Small town, big results - Wirkkala beats Ruuskanen, 87.23m to 85.03m in Joensuu

Joensuu, Finland – The fourth meeting of Vattenfall Elite Games Series which took place in the small town of Joensuu, proved if proof was necessary why Finland is termed ‘the Javelin Country’, as Finnish throwers cemented their country’s place in the world top-10.
In other top results last night, there were two men over 8m in the men’s Long Jump, USA’s Gloria Asumnu ran 22.88sec for the women’s 200m (-0.5m/s), and her compatriot Brittney Reese, the world season leader in the Long Jump produced 6.62m (+0.5).

Wirkkala now third on world list

A cheering crowd of 5000 spectators gathered in Joensuu to support their favourites as the men’s Javelin Throw opened in good weather conditions. After couple of rounds of warming up Antti Ruuskanen (87.33m PB in 2008) pulled out his season’s best of 85.03m, currently making him the world’s 6th longest thrower of the season.

The crowd was still applauding Ruuskanen’s throw, when his countryman, 2008 Olympic Games fifth placer finalist Teemu Wirkkala responded with his personal best of 87.23m. Wirkkala’s throw makes him the third furthest thrower in the world this year and top Finn ahead of Pitkämäki.

“Ruuskanen made me perform at my best,” said Wirkkala. It is great to have so many world class throwers in Finland, since we can always build up a good competition even in a small Finnish town like Joensuu.”

Berlin selection headache

Finnish javelin throwers are now ranked in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth places in the current world season’s list, and thanks to the automatic entry for the reigning World champion Tero Pitkämäki, the quartet of throwers that this tiny country of 5 million will send to the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin, Germany (15-23 Aug) will the strongest ever javelin squad to leave their shores.

Pitkämäki, Wirkkala and Olympic fourth placer Tero Järvenpää have already secured their tickets to Berlin through a tight national qualification system. The last available Finnish spot will be decided after the National Championships at the end of the month. Ruuskanen’s big throw makes the decision very complicated, as the recently crowned European U23 champion Ari Mannio has been consistently throwing between 83-86m this season.

“It’s great to be back on the world top level,” said Ruuskanen, whose last season was ruined because of foot injury after magnificent season opener of 87.33m.

A three-time reserve at the last European and World Champs and Olympic Games, Ruuskanen stated that this year he won’t be the one staying home and watching the championships on TV.

“This where the battle really starts. I have aimed my best shape for Berlin and this shows I’m on the right track. I am ready to throw even further now when my technique is improving week by week.”

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