What a bright spot he is, wondered the representative of the Fischer ski brand Gerhard Urain.
We lived the summer of 2022. A happy and very talented 15-year-old Minja Korhonen had caught the ski boss’s attention with his excellent training jumps at the summer GP in Germany. This is how a long-time Finnish physiotherapist remembers Urain’s reaction Jari Hiekkavirta.
At that time, Minja Korhonen was competing in her first adult international competition.
– At the dress check, the check-in lady was already teasing little Minja. I wanted to cry because I’m not going to do this. The going was stiffer than what I was used to in the junior competitions, says Korhonen.
Korhonen won the hill section and finished second.
– It was so crazy. Didn’t believe it myself. Someone threw in that “little star”. Such a nickname came at that moment.
After the weekend, Korhonen got a valuable ski contract in the stable of a big manufacturer.
From the pulpit to the podium
School has started again. The teacher goes through the list of names one by one. In the background, Minja Korhonen talks to her school friends.
He doesn’t really disturb the class, because there is a performance going on that takes place hundreds, if not thousands of times a day in Finnish schools. The teacher checks which students are present in class and marks them in the electronic system, Wilma. This takes ten minutes of the lesson.
If the system feels a little inefficient, then even more horsepower has been pumped out of Minja Korhonen’s machine.
In the Kuopio Classical High School’s sports department, he gets good support to combine elite sports and schooling, but overlaps inevitably arise. Are you going to defend the junior world championship in Lake Placid, or should you already be aiming for the adult world championships?
If the answer is Lake Placid, it hits on the old dances. A potential dance partner also has to be flexible.
Later it turns out that just before the start of the kisa rumba, there is still time to waltz on Old People’s Day.
Korhonen started touring the World Cup already in middle school.
– It must have been a matter of surprise for the teachers and school friends as well, how much I was absent. It also came as a bit of a surprise to me, how many tasks have to be done on the trip in order not to fall behind.
After the school day, it’s time to put on the harness, whose function is provided by a thick rubber band. Hanging in the harness is Korhonen’s coach, a former national level skier Terttu Lapland.
It is a rare exercise that you hardly see Finns doing. Short and fast strokes are aimed at strengthening strengths. Speed is Korhonen’s weapon.
The best places are decided in the combined, mainly on the track. On the Puijo roller ski track, Korhose doesn’t have the real skiing skills.
– Someone who likes competitive skiing has to be questioned a bit. Even if I do it myself, surely no one will enjoy it. If the conditions are right, then skiing is nice. At least the first couple of kilometres, says Korhonen and kicks on.
Things are different at Hyppyrimäki. Korhonen’s essence is very serene, even though every sense of a normal person screams danger and warning at the top of the tower.
Since the tower is located on top of Puijo hill, there is only empty space around. Every gust of wind seems to push you towards low railings and certain death. The slatted floor under your feet reminds you with every step that you are now in the wrong place.
All around, young people move to the boom, shout “hep!” to the coach. and slide in a few seconds at a speed of nearly one hundred kilometers per hour towards the void. They perfectly manage the long aerial flight with the help of two clumsy skis.
Minja Korhonen gets excited to describe the competition of her dreams. In that case, a small headwind would carry the jumper far. The pressure caused by air currents would be felt in the soles of the skis. After a perfect descent, the judges would give good scores, which would make the skiing part an easy part on the way to an overwhelming victory.
I can’t help but think that Korhonen has thought about the profession of an athlete, where you could only jump.
– After all, the special hill has always been in the back of my mind. Depending on this Olympic status, you could possibly move to that side, Korhonen thinks.
After Puijo’s handsome birch trees shed their last leaves and snow fills the ground, Korhonen’s mind has changed. Roller skis have changed to skis, and Korhonen says he has found “a new romance with skiing”.
At the same time that Korhonen is conscientiously building his own career, the ground on top of the structures is in danger of sinking. Combined is currently playing with perhaps the hardest stakes in its history, because its hundred-year status as an Olympic sport is at stake.
The women’s combined journey towards the top has been a project of less than ten years. However, Minja Korhonen has not had to look far for a role model, because from the same municipality, Siilinjärvi, the medalist in the men’s competition will be Ilkka Herola.
Combined has been part of the Winter Olympics since the 1924 Olympics in Chamonix, but it has only been a men’s competition. Now the fates of Herola and Korhonen are intertwined.
The International Olympic Committee has many criteria for Olympic sports, but one of the strongest is equality. The sport must have credible competition in both men’s and women’s divisions. The women’s combined was not accepted for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.
– It is completely clear that we are in the same boat. Milan is the last time there will be only men. After that, it’s both or neither, says Herola.
Losing Olympic status would be a big blow to a small sport like combined, which would affect its general interest, support and sponsorship. The future ilkaherolas and minjakorhoses could no longer dream of an Olympic victory.
Then why weren’t women admitted to the next Olympics? The reasons have been stated and speculated to be the lack of visibility and the narrowness of the tip. The World Cup kicked off only four years ago.
Korhonen himself is aware that the foundations of his sport are shaky.
– The word uncertain describes the matter quite well. What is our future? But when you know the realities, you try to live with them.
The roots of the sport reach far into the past. At the end of the 19th century, the most respected athletes at Holmenkollen were specifically the combined competitors. Special hill and cross-country skiing followed just behind.
Now we are in a situation where a sport that is over a hundred years old may be partly saved by teenage women.
At the beginning of June this year, the combined voice was heard in an important place. The Olympic Committees of European countries and the big bosses, always the president of the IOC Thomas Bach had gathered for the award ceremony in Bucharest.
Minja Korhonen was chosen as the young European athlete of the year, and she did not miss the opportunity.
– I was with influential people. No one forced it, but I knew that now is the moment when I have to open my mouth and take a stand on an important issue. It was worth it at the time.
The then chairman of the Finnish Olympic Committee was present Jan Vapaavuori remembers well the occasion and how Korhonen promoted the status of his sport in his speech.
– A hugely luminous and elegant performer. We could be proud.
Korhonen emphasizes how quickly the sport has raised its level and how the united women are like one family with a good team spirit.
The mutual dynamics of the competitors reminds an outsider of pole vaulting, which clearly stands out among serious traditional sports.
In the midst of everything, we must remember that maintaining Olympic status is not the responsibility of young women. United had a century to build a women’s sport as well, but it was not done for one reason or another.
– It’s always easy to be an afterthought. But when women’s ski jumping was started to move forward, a good question is why the women’s combined was not included with the same volume. Yes, it shows a kind of lack of perspective in that time, says Urheilu’s expert and former head coach of Finland Petter Kukkonen.
Minja Korhonen’s entry into the world of adults was flashy, but the first winter season in the World Cup did not immediately bring similar success.
Korhonen says that he got into a spiral of pressure for the first time in middle school, but that he later accepted the flurry of results, especially at a young age. Since then, youth Olympic and World Cup gold have been hung in the trophy cabinet.
The Olympic dream is often repeated in Korhonen’s speech. It would seem somehow unfair if, due to the lack of perspective of previous generations, he didn’t even get a chance to chase his dream.
However, Korhosen’s dreams are not limited to just the result strips, he would like to help younger athletes.
– I would like to act as a kind of exemplary athlete. I could help young people if they have difficult moments or otherwise just be a friend to talk to. I think that would be cool.
If the heavenly bodies fall into place, only the last part of the nickname Minja Korhonen got at the age of 15 will remain: a star.