected, in 1:38:33.6  Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen came in fifth, only 2.1 seconds behind bronze medalist Heidi Weng of Norway. Sweden's Charlotte Kalla claimed the silver.   

We'll report other Finnish accomplishments at Sochi in the April issue.

So for now we'll go to other pre-Sochi winter sports results. Juulia Turkkila, 18, was 12th in the European women's figure skating championships at Budap-est in January with a score of 140.52. Winner was Olympic star Julia Lipniskaya, 15, of Russia  Winners of the Finnish cross-country sprint championships at Vantaa on Jan.17 were for the Men: 1. Martti Jylhä. 2.Iivo Niskanen. 3. Juho Mikkonen.  Women: 1. Anne Kyllönen. 2. Riikka Sarasoja-Lilja. 3. Kerttu Niskanen. Next day Sami Jauhojärvi took the men's 15Kclassic XC title, followed by Tero Simula and Matti Heikkinen. In the women's 10K it was: Kyllönen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Niskanen.

Petja Piirainen was the World Cup Big Air snowboarding champion at Stoneham, Canada, but was only 12th in the Olympics at Sochi.  Janne Korpi was third in the snowboarding half-pipe at Laax, Switzerland, with Iouri Palatechnov of the host country the winner.  

Julia Kykkänen bronzed in the women's ski jump at Hinzenbach for her first international medal on Feb. 2. Japan's Sara Takanashi was the winner. Julia will be Finland's jump specialist at Sochi,, another Olympic first for women in this sport.  Ilkka Herola was second in the Nordic combined ski jump and 10K XC event at Val di Fiemme, with Austria's Phillipp Orter the winner in 29:47.1. Ilkka was only four seconds behind. Iivo Niskanen also won a junior men's 15K at Val di Fiemme for youngsters under 23.  Riitta-Liisa Roponen won the XC Marathon Cup at Obertilliach, Austria on Jan. 19, covering the 42 kilometers (26.2miles) in 2:03:30.28, seven seconds ahead of Russia's Julia Tihonova.

In the world of European golf, Mikko Ilonen was tied for the lead at Doha, Qatar at the end of regular play with 6 under par, but Sergio Garcia of Spain took the playoff to win 305,00 euros. Ilonen's take was 203,000. On Feb. 2, Ilonen finished fifth on the strength of his score of 64 in the final day's round. He had 275 strokes to winner Scotland's Stephen Gallacher who had 272. This has been and excellent season for Ilonen and we just learned that he's now ranked 55th in world golf, his highest career standing ever.

On the women's wrestling scene, Petra Olli lost in the semi-finals to the world's best wrestler in the 58 kilo class, Kaori Icho of Japan at Krasnojarak, Russia and came up with a bronze. Icho has won three Olympic golds and seven world championsips. Olli had four matches that day, three of which she won. Pauliina Hietaniemi was voted their 2013 Athlete of the Year by the Finnish Labor Sports Federation (TUL). Hietaniemi had won a world championship gold in the 50k weight class in Taekwon-do in Spain last October. She's from Tampere.

Tero Pitkämäki was voted the 2013 Finnish Athlete of the Year by the Finnish Athletics Federation (SUL) on the basis of his World Championship javelin silver medal in Moscow, and for the longest throw of the year in the world of 89.03m. Runner-up was Mårten Boström for his sprint distance orienteering  world championship, and third was Matti Mattsson for his bronze in men's world swimming championships.             

-- Submitted by Harry Siitonen

Olympic Games BEGIN!!!

Let The Games begin!!!

Rukajärvi takes Silver in SlopeStyle!

Finnish snowboarder Enni Rukajärvi won a silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi on Sunday. After a nearly flawless second run, she came second behind the US's Jamie Anderson at this game's New Event.

Rukajärvi, 23, has previously won the SlopeStyle World Championship. the TTR tour and the X-Games.
 

One of the big contests to watch is to see who's going to win THIS YEAR's Hockey Championship. Finland took 3rd in both the women's and men's matches, in 2010. The Finnish women beat out Sweden in overtime at the last performance to take bronze and the US experienced a major upset by the Home Turf Canucks, who ended up with gold! Let the contest BEGIN!!!

Meanwhile, Janne Ahonen comes out of retirement to compete in the Men’s Normal Hill event in Sochi TONIGHT! Though Ahonen has plenty of hardware from many other World Championship events, he is hoping to earn his first Olympic medal in Sochi this year!

