When the medal presentations for the men's Javelin are made on Thursday, the expected capacity crowd in Helsinki's historic Olympic Stadium will hear a tune familiar to them as their national anthem. But it will not be music to the Finns' ears: for Estonia shares the same music for its national anthem, and the flag raised on the centremost pole above the stadium will be to honour the achievement of Andrus Varnik, thanks to his 87.17-metre fourth-round snatch and grab here tonight.

It marked a remarkable turnaround in form for the Estonian, a silver medallist in Paris two years ago but who more recently, had struggled for form.

He had finished only ninth at the Helsinki Grand Prix here barely 10 days earlier, as this time he beat the Olympic champion, Andreas Thorkildsen, who had led after three rounds and had a best throw of 86.18, and the defending World champion, Russia's Sergei Makarov, whose best 83.54 came in the final round.

And it meant desperate disappointment for the Finnish hosts and their tyro young thrower, Tero Pitkamaki.

Pitkamaki entered the stadium to massive roars from the crowd, clearly the biggest of the week so far. Many of the spectators were waving Finnish flags, some held banners proclaiming "Tero is our Hero".

But with such support also comes the weight of expectation, and this bore down heavily on the 22-year-old Finn, not least because of his 91.53-metre effort earlier in the year, which had placed him sixth on the all-time list.

But in the rain and wind of the first two rounds tonight, Pitkamaki was not even the sixth best thrower in the final.

For while Makarov rushed though his first-round effort, like a commuter in the Moscow rush hour, dashing for his train and avoiding the showers, and still managed to lob his spear out more than 80 metres (the only man to do so in round one), the Finns' favourite looked tight and anxious. An optional foul of less than 75 metres followed his listless first-round 75.44.

After qualifying during Tuesday's rare dry and warm spell, Pitkamaki had expressed a desire for better weather. "I wish tomorrow the wind would calm down," he said ahead of the final. "The wind came from the side and turned the javelin down. Otherwise the throw would have been longer."

He also spoke of the pressure he had felt, adding, "When I got the javelin in my hand I relaxed. This is the thing I do best." There was a hint of that in the third round, with Pitkamaki under pressure to stay in the final in a lowly seventh place, and he produced a 79.64m effort to guarantee himself an extended stay, if not a medal.

That was not the case for his team mate, and 1999 World champion, Aki Parvianinen, who pulled up injured during his third run-up, to end the competition ninth courtesy of his 74.86 in round one.

Makarov had extended his lead in round two to 83.30, and was joined in the 80-plus category by Thorkildesen, with 81.52.

Since winning in Athens last year, the Norwegian had not been seen throwing in public wearing his trademark woolly hat. Maybe he felt he needed a confidence boost, or maybe, like the rest of us, he was just feeling cold: on came the hat for round three, and along came the lead: 83.41.

But it was round four when the competition took off, thanks to Varnik's huge effort. Next Pitkamaki gained respectability with 81.27, but Makarov re-took second place with 83.48 before he was trumped by the Norwegian (this time with his tracksuit bottoms off, so it must have been serious), who threw 85.71.

With the rain easing, the conditions ought to have helped the throwers in the final two rounds, but 23-year-old Thorkildsen was the only thrower to make an improvement in the penultimate round, with 86.18 to consolidate his second place.

Varnik's final throw was short and out of the sector. Now it was up to the others, their fate in their own hands. Pitkamaki hurled himself almost as much as the spear with his last throw, and it arced through the night sky to land close to the 75-metre mark. The hosts were denied their dream result.

Makarov was the next of the contenders to throw. After a series which had already included four 80-metre-plus throws, the defending champion produced his best of the night, 83.54, but not good enough for more than the bronze.

And then Thorkildsen stepped up, threw, and once he saw the result, stepped over the line. The gold was Varnik's.

Pitkamaki sets up thrills for the Finnish

Day Four of the championships dawned fine, the sun was shining, and the queues to buy tickets even for the morning session went around the block: today was Javelin day in Helsinki.

Some of the Finns in what looked to be a near-capacity crowd for the morning session had paid more than €300 to see one throw, less than two seconds' worth of action, as the host nation's best chance of a title, Tero Pitkamaki, was centre stage. He did not disappoint them.

Even as Pitkamaki stood at the end of the runway ahead of his first throw, the roar begun to rumble around the bowl of the Olympic Stadium. The runners lined up nearby for a 200 metres heat, including the 100m champion, Justin Gatlin, sensed that they would not be starting their race too soon.

And by the time the 22-year-old launched the spear, the noise was deafening. It transformed into universal applause, too, as the javelin was clearly destine to land beyond the 81-metre automatic qualifying mark, and landed at 82.21. Job done, and Pitkamaki duly packed his bag and headed off for an early lunch, leaving the others in his second qualifying group to struggle with the pernicious, swirling wind.

Andrus Varnik, Estonia's Olympic silver medallist, for instance, clearly managed to send his second throw beyond 81 metres - but a gust of wind forced the spear out of the sector. This might have been all the more galling for Varnik after the third round, when his effort fell but 3cm short of the automatic qualifying distance.

In the event, only three athletes managed 81 metres, with Sergei Makarov, the defending champion, who ambled up to deliver the javelin 85.08 metres and Norway's Olympic gold medallist Andreas Thorkildsen (81.45) coming from the first pool.

In fact, 77.08m, from Tomas Intas, proved good enough to qualify for Wednesday's final.

"I just wanted to make sure I did it with my first throw," Pitkamaki said. "The conditions were challenging. I hope the wind calms down for tomorrow."

Makarov knows that he will be in for a battle. "The stands were almost full this morning," he said, "which is evidence that the javelin throw is almost a national event in Finland.

"I'm sure there are not going to be any free seats tomorrow for the final."