Riitta-Liisa Roponen will probably participate in the Jällivaara World Cup at the beginning of December. Roponen has ended his top international career, but his racing career still continues.
Laura Arffman,
Jaakko Servo
Ended his active career Riitta-Liisa Roponen45, was the fastest of the Finnish women in the 10-kilometer freestyle skiing competition in Olos last weekend.
Roponen, who finished sixth, beat Finland’s number one stars Krista Pärmäkoski and Kerttu Niskanen. After Olos, Roponen refused the invitation to the World Cup in Ruka, but admitted that the competition in Jällivaara was interesting.
The Ruka World Cup will be skied next week. Jällivaara is on the program in the first week of December.
Roponen is returning to the World Cup after a two-year break. Responsible coach of the women of the Finnish national team Ville Maunuksela confirms to Urheilu that Roponen will probably participate in the Jällivaara World Cup.
– I called Ritu after Olos and asked about the plans. He said he is not interested in Ruka’s place, because in a joint start the starting place would be in the back row due to bad FIS scores. It would not allow for good results. However, he was interested in the free time trial, says Maunuksela.
Roponen’s husband and former coach Toni Roponen says that the basic goal of a skier is not to be a professional skier anymore.
– He has announced that if there are good and interesting competitions, and they are suitable for him, then they will be interesting. Because of this, he also skied the Olos competition.
Roposen’s goal is not to travel to more World Cup competitions this season.
– Ritu is perfectly suited to such intermediate start races in the free time, and there are very few of them in the World Cup. That’s why it is by no means intended to go around the World Cup and aim to go around it.
In Ruka, there is a 20-kilometer joint start. In Jällivaara, a 10-kilometer intermediate start will be skied.
Roponen has not officially stopped competing
However, Satavarma Roponen’s place in the Jällivaara World Cup is not available.
In the national team’s criteria, the Ruka World Cup is an official observation competition. Therefore, if several Finnish women ski well in the 20 kilometer free race on the slopes of Kuusamo, they have also earned their place in Jällivaara.
– Six women are being sent to Jällivaara, but if Ruka’s results show that the sixth woman does not ski so well, Ritu might be included then, Maunuksela opens.
At no point has Riitta-Liisa Roponen made an official announcement about ending her racing career, so from the point of view of doping control, she falls into the same category as any national-level skier.
Daily whereabouts reporting is not required, but they may be tested during competitions or randomly at any time. Those who were part of the registered testing pool and have officially stopped competing, have to report themselves to the supervision again six months before returning to the race tracks.
– If an official announcement of career termination had been made, then there would be a six-month obligation. Ritu must have only said that she has finished her top international career, but not competing, Maunuksela states.