The second race weekend of the Combined World Cup in Norway’s Lillehammer went poorly for the Finnish men. Ilkka Herola had to leave the competition in the middle due to illness. Eero Hirvonen, who suffered from the flu earlier in the week, was seventeenth and nineteenth.
Herola’s and Hirvonen’s top performances on last summer’s GP tour created great expectations for the winter season, but the results over the two weekends have been lackluster.
Urheilu’s expert and coach from Hirvo Petter Kukkonen according to Hirvonen’s performances in the five races of the early season have been fairly consistent, but a bigger gear is missing both on the hill and on the track.
– Jumping would be the most likely to rock the result. There is a clear technical issue that should be fixed. I expected that the skiing side would have gotten off to a better start. There has been some volatility in the competitions. The last laps have not turned out as they should have, Kukkonen estimates.
Hirvonen had been complaining since the opening competition in Ruka about airway obstruction, which could have taken away the best blade. According to Kukkonen, the fact that the Finns missed the Ramsau ski camp in October can also have a debilitating effect on the skiing mood of the early season.
Confidence was found
Suffering from injuries and health problems, Hirvonen finished in the top ten in the World Cup a total of four times in the last two seasons. Although the competition results of the early season do not yet signal a very big development leap, Kukkonen and Hirvonen are confident.
– The training season was good, he has been healthy for a long time and has not had any injuries. The athlete is mentally on a completely different level than before. He himself understands that there is an opportunity to take a step for the better. In previous years, that view has disappeared because there have been so many problems. The athlete had lost that self-confidence, and did not believe that he would get back to the top, says Kukkonen.
Hirvonen was not satisfied with his performance in Lillehammer, and wondered what was holding him back on the track.
– It’s a bit difficult to assess what the skiing condition really is, when there have been flus of all kinds, which already started in Ruka. There have been few special races, and there were no opening bets before Ruka. I wonder if the skiing condition is not better than this. The summer has gone so well that all the signs are that it must go quite well at some point, Hirvonen said.
The Herola World Cup “starts” in Ramsau
The Combined World Cup is now having a gap week, which suits the recovering Finns. The tour continues in Ramsau, Austria in mid-December.
The opening weekend of the World Cup in Ruka has been challenging for Herola in previous years as well. Getting sick after that sealed the unsuccessful start of the season, Kukkonen estimates.
– In the evening, the World Cup often starts in Ramsau. He had a good race weekend there last year as well. There we go up a small hill and the track is one that suits him. He needs to be patient, willing to forget these two weekends and somehow start the season again as we head towards Ramsau.
Kukkonen reminds that there are still two and a half months until the start of the World Championships in Planica. Herola is defending the World Championship silver from almost two years ago.
– I’m not worried about him. Ilkka is the kind of athlete who warms up over the course of the season. Now the jumping has looked controlled and stiff, and even the skiing too. I believe that fitness will be found, says Kukkonen.
Illness was also a problem for the combined national team at the beginning of last season, when Kukkonen was still the national team’s head coach.
– The situation is very similar to the beginning of last season. It was expected that when the corona regulation is reduced and people are in contact with each other, it can start infection spirals. I’ve had bad luck. I hope the illnesses were here, says Kukkonen.
After a tough race at the beginning of the season, Hirvonen plans to calm down for a while in his home country of Finland and focus on the basics. Hirvonen believes that the pieces will still fall into place both on the hill and on the track.
– Jumping looks ok. If only I could pull off a big hill in peace and test the equipment, so that I could get a better credit. It’s not very far. It just comes from there. The same with skiing, says Hirvonen.