Kupittaa Race Track, Turku | May 10, 1923 (XC)
Eläintarha Sports Ground, Helsinki | July 28–29, 1923 (25 000 m, 4x100 m, 4x400 m, decathlon)
Väinölänniemi Sports Ground, Kuopio | August 18–19, 1923 (main meet)
The 1923 squabble for the Finnish track and field titles commenced on Ascension Day at the Turku race track – a venue that, with the characteristic grandiosity of the 1920s, was referred to as a "Hippodrome." Hannes Kolehmainen, the knit-capped Olympic hero, piloted the pack until the bitter end, where he was forced to capitulate to the "Moose of Pälkäne," Väinö Sipilä, who thundered his way to a debut cross-country crown. Kolehmainen, for his part, had to be content with a prime view of the prize-giving from the grass.
Meanwhile, Paavo Nurmi, fresh from snaring the Helsinki district title earlier in May, did not deign to grace his home city’s cross-country struggle with his presence.
The second course of the season’s athletics was served in late July at Eläintarha, where a mutinous heatwave spent two days oppressing the local youth. The decathlon was effectively an orchestrated takeover by the Yrjölä Family Mafia. Iivari scooped the gold, while brother Paavo pensioned off the rest of the field to secure the bronze. Later, of course, the hierarchy would be upended when Paavo decathloned his way to Olympic glory in Amsterdam.
The Eläintarha affair was only settled during the 1500, where Iivari and the runner-up, Gustaf Strandberg, spent the final lap wrangling for the overall crown. When Iivari overhauled his Swedish-speaking rival on the home straight, Strandberg – despite his previous heroics in Gothenburg – evidently found the pace distasteful and simply sauntered across the line. The veteran Valdemar Wickholm, a titan of the previous decade, saw his toil disintegrate when he bungled three attempts at a mere 1.55 (5-1) in the high jump.
Interestingly, had the points been tallied using the matrix from 64 years later, Strandberg, the future architect, would have narrowly out-blueprinted the country boy Iivari.
Elsewhere, the returning Albin Stenroos clearly had the Parisian horizon in his sights, as he plodded to a lonely victory in the 25,000. The starting line was, it must be noted, conspicuously devoid of any other marquee names. Meanwhile, the Helsingin IFK quartet, bristling with internationals, galloped to victory in the long relay, pulverising the national club record in 3:23.8. Erik Wilén dispatched his leg with a flying start of 49.3.
The championships moved to Kuopio’s pristine Väinölänniemi ground after mid-August. The weather was resolutely dismal – chilly and overcast – hardly the climate for sculpting world-class records.
Paavo Nurmi, his mind already occupied by an impending clash of titans with Edvin Wide in Stockholm, limited his official exertions to the 800. He toiled his way to a new Finnish record of 1:56.3, leaving the silver medallist, Gösta Jansson, nearly two seconds in his wake. In the 5000, the "Silent Finn" simply ambled home in first place as a non-competitor, presumably for the exercise.
While Nurmi was selective, Olympic champion Vilho Tuulos was voracious. The "Grasshopper of Tampere" requisitioned the gold in every jumping event save for the pole vault. In the triple jump, he bounded to a distance of 15.38 (50-5½) – a mark that would have tickled the world record – had it not been for the fact that he had trespassed over the board by a solitary millimetre.
A young Urho Kekkonen from Kainuu snatched his first-ever championship medal by hoisting himself to a bronze in the high jump (1.75/5-8⅞). However, his ambitions in the 100m sprint were curtailed when the officials flagged him off for a series of premature departures from the blocks.
Erik Wilén bounced his way to victory in both hurdle events, while also pocketing a gold in the 400 flat and a bronze in the 200. By notching his fifth title in the 400, Wilén became the event’s undisputed standard-bearer. His margin of victory, a yawning 3.0 seconds, was the most profound insult ever delivered to a runner-up in the history of the games to date. Martti Jukola, a future pioneer of the wireless, stumbled upon the silver in the long hurdles, thus opening his medal account.
In the throwing circles, Vilho Niittymaa was industrious, lugging home gold in the discus and a pair of bronzes in the hammer and shot. He secured his position as one of the best platterists in the world during 1923.
As for the Kaleva Cup (the prize for the club competition), there was no need to heave it to a new location; it remains perched firmly in the offices of Helsinki IFK.
Complete (Tilastopaja)
Medallists (Wikipedia)
XC
Turun Sanomat, May 12, 1923 (in Finnish)
Idrottsbladet (Finland), May 14, 1923 (in Swedish)
Suomen Urheilulehti, June 15, 1923 (photos)
25 000 m, 4x100 m, 4x400 m, decathlon
Uusi Suomi, July 29, 1923 (in Finnish)
Helsingin Sanomat, July 30, 1923 (in Finnish)
Idrottsbladet (Finland), July 30, 1923 (in Swedish)
Main meet
Helsingin Sanomat, August 19, 1923 (in Finnish)
Uusi Suomi, August 19, 1923 (in Finnish)
Helsingin Sanomat, August 20, 1923 (in Finnish)
Turun Sanomat, August 20, 1923 (in Finnish)
Savon Sanomat, August 21, 1923 (in Finnish)
Idrottsbladet (Finland), August 21, 1923 (in Swedish)
Viikko-Sanomat, August 25, 1923 (in Finnish)