Will Lauri Vuorinen already this season be able to do what even World Cup finalist Ristomatti Hakola never can? Freestyle sprint has not been a parade sport for Finland, writes Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen sports reporter
It started promisingly on February 21, 2001, when the first sprint skiing competition medals were awarded at the Lahti stadium and to top it all off with a faster, i.e. free, skiing style. Pirjo Manninen (now Muranen) and Kati Sundqvist’s (now Russian) after the double win has mainly been a bit quieter.
Freestyle sprint skiing combines the age-old problems of Finnish cross-country skiing, i.e. freestyle skiing and sprint skiing, as if offering kryptonite to the dreaded Man of Steel.
In recent history, freestyle skiing has since been said bye-bye from a goal-oriented perspective Cross mat Hakola has progressed to the finals in the World Cup competitions, i.e. to the six checkers no less than five times; at his best, the 2017 World Cup finalist finished fourth at the foot of the podium.
No more varicose veins
Performed absolutely excellently on Saturday, profiled more as a sprint cannon in cross-country skiing Lauri Vuorinen stretched to the final and fifth already in December 2021 in Lillehammer, but it was a stroke of luck
Now Vuorinen has started the training season and the competition season in such a way that there is no longer any need for blood vessels. The likable long-distance traveler and this season’s double stoppage is now a sprinter with podium potential in both skiing styles.
When the above combination of freestyle skiing, Finland and sprint skiing was so gloomy, let’s examine the figures for a moment behind the thought bubble. Last season, nine Finnish women and six men achieved World Cup points in free sprints, i.e. passed at least the time trial. In total, we were on the scoreboard 36 times. I even crossed the final bar once, I was a supporter of the semi-finals five times.
However, there is enough of a healthy core that even one diamond can be squeezed under such national pressure. Now that jewel seems to be Lauri Vuorinen.
Urheilu follows the Tour de Ski in this article. The Tour continues on Sunday with 10 km (p) intermediate starts. The women’s race starts at 1:15 p.m. and the men’s race at 4 p.m.