According to Janne Salme, the situation of Finnish men’s orienteers in particular looks promising for next year’s World Championships.
The Finnish national orienteering team achieved success at the European Championships in Estonia, the likes of which has not been seen in years. The team brought four medals from Rakvere: Venla Harju won the long distance championship and took bronze in the middle distance. Marika Teini and Elias Kuukka received bronze medals for long distances.
The last time the same number of medals came from the 2013 World Cup home games. It had been nine years since the men’s individual prize medal.
Head coach of the Norwegian national team Janne Salmen according to Finland’s new head coach Thierry Gueorgiou the handprint was visible in the team’s EC success. Salmi has also worked as an expert for Urheilu.
– From the outside, it has seemed that the new head coach Gueorgiou has got a good drive on the national team and created faith and a new culture.
14-time world champion Gueorgiou knows what successful performances and winning require physically and skillfully. The French guru has brought new things to the skill side and does a lot of work to prepare athletes for the Games.
As an example, Salmi cites the Finnish team’s European Championship inspections, which Gueorgiou organized in a terrain similar to the Estonian European Championship in Finland.
– The athletes already got a taste of how boring orienteering in Estonia can be. Such a struggle all the time.
Estonia’s covered and navigational terrains contributed to the Finnish success, because, for example, Central Europeans are used to faster progress.
A bright future
The overall contribution of the Finnish male orienteers in Estonia was strong. Elias Kuukka’s bronze was the first individual prize medal for men since 2013 by Mårten Boström sprint world championship and Jani Lakanen long distance World Championship silver.
In Estonia, five Finnish men made it to the top 11 on a long journey. Olli Ojanaho was fourth in the middle distance. According to Salmi, the stumbling block of Finnish runners, hard running fitness, is slowly becoming enough at the men’s international level.
– You can’t make it on a long trip if you’re not really hitting hard. Now there were still new men in their twenties.
Salmi sees the future of the Finnish army as bright. However, he reminds that next year’s World Championships will be held in Switzerland’s fast terrains, which are completely different from Estonia’s slow forests. The success of women rests on the shoulders of a few conkers.
– There are not many junctions in the terrain. In one, skill matters more, in the other, physics. You have to be in really good shape in Switzerland. The men’s team is young, the situation looks good. In women, we are still at a stage for the younger ones.