Javelin thrower Oliver Helander becomes a father, the coach changed and the technique is modified. The beginning of the 2026 season has been marred by a small foot challenge.
Most first-time fathers recognize the feeling: the body bubbles when you don’t really know what’s coming.
– I don’t know if it’s exciting. That’s a nice thing. I really expect a lot, describes the javelin thrower Oliver Helander29.
Spouse Ingrid expecting the couple’s first child. The calculated time is during this summer.
– Future fatherhood has given additional motivation to play sports. Especially in a way that I could imagine going on a bit longer. It would be great if a kid could see me throw.
The Raasepor native said two years ago that the final stop of his career is at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.
– If my health remains good, why not continue to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. I will be 35 years old at the time of Brisbane, so at least in theory I should still be able to compete then.
In three cities
Javelin thrower Oliver Helander is full of energy. The goals of the 2026 season are an EC medal and a place in the Budapest Ultimate Championship major event. Jenni Gästgivar
Helander moved to Århus with his spouse at the end of 2024. Ruokakunna was brought to Denmark by Ingrid’s study and work patterns.
In the summer of 2026, the couple will spend a lot of time in Turku.
– I think that at some point we will return to Finland. Whether it will be in a year or five – I don’t know yet, says Helander.
– We have a reasonable network of friends and support in Denmark. Of course, not as big as in Finland, the athlete adds and refers to childcare issues with the support network.
Starting last fall, Helander has been training for a few two-week sessions in Tallinn. A new coach was found in Estonia Magnus Kirt.
– After the 2025 competition season, I was in contact with Kirti. Then we met in Tallinn and agreed on coaching cooperation. He said he would be happy to be my coach.
Left-handed Kirt, 36, won European Championship bronze in 2018 and World Championship silver a year later in Doha. The career practically ended due to a shoulder injury in the desert.
Helander knew Kirti at the end of the last decade, but they cannot be characterized as old acquaintances.
– When Tero Pitkämäki stopped being my coach after the 2024 season, I thought about Kirti. Our throwing styles were pretty similar at best.
For the 2025 season, Helander will operate a remote coaching relationship with Kuortane Petteri Piironen with.
The former Finnish long jump champion and EC champion continues as Helander’s manager Kristian Bäck.
This for new ones
Oliver Helander and his wife Ingrid are expecting their first child. Stock photo. Jenni Gästgivar
For years, Helander’s goal was Olympic gold in Paris. In the summer of 2024, Rome won the European Championship bronze, but the Olympic gig was cut short due to health problems.
This resulted in a considerable spiritual outburst. The Finn did not catch the humpa plot until 2025. It showed in the results. Last season’s only throws of more than 80 meters came in the same competition: in the Brussels Diamond League in August, the best throw was 83.97 meters.
– In terms of motivation, there have been no problems. Everything has gone really well.
Pitkämäki trained a former handball player into a javelin thrower. The fragile and injury-prone youth grew into a muscular top athlete. However, there was one significant setback in the 2021–24 coaching season of the sports legend: Helander’s old strength, speed running, froze badly.
– That is the most important thing that Kirti and I have tried to improve, Helander describes.
– I was slower when I was younger, but I was really fast with the spear. Now I’m faster, but slower with the javelin, he adds.
What causes it?
– I have thought a lot about how it can be so difficult. The easiest answer is that after injuries and difficulties, I don’t really trust my body and my technique, so I start to slow down when picking up speed, Helander answers.
Small trouble
Estonian Magnus Kirt coaches Oliver Helander. Stock photo from 2023. Sami Ikonen
In April, during the first throwing session at the Spain training camp, the Finn felt a little pain in the adductor muscle of his left leg.
– It mixed up the throw. It was supposed to open the competition season in Nairobi at the end of April, but the opening was moved to May. Throwing has been significantly more challenging since then.
In Halle on May 16, the Finn cleared 76.56 meters and on May 29 in Bydgoszcz 78.10 meters.
– The leg doesn’t hinder throwing, and I don’t feel that I’m being careful. There was only a short break from the harder throws. It takes time for the throw to get back to normal. I wouldn’t worry too much about this. It’s quite annoying when there are results that start at a standstill in the games.
In his career, Helander has thrown more than 85 meters in nine different competitions, most recently in the European Championship finals in Rome 2024. The record of 89.83 meters is from four years ago.
The next time the man competes is on Wednesday in the Lahti GP.
Oliver Helander’s competition season 2026 has started with rather tame results. A picture of the Polish midget from the end of May, when the 800-gram one flew 78 meters. PDO