Karjalainen comes back in Joensuu
Karjalainen who had had a back injury was getting back into better shape in Joensuu and felt well. His second best throw was also over 76 metres, but the "A" Entry Standard for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu of 78m was still too far away.
The come-back was very important for Karjalainen, the 2006 European Silver medallist, because there are another two hammer throwers who alos have the ‘B’ standard and the domestic season best is David Söderberg’s 77.34m. In Joensuu Söderberg produced only 74.21, and if none of three men can set the "A" Standard, the winner in the Finnish Championships in Turku next week will probably be selected for Daegu.
"So far, so good, but I still have to be very careful. A lot can be done to my shape before Daegu, and of course I’ll compete there if I’m in the team," said Karjalainen, 31.
Karjalainen has thrown in every international championship since the European Champsionships in Budapest 1998 and has won 13 Finnish titles in a row, and that’s why he’ll have at least two good reasons to be number one in Turku.
Keskisalo still short of the ‘A’
The audience of 3800 spectators were expecting lot from the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, as Jukka Keskisalo, the 2006 European champion, one of two Finns with the ‘B’ standard for Daegu had a chance to run under the "A" Standard of 8:23.10 in his home town, but Keskisalo couldn’t manage to do it: 4th in 8:30.82. Ahead of him Kenya’s Elijah Chelimo spurted into the victory from the last water jump in 8:22.73, Ethiopia’s Nahom Mesfin placed second in 8:22.15 and Australia’s Youcef Abdin was third in 8:23.16.
"The same song after each race: badly run. Full-stop!", said the self-critical Keskisalo, who doesn’t know which events to run at the national championships, yet.
"I’m on the list in the 1500m, 5000m and Steeplechase. I won’t run all of them, but I must think about, which one or which two," he said.
Nevertheless, Keskisalo kept his leading position in the Elite Games overall competition, which has a 15,000 euro prize, before the last meeting in Lappeenranta 13 August.
Aussie victories
The most exciting running event of the day was the Men’s 1500m. Australia’s James Kaan won in 3:40.09 after beating USA´s Craig Miller by 0.01 seconds. "We are a big group of Australian runners training and competing in Europe. London is our base, because from there it´s very easy to travel to the competitions in different countries," said Kaan.
The women´s 1500m was won by an Australian too. Zoe Buckman had a strong last 100 metres sprint and clocked her PB of 4:06.06 - only 0.06 seconds from the "B" Standard for Daegu. "Frustrating, but I´ll have new try in Budapest", Buckman said.
Evilä remains confident
Finland’s 2005 World bronze medallist Tommi Evilä is hunting the Daegu "B" Standard of 8.10m in the men’s Long Jump. He beat South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga by one centimetre, but the mark 7.81 was not what Evilä was hoping for.
"I feel, I’m in the best shape of my life, and I still have 12 jumps to qualify to the World Champs. If the weather conditions will be good in Turku, I can set a big bomb there," promised Evilä.
In the men’s Javelin Throw, the first place went to the USA’s Sean Furey with a 78.57 mark in the 2nd round. Antti Ruuskanen’s technique was much worse than in Lapinlahti on Sunday, and his result of 78.08 left no room for any explanations.
The best performance in the field events was Russia’s Irina Tarasova who produced 18.42m in the Women’s Shot Put, and with that she broke the 36-year-old Arena Record.
A-P Sonninen for the IAAF
