Surprise winner beats world champion Tero Pitkämäki in Kuortane javelin competition

First defeat to domestic opposition for nearly four years

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In the opening event of the Finnish javelin season in Kuortane in Ostrobothnia yesterday, the audience was surprised to see the young Finnish javelin thrower Antti Ruuskanen, 24, become the first Finn to outhrow reigning World Champion Tero Pitkämäki in nearly four years.
     
Ruuskanen set his personal record of 87.33 metres in the final round in the Keihään juhlaa (”Javelin Festival”) competition, while Pitkämäki could throw only 86.89m.
      The other top results in Kuortane were: Tero Järvenpää with 85.89m and Teemu Wirkkala with 83.74m.
      Ruuskanen took the third place on the 2008 world rankings behind Australian Jarrod Bannister´s 89.02m and Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen´s 87.59m. Pitkämäki is now 5th, Tero Järvenpää 6th, and Teemu Wirkkala 7th on the list.
      Pitkämäki was the leading thrower in the world last year, and was also voted Europe's best track and field athlete. He is naturally regarded as one of Finland's main hopes for gold in Beijing.
     
Another surprise came among the women: 19-year-old Jelena Jaakkola won the women’s competition in Kuortane, throwing 58.89m in the first round.
      Apart from being her personal best, the result was a new Finnish U20 and U23 record as well.
      Among other female javelin throwers, Kirsi Ahonen (58.69m) was second, while Mikaela Ingberg (58.43m) was third, and Taina Kolkkala (58.20m) fourth. All three of them are over the age of 30 and experienced competitors, so it was quite a change of generation.


Links:
  IAAF news report

Helsingin Sanomat