Finland as tough as Norway in ski jumping in Ruka! Surprise Kasperi Valto, 20, received praise from Kuningaskot too

Three Finnish jumpers scored at the opening of the Ruka World Cup. Finland collected as good a point pot as Norway. Kasperi Valto was even ninth after the opening round.

In the opening competition of the Mäkihypy World Cup in Ruka, we saw cheerful Finnish action.

Three of the six jumpers made it to the second round. Kasperi Valto was ninth after the opening round. The second jump didn’t go so well. The final result was 24th.

Sports expert, Kuningaskotka Janne Ahonen greeted the Finnish surprise.

– I’ve known Kassu since he was a little boy. He has been competing with my son since childhood. Now at the latest it was seen that it was the hill man’s fault. Kassu has jumped well in the mutual comparison of Finns, but it is always difficult to know what is enough in an international comparison. It’s enough for that and it looks good, Ahonen said after the first round.

At the age of 13, Kasperi Valto was a test jumper at the World Championships in Lahti in 2017. This information reminded Janne Ahosen of his own memories at Urheilustudio.

– I think I was the same age when I was a test jumper at the World Championships in Lahti in 1989. Maybe, in the light of history, he could become a good competition jumper, Ahonen said.

Valto developed nicely

Although the second jump was not as successful as the first, 20-year-old Valto was satisfied.

– You have to be satisfied. It didn’t matter much. Maybe there was too much effort and it became a joke, Valto said.

He was of the opinion that he was even more nervous before the first round than the second round.

– The second one maybe had an extra charge or something, but this was a fun job, Valto described.

Valto does not see only one thing in his development.

– When the pieces fall into place, it’s good to build on. It requires that the equipment and physics are in order. When you combine these things, it becomes good, Valto stated.

The best Finn was Antti Aalto in 18th place. Niko Kytösaho was the 19th

– Kasperi has developed nicely. There have been a lot of great jumps here at the camp as well, national team head coach Lauri Hakola beckoned.

He described Valto, unknown to many Finnish bench athletes, as a calm, hardworking and conscientious trainee.

– When Kasperi speaks, you should listen. That’s when it comes up. He doesn’t fumble for nothing, Hakola stated.

The head coach had known how to expect success like the first round.

– I could expect something like that if he manages to make his own basic jump. I was surprised that he could do such a thing, Hakola said.

Criticism taken into account

Finland’s start to the season was strong in the sense that Finland collected the same number of points from the opening of the World Cup as Norway, one of the major countries in the sport.

Only Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Japan collected bigger jackpots. The Finnish jumpers did not even succeed in the best possible way on Saturday in Ruka.

Last spring, Urheilu experts Janne Ahonen and Tommi Nikunen criticized that in Finland skills training has started to be done at the expense of physics.

Ahonen is satisfied with the direction given by Ruka’s first race.

– Right things have been done on the physics side alone. The boys will certainly know how to jump when the base and conditions are found. It’s a step up and go. Everyone has progressed in physics. It has been invested as it should be, Ahonen described moving forward.