It’s bitterly cold at the Lope shooting range. Sometimes even a few snowflakes fall from the sky, even though it’s the end of April.
There is a scream from the shotgun range, a sharp “hap!”. A couple of seconds of silence followed, then a loud bang. After this, another “hap”, this time followed by two loud bangs.
Shout out to the skeet shooter Eetu Kallioinen from his mouth, bangs from his shotgun shots and a pink cloud of dust from the clay discs shattered by the hitting shots.
26-year-old Kallioinen is one of the best skeet shooters in the world. He finished fourth in the previous Olympic Games in Tokyo, and won silver at the World Championships last year. This summer, he is one of Finland’s biggest medal hopes at the Paris Olympics.
It’s so cold on the shooting range that Eetu Kallioinen and the national team mates Tommi Takanen and Timi Vallioniemi have to go inside to warm up between rounds.
In skeet, a series consists of five rounds of 25 shots fired from eight shooting positions. Clay pucks are thrown singly or in pairs, in which case two pigeons are thrown into the air at the same time.
The shooter asks for the pucks with a clear command, which varies from shooter to shooter. Vallioniemi shouts “yeah”, Takanen’s vocalization sounds like an “aah” exclamation, Kallioinen’s it is “hap'”. The story behind the shout of Olympic hope turns out to be undramatic.
– The Hap shout has become, in a way, my rallying cry for clay pucks.
– It is something that has simply developed over the years. Everyone has a personal expression when asking for the puck. It has become a “hap” for me. It feels natural and is clear enough.
Success in shooting requires more than technical skill. It requires mental strength and the ability to focus fully. Getting into the shooting bubble, where nothing around disturbs the performance, requires a routine – and the “hap” shout is part of Kallioinen’s routine.
From wooden rifle to shotgun
Eetu Kallioinen has enjoyed hunting and shooting since she was a child. Together with his father Tero Kallioinen with he started hunting at the age of four. Tero is also a skeet shooter, and Eetu often traveled in a pram to his father’s competitions.
As a little boy, he took his wooden gun with him on his hunting and racing adventures. The wooden gun was soon replaced by a real shotgun.
Although a large part of the year is spent in competitive shooting, hunting is still an important part of Kallioinen’s life. Every year he participates in game and bird hunting at his home in Lope. Between hunting seasons, he often goes for a forest run with his dogs to look at hunting grounds.
He sees parallels between hunting and competitive shooting.
– It has a bit of the same feeling and excitement when waiting for a catch or clay pucks. You know you can’t afford to miss.
If you are one of the best skeet shooters in the world, you could assume that a catch is guaranteed in Kallioinen’s company.
– I consider myself a reliable shooter and I rarely miss, so that makes me a good hunting partner, laughs Kallioinen, who is somewhat amused by the question.
– I rarely refuse hunting if I am asked to join. But hopefully my companionship is more important than my accuracy.
Hunting is today Kallioinen’s most important hobby, while shooting has practically become his job.
One clay puck after another is thrown into the air and Kallioinen hits almost all of them. More than 50,000 shots are fired during the year, most of which are hits.
In the exercises, everything goes according to routine, the performance comes from the spine according to the formula learned. But in practice, shooting usually takes place without pressure, without an audience, without expectations and demands for results. Shooting a clean burst is much easier in practice than in competition.
– Many people make the mistake of trying to do better in competitions than in training. You do not have to. If you can shoot 125 pucks in practice, you can also do it in competition with a similar performance. It’s just about confidence.
– The mind and eyes must be one hundred percent on what happens next. When you ask for the puck, you must not have any extra thoughts running through your head.
Skeet shooting is a sport where every millisecond of distraction can be the difference between hitting and missing. That’s why concentration is as important as physical skill – and with strong self-confidence, it’s easier to achieve full concentration.
– For me, concentration means getting into my own bubble. I am completely focused on what I am doing, and my eyes and thoughts are only on the tower from which the puck throwing machine throws clay pucks.
Kallioinen has developed a personal strategy for coping with the situation and finding focus. Preparing for your own shooting starts mentally when the previous shooter completes his turn.
– Some manage to stay focused throughout the competition. This is not the case with me. I let my thoughts flow freely between rounds, but when it’s my turn to go to the shooting range, I’m 100% focused.
According to Kallioinen, the most difficult thing is to exclude everything that is happening around. The audience’s reactions must not be listened to, and unexpected events must not be disturbed.
The focus is on getting into a flow state. That is, to a situation where the shooting goes like in training, and nothing else is going through your mind but hitting clay pucks.
– When you’re in that state of mind, everything comes from the spinal cord, and you just repeat what you’ve done in training. You just go for it, execute and hit the pucks.
But as soon as your confidence starts to wane or your thoughts revolve around the next shooting performance, you will inevitably fail.
– If I start analyzing the shooting too much, I easily focus on the wrong thing.
The worst opponent is in your own head
Performance under pressure is what separates competitive shooters. This is about confidence. And you can find self-confidence in Kallioi.
Self-confidence is not only crucial for the ability to concentrate. Above all, its lack is directly reflected in the results.
– The worst opponent is often in your own head, says Kallioinen.
It can be difficult for many people to deal with the pressures placed on them from the outside or the pressures created by their own expectations. For Kallioinen, dealing with the media has become a part of preparing for the competition.
– You shouldn’t be afraid that someone expects you to succeed. I have turned the pressure into positive things. I feel honored that someone thinks so well of me that they expect me to succeed. They are not haters, they want me to succeed.
No matter how big or small the competition, Kallioinen always goes to the games with the same attitude and the same goal. He is there to win.
– I consider myself a pretty confident shooter. When I participate in competitions, I’m there hitting all the pucks. I know why I’m there and what I’m going to do.
After 200 shots and more than four hours spent on the shooting range, Eetu Kallioinen is starting to feel cold.
Even though there’s been a break between sets, his fingertips are starting to go numb. The cold has also caused the pink color powder of the clay discs to come off before the throwing machine has thrown the discs into the air.
In the most important competition of the summer, the Paris Olympics, the conditions will be completely different.
– I’m going there to win.
The Olympic quadruple from three years ago and last year’s World Cup silver medalist will go to Paris as one of Finland’s biggest medal candidates.
– Even as a child, when I was about 10 years old and rode my bike to school, I dreamed of winning the Olympic gold. It’s been on my mind for a long time.
Whether it’s an Olympic final or a competition among friends, where the winner gets a cup of coffee, the attitude is the same.
– I know I have a chance to win, so I’m going there to be the best in the final and hit all the pucks. I’m going out there to win.