Janne Saarinen thinks big. Sometimes too big.
– I have a bad habit of usually speaking before I have time to think.
During this descent, Saarinen’s plan was to sing while gliding down the icy chute. It turned out to be impossible. The sled’s speed rises to over a hundred kilometers per hour at its best.
Saarinen has had to revise his plans several times in the past year, when the reality has hit his eyes. Nevertheless, he sticks to his goal of doing something that no Finn has been able to do before.
The energetic actor and radio personality has set up an Olympic project, which he vows to take 100% seriously, during a full sports week. The sport is luge, about which he knew practically nothing until one half-wooled throw on a live radio broadcast.
– The group is still asking if this is just a fluke. I say, do you think it’s okay to put all that extra money and free time into something?
Saarinen’s answer is clear.
– This is no longer just flying unicorns and pink cotton candy clouds. This is a real goal.
From the radio studio directly to the sledding hill
– It would be here Jani Tilvis Hello from the Finnish Sledging Association.
Radio Suomipop’s live broadcast on January 26, 2023. Host Janne Saarinen talks about the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo and states that it would be nice to participate. What could be the easiest route?
He answers himself: Counting with a stick.
After a while, the phone in the studio rings and the chairman of the Finnish Luge Association, Jani Tilvis, invites Saarinen to the national team camp in Latvia.
– Then you have to train like crazy, and not imagine that this is a sledding hill, where you just go down and bring a medal. But anyone can come and try if they are seriously interested.
The next day, Saarinen gets on the plane.
A year later, a lot has happened. Even more needs to happen.
In the summer, Saarinen hesitated to continue. He began to realize what a huge mountain he was standing in front of. He realized that an Olympic place is almost a utopian dream.
But he couldn’t forget the thought. He tells what kind of hold Sledging has had on him. What a huge potential there is in speed skating on ice in Finland, and how it needs someone to clear the hill for others.
A pioneer who would ignite the spark of enthusiasm of Finnish youth.
Saarinen emphasizes that this is not about himself, but a broader perspective. The ultimate goal is to see the first Finn on the sled run at the Olympics.
To raise the realism of the Olympic dream, Saarinen needed help. He stumbled upon the name Tristan Jeskanen.
Jeskanen is a former junior World Cup silver medalist in pair skating in the colors of the United States. The Finnish-American was aiming for a place in the ranks of his other country for the 2018 Olympics, but failed and ended his career a few years ago.
Saarinen lured Jeskanen back by promising to pay for the violins. The duo calculates that a total of 80–90,000 euros will sink into the next two years.
– I said that I know that there is no funding in this sport at the moment. But I am ready to take the risk that I will pay for this opportunity for us, says Saarinen, who has worked in the entertainment industry for about ten years.
Coach: We need a miracle
Janne Saarinen ended up becoming an actor when he went to a test shoot to support a friend and was asked if he also wanted to try. Pian already invited Salatut lämät and today he can be seen in another successful series Syke.
Radio work came into the picture a few years later, when a restaurant night led to an invitation to record a demo broadcast. After a couple of days, he started on Iskelmäradio and now he is heard every weekday on the Suomipop channel, one of the most popular in Finland.
– I live and breathe to try everything new. Then, of course, it starts to embarrass you if you can’t do something, but you just have to get used to it. You can’t know everything right away. But if you wanted!
Now one more coincidence has led Saarinen to a path that, in the best case scenario, will lead him to his childhood dream of the Olympics. But how realistic is the goal?
– I didn’t take it seriously, by Ilze Röholm the description of his first reaction to Saarinen’s inclusion in the national team is merciless.
– And it’s still a little hard for me to take it seriously.
Röholm is Finland’s only international-level judge, serves as the general secretary of the Finnish Luge Association, and as a coach at national team camps. Originally from Latvia, the current Åland native has earlier in his career coached his home country’s three-time Olympic medalists Andris and Juris Šicsia.
Now the reality is different. When the national teams of the top countries entertain their staff at camps, the Finnish team is minimal.
The biggest blue and white Olympic hope is Walter Vikström. In January, Porvoolainen took Finland’s best ever ranking in the Luge World Championships in 31st place, and continued his record-breaking in February by finishing 22nd in the World Cup competition.
– I don’t think that Janne and Tristan will make it to the Olympics. It takes a miracle. And of course, miracles are always possible in sports, but the clock is ticking, says Röholm.
He states in the same breath that Saarinen also brings a lot of good things with him, giving visibility to the sport and creating a positive atmosphere around him at the camps. And most importantly in Röholm’s eyes, the eager beginner has admitted that the road to the Olympics is clearly more bumpy than he originally thought.
– It is an important first step. He has a lot of enthusiasm, you can see that he wants a lot. But much more is needed. You can’t just expect everything to be served on a silver platter, says Röholm.
In the pair luge competition, the cooperation must be perfectly smooth. Every move counts, every mistake costs.
– You have to be one with the other. This is a bit the same as in a relationship. If the chemistry of two people does not work at home, then there is no common home either.
– There is something incomprehensible when the adrenaline drops. I have the same feeling as when I was a child on Thursdays, that it’s almost Saturday and I’m going to get candy. I can’t wait to get back on the track.
Janne Saarinen and Tristan Jeskanen have not yet made their competition debut, and Saarinen is also aware that an Olympic spot would require an incredible development curve.
He repeats several times that he still has a lot to learn – but is at least as determined to emphasize that he is serious. Next season, he hopes that he and Jeskanen will be able to spend three months in foreign camps, and in the 2025-26 Olympic season, they are ready to double the amount.
Saarinen knows that the Olympic project, which received a lot of column space, has caused confusion in luge circles. But he refuses to deviate from the path he has chosen.
– I’ve been in such a happy position in my life that I’ve gotten screen spots for many things that I couldn’t even dream of. So when such an opportunity comes up, I can’t help but turn over this card as well.
He shakes his head and continues:
– Maybe it’s the heart that speaks. At least it doesn’t make sense. The joke that this was has become very real. We really wouldn’t do this if we didn’t have the chance to get to the Olympics.