View Yle’s coverage of the event online streaming from Yle Areena. 

January Sports So Far

FARSptsFFeb2014

Before launching into a review of World Cup or Tour de Ski winter sports, We'll open with a World Championship tourney that excited Finns more than any other athletic endeavor during January. That's when the Finnishn Pikku Leijonat (Little LIons) Junior Men's hockey team won their first world championship since 1998 by upsetting an over­confident favorite Sweden  at Malmo on Jan 5 , in overtime, 3­2. The OT shot was by Rasmus Ristolainen to give it to the  Finnish lads. The new champions had defeated Canada in the semi­finals, who in turn lost to Russia for the bronze. The juniors consist of 18 and 19 year­olds. Finnish fans turned out in the thousands cheering their
young men as they deplaned at Vantaa.  

Next we'll go to  mid­ December to celebrate the World Cup win of Janne Korpi in the snowboarding half­ pipe at Kuusamo  Markus Malin bronzed and Antti Autti was fourth. Enni Rukajärvi was second in the snowboarding slopestyle at Breckenridge, USA, with Jamie Anderson, USA, the winner. We move to January for another snowboarding slopestyle at the Nanshan Open in China, when Finnish women Merika Enne and Kristina Nisula came in first and second. Thus, Enne won her first major race so far. Nisula was last year's winner.

Swedish women defeated Finland for the fourth straight time in the Salibandy (indoor floor ball) World Championships, 5­1,  at at Ostrava, Czech Republic. Finland took its second straight silver. The bronze went to Switzerland over the  Czech women , 4­3. Juulia Turkkila  won her first national figure skating championshp in Finland. Matthius Versius claimed the men's title.

Former Olympic Champion Biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen was second in a World Cup competition at Annecy,France, with Switzerland's Selina Bakarin the winner in this ski and shoot event. On Jan. 12, Kaisa was third at a World Cup Pursuit at Ruhspording. Czech Gabriela Soukalova  took gold. Mäkäräinen had three shooting penalties, two from a lying position, and one on her last stand­up shot for the third.

Riitta­Liisa Roponen successfully.

Jan 2014 Sports, Far So Good... by Harry Siitonen

Jan 2014 Sports, So Far So Good

 by Harry Siitonen

With the January FAR editorial deadline approaching, and the world winter sports season getting well underway, it looked like formerly prominent Finnish skiing athletes were getting nowhere on the international scene. Until the weekend of Jan.7­8  when former world great ski jumper Janne Ahonen, returning from retirement, earned his first top ten placement of the season, a ninth place at Lillehammer, Norway. Both he and his supporters were disappointed as he looked in shape to get a medal on his second try. His go signal was green, but the jump official, incidentally a Finn, made Ahonen stay in the ready position for the longest time before releasing him to start. Shoban Freund of Germany was the winner.

Sonja Mörsky, 22, took  a bronze in the middle distance ski orienteering event at Yläs, Finland on Jan 7 with Russia's Tatiana Rvatshiva the winner. Next day, in the ski orienteering sprint, Mörsky 
was sixth, with Finland's Marjut Turunen seventh, Rvayshiva again the champ. Then back to Lillehammer on Dec.,8, the Finnish women's relay team was second in the World Cup  4x5K cross­country race. Norway was the winner during the prevailing snowfall  which made for soft ground conditions. The Finnish team consisted of Aino­Kaisa Saarinen, Anne Kyllönen , Kerttu Niskanen, and Krista Lahteenmäki. Kyllönen testified to the toughness of Therese Johaug in leading Noway to victory. USA women bronzed.

Boxing also highlighted that weekend at Espoo where promising Finnish  lightweight hopefuls Edis Tatli, 26, and Eva Wahlström both won their bouts by unanimous decision over tough
opponents. Tatli, a Kosovan by birth, but now living and fighting in Finland, outpointed former two­time super­featherweight world champion Mizonke Fana, 40, of South Africa, in a 12­round
bout. The judges ruled for Tatli by votes of 117­111, 118­110, 118­110. Some critics thought Fan was too far over the hill in facing his much younger, quicker opponent. There's interest in promoting the undefeated Tatli's career in North America against stronger competition.

