Head, shoulder, butt, knees, toes. When a sprinter Eljas Aalto sums up his injury history, he quotes an old nursery rhyme.
But last winter, a part of the body that is not mentioned in the song got sick. Aalto got a heart muscle infection.
Although he had heard countless times that one should not train when sick, he had trained and competed despite mild flu symptoms.
– I have always thought that it only applies if there is a fever or more serious symptoms. No, if it’s just a runny nose and a bit of a sore throat.
– I’ve realized that it helps athletes mentally to know that it’s okay, even though I’m sick, I’ve still followed my program. Has done his job. But that’s not ok.
There is no benefit in training and the risks are enormous.
– Is it really the case that a long training break is more feared than death, the multiple 200 and 400 meter WC medalist thinks in the Sportliv program.
Watch Sportliv’s mini doc Eljas Aalto:
Wants to break Finland’s record and compete in the European Championships
Eljas Aalto from Sipoo has been involved in athletics in the Sibbo-Vargarna club since he was a child. The first official statistical entries are from the summer of 2005, when he was nine years old.
When he was sixteen, he discovered that he was pretty good at the long jump and decided to invest in it.
– Then I got the strange idea that my running stride could be well suited for 400 meters.
The new goal was to break Markku Kukkoahon Finnish record from 1972. And to run in the European Championships. Ten years later, the goals are still the same.
Aalto is the first to admit that Finland’s level at 400 meters was rather modest in his first years in the men’s series.
In 2017, he broke 48 seconds on a track lap for the first time and made his debut in the Sweden match. In the same summer, he won his first SC medal in the men’s category, bronze in the 200 meters.
– It felt a little too much like this is enough, and for too many years I somehow lacked the desire to get better.
According to Aalto, the turning point happened when Viljami Kaasalainen joined the 400 meters a few years ago. The competition got tougher, which meant everyone had to raise their level.
– You can see how much the spiritual side means in order to move forward.
Last year’s outdoor season started later than usual due to the long rest required by myocarditis, but at the end of the season, Aalto still came out as the domestic statistical leader of the year on his main trip.
Every injury is an opportunity
The fact is that despite all his injuries, Aalto has managed to improve at least one of his personal records almost every year.
He puts it to the physical therapist Jarmo Ahonen as the saying goes: Every injury is an opportunity.
Ahonen meant that when you’re injured and can’t train normally, it’s an excellent opportunity to focus on something you wouldn’t do when healthy.
When Aalto had back problems, he was still able to develop his mid-body strength.
– Then, at the age of 17, I got a six-pack for the first time, and since then I’ve had pretty strong abs, the 29-year-old says proudly.
When Aalto fell ill with myocarditis last winter, Ahonen’s advice did not help, as he was ordered to avoid all physical exertion for three months.
The knowledge that he had managed to return many times before still made Aalto believe that everything would be alright in the end.
– The mentally toughest athletes are probably those who haven’t improved their records for many, many years, but still manage to keep going and believe in themselves. They are much tougher than me. I’ve actually had it pretty easy.
“Now comes a long, long rest”
Last fall, the heart muscle infection at the beginning of the year was just a memory, but Eljas Aalto is a wiser man.
The flu he got last February came at a bad time. The riding season had just started and he had been selected for the Nordic championships in Norway. For the first time in a long time, he had stayed healthy throughout the training season and was eager to compete.
– I was a little scared because I was so tired all the time and I just wanted to sleep.
When Aalto reached the finish line in his second 200-meter race within a week, his pulse wouldn’t drop and he felt dizzy. He couldn’t get up from the floor. Aalto realized that everything was not okay.
– Afterwards, I realized that it was really dangerous to run there.
During the night and morning, the pain in the chest was strong and the heart beat irregularly. As the day went on, the pain intensified even more.
– It was as if someone had pressed my chest down the whole time. It felt like I had chili in my heart. The same feeling in your mouth when you eat strong chili.
In the hospital, it was easy for the doctors to make a diagnosis. Aalto’s symptoms, combined with his blood values and EKG curve, were a model example of myocarditis.
– I knew that now there will be a long, long rest.
Rested himself well
In the following days, Aalto did nothing. He just rested. And the symptoms disappeared quite quickly. But as soon as he did something heavier at home, the sensations in his chest returned.
– In that situation, I really just wanted land.
However, during his recovery, he was able to work on his dissertation. He read books and sat in his chamber playing the piano.
Resting was still difficult. Aalto estimates that he has never been without sports for so long before.
– It felt really heavy. And I noticed how much it affects the mental side. Even if everything else is fine, I’m not fine if I can’t move.
After more than two months of rest, new MRIs of the heart were taken, and it turned out that the heart was already healthy. For Aalto, who had calculated that he would have to rest for three months, it was positive news.
Heartbeat became an obsession
Aalto was allowed to start careful training and the symptoms stayed away. But every time the heart rate got a little higher, he got scared. It took a long time before he got the courage to run lactic acid pulls again.
– I checked my heart rate all the time. Is that normal? How high is it? Should I be worried?
Checking the heart rate became an addiction.
– Actually, it was about two things at the same time. On the one hand, the risk of getting other heart problems, on the other hand, that the athlete’s career would end. Both seemed equally serious.
Aalto states that he was lucky. Although the situation looked bad during the winter, he survived without heart damage.
As fast as Kukkoaho
When the 2024 season offered many reasons to be happy despite everything, Aalto looked forward to being able to train healthy in the winter.
The next setback came at the Relay Championship at the beginning of September. The ligament in the left ankle was torn.
– I still ran and we won two medals with Sibbo-Vargarna, gold in 4×400 meters and silver in 4×100 meters. It was important to me, so I think it was still worth it.
Since November, Aalto has been able to train normally again, and if he now manages to have two healthy training seasons, he believes that the summer of 2026 can offer more reasons to be happy. Maybe the European Championships in Birmingham. Maybe a new Finnish record.
– I’m already as fast as Markku Kukkoaho was when he ran 45.49 in 1972. I just need enough hard 400 meter strokes when healthy, says Aalto, whose record for 2022 is 46.92.
Don’t exercise when you’re sore
His former coach Battle of Olenius with Eljas Aalto he practiced very versatile and a lot, which created a strong foundation.
When he moved five years ago Markku Leppänen to the training group, he was a little scared at first when the focus was so strongly on speed and explosiveness and the number of training kilometers decreased quite quickly.
– But after two years I noticed that this really works for me.
The fact that, according to his own account, Aalto probably has the weakest endurance condition of all Finnish 400 meter runners, is compensated by his speed.
– If another coach saw our program, he would certainly be very surprised. And I’m not saying our training program is for everyone, but it is for me.
And when it comes to training programs, Eljas Aalto has learned his lesson: The training program is for the athlete, not the athlete for the training program.
It’s worth keeping that in mind when winter flus are on the move.
– Although if you have a coach like “Make” who is never sick, it can easily happen that you don’t stay home first, “Elkku” says with a dose of self-irony.
Eljas Aalto started his reign last week in Helsinki. He swept the 200m to victory in 21.19, just a tenth of a second off his record.