Elian Lehto will qualify for the Alpine Skiing World Cup finals in the fall. Lehto remained in the top 25 in the autumn cup, although he did not reach the points in Kvitfjell.
Elian Lehto was left out of the points in the Kvitfjell World Cup downhill race in Norway, but still makes it to the World Cup finals in Saalbach, Austria.
Lehto was 35th in Kvitfjell. The 25 best fall skiers of the season reach the finals of the World Cup.
Before the race in Kvitfjell, Lehto was 23rd in the autumn cup, but he joined the team from the last shared 25th place in one of Italy’s Guglielmo Boscan with.
Lehto was not recently satisfied with his competition in Norway.
– We were three tenths short of the result goal, i.e. around 20th place. I made my own mistakes. Could have easily squeezed out the tithe. I wasn’t good enough today. I squatted my own times. We went on and on. The upper part went quite well, but the lower part of the track failed miserably, Lehto recently said at Ski Sport Finland’s press conference.
At that time, it was not yet certain whether Lehto would be included in the final event.
23-year-old Lehto is making Finnish alpine skiing history. No Finn has previously participated in the finals of the Alpine Skiing World Cup in the downhill.
Autumn is scheduled for the final event on March 24.
The World Cup finals were Lehto’s main goal of the season. The Finnish alpine sensation faded earlier this season when he was eleventh twice in Kitzbühel’s legendary fall race.
Sports expert Kalle Palander expected in advance that Lehto would be required to place in the top 20 in Kvitfjell for the World Cup finals.
– This is a tough thing. This has never been done in Finnish alpine skiing. Absolutely unfathomable. I don’t even understand this, Palander marveled and speculated already ahead in the Sports Studio with a historic achievement.
Elian Lehto calmly accepted his historic achievement in the Sports Studio a good hour after the competition.
– It doesn’t really feel like anything. Today’s skiing went so badly. You could say skiing on purpose, because Kalle (Palander) takes it upon himself, Lehto threw.
Lehto is getting a lot of international attention as well
A place in the World Cup finals was really tight. The whole place was decided by the fact that France Nils Alphand finished in 14th place and 0.02 seconds ahead of Italy’s Bosca.
– I didn’t smell any of that. I watched the action for a while in the goal area. I thought I wouldn’t make it. I was already wondering if the source should be visited in California, Lehto described.
The grove has attracted enormous attention, even internationally. During the Kitzbühel weekend, there were up to 80 interview requests.
– From here it will probably normalize and go back to the basics. This is alpine skiing, and nothing about show business. I need to focus on sports and not on anything else. Isn’t this going to be taken care of, Lehto said.
Kalle Palander himself recalled how he had his own case manager during his peak years Kalle Søderholm.
– The race had once gone badly. We were sent away. He answered the phone “Kalle†. The reporter thought I answered the phone because he was calling Kalle. I listened to Søderholm explain the pits and ponds to my race.
– I was wondering what the hell, and did you give an interview for me. He said he didn’t feel like giving me every interview. He wanted me to concentrate. You need to get Elia next to it, Palander threw as a tip to the growing attention.
Lehto reacts to the tip with laughter and approval.
14.12. Val Gardena 22.
16.12. Val Gardena 29.
28.12. Bormio 28.
11.1. Wengen 35.
13.1. Wengen 20.
19.1. Kitzbühel 11.
20.1. Kitzbühel 11.
17.2. Kvitfjell 35.
Updated at 16:27. Added Lehto and Palander’s comments in Urheilustudio after the competition.