Kalle Lassila believes that Antti Tuisku can improve as a skier by gaining more competition experience.
Skied for the first time in the WC Antti Tuisku stole the headlines on Saturday at Imatra.
Ex-pop star Tuisku struggled to finish in 142nd place in the men’s traditional 10 km split race and left eight men behind. Leave the winner Cross mat Hakola accumulated about eight and a half minutes.
Urheilu’s skiing expert Kalle Lassila considers the result of Tuisku, who has fully invested in skiing this year, to be expected, but reflects that there is still room for improvement.
Tuisku has tried to develop his skiing technique, but, according to Lassila, he has not been able to use it to full effect in the competition.
– I would have expected a little more from it. With good technology, even seconds and minutes can be easily removed, says Lassila.
Even though Tuisku invested the whole year in skiing, he was inexorably at the bottom of the results list. According to Lassila, it describes the level of the SC Games and how much effort even the skiers behind the sharpest point put into their performances.
– Although sometimes from the couch at home it can feel like you should go show yourself, it’s not a very easy task in the end.
Lassila reminds that Tuisku has only a little racing experience. You learn to ski competitively by skiing competitively.
– I believe that if he gets more races under his belt, he will be able to improve his performance quite a lot during this winter.
Tuisku’s skiing project is scheduled to culminate in a 10 kilometer freestyle competition at the Taivalkoski National Championships in April.
The power of example
At Imatra, there were a lot of people along the slopes on Saturday who were watching their first skiing competition, inspired by Antti Tuisku. Lassila hopes that Tuisku’s example will encourage others to try their wings.
A large number of Finns ski every winter, but the threshold for going to skiing competitions, for example, for children, young people and fitness enthusiasts has been “just too high”, according to Lassila.
– I hope that this will lower that threshold, and people in all age groups and from all different levels will be more daring to go and participate in various events, says Lassila.
Tuisku’s performance can also inspire outside the skiing circles. People generally move too little these days. The effects of immobility on public health are clear, but the discussion about the situation is often negative or tinged with compulsion.
– Tuisku’s example hopefully sends a message that exercise is not just a compulsion, but that it can actually have a lot of content and good effects on your everyday life.