Tomas Koski broke the men’s 200-meter freestyle short track Finnish record in the preliminary heats of the World Championships in Budapest a little over a week ago, when he reached the World Championship finals with the best time in third place.
Koski was no less than one and a half seconds behind his older brother Matias Kosken 1.43.51 of the previous SE time. Tomas’ older brother, Matias, who is ten years older, competed in two Olympics in his career. In 2016, Matias broke Antti Kasvion In SE’s 200m freestyle.
– It was really important, but it was even more important that the record still remained in the family, Koski grins widely.
In the final competition, the waiting and other hassles took away from the first-timer at the major championships, but the final ranking was the best result of the championships for Finnish swimmers – 7th place on December 15th.
– It was a good measure for me. I made it to the short track World Cup finals after finishing third after the preliminaries. In big competitions, however, there is quite a lot of noise in the finals and tough opponents next door, Koski admitted to him yet another new situation.
Christmas in Finland
Tomas Koski, representing Heinola Isku, spends the Christmas season in Finland.
– I will be in Finland for Christmas, but before the new year I will go back to the United States to train with the university team.
In the short term, Koski’s thoughts are already focused on Georgia’s high-level university team and its next year’s main tournament, which will be held in March.
At the university trials, Koski dives into the competition pool in the 100- and 200-meter freestyle, as well as in the 500-meter freestyle, which is swum by yards, and also in the long relay.
Koski, who has only been training for swimming for 2.5 years, has really gotten to like working out. The highly promising swimmer has started to catch up with others in his last journey. The number and power of the exercises have increased. Koski’s enormous potential has begun to materialize in just over a couple of years.
– The surprise has been how quickly I have developed. The fact that I started swimming was largely due to swimming and competing in my family. I wanted to get to a good level in swimming right away. It served as a motivator. The training screws have been tightened all the time, even though I immediately started training properly.
In 2025, the swimming calendar will include the World Long Course Championships in July-August in Singapore. There, Tomas Koski is looking for a place in the final again.
University life
According to Koski, the university day in the USA in swimming always starts at 7 o’clock on Mondays, from where the journey continues to school.
At 11 o’clock it’s time to eat, after which the program includes punching exercises. After the second swimming lessons in the afternoon, dinner comes, after which it’s time for homework.
This same pattern repeats until Friday.
According to Koski, the competition is tough at the university, especially in the high-quality Georgian group. However, he says that he did quite well in the university competitions, where he reached the A finals of the main competitions and also won medals.
– There are good training buddies with whom you can improve every day. I believe that in the Yankees we train quantitatively much more than normal Finns.
– If you think about it the other way around, then maybe in the United States it would be good to see the importance of rest and massage. In North America, it’s easy to train too much and get out of shape, warns Tomas.
According to Koski, the first years of studying are easy.
– I’ve done quite well in my studies. Taking care of both things is somewhat demanding when you are tired after sports in the evening, but you also have to take care of your homework. However, you get used to it. When teammates do the same, it makes it a lot easier.
In his free time, Tomas Kosk has no time for other hobbies, not even for throwing a basketball.
– There is time to do other things on the weekend, when there is only one training session on Saturday. Then I rest and sleep a lot and spend time with my girlfriend.
From basketball to swimming
In the United States, Koski started playing basketball from the beginning with his friends and got a spark from it.
Tomas Koski played basketball for a total of four years, but when problems appeared in his knees and hips, a change of sport became timely.
– When I was young, basketball was much harder than swimming. However, it ended in trouble and I started swimming after that. It was a bit of a hard place to give up basketball, but there’s no help but to move on.
From the Finnish basketball court, Koski has only one junior match in the ranks of Lahti Basketball in the official statistics from more than four years ago. The 193-centimeter winger of Heinola NMKY scored 20 points and grabbed four rebounds in that match.
– A couple of months after I started swimming, I swam in one of the competitions in Helsinki and they went so well that I started to think that it is better to invest in swimming. That’s when we started training harder, and now I’m sitting here, Koski mumbles.
The expert was confused
A familiar voice from Urheilu’s swimming broadcasts Ville Kallinen has been cheering Koske’s rise for a long time, as this has developed hidden from the large Finnish public in the United States.
Still, even the expert was surprised by Koske’s top swimming, and especially by his hard start in the World Championships a week ago.
– After all, Koski has made big bets in American university swimming. But such a strong record improvement was still a big bomb, Kallinen admitted.
A Finnish expert has previously compared that Tomak has the same elements in his swimming as the former 100-meter freestyle ME man With David Popovic.
– He knows how to keep his hips well under control and has a very good grip for swimming. However, softness and lightness are their own skills, and Tomas knows them very well.
– I haven’t seen a Finn with such a light Tatsi in the water Jani SievinenKallinen has stated earlier and referred to Finland’s most successful swimmer of all time.
Olympic gold in Los Angeles
Koski’s achievements have come as a result of a good couple of years of long-term training and dedication.
Tomas Koski, who arrived for ‘s interview, had just a moment earlier completed a fierce, full-speed 10 times 25-meter swimming session in the pool. There was no doubt that the 20-year-old swimming talent was serious about his new sport.
Koski believes that he will be able to do hard everyday work for the next four years on the way to his dream.
– Hard work gives more motivation. I know how much I work and I believe I can improve even more from this. I will do whatever it takes to achieve my goals. I want nothing more than that.
According to the swimmer, there are many long-term dreams. One rises above the rest.
– There are quite a lot of dreams. Before I stop swimming, I want my name in the history books. I believe that by the time of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, I will be at a good age to produce results. The gold medal in Los is in my sights, insists Koski.