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HONEYMOON. Merited as a ski coach Toni Roponen, 50, arrived at the Kuusamo World Cup in a new coat. In the Olympic Committee’s elite sports unit, he does e.g. intensive cooperation with cross-country skiing. Also the head of the unit Matti Heikkinen was supposed to come to Ruka to sort things out, but he got sick and missed it.
Recent times have been difficult for the Ski Association, both financially and image-wise, when Iivo Niskanen pulled the switch on the whole operation and the serious problems of the Ski Association have been thoroughly reported.
– At the same time, from the Olympic Committee’s point of view, I see the excellent top sports work being done in the Ski Federation. I’m not worried about the big lines of coaching after Jarmo Riski was hired to do it. Or the Olympic project in Cortina, of which he is part of the team Olli Ohtonen.
“60,000–80,000 euros”
– Maybe the media could also write about the fact that it is a sports association that gives its top athletes a total package worth 60,000–80,000 euros every year. Or about the sport that has brought an absolutely huge part of Finland’s Olympic medals in recent history.
Last spring, head coach Teemu Pasasella was to offer the athletes such a weak camping package that Iivo Niskanen pulled the switch and not the big sister Kerttu Niskanenka finally spent a day in the national team camps.
“25,000 euros”
– The elite sports unit supported Iivo’s solution with 25,000 euros, which I consider a very significant contribution. Iivo is, of course, an extremely valuable individual for Finnish elite sports.
Krista Pärmäkoski made the same decision as Niskanen already in 2019. Roponen admits that he would prefer to see the stars in the composition of the A national team also in the training season.
– I am now talking about the future of the sport and the passing of the baton. I remember very well how young Iivo hung around behind Mati (Heikkinen) at the camps there and learned what the international standard level is. I also remember how Krista hung Aikun (Aino-Kaisa Saarinen) and I’m buzzing (Fibrousnow Sarasvuo) behind. Everyone has their turn in that cycle as a locomotive and a trailer. That chain must not be broken, and it will be broken if the peaks are not included.
The responsibility of the unions
Of course, Roponen also reminds of the responsibility of sports federations:
– It is of course clear that the sports federation must be able to build such a package that these elites feel it is meaningful to be involved.
One athlete who has not really been part of the national team patterns is Toni Ropose’s spouse Riitta-Liisa Roponen45.
However, she has given the national team coaching a signal that she can be selected for the Jällivaara World Cup at the end of next week, when the program includes the lady’s favorite distance, the 10 kilometer intermediate start (v). Roponen fulfills the criteria sovereignly; especially Eveliina Piipon being out of the picture, there are not six skiers harder than him in the country for that trip.
On November 12, Roponen finished 6th in the 10 kilometer (v) race in Muonio and also washed Pärmäkoski and Niskanen.
Toni Roponen wants to relate his wife’s condition to a probable, in that case a sensational return to the World Cup.
In condition for 2021
– Let’s just say that “Ritu” is in the condition he was in Oberstdorf and he has trained for about 850 hours during the past year. That is, if a young skier gets a jacket from Ritu, there is no need to mourn that he lost to a bad one.
Roponen, who has already finished his career in 2021, was selected for the Finnish World Cup team in Oberstdorf. In southern Germany, he was 10th as the best Finn at 10 kilometers (v) and skied the 3rd leg of the bronze relay.
Toni Roponen, who coached Matti Heikkinen to the world championship, also knows that his wife’s presence in top international skiing is not only thought of beautifully. The pace of a veteran is considered to be a stumbling block and depressing for young people. Has become the regular face of the national team Jasmine Joensuu don’t see it this way:
– Age cannot be a decisive criterion if the ski runs.
Toni Roponen agrees.
– If you think that Ritu wouldn’t want the young people to do well, then I’ll tell you that Eveliina Piippo came to practice with us in Haukiputaa. Ritu has helped Amanda Saarta and brings his best skis here to Ruka Emmi Lämsän for use.
In the summer, Roponen traveled to the USA for a long camp to spar with Krista Pärmäkoske.
Toni Roponen wants the most important lesson of cross-country skiing to be seen in the long tracks of his wife, Pärmäkoski, or Kerttu Niskanen.
– In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about how skiing has changed and is changing. Even in Finland, it has been too easy to jump from one to the other, until the situation has now stabilized under the leadership of Teemu Pasanen. The most important lesson from such ruts is of course that the most important feature in skiing is extreme endurance. Those changes are just things that have come in addition to it, but without it everything collapses like a house of cards.