From the World Skiing Championships in Planica, which ended on Sunday, Finland was left with one silver medal, which came from the men’s relay. After that, the best positions were the fourth place of the women’s relay team and Kerttu Niskanen Fifth place in the combined race.
Krista Pärmäkoski was sixth in the combined race, Kerttu Niskanen sixth at 30 kilometers and Iivo Niskanen sixth at 50 kilometers.
The balance is drastic compared to the Beijing Olympics a year ago, where Finland won a whopping six skiing medals.
Finland’s head coach Teemu from Pasa warmed up by the performances of the relay teams in Planica.
– However, the margins are really small. Now things didn’t work out like they did in Beijing. A lot of things really worked out there, Pasanen said.
Is the head coach worried about where Finnish cross-country skiing is going when the top is really narrow?
– I don’t know about that. Just received a medal in the message. That tip is not narrow, Pasanen claimed.
– We have Ihaan’s ookoo level. Kärki just didn’t manage to get any medals. The tip should be harder so that we get medals, Pasanen said.
The head coach criticized the attitude to success before medals.
– We only count a lot of medals. The fourth and fifth places are almost like not skiing at all. Getting a medal is up to the little ones.
Experts disagree on the meaning of the medals
‘s expert Ville Nousiainen disagreed with Pasanen’s view.
– At the World Championships, we fight for medals. Of course there were small margins, but I’m not worried about the medals. They were a bounce for us, Nousiainen pointed out and reminded that behind the top skiers, other Finns were far behind.
For example, in a 50 kilometer race Ville Ahonen and Perttu Hyvärinen interrupted. Cross mat Hakola finished in 33rd place. After Iivo Niskanen, Perttu Hyvärinen had the best performance among the men in personal distances with his 10th place in the combined competition.
Nousiainen was worried about how far the other Finnish men were from the top in the World Championships.
– More men should be included in the top fifteen in the World Cup and World Championships. It’s even easier at the World Championships, when only four skiers from each country can be here, Nousiainen said.
Pasanen admitted that the men’s overall effort on Sunday was not good.
– We had problems with the first skis. The other boys, except Iivo, remained among the top teams. Then came combat skiing. It’s great that Rise skied to the finish line.
Finland has been considered a great skiing country, but the neighboring countries Norway and Sweden grabbed the jackpots from the Games.
Norway took 27 medals, 12 of which were gold. Sweden set records for the number of World Cup medals and World Cup gold medals in one Games. Four golds and a total of twelve medals went to Sweden.
In the medal table, Finland was just tied for tenth place with Italy.
Also another skiing expert Kalle Lassilan according to medals are the right way to measure success.
– If there are no medals, no one involved can be satisfied. However, we are talking about one of the priority sports in Finnish top sports, Lassila said.
According to Lassila, the parties involved must have a rigorous discussion about the success of the World Ski Championships in the spring.
– We really have to make changes, Lassila said.
Planica’s World Cup skiing is also not exceptional in the sense that in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups in Falun and Seefeld, Finland missed out on one medal. Each of them won one bronze for Finland.
However, there were more fourth places for Finland in Falun and Seefeld. There were three fourth places in Seefeld and two in Falun, while there was one in Planica.
Pasanen: Too much talk about nuances
On Saturday, Ville Nousiainen and Kalle Lassila in the Urheilustudio made the sports crowd concrete when they talked about solutions to improve skiing success.
After the World Ski Championships, the discussion about the state of Finnish cross-country skiing is heated. When asked, Pasanen offered his own view on the subject.
– Sometimes in discussions, we talk about quite small nuances and adjustments. Everything starts from hard work and basic training, Pasanen stated.
Pasanen also admits that Finland still has a lot to do to reach the level of Norway and Sweden.
– We have new young people coming. The Junior World Championships looked really good. One good skier was seen here too, Pasanen referred to the 20-year-old anchor of the relay team and this winter’s youth world champion Niko Anttolaan.