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Pitkämäki ends his 2007 season with a Grand Prix win

22 September 2007

Tero Pitkämäki ended an excellent season with his 14th first place finish, and stayed in first place in the javelin until the end of the season. The Osaka World Champion also finished in first place in his last competition of the season at the Stuttgart Grand Prix. His winning throw was 88.19 metres.

"I still would only give myself a grade of A minus for this season. If I would have managed to break the Finnish record, the summer would have merited a full A," Pitkämäki said by telephone from Stuttgart, showing how self-critical he is.

Pitkämäki's best throw of the season was 91.23 metres. That was good enough to rank second in the world rankings behind Breaux Greer (91.29) of the US. Aki Parviainen's eight-year-old Finnish record is 93.09 metres. Pitkämäki will try to break it next summer.

His main and only goal of the season was to succeed at the Osaka World Championships. He won with a throw of 90.33 metres.

"Everything else was an added bonus. I’m very satisfied with my season. The only negative was the accident in Rome," Pitkämäki added.

On 13 July in Paris the Finn's javelin swerved to the left and landed outside the field. The 800 gram javelin hit the upper body of French long jumper Salim Sdiri.

"I haven't heard from the guy for a while. I think I'll send him a text message today and ask how he is doing," the Finn said before the evening’s celebrations.

Pitkämäki will start a combined autumn holiday and recovery period. Cartilage will be removed from the elbow of this throwing arm in a routine procedure.

Pitkämäki's hand became very sore at the Turku Elite Games. For a while, he was unsure whether he could compete at the Paris Golden League, but the pain was controlled with analgesics.

"The recovery prognosis is from four to six weeks. I usually take five weeks off from sport in the autumn anyway, so the operation does not cause any harm," he says.

Pitkämäki will go on a trip to Lapland in the autumn with his fiancée Niina Kelo. Pitkämäki says the trip is not a honeymoon. He says the proposal and honeymoon will take place later.

Pitkämäki will prepare for next summer's season largely with the same training methods. His cooperation with coach Hannu Kangas will continue for the eleventh year.

"There is no need to change the routine. The focus remains on technique. The arches of my throws should be a bit lower than this summer," Pitkämäki says.