SQUAD 4 - THURSDAY, AUGUST 18
 
Ex-pro bowler Jouni Helminen, 35, flew in from Lahti, Finland today and promptly stamped his authority on this third edition of the Olympia Tournament, hitting 1372, beating the previous high of 1329 by the wide margin of 43 pins.
"I found the lanes to be really tight," commented the lithe Finn, "so I played the ball really slowly and got a good roll on the ball."
Waiting on the sidelines, with bated breath, were burly
Englishman Stuart Williams and the lithe Neil Frogatt. Williams had finished his six-game set with 1342, disappointed to have a low last game of 170. He stood behind Helminen for the final frames of the Finn and saw his score eclipsed in the latter stages. Froggatt was one pin better on 1343, so now Tony Fransson has dropped from pole position to fourth.
"I will enter again on Saturday," added Helminen. "I don't like to go for two days with out bowling."
Asked for his predictyion of the cut to the top 48 on Satruday night, he forecast +90.
Helminen dropped his pro status but now has to wait until 2008 before he can bowl the WTBA World Championships and ETBF European Championships, but can now enter many other prestigious events. "I really miss those World and European events," he said, "and I hope to get back into the Finnish team when I'm eligible to play again."

SQUAD 5 - 'LINUS' ON THE WARPATH
Anders 'Linus' Ohman, 37, from Sundyberg, near Stockholm (pictured), inducted into the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame, 2004, set his sights on taking over from Helminen in tonight's final squad, opening his account with a 252 and followed that with 245. A 190 in the fourth game on lanes 3 & 4 brought him back from the pace to top the leader board.
Unfortunately, for him, not Helminen, the final count of 1333 fell 40 sticks short at the end of the series, so the slim Finn holds pole position overnight.
This was Ohman's third entry in the Olympia this week, hitting 1212 in both previous attempts. "I changed bowling balls and my line for this squad and it worked out much better for me," he commented.
Friday will feature three squads, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00, local time.

STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 5:
Ladies 8 pin bonus per game included