Wahlström, the European super­featherwight champion, came back from a grave illness that had sidelioned her since, March, 2012. She also had to recover from serious hand injuries. But her
hands were just fine as she defeated world kickboxing champion Anna Sikora of Poland in a six rounder by a 3­0 unanimous decision. It was a tough bout after a long layoff, with Wahlström
confessing that Sikora "was not an easy opponent." She is now planning to defend her European
title sometime this coming spring.

In early season skiing, Anne Kyllönen had cross­country wins on successive days at the Suomi Cup tornament at Rovaniemi, Nov.23­24. She was the classic xc sprint championon the first day, and next day in the classic 5k, 4.9 seconds ahead of second place Aino­Kaisa Saarinen. Kerttu
Niskanen was third, 26.7 seconds behind. In the men's 10K, Sami Jauhojärvi won by 30 seconds over Tero Similä.

2006 European steeplechase champion Jukka Keskisalo, 32, says he plans to stay competitive for another season or more. In a jovial mood, Jukka works at a job where he says he "enjoys his  achievements for all of ten minutes, but in athletics the good feeling lasts until evening. This (athletics) isn't the world's unhealthiest addiction," he adds. Jukka's main concern is to stay injury­ free.

Tuula Tenhonen was voted Finnish sailor of the year on the strengthof her World Championship silver medal placing in the radial class in October. Henri Manninen of Jyväskylä ran ninth in the Firenze (Italy) Marathon on Nov.24 with a personal best of 2:19:09, also the fastest Finnish men's time for 2013. Ukraine's Oleksandr Sitkovski was the winner in 2:09:14.  Elina Nurmenpää, 30, golfed  a personal best eighth place on the European Women's  Circuit Tour  stop at New Delhi, India with a one ­under par 215 . In the final round she hit  our birdies, marred  by one double bogey. Winner was Thailand's Thidapa Shivonna, with seven strokes fewer than  Tenhonen.

Movie FREE: "Road North (" Tie pohjoiseen")"

Come out and watch a free movie on the UC Berkeley Campus. The film will be shown Thursday 10/17 at 6.30 pm, in Dwinelle Hall (Dwinelle B-4,), free of charge. 

FILM: Tie pohjoiseen - Road North

A prodigal father returns to Helsinki to reconnect with the son he abandoned 35 years earlier and con him into a journey towards the Arctic Circle in this jaunty comedy. Overweight and shambling but still charismatic, Leo (Finnish national treasure Vesa-Matti Loiri) has lived to pursue pleasure, always fleeing when he encountered problems. Now, as he nears the end of his metaphoric road, he wants to patch up all the potholes, although in his own unconventional, not necessarily legal way. His son Timo is a concert pianist, and seems to be Leo's polar opposite: uptight, bound by rules, appointments and a constantly buzzing cell-phone. But out on the highway in the red Catalina convertible that Leo steals for the ride, Timo soon proves a chip off the old block.Director Mika Kaurismaki's best films have dealt with music or road trips. Road North combines both elements along with plenty of heart and was one of Finland’s biggest box office hits of the past year. 

"Mieletön Elokuu" FILM showing at Mill Valley Film Festival this Year Oct 11 & 13

Fri, Oct 11 @ 6:15 PM & Sun, Oct 13 @ 11:15 AM

at the Mill Valley Film Festival in San Rafael

Mieletön Elokuu (or August Fools) is the name of the Finn movie to be shown at the Mill Valley Film Festival this year on at Rafael 2 and  Rafael 3 in San Rafael. Starring is old Kaurismäki film heroine Kati Outinen who won Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival the same year that Aki Kaurismäki's Man Without a Past won the top feature film award at Cannes. Other Finnish film notables in this picture are Elena Leeve, Esko Salminen and Laura Birn. Director is Taru Mäkelä,. The setting is the "Festival of Friendship" in Helsinki in the 1962 Cold War era which brought tens of .thousands of young people from both sides of the Iron Curtain to celebrate. The place was crawling with both CIA and KGB agents. It's not as grim as it sounds as the film is essentially a romantic comedy. A Czech saxophonist ((Miroslav Etzler) arrives to pursue an old Finnish flame Elsa  (Outinen) who owns a millinery shop and is a part-time clairvoyant . The languages spoken are Finnish, Czech and English and the film has English subtitles. 

Read more about the film at http://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=64016~dc929e81-dd77-4c40-bcf3-47ec6a85c146&epguid=c612d5b0-2882-4166-821c-fe5114bf8af4&  

The Rafael screens are at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center at 1118 4th street in downtown San Rafael (between A and B Streets.) 

