Kuortane, Finland - Olli-Pekka Karjalainen produced the best performance at the fifth and final meeting of the Finnish Federation’s annual Eliittikisat-series in Kuortane on Sunday (12).

Karjalainen won the men’s Hammer Throw competition with his season’s best 78.00m, backed up by 77.51 and 77.35 efforts. His performance may be a warning sign to the other top throwers for the Osaka World Championships in two weeks time.

Karjalainen was forced to miss nearly half a year’s throwing training last winter due to back pains, the main reason for his technical problems this summer so far. The sun was shining for Karjalainen in Kuortane, although the weather was very wet.

“Not a bad performance at all! Well, this kind of result could as well have come two months ago,” said Karjalainen. Last year Karjalainen set his SB of 80.44 at the European Championships in Gothenburg, which guaranteed him a silver medal. Something similar to that will be needed in Osaka, too.

“I can only wait to see what will happen in Osaka,” he said. “It is very interesting to see how far the others can throw. I just have to make sure that I’ll be in the best possible form there.”

Pitkämäki ‘only’ 82.88 in the rain

Tero Pitkämäki has thrown the javelin over 90 metres twice before in Kuortane, but this time the weather was not on his side. Pitkämäki reached 79.57, a winning 82.88, 82.19 before passing his final three throws.

Esko Mikkola did not qualify for the final at the Finnish Championships in Lappeenranta on 4 August, but he reached 80.27 and 80.48 in Kuortane. Antti Ruuskanen, who was selected as a home-reserve for Osaka, placed third with a 78.49 throw.

Shot Putter Mika Vasara will head to Osaka, but his last competition before the World Championships didn’t go very well. He threw 19.78 in the opening round, enough to nab a 50cm win ahead Canada’s Scott Martin.

Evilä 22cm, Ingberg 30cm shy of Osaka standards

Two years ago Tommi Evilä was the Finnish national hero at the Helsinki Wrld Championships, thanks to his bronze medal in the men’s Long Jump, but Evilä will not be seen in Osaka this year.

In Kuortane, Evilä, who has been consistently injured for the last two seasons, leapt 7.83m for his winning jump, but as the "B" Entry Standard is 8.05, and Evilä has not reached that either this year or last, he can’t be selected into the Finnish Team.

In the women’s Javelin Throw Mikaela Ingberg won with a season’s best of 60.70, but that was not enough for an Osaka ticket. As Paula Tarvainen and Taina Kolkkala had already been selected as the best two in the Finnish Championships, and Kolkkala only with a B entry standard, Ingberg needed at least a 61.00 throw.

Ingberg, the World bronze medallist in 1995 and European bronze medallist in 1998 and 2002, will have to watch the Osaka World Championships at home on television. The situation is new for her, because she had been representing Finland at every major championship since Helsinki hosted the European Championships in 1994.

However, Inberg’s best throw was her longest in two years and her series in Kuortane was solid, backed up by 60.04 and 60.42 throws.

“I have mixed feelings now,” the 33-year-old said. “I proved that with a perfect throw I could throw a couple of metres further in this shape. Of course I am deeply disappointed, because I had something else as my goal for this season.”

“During the last few years I have been beginning to wonder if I still can throw really well. It was important to show both to myself and to other people, that I can do it”

Sini Pöyry would have been in the same situation in the women’s Hammer Throw: she needed a throw of at least 69.50 for Osaka, but Pöyry did not start the competition due to the rain. The Finnish champion Merja Korpela won with a 67.84 throw and will be the only female Finnish hammer thrower at the Worlds.

Mononen and Bäck out of Osaka, too

Matti Mononen, fourth at the Europeans last year, tried desperately to find the right technical form in the men’s Pole Vault, but dropped the bar three times at his opening height.

Mononen has been training harder than ever this summer and has enough physical capacity for much higher than his SB of 5.45. His technique was lost during the indoor season, and Mononen wondered if he should start his outdoor competition season a bit later than he did.

Russian-born Natalia Bäck tried to reach the "B" standard of 14.00 in the women’s Triple Jump, but her last and longest jump was only 13.78. That was perhaps the last performance of her career.

“I continued for one more season only, because I wanted to compete in Osaka. Now I don’t even know if I have energy to jump in the Sweden - Finland match in Gothenburg in September,” said Bäck, 37.

Elsewhere...

Two-time Finnish champion Mikko Lahtio won the men’s 800 with a season’s best of 1:47.81 to leave Kenyans Daniel Kandie and Linus Ndiva behind. Another good victory for a young Finnish athlete was seen in the men’s 100m, as Joni Rautanen clocked 10.53 and beat Christopher Fance of Nigeria by 0.09 seconds. Johanna Halkoaho has been in a solid form in the women’s 100m Hurdles, but clocked only 13.31 to win here. Halkoaho will also not compete in Osaka.

Finland will send a squad of 25 athletes to Osaka. Sports Director of the Finnish Federation SUL, Jarmo Mäkelä, said, that the rain at the end of a very sunny and hot week on Sunday was the main reason for the fact that the team will not have any additions after Kuortane.

Antti-Pekka Sonninen for the IAAF