According to ‘s information, Krista Pärmäkoski will be missing from the list when the cross-country coaching management announces the national team lineups later this week. The choice was the athlete’s.
13:21•Updated 13:24
When the coaching staff of the national cross-country skiing team announces the composition of their national teams preparing for next season later this week, the most meritorious name in modern Finnish women’s skiing will be missing from the list: Krista Pärmäkoski33, according to ‘s information, is not part of the A national team.
About the ski association’s coaches Ville Oksanen and Ville Maunuksela didn’t want to comment on the matter on Monday, but confirmed that the lineups will be announced this week.
The choice has been Pärmäkoski’s. According to those interviewed by , he was not willing to make his name available until he has finally decided whether his successful career will continue towards the World Cup in Trondheim and the Olympic Games in Milan in 2025 and 2026.
Pärmäkoski has been training at home in Kuortane regularly during May, but he has kept his plans to continue to himself. However, according to an insider interviewed by Urheilu, the termination would be “a huge surprise for everyone”.
Severe austerity
If Pärmäkoski, probably in June at the latest, ends up continuing in top sports, his joining the strength of the A national team at that point depends a lot on what the Ski Federation has to offer. After the economic news in the spring, every group of Nordic skiing sports will have to spend a lot of money next summer, and a large part of the athletes will have to spend a lot of their own money to implement optimal training.
The last time Pärmäkoski prepared for the next season completely outside the national team was in 2019. Iivo Niskanen made it clear after mid-April that he would continue training on his own, as already in the summer of 2023.
Pärmäkoski, who made his debut in the 2009 Arvokis, seriously considered quitting already in the spring of last year, but ended up continuing then. The superior highlight of the season that ended and the main motivator for further intentions was winning the 20 kilometer (p) World Cup competition in Lahti at the beginning of March.
Pärmäkoski, who won no less than 12 Olympic and World Cup medals in the overall World Cup competition from 2011-2022, was the second best Finn in 21st place.