Jasmin Kähärä, 22, debuted on Saturday at the Tour de Ski. The talent known as a hard sprinter is looking forward to the legendary final climb.
Making his debut at the Tour de Ski on Saturday Jasmin Kähärä was six years old when the competition format in question was on the program for the first time in the 2006–2007 season. The skiing talent has many Tour de Ski memories as a bench athlete.
The most memorable is from the 2008–2009 season, when Virpi Sarasvuo (born Kuitunen) and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen had a great fight for the overall race victory on the final climb of Alpe Cermis. Sarasvuo, who came in at the end, took his second Tour de Ski victory, seven seconds ahead of Saarinen.
In that season, Saarinen won the individual world championship and Sarasvuo four world cup competitions.
– It was actually the year when I got excited about skiing specifically through the Tour de Ski and other competitions. After that I started competing myself, Kähärä recalls.
At that time, eight-year-old Kähärä thought how cool it would be to climb up Alpe Cermis. On Sunday, January 8, the first opportunity opens up.
– The ski slope is pulled upwards. It became a kind of dream. Of course, it looks very fierce even in TV pictures, but I hope I could ski through the Tour myself and get that experience, says Kähärä.
An emotional journey on the opening day
The 22-year-old Kähärä, who made his international breakthrough last season, joined the A national team for this season. Kähärä, best known as a hard sprint skier, plans to ski the Tour all the way to the end in the very first time.
The sprinter status should not be confused, because he is a talented skier who can already ski normal distances at a good level. In Ruka, he was a promising 23rd in the traditional ten-kilometer split start race.
Kähärä reached the heats in both Ruka and Lillehammer sprints. He had to miss the Beitostölen and Davos weekends due to illness. It causes a small question mark around the Tour of Finland.
– After getting sick, there are no races below, so it’s impossible to say how the Tour will go. If everything goes well, the plan is to ski completely, says Kähärä.
Kähärä’s favorite trip is right ahead on the opening day, when a free sprint is skied in Switzerland’s Val Müstair. Last season, he reached the semifinals in the Dresden city sprint with that type of skiing.
The second sprint with traditional skiing is on the program in Italy’s Val di Fieme. It is the Fifth and third last race of this Tour.
– At least until then, I would like to ski. If there are no problems, I will ski the last two races.
The happy pill of the national team
Kähärä has already had time to familiarize himself with Saturday’s race venue. He describes the sprint track as interesting.
– It has many different elements. We’re high up and skiing two laps of the sprint track. The beginning of the second round is especially tight. It’s a long stretch of work where you have to keep up. If in the first round you have drawn too much for acids, you can become a pick-up in the second, Kähärä laughs.
The track also has bumps after the descent.
– I don’t know if some jumpers were tuned to it. We’ll see how it turns out. The minimum goal is to get through the qualification and fight for a place in the semi-finals as well as possible.
Jasmin Kähärä is described as the happy pill of the women’s national team. Will you sign the statement?
– I am clearly the youngest in the national team. I try to keep a good mood. I try to learn and listen to what tips the conkers have. After all, I’m the team’s janitor here, Kähärä throws himself.