Matti Mattsson did not want to end the Paris Olympics as a disappointment. The career continues, but at the moment next summer’s World Cup is not part of the plans.
A heavily disappointed breaststroker at the Paris Olympics, who turns 31 on Saturday Matti Mattsson has been thinking about the continuation of his career during the fall. On Wednesday, he told Urheilu that the deliberations had been completed.
– I didn’t want to end my career with the stomach blow I saw in Paris. I am my coach Eetu Karvonen decided that his swimming career will continue, said the man from Pori who froze in the preliminaries after contracting the corona virus in the 4th Olympic Games of his career in Paris.
However, the one who won an Olympic, World Cup and European Championship medal in the 200-meter breaststroke told about the real surprise plan:
– At the moment, the plan is that Eetu and I will shape the 2.0 version of me, which would mean that I would not compete in the value races next summer.
The World Long Course Swimming Championships will be held in the summer of 2025 in Singapore.
– I’m not hammering this plan into stone yet, and even my wife said that it can get boring without competitive top goals, Mattsson laughed.
Big changes
The plan is based on thorough discussions with coach Karvonen. The purpose is to shape the experienced athlete and change the training so radically that the changes may not be refined into absolute top speed next season.
We got the first information about Mattsson’s intentions already at the beginning of September, when he participated in the national team camp led by head coach Karvonen in Jyväskylä. According to the athlete, the final decision to continue came only later.
– If I hadn’t taken a positive corona test after that flop in Paris, the decision would probably have been different. According to the tests, I came to Paris in very good shape.
The bronze medal came off in the Olympic Games with a time of 2:07.90; Mattsson’s SE time from the Tokyo 2021 Games is 0.77 seconds better.
Mattsson has been supported by a number of support staff and sponsors, with whom the continuation has been negotiated. On this front too, the Pori resident seems hopeful.