Last season, the skier who was more successful in the World Cup than in the World Championships spent part of his summer vacation at a construction site. He did not participate in the training of the A national team at all.
Has been one of the most successful frame skiers of the A-national team for over 10 years Kerttu Niskanen35, realized last spring as soon as he saw the national team’s camp program that he was going to be a coach-husband Juho Mikkonen to make their own decisions with. Unlike Iivo Niskanenthe big sister was nominally part of the strength of the A national team, but its resources, severely disciplined by the financial crisis, were not being eaten up.
– I haven’t been to the camps of the A national team at all. I haven’t been part of it for a day, Niskanen said on Monday at Helsinki’s Kalasatama during the national ski team’s media day.
Kerttu Niskanen admitted that he expected more from the A national team’s program based on the speeches in the spring.
– It was bad news (cutting the camp program), and the information came to us athletes only when the national teams had been selected.
Didn’t consider leaving
However, Niskanen, who skied his first competitions in 2011, did not consider the same option as his brother or Krista Pärmäkoski in the training season 2019-2020: completely leaving the strength of the A national team to completely own.
– I have been in the A national team for a long time and always felt that membership was important, so I did not consider such an option.
After the competition season, Niskanen, who spent an almost completely silent life in the direction of the public, has been training in his native Vuokatti and at the same time promoting the couple’s detached house project with his husband. The training abroad consisted of two long, multi-week camps in Livigno, Italy, from which the athlete had only returned home on Sunday.
In terms of training, it has always been clear that Niskanen’s body gives an excellent response to high altitude training, which the athlete is happy to take advantage of. There was not nearly enough of this delicacy available from the Ski Association.
– Our principle is that when sport is a profession, the smartest and most necessary solutions are always made for it, even if they are not available otherwise.
Hoping for equality
The big variable of the starting season is the total ban on fluoride cream, which is why even Niskanen has cleaned his old pairs of skis alongside the new equipment coming from the factory. Niskanen only hopes for equality from the supervision of banned fluoride creams; he admits that it makes him think a lot.
– The game is changing a lot now, and one can only hope that the game remains fair. Rumor has it that the surveillance device might show what is happening. I hope they are just rumours, though.
Niskanen’s last season was twofold: the third place in the World Cup combined competition and the overall victory in the distance cup were the best things he put on the table in this category. However, Kerttu Niskanen was unexpectedly left without a medal at the World Championships in Planica.