Based on Krista Pärmäkoski’s biography, the victory in Lahti last spring was a miracle. Life was punctuated by panic attacks and mood medication, writes Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen sports reporter
– That is even tougher than Kuitunen.
It was the end of the first decade of the 21st century, and the Skiing Federation had invited the media to listen to the old stars and get to know the new ones. One of them was from Ikaal Krista Lähteenmäki i.e. later Pärmäkoski.
My colleague at the time, who had seen everything, quickly made quite an assessment of the newcomer, because he had seen everything and more Slender sprig Fibrous (now Sarasvuo) was not exactly the athlete best known for his warm-heartedness to the sports media.
Slowly, Lähteenmäki, who graduated from Sotkamo Ski High School, began to answer the call, and now, 15 years later, as a 12-time medalist in the prestigious competition and a four-time individual Olympic medalist, he is by all standards one of the toughest Finnish athletes of the 21st century.
Like a custom mold
A certain hardness and a coolness touching the border of coldness are attributes organically connected to top sports, and over the years Pärmäkoski has fitted them like a custom-made mold.
Where the red light of the camera or microphone has been lit, the actions have been iron, the words measured and the essence restrained in all possible situations. One of the most important skills of a top athlete is knowing how to say “no”, and Pärmäkoski could write a thesis on this topic with top marks.
Although today, fortunately, elite athletes are no longer written about as national idols like decades ago, it is true that Pärmäkoski seemed like an enviable person: super-hard success in a difficult and demanding profession, turning it into financial good, physical mega-fitness combined with a mental zen state.
Then came October 9, 2024, and the biography Open (lit. Laura Arffmancust. Gummerus).
In the book, Pärmäkoski knocks his statue of a steel woman to the ground with at least the same fury as the oppressed people of Iraq during the dictator’s time Saddam to Hussein erected monuments.
Hidden from outsiders
The past couple of years of the skier’s life, who is in the process of a divorce, have been marked by things that an outsider could never have deduced from his public habitus: constant, severe panic attacks, mood medication and regular therapy. In the midst of all this, the victory in the Lahti World Cup last spring was a downright miracle.
When the seizure hit, he wondered how much medicine he dared to take. His mind was so down that he couldn’t take it anymore. Even though Krista knew she was strong, it was scary to find herself wondering whether to drink a bottle of gin or take medicine.
The solution to raise this dark side of the soul between the hard covers was at least conscious of the main character of the book, and a great favor. When a superstar like Krista Pärmäkoski talks about these usually hushed up elements, the echo surface is, with all due respect, different than if the meaty opener is considerably less serious, mainly an athlete immortalized as a biography thanks to the low publication threshold.
Krista didn’t want anyone to see her during the seizure, in a state where she was just scared, shaking and trembling and unable to speak. The anxiety grew, and the car had to stop in the middle of the trip because Krista felt so bad. Panic came over me, I had to get oxygen.
Intermittent panic attacks went through the young athlete’s career and life, but the situation escalated to its worst around the time of the Lahti World Cup 2023, when the pet dog died unexpectedly, and the marriage was no longer in good shape. Bad communication coach Checkmate Even to Haavisto eat the athlete deeply.
After all this, Pärmäkoski’s strength was consumed by the concealment of his health situation from outsiders and the long consideration of continuing his career. Lahti’s 20 kilometer (p) victory at the beginning of last March at the latest sealed the continuation of the skier who talks about his childhood dreams in the book through the World Cup season in Trondheim to the Olympic Games in Milan 2026.
According to his biography, Pärmäkoski is already mentally preparing for the climax of his career in a much better balance than in the 2023–24 season. Anything else would be humanly unreasonable.