Tero Pitkämäki gives storm warning ahead of IAAF World Championships

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Tero Pitkämäki beat a high-quality field in Oslo's newly refurbished Bislett Stadium on Friday night at the athletics Golden League GP event to take the javelin competition.
      His best throw of 90.54 metres came on his fourth attempt, and was enough to see off the likes of Norway's Olympic Champion Andreas Thorkildsen, the veteran Russian Sergei Makarov (2nd, 87.76), and the former world No.1 Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic.
      Pitkämäki's throw was just 99 centimetres short of his best effort this year. He threw 91.53 at a competition in Kuortane, Finland in June, and this stands as the longest in the world this year. His obvious streak of form places him among the hot favourites for a medal at the upcoming IAAF World Championships, which begin in Helsinki later this week.
     
In fact, it might be fairer to say that Pitkämäki's shoulders carry almost the entire weight of Finnish hopes in Helsinki: there are few other serious medal contenders among the Finnish contingent, male or female.
      Whether the 22-year-old will be able to reproduce this sort of throw with the home fans baying for success in an intensely traditional Finnish event is another matter.
      Friday night was an encouraging sign, nevertheless. Thorkildsen threw down the gauntlet with a distance of 87.66, a new Norwegian record. Pitkämäki was having none of this, however, and replied immediately with a massive throw that brought a stunned hush to the Oslo crowd. He will need nerves like this in Helsinki, too.


Links:
  Finland Expects!
  IAAF World Championships, 6.-14.8.2005

Helsingin Sanomat