Eetu Kallioinen’s moods after the skeet World Cup final were divided. On the other hand, he had achieved the first World Cup medal of his career and an Olympic place for Finland, but the championship escaped by a point difference.
When the men’s skeet World Cup final was over and Greece Efthimios Mitas celebrate the world championship by one point Eetu Kallioinencoach of the Finnish team Pietro Genga arrived at the Finnish shooter. After the congratulations, the Italian coach asked Kallioinen what he thought.
Kallioinen uttered a line of swear words in Finnish, and Genga understood his protégé completely.
– Gold would have had good seams. Frankly speaking, it was even offered at times. This time there wasn’t enough skill or what it takes, Kallioinen, who was reached by phone, stated that the silver medal certainly tastes good, but it’s also a little sad.
However, silver is the first World Cup medal of the 25-year-old Kallioinen’s career. Before this, he had won EC bronze in 2021 and team gold in this year’s European Games. At the Tokyo Olympics, he was the youngest shooter in the final and was very much in the hunt for a medal, but a double fault dropped him to fourth.
Genga brought new understanding
In his own career, Pietro Genga won the championship in both the World Championships and the European Championships. He has coached the Finnish skeet team for a good couple of years now and has influenced Kallioinen’s work a lot, above all positively.
Kallioinen admits that he once thought he knew how to train. He thought that there would be some single art that would make things work. However, Genga changed that perception.
– Pietro brought a new understanding to the fact that only with high-quality training and hard work can you get the same success at the Games as you did in training, Kallioinen said.
– He has been a great guy. Not only in technical coaching, but also as mental support. You can trust him and know that everything will work.
You always have to be awake
Mitas missed four shots in the World Cup final, Kallioinen five. Kallioinen said that he knows exactly what he missed, but in a tight race the difference between hitting and missing is extremely small.
However, the competition was quite excellent for Kallioinen. He shot cleanly on the first two days and only missed one in the fifth round. In the final, he was always in the top three.
This season, Kallioinen has taken second place once in the World Cup and third place once, in addition, he finished third in the individual competition of the European Games and celebrated team gold in the same competitions with the ME result. According to Kallioinen, shooting has been going well all season.
– It wasn’t easy by any means, but it’s a basic thing to do on your own. If you focus carefully and are always awake when asking for the puck, then it usually works out well.
The party will be short
With his good performance, Kallioinen guaranteed the first Olympic place for the Finnish shooters in next summer’s Paris Games. Kallioinen had been chasing a place in last year’s European and World Championships, but failed that time. In the European Games, the place was already closer, but still slipped out of control.
According to Kallioinen, the thought of an Olympic place entered his mind, even though he tried to avoid it from time to time.
– I knew it had a full seam. Of course, it feels good now. It’s a really important thing for me, but also for shooting in general. We need to get those Olympic spots.
Kallioinen is not going to celebrate his silver medal very much, at least at the World Championships in Baku, because everyday life rolls on. Already on Sunday, there is a pair competition ahead Marjut Heinonen with.
– This is how it is. You can’t stay lulled into the fact that you’ll be fine. Success won’t continue if you don’t remember to train and work, Kallioinen smiled.