Last Thursday Jul. 19, 2018 in Jyvaskyla (FIN) took place the Finnish Athletics Championships which ended on Sunday 22.
The two walking events were held in the afternoon of the first day with a scorching and unusual heat for the Finnish summer with a temperature that varied from 28°C to 32°C.
The men's race took place on the distance of 20km while the women's race on 10km.
20km men
Only five Finnish athletes at the start to which was added Cameron Corbishley (GBR).
Victory quite easy for Veli-Matti Partanen (FIN) in 1:26:45 who in the post-race declared to have used a cooling jacket and cold towels for the whole warm-up time, about 30 minutes before the race, and drank during the entire race frozen water.
Partanen arrived in Jyvaskyla directly from the high-altitude stage in Livigno (ITA) and the stress of the trip accompanied by the heat made themselves felt.
Second place to Elmo Koivunen (FIN) in 1:33:30
Third place to Jaarkko Maattanen (FIN) in 1:41:41 in front of Timo Viljanen (FIN) in 1:45.24
The other athlete of finnish interest Aleksi Oyala DNF halfway through the race, while Cameron Corbishley (GBR) was disqualified.
10km women
Eight athletes at the start of which seven have completed the race and one DNF.
Also in this case a fairly easy victory for Elisa Neuvonen (FIN) in 47:54 who won the Finnish Championship for the third consecutive time. She also used the same body cooling system as the Partanen in the pre-race.
Second place to Enni Nurmi (FIN) in 49:09
Third place to Tia Kuikka (FIN) in 49:27