Big day for Pitkämäki and Finnish medal hopes

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Tuesday's morning session at the IAAF World Championships may have lacked the drama and mayhem of the evening, but it provided the Finnish athletics fans with what they wanted to see: two local athletes made it through qualifying to the men's javelin. This event has widely been seen as the country's only real chance of a medal at these games, and a lot is riding on the arms of former World Champion Aki Parviainen and more particularly this season's #1 thrower, Tero Pitkämäki.
      The 22-year-old Pitkämäki showed no signs of nerves and immediately threw the required distance with his first effort (82.21). He was one of only three competitors who achieved the 81-metre mark for automartic qualification, alongside his probable main rivals Sergei Makarov of Russia and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.
      Parviainen threw 79.49 with his first attempt, and it was enough to secure 7th place of the 12 qualifiers. Parviainen was so confident that it would suffice that he discarded his third attempt to reach the qualifying mark. Esko Mikkola was not so fortunate: he could only manage 72.54, and his games are over.
     
The presence of two local men in this tradition-rich event, one in which Finns have shone recently after they lost their position as the kings of long-distance running, will make for a good atmosphere in the sold-out Olympic Stadium tonight. The javelin begins at 20:20.
      The crowd will also be able to cheer on Jaakko Ojaniemi in the decathlon. Ojaniemi briefly looked like an outside shot for a bronze medal on Tuesday, but his high jump performance of only 1.91 severly dented his chances. He finished the day in 8th position.
     
One Finn who will not be taking part today is pole-vaulter Matti Mononen. He not only failed to reach the original qualifying height of 5.75, but managed to break the electrical bar-lifting device on the pole-vault structure with an attempt on 5.45.
      The competition was held up for an hour while repairs went on, and eventually the qualifying height was lowered to 5.60.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Olli-Pekka Karjalainen takes 5th in hammer at World Championships (9.8.2005)

Links:
  IAAF World Championships

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