One month after achieving a world leading throw and lifetime best of 90.61m in Kuortane, Estonia’s Magnus Kirt took another victory on Finnish soil at the Joensuu Meeting, a European Athletics Classic Permit Meeting, on Wednesday (24) evening.
Kirt took the lead with a modest opening throw of 78.90m before improving to 82.92m in the second round and then again to 87.35m in the third round. The European bronze medallist elected not to throw again and his second and third attempts remained the two longest of the competition.
Finns Antti Ruuskanen (80.79m) and Lassi Etelatalo (80.72m) finished second and third respectively behind Kirt, the latter producing his only 80 metre-throw in the last round of the competition.
Former European champion Tatsiana Khaladovich from Belarus won the women’s javelin by a similarly dominant margin. Her best throw of 64.82m came in the fifth round, one of five throws in excess of the 60 metre-line.
All five of her valid efforts would have handily beaten Czech Republic’s Irena Sediva (59.35m) and Iceland’s Asdis Hjalmsdottir (59.27m).
Korte breaks Finnish 100m hurdles record with 12.72
The heats and final in Joensuu once again demonstrated the current strength in depth of Finnish sprint hurdling as two athletes surpassed Nooralotta Neziri’s Finnish record of 12.81.
Neziri unfortunately scratched from the final after clocking 12.95 in the heats as Annimari Korte moved to second on the European list with 12.72 to finish second in the final, one place ahead of compatriot Reetta Hurske who also eclipsed the previous mark in 12.78.
[PHOTO src='1288572' size='mediumLandscape' align='right']
Korte, who returned to the sport in 2017 after representing Finland in major age-group competitions in the mid-to-late 2000s, was pipped to the line by Jamaica’s Britany Anderson who improved the world U20 record to 12.79 in the heats and then to 12.71 in the final.
In a good evening for the Finnish contingent for the track, Camilla Richardsson won the 3000m steeplechase in a 9:35.27 PB ahead of Poland’s Alicja Konieczek in 9:36.09 and Topi Raitanen won the 3000m flat in a lifetime best of 7:52.82.
In just over two weeks’ time, Finland will be in action at the European Athletics Team Championships Super League in Bydgoszcz, Poland after gaining promotion on home soil in Vaasa two years ago.
Full results here.