Finns take almost all medals in mobile phone throwing world championships World record stays in Finnish hands.

Summer in Finland is the time of year when wives are carried, saunas are endured, and mobile phones are thrown with main force as far as possible. We may have missed the wife-carrying (in Sonkajärvi at the beginning of July), and the sauna endurance world championships (in Heinola earlier this month), but the mobile phone tossers will not be denied.
      Unlike the wife-carrying, where Estonians seem to be invincible these days, and sitting in the sauna, where Finnish hegemony has recently been threatened by sweat-meisters from Belarus, the Finns cleaned up in almost every category at Saturday's mobile phone throwing worlds, held in Savonlinna.

     
The men's traditional event was won by Lasse Etelätalo with a throw of 89.00 metres. In the women's traditional competition Eija Laakso not only secured victory but also set a new Finnish and world record mark of 50.83.

The most international category was the freestyle team competition, where the throwing technique was perhaps less important than originality, style, aesthetics, and convincing the panel of judges. 
Victory here went to Team Sweden. The team's Peter Siepen also hurled the mobile nearly 40 metres in the individual men's event, setting a new Swedish record. Even though this distance pales somewhat beside the other throws, it was enough for the national best - mobiles have not previously been thrown in Sweden under strict competition conditions.
     

This was the seventh holding of the championships, and there were around 70 competitors, hailing from Finland, Sweden, Russia, Holland, Belgium, and Canada. The Dutch and Belgian national champions were also represented, but they did not figure on the podium in Savonlinna.
      However much one might have wished at some point to hurl one's own malfunctioning Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, or Samsung, this was not possible in Savonlinna. The organisers provided the official phones, with all kinds of models and brands to choose from.
     

Perhaps the weekend's happiest winner was 6-year-old Paavo Kolari, who took top honours in the individual freestyle event with his heavy-metal outfit, throwing the mobile with vigour and style despite being hampered by a guitar and a long black wig. 
Paavo had charmed spectators a year ago as a phone-throwing Captain Hook, but the 2005 jury had relegated him to the silver medal spot.

Reported in Helsinki Sanomat - International Edition.

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