General Admission $14. Seniors 65+ and Students: $12.50. Advisedly, tickets should be reserved in advance on line at mvff.com and picked up at the Will Call window at the Rafael at show time. Or toll-free phone at 877.874.6833 voice mail. The main disadvantage to the phone order is an extra $10 convenience fee.  

Hope to see a lot of you there. 

-- Harry Siitonen

FILM CANCELED TONIGHT - NO POWER

You may have heard of the UCB explosion and power outage. Luckily, only one student was injured and already released from the hospital as far I know. No Finnish classes today in Dwinelle Hall & the Finnish Movie Night in Dwinelle is canceled tonight. Dwinelle Hall has NO power so far.

We will reschedule! 

Sirpa

MOVIE: "Tie Pohjoiseen" / "The Road North" FREE @ UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley FREE Movie Nite!!!

Tie Pohjoiseen / The Road North

Tuesday, October 1, 6:30 PM 

at UC Berkeley Dwinelle Hall B-4

A prodigal father returns to Helsinki to reconnect with the son he abandoned 35 years earlier and con him into a journey towards the Arctic Circle in this jaunty comedy.

Overweight and shambling but still charismatic, Leo (Finnish national treasure Vesa-Matti Loiri) has lived to pursue pleasure, always fleeing when he encountered problems. Now, as he nears the end of his metaphoric road, he wants to patch up all the potholes, although in his own unconventional, not necessarily legal way.

His son Timo is a concert pianist, and seems to be Leo's polar opposite: uptight, bound by rules, appointments and a constantly buzzing cell-phone. But out on the highway in the red Catalina convertible that Leo steals for the ride, Timo soon proves a chip off the old block.
Director Mika Kaurismaki's best films have dealt with music or road trips. Road Northcombines both elements along with plenty of heart and was one of Finland’s biggest box office hits of the past year. (http://www.psfilmfest.org/.)

DETAILS:

Finland

2012

110 Min

Color

Finnish

DIR Mika Kaurismäki

PROD Mika Kaurismäki

SCR Mika Kaurismäki, Sami Keski-Vähälä

DP Jari Mutikainen

CAST Vesa-Matti Loiri, Samuli Edelmann, Peter Franzén, Mari Perankoski, Eila Roine, Irina Björklund, Elina Knihtilä, Ada Kukkonen, Rea Mauranen, Aake Kalliala, Amira Khalifa, Krista Kosonen, Marja-Leena Kouki, Minni Laakso, Aiden Lind, Eeva Litmanen, Irina Pulkka, Kristo Salminen, Emilia Sinisalo, Pertti Sveholm, Leena Uotila, Eija Vilpas, Jukka Virtanen

ED Jukka Nykänen

MUSIC Ilari Edelman, Kaihon Karavaani, Mauri Sumén

SOUND Joonas Jyrälä

Book Review: Pylväinen, Hanne, WE SINNERS, Picador, 2012, 189 Pages

Book Review: Pylväinen, Hanne, WE SINNERS, Picador, 2012, 189 Pages.

By Harry Siitonen

Not many Americans, including American Finns, know about a smallish fundamentalist branch of Nordic Lutheranism, called the Laestadians. A first novel by Hanna Pylväinen, who at one time belonged to that church, has written a fine work of fiction about a large Finnisl Laestadian family in current -day Michigan with a family name of Rovaniemi. It gives us a good picture of this religious denomination through the trials of this family as their children grow up.

The Laestadian religion, founded by Lars Levi Laestadius, a Swedish Sami reindeer herder in the mid-Nineteenth Century, consider the following as sins of worldliness: remarital sex, alcohol (except in a religious context), dancing, TV, movies, rythmic music, cosmetics, caed playing,earrings, school sports, tattoos and cursing. Neither do they approve of birth control, so many true believer Laestadian families have numerous children,who they celebrate as gifts from God.

The Rovaniemis are one such family, with nine children,seven girls and two boys.The novel traces their lives from children into adulthood, The father, Warren Rovaniemi, in the course of the story is elected minister of their church in the small community in which they live and the mother of the brood is the caring and loving Pirjo. They all know Finnish at least to some extent. As teenagers in a crowded household the kids squabble like those of any large family. often torn betwen their faith and the world looming around them. Eventually some of them reject the church and live secular lives and become college students which influene raises their sense of skepticism about their creedal upbringing. The oldest Brita stays in the church marries a carpenter whith whom she hasb sux sons through cearian section, and almost loses her own life and that of her seventh infant, again a boy.

