Confidence was on display from Heltela, who opted to skip the opening height of 4.30m in the final of the women's pole vault, before nailing her opening vault of 4.45m. Clearing 4.50m to reach the final, Heltela's next height of 4.60m was her toughest attempt of the week, but despite giving the bar a wobble, it stayed up, keeping her sheet clean and among one of only four finalists to clear the height first time.
With only six athletes left in the competition, the 2022 champion then made 4.70m look easy with another comfortable clearance, but she was being matched all the time by Angelica Moser of Switzerland. Another 5cm was then added by the 28-year-old, but a failure from Belgian Ellen Vekemans ensured Heltela would leave Birmingham with a medal.
However, it was then advantage Moser, as Heltela finally suffered a failure at 4.80m. France's Marie-Julie Bonnin, the only other athlete still going, couldn't take advantage as she failed at the same height, but Moser remained perfect, taking the outright lead.
That forced Bonnin and Heltela to try and equal the Finn's own national record of 4.85m, and after the Frenchwoman fell short, Heltela secured a silver medal. But, she too was not able to match her personal best, handing a second successive European gold to Moser.
Finland now have one silver and one gold to their name at these championships, after Silja Kosonen won the women's hammer. They sit joint-seventh in the medal table.
Mononen runs out of steam and misses medal
With the fourth-best time in the heats and a European under-23 title to her name, hopes were high for Ilona Mononen to add another medal to Finland's total. After getting into a good early position, the Finn stayed on the shoulders of Germany's Lea Meyer and Gesa Felicitas Krause, who ramped up the pace, and soon a group of eight were clear of the rest of the field.
At the 2000m mark, the medals were certain to be going to three of the leading eight, but tiredness from the fast start was taking its toll, and Mononen stumbled at the penultimate water jump with 500m to go. That could have not come at a worse time, as the Germans kicked again at the bell, with Mononen one of three who detached. Krause took gold in 9:12.69 after a crashing fall from Meyer at the final water, as Mononen crossed the line in eighth place, stopping the clock at 9:25.62.
National record not quite enough for Illukka
Riku Illukka narrowly missed out on a place in the 100m final and the same fate fell on him again in the 200m. Given a bye to the semi-finals, the Finn put in a brilliant performance from lane nine in the third and final semi-final, running a national record of 20.38. The race was won by Germany's Owen Ansah in a European leading time of 20.04, while a photo was needed to separate Illukka, William Reais of Switzerland and Filippo Dezza of Italy.
The confirmation was Reais was second with a season's best of 20.35, as Dezza took a personal best with the same time. The Italian took the final non-automatic qualification place, meaning the Finn missed out by 0.03 seconds.
Parviainen sneaks into final after Helander disappoints
There was drama in the men's javelin qualification during the afternoon - Finland's main hope, Oliver Helander, gave himself work to do with his last effort after throwing 78.43m with his second attempt, but an overstep meant he failed to improve, leaving him ninth at the end of qualification group A.
By the second round of group B, four men had thrown further than Helander, ending his chances of reaching the final. One of them was compatriot Topi Parviainen, who produced a 78.88m second throw, but with a best of 75.15m, Eemil Porvari never got into qualification contention.
It looked certain that no Finnish man would reach the European final for the first time after Germany's Thomas Rohler and Italy's Giovanni Fantini both eclipsed Parviainen, knocking him down to 13th. However, nearly 10 minutes after his throw, it was confirmed Rohler's foot touched the sideline, and his final effort was disallowed, sending 19-year-old Parviainen into the final on 15th August by the skin of his teeth. Helander finished 15th and Porvati, 25th.
Junnila into high jump final
The morning session saw the women's high jump qualification take place, as Finland's Ella Junnila began with a clearance of 1.75m, and though she needed two attempt at 1.80m, she found her form again with first-time jumps of 1.84m and 1.88m. Under hot conditions in Birmingham, she cleared the automatic qualification height of 1.91m to be among the 15-strong field for the final, which takes place in the evening session on 15th August.