Papula Sports Ground, Viipuri, Finland, October 8, 1927
In the old days, the athletics season continued well into the autumn. In 1927, competitions were still held in Viipuri at the beginning of October though the weather was cold. And not in vain, as the javelin world record once again returned to Finland.
For a time after the Paris Olympics, it seemed that the javelin wouldn't soar as far in the Finnish forests. Jonni Myyrä, a two-time Olympic champion who had fled his creditors to America, indeed threw 68-metre marks in his new homeland, but these were never officially recognized.
Stepping up to fill the void was 20-year-old Eino Penttilä, who burst onto the scene at the 1926 Finnish Championships javelin competition and won the whole thing. His second national championship came the following year. The trophy from the Sweden–Finland dual meet also found its place in his display cabinet, so the most optimistic began to gradually anticipate a world record. The official record was held by Sweden's Gunnar Lindström, who had thrown 66.62 (218-7) in the autumn of 1924.
Penttilä improved the world record twice in Viipuri. On his second throw, the javelin arced 67.42 (221-2), and on his third, 69.88 (229-3). In reality, the javelin would have been the first in the world to fly over 70 metres if the actual length of the trajectory (71.03m) had been recorded according to today's rules. Penttilä, you see, threw the javelin close to the sector line, losing a couple of meters due to the straight-drawn measuring lines.
The newly crowned world record holder didn't toil in vain in Viipuri, as he was awarded a gold watch donated by Finnish-Americans as a reward for surpassing 68 meters. Even the master of words, Dr. Martti Jukola, was moved to poeticize in his History of Track And Field book:
The long-awaited prodigal son, the javelin record, had returned to its rejoicing kin.
However, many might have missed Penttilä's throw, as he unleashed his result during the 1500. That race was won by the star guest of the competitions, Dr. Otto Peltzer, the world record holder in the 880 and 1500, with a time of 3:57.0, the fourth-best mark in the world rankings for the season. The real top performance in that race, however, fizzled out during the so-called "death lap" (from 800 to 1200 metres), where Future Olympic Cahampion Harry Lagerström's (Larva) pace at the front faltered. Peltzer unleashed his sprint on the final lap. Finnish elite runners Eino Borg (Purje) and Lagerström had to observe the patterns on the Doctor's spikes from behind. Borg clocked 3:57.9 behind Peltzer, Lagerström set a personal best of 3:59.6, and Leo Helgas, who had dropped the world's leading time in September, finished in 4:00.0.
The German also showed good late-season form about three weeks before the Viipuri competition, when he ran a global record of 2:25.8 for 1000m on the 500m Olympic track in Colombes, Paris.
Karjala October 9, 1927 (in Finnish)
Helsingin Sanomat October 9, 1927 (in Finnish)
Uusi Suomi October 9, 1927 (in Finnish)
Helsingin Sanomat October 10, 1927 (in Finnish)
Viikko-Sanomat October 15, 1927 (in Finnish)