The men's pole vault qualification began well for Alasaari, who cleared 5.25m and 5.45m at the first attempt, but as the favourites entered the competition at 5.60m, Alasaari was already beginning to struggle with two failures. However, he went clear when under pressure with a smooth third attempt to stay alive.
With only 11 athletes going clear at 5.60m, the Finn had done enough to reach the 14-strong final, progressing in eighth place overall, and will be back in action in the evening session on Sunday 16th.
Finns eliminated in javelin and relay
Finland had three representatives in the women's javelin qualification, but none were able to progress. Jatta-Mari Jaaskelainen posted a best effort of 53.72m, but that was only good enough for 12th place in qualification group A, meaning just one group B athlete had to surpass her to end her chance of reaching the final. Emilia Karell did just that, throwing 54.38m with her second attempt before a foul in her third, but she was still over 2m down on the top 12. Rebecca Nelimarkka did manage to improve with her final attempt, but increasing 49.34m to 53.75m would not be nearly enough to qualify.
A Finnish quartet of Heidi Salminen, Aino Pulkkinen, Hilla Uusimaki and Veera Mattila were on the track for the first heat of the women's 4x400m relay. Last after the first changeover, a strong finish from Pulkkinen moved Finland into sixth and the halfway mark but it wasn't a position they were able to improve on. Having initially dropped back to last, Mattila finished well on the anchor leg to cross the line seventh in 3:30.54, which went down as a season's best.
There will be no Finnish participation the the women's 10,000m in Friday's evening session, after Ilona Mononen withdrew following her run in the 3000m steeplechase final on Thursday. Nina Chydenius had previously pulled out owing to illness.
