Väinölänniemi Sports Field, Kuopio, June 18–19, 1927
Papula Sports Field, Viipuri, August 9–10, 1927
The year 1927 wasn't among Paavo Nurmi's best, even in an athletic sense. Fearing overtraining, the employee of a Turku car dealership only began his training in April. His summer programme included just 14 competitions. Nevertheless, he set one world record: in the 2000 in Kuopio, just before Midsummer.
Nurmi surged to the lead right from the gun and steadily widened his gap on the others. At the halfway point, The Phantom clocked an intermediate time of 2:40.2. At the finish line, a new record of 5:24.6 was celebrated. This lowered Edvin Wide's previous record by 0.6 seconds. When the world record result was announced, the band hired for the occasion played the "Porilaisten marssi" (the honourary march for the Finnish Defence Forces), in the style of the 1920s, and the two-thousand-strong audience rose to its feet.
Distance runners were in fine form in Kuopio. Kalle Matilainen from the neigbouring town Iisalmi broke away in the 5000 after just four laps and won with a personal best of 14:56.4, placing him third in the world season rankings, right after Nils Eklöf and Paavo Nurmi.
Nurmi's 2000m record didn't last long, as Eino Borg (Purje) reeled in the record to 5:23.4 in Viipuri about six weeks later.
Borg pushed hard in the latter half of the race. His 1000-metre split time was still almost a second slower (2:41.0) than Nurmi's nearly a month earlier. Borg, who had hit top gear, passed the 1500-meter mark in 3:59.2, a time that itself would have been enough for 13th place in the world rankings. The final lap was run in 63 seconds.
Savon Sanomat June 21, 1927 (in Finnish)
Uusi Suomi June 19, 1927 (in Finnish)
Karjala August 10, 1927 (in Finnish)
Helsingin Sanomat August 10, 1927 (in Finnish)