One of the prime tenets of the religion is forgiveness. Anyone can confess theirsins to anyother person, most often other familymembers as well as the minister. THis is ofetn done daily as it's hard to resist worldly temptation. "Believe all our sins are forgiven in Jesus's name and precious blood" is the formulaic response that will give one grace. `      

Tiina, the second daughter, is the most irreverent of the family. She's a "party animal" with her all-nighters, and is the first to break with the family tradition and become an unbeliever. Pirjo discovers that one of her sons Simon is gay and finds it impossible in her heart to fully forgive him, and they become estranged. One of the younger sisters Julia also declares her unbelief. Nels.the devout son strays from the rightous path.and starts to drink heavily and is attracted to a sexy party girl Bernie who eggs him on so he temporarily loses his beloved Tricia who he wants to marry. Eventually Nels sees the error of his ways, gets forgiveness from equally devout Tricia and they marry and raise a family.

Yet as the younger Rovaniemis grow older and their differences grow larger due to the disparate differences in their lives, the significance of the earlier forgiveness factor in their religious training, helps hold the siblings together. That love is never lost. A dramatic moment ensues when Simon's lover and partner Christopher dies in a car accident in Boston where they live.. Julia and her aloof wise guy boy friend Will come to Boston to console Simon.  Nels flies in from Minneapolis but leaves Tricia and the kids at home, The irrepressible Tiina comes from New York for the funeral. After the service the family members gather at Simon's apartment to spend time wih him. All drink except for Nels and get sloppy. Tiina says she hated her parents for not coming. "I can't f*cking believe it. I always expected more of them," she blurted. Then Julia picked up the phone called home in Michigan. Her mother was on the other end of the line. "Why aren't you guys  here?" she posed. "--- Julia shouted. Why do you have to be such sanctimonious a**holes?"

Pirjo responds: We love Simon  Of course, we're so sorry to hear about his loss."

"Your loss," Julia retorts.

"It is never my job to make you comfortable about your lifestyle choices, " Pirjo answered. ""We're here to remind you of what is right. We know you know in your hearts what the right thing is. Of course, you know that...."

"A**holes," Julia shouts as she slams down the phone.

This is one bridge these two Rovaniemi generations will never cross. 

The author Hanna Päiväinen hails from suburban Detroit. Her BA is from Mount Holyoke College, her MFA from the University  of Michigan. She has earned a number of fellowship honors. She won the Whiting award for "We Sinners."  She is working on another novel about early Laestadian history to be entitled "The End of Drum Time."  She now lives in Brooklyn.

 

Siitonen's Sports Report, October 2013

FARSPORTS--OCT/2013

"It ain't over 'till it's over."  At least for Teemu Selänne, 43, the greatest Finnish NHL hockey player of all time, who has announced he'll play one more season--his last--for the Anaheim Ducks. His 15-year career in the North American biggies has included playing for Winnepeg, San Jose, and Colorado besides starring for the Ducks.  No Finn in NHL has matched his 675 goals and 765 assists in that span. But there's a promising second generation Selänne who is likely to go places in pro pucksterdom, too. One of Selänne's three sons, Eetu, 15, will be playing this coming season for the Calgary Hitmen's junior division in the Western Hockey League. Eetu had gotten a written bid from the Hitman a year earlier, but the letter had gotten lost in a pile of his Dad's fan mail.  

Finland's Marika Hara snapped up two individual golds in the World Bicycle Orienteering Championships at Rekvere, Estonia. The first was in the middle distance of 8.7 kilometres, and then in the long distance of 35.6 k. Susanna Laurila got a bronze in the middle, and a silver in the longer race.Eeva-Liisa Hakala

silvered in the sprint distance of 5.70K, won by Cecilia Thompson of Sweden. Finland also achieved the gold standard in the women's relay team event with stalwarts Ingrid Stengård, Laurila and Hara. Among the men's bike orienteers former world champ Samuli Saarela was third in the men's middle distance of 11.4K and second in the long. The Finnish men's relay team of Saarela, Pekka Niemi and Jussi Laurila brought home a silver with the gold going to the Czech Republic

Anne Rikola, 36,  had a world kayaking title bronze in the 5000m race at Duisburg and was fourth in her favorite distance of 1000 meters the day before. Six years ago Rikola had silvers in the world kayaking 200 and 500m.  Her last previous world title medal was a bronze again in the 5000m in 2010.

