Finnish hammer thrower Silja Kosonen has won the biggest title of her career—and celebrated by publicly sharing her relationship with girlfriend Senni Viren.
The 23-year-old claimed gold at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on 12 August, producing a dominant 76.28-metre throw to secure her first senior championship medal.
Kosonen finished almost two metres ahead of defending champion Sara Fantini of Italy, who took silver with 74.35 metres. Norway’s Beatrice Llano claimed bronze with 72.88 metres.
Watching from the stands was Viren, a Finnish international futsal player who Kosonen had already been dreaming of celebrating with.
Kosonen Claims Her First Senior Championship Medal
Kosonen produced her winning throw during the third round of the women’s hammer final.
Her series also included throws of 74.97 and 75.47 metres, meaning three of her legal attempts would have been enough to win the competition.
The victory ended a run of near misses for the Finnish athlete.
Kosonen finished fourth at the 2024 European Championships in Rome, fifth at the Paris Olympics later that year and fourth at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
Her European title therefore represents a major breakthrough for an athlete who has consistently competed among the world’s best without previously reaching a senior championship podium.
At just 23, Kosonen can now call herself a European champion.
A Sideline Celebration She Had Dreamed About
Kosonen’s victory became even more memorable when she celebrated with Viren on the sidelines.
Viren is a defender who has represented Finland’s national women’s futsal team. Like Kosonen, she comes from the Finnish city of Raisio.
The couple reportedly met in their hometown and have been dating since the beginning of 2026.
Speaking to Finnish broadcaster YLE after winning gold, Kosonen explained how much it meant to have her girlfriend watching from the stands.
“I was already dreaming about the moment when I would be able to celebrate with her on the sidelines,” she said.
The resulting images offered a joyful and refreshingly ordinary sporting moment: an athlete celebrating the greatest achievement of her career with the person she loves.
‘I Have Found Another Person With Whom I Can Be Myself’
Kosonen also opened up about the difference falling in love has made to her life.
“Since I met Senni at the beginning of the year, life has started to ‘smile’ in a different way,” she said. “I have found another person with whom I can be myself.”
The relationship had not previously been widely discussed in public, and the couple had not planned to make any formal announcement during the championships.
Instead, Kosonen said the decision to share their happiness came naturally after she won gold.
The Couple Had Not Planned A Public Announcement
Kosonen later said the response to her relationship had been overwhelmingly supportive, although some negative messages had inevitably appeared.
“Most of the messages have been really positive,” she told Finnish newspaper Iltalehti. “There are always more negative ones. We didn’t plan on making it public in any way in advance. I felt like I wanted to enjoy the moment and share the joy with others.”
The moment was not presented as a carefully managed coming-out campaign or a major announcement about her identity.
It was simply Kosonen choosing not to hide an important part of her life while celebrating an extraordinary professional achievement.
That distinction matters.
LGBTQ+ athletes are often expected either to make a formal public declaration or avoid discussing their personal lives altogether. Straight athletes, meanwhile, routinely celebrate victories with their partners without the moment being treated as politically significant.
Kosonen’s decision allowed her relationship to be seen with that same sense of normality.
Why The Visibility Matters
Openly LGBTQ+ women are increasingly visible across international sport, but representation remains uneven between countries and sporting disciplines.
Athletics has featured a growing number of out competitors, particularly in running and jumping events, but publicly LGBTQ+ throwers remain comparatively uncommon.
According to records compiled by LGBTQ+ Olympic historian Tony Scupham-Bilton, Kosonen appears to be the first Olympic hammer thrower known to have publicly come out or shared a same-sex relationship.
The claim is necessarily based on available public records, particularly as many athletes throughout history were unable or unwilling to speak openly about their sexuality.
Nevertheless, Kosonen’s visibility adds another important name to the growing history of LGBTQ+ Olympians.
For queer athletes and sporting fans in Australia, the images from Birmingham may feel especially meaningful.
There was no scandal, controversy or dramatic announcement—just a newly crowned European champion sharing the happiest moment of her career with her girlfriend.
Sometimes that simple visibility can be among the most powerful.
From Tokyo To Los Angeles
Kosonen was already an Olympian before she had left her teenage years.
She made her Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021 at just 18, finishing 14th overall in qualifying and narrowly missing a place in the hammer final.
Three years later, she finished fifth at the Paris Olympics with a throw of 74.04 metres.
She continued moving closer to the podium by placing fourth at the 2025 World Championships before finally securing her breakthrough senior medal—and a gold one at that—in Birmingham.
If Kosonen qualifies for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, it will be her third Games.
This time, she would arrive not only as a European champion, but as an athlete competing while openly sharing the happiness she has found away from the throwing circle.
At 23, Kosonen’s sporting story is still only beginning.
And if her performance in Birmingham is any indication, there could be plenty more victories for her and Viren to celebrate together.
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