Keskisalo finished ninth at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris with his then personal best time, 8:17.72. The next two seasons were hampered by injuries, but he made a strong comeback in 2006 by taking surprise gold at the 2006 European Championships in Athletics. He ran a tactical race, taking advantage of a slow early pace and staying at the rear of the field until the last 500 metres, when he sprinted and overtook the other competitors one by one.[3]
In 2007 Keskisalo suffered from injuries again. In 2008 he competed for a place in and was selected for the Olympics, however he injured just a few days before his event and was not able to compete. Later in the autumn it was announced that Risto Ulmala would replace Tommy Ekblom as his coach.[5]
In 2009 Keskisalo broke his personal best record time twice before the World Championships in Berlin; first a time of 8:15.59 when finishing third at the Golden League event Meeting Areva in Paris, and later a time of 8:12.93 at the Super Grand Prix event Herculis in Monaco. At the World Championships steeplechase final Keskisalo achieved his best result at the global level when finishing eighth with a time of 8:14.47. On 28 August Keskisalo finally broke Tapio Kantanen's 33 years old Finnish record when finishing sixth in a time of 8:10.67 in Weltklasse Zürich. Keskisalo split from coach Ulmala after the 2009 season.[6] His new coach Ismo Hämäläinen was announced in October 2009. Hämäläinen is more known from cross country skiing and had coached Germany in sprint skiing shortly before.[7]
2010s
In 2012 Keskisalo was able to compete at the Olympics but did not finish the steeplechase final.[8]