Last issue we promised some results from the World Bowling Championships in Las Vegas. Finland defeated USA in the team championships, 1,183-1,126, with Pertti Jussila, Tony Ranta, Petteri Walonen, Pasi Uotila and Osku Palerma.  Then USA turned the tables in the men's pairs,with John Sczcerbinski and Chris Barnes trimming Palerma and Uotila in the final, 569-473.  Joonas Lehkinen and Petteri Salomaa bronzed. USA's Bill O'Neill was the men's singles champ.

Tero Pitkämäki regained the season's world lead in the javelin with a mighty 89.03 meters while trying for a 90+m at Bad Kostritz, Germany. His PR was of 90.33 was set in his winning world championship throw at Osaka in 2007. The same day Antti Ruuskanen won the Elite Games jav at Tampere with 85.04, and was awarded 10,000 euros for the best athlete in the 2013 Finnish Elite Games series. Also at Tampere, Kenya's Agnes Chesong oudid Sandra Eriksson in the women's 3000m steeplechase, 9:36.33 to 9:40.86. 0ona Kettunen, 19, was third in 9:48.73. Ukraine's Hanna Platinsena outsprinted Finland's pride NooraLotta Neziri in the 100m hurdles, 13.08-13.13. Powerhouse Merja Korpela hurled the hammer for a 68.95m victory. 

At a September Zagreb, Croatia  IAAF track meet, Pitkämäki continued his domination with a winning 86.36, Ruuskanen second with 85.64, and Kenya's up-and-coming Julius Yego third with 84.92. In the Diamond League's final event at Brussels it was Pitkämäki up front again with 87.32, World Champ Vitezslav Vesely of the Czech Republic second with 86.69 and Ruuskanen third with 82.82. 

Next stop was the exciting ancient Finland-Sweden annual dual meet, this year at Stockholm. Again it was one-two Pitkämäki-Ruuskanen in the keihäs, 86.39-85.07, with Swede Kim Amb third with 82,82.  But otherwise, this intense but amicable rivalry did not bring good news to Finland this year as the Swedish men's track and fielders prevailed over the Finns, 235-173. The Svenska flickas beat the Suomen tytöt , 215-195. For most of the past recent years Finnish men have dominated the Swedes, while Swedish women had trounced their neighbors to the east--until last year, at the Olympic Stadium at Helsinki where Finnish dudes lost and Finnish maids won by a close margin.

Just to keep up our spirits, let's look at some of the other Finnish winners this year besides Pitkämäki/Ruuskanen, Pitkämäki/Ruuskanen: Anne Halkivaha, women's 5000m racewalk, 22:49.36/PB; Elina Torro, women's triple jump, 13.64m; Niklas Sandells, men's 1500m run, 3:45.78; Sandra Erikssen, 3000m women's steeple, 9:38.38/NR (old record: Johanna Lehtinen, 9:40.28, 2006); Jukka Keskisalo, men's steeple, 9:05.54; NooraLotta Neziri, women's 100m hurdles, 13.14; Venla Paunonen, 400m women's hurdles, 57.88; Merja Korpela, hammer, 66.31m.

But the most satisfying win of all was the Finnish women's triumph in the women's 4x100m relays in 44.31

seconds, the fastest Finnish time in six years. For this we can thank Maria Räsänen, Hanna-Maarit Latvala, Jonna Bergbom and Tiina Leppäkoski.

With the Winter Olympics coming up, Finland's top women's figure skater Kiira Korpi made some major

moves in her training. After an injury-plagued career she was again in top shape. Korpi switched her training locale to California from Finland and engaged a new coach, Russia's Rafael Arutyunyan, who had trained stars like Michelle Kwan, Mao Asada, and Jeffrey Brittle. The first phase of training was at Lake Arrowhead, to be moved at the end of September to the Olympic-sized rink at tha Artesia Ice Pavilion near LosAngeles.  But, alas, in checking out Finnish sports news on the Web this morning as I was writing this, I read that Kiira had sustained a partial tear in her left achilles tendon. She flew back to Finland to be examined as to the extent of the damage, to see if surgery was warranted.. Participation in a forthcoming meet was cancelled. Her Olympics appearance looks in doubt. Tough luck! We wishe Kiira a quick recovery.