Johanna Matintalo, who finished third in the Oberstdorf World Cup, was not selected for Thursday night’s stadium print.
An invitational competition called Stadion Sprint, a sprint of traditional skiing, will be competing at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium on Thursday evening. Among other things, the Finnish Olympic medalists will be present Krista Pärmäkoski, Kerttu Niskanen, Iivo Niskanen and Joni Mäkitop skiers at the national level as well as several top foreign names.
However, if success is measured by the World Cup rankings, the number one cannon of the Finnish national ski team in the traditional sprint is missing from the starting line. Rukan finished fourth in the World Cup and third in the Tour de Ski in the traditional sprint Johanna Matintalo says on Instagram that he was not invited to the event.
Matintalo’s third place finish from Obertsdorf at the turn of the year is still the best sprint ranking of the Finnish national team, including men and women, this season.
– It would have been nice to be in the Stadium sprint today, but it is difficult to come to the invitation competition without an invitation, Matintalo wrote in his Stories section of Instagram.
Matintalo did not want to comment further. At the Lahti World Cup on the weekend, Matintalo will only take part in Sunday’s 10 km, which is skied in the traditional way. Saturday’s sprints are free to ski.
Sport reached the commercial director of the Ski Association, Jari-Pekka Joupinto comment.
– We had a working group for domestic competitors. It was started by looking for certain A national team athletes, foreign athletes and then rising talent. When we have a limited number of athletes, this year not all A-national team athletes who have not been on the sprint side or in the posts were asked, Jouppi says.
In addition to Matintalo, it is only suitable for normal trips from A-team skiers Riitta-Liisa Roponen is not involved in the Olympic Stadium. Also participated in the Olympics but outside the national team Anne Kyllönen not skiing in Helsinki.
Of the trio, Matintalo is the only one whose hobbies include sprints, especially those of the traditional skiing style.
Krista Pärmäkoski, Kerttu Niskanen from the women’s A-national team Katri Lylynperä, Vilma Nissinen and Jasmi Joensuu.
“With rising abilities” Jouppi refers to the skiers participating in the event, outside the national team. They are Finns Julia Häger, Rebecca Ehrnrooth, Tiia Olkkonen, Maaret Pajunoja and Anni Kainulainen. Olkkonen and Ehrnrooth are 22 years old, but three other more experienced athletes, Pajunoja is 32 years old, Kainulainen is 29 years old and Häger is 25 years old.
– There has been no malice or drama here. If Johanna tells me in the coming year that she would like to come and compete, yes I will probably arrange her here, Jouppi says.
The stadium was originally scheduled to compete a year ago, but the event was postponed due to the coronation situation. According to Joup, the first athletes for the 2022 event were drawn in August last year.
However, the Olympics messed up patterns as many foreign athletes withdrew. Kerttu Niskanen’s participation was strengthened during the Olympics earlier in February.
– Now that we think in retrospect, if we had made the decisions of the Finnish athletes only after the turn of the year, Johanna would then have been on the list. There are not two words about it, Jouppi admitted.
– If Johanna herself had been in contact, we would probably have woken up to the fact that she should be involved. I am now speaking at the mouth of others when I myself was not the first engine, Jouppi said.
According to Joupi, the event was overwhelmed, as no similar sprint has been held in Finland before.
– There would have been three times as many domestic arrivals as we could take. When you bow to one, you bump into another. That is a bit of a situation, Jouppi says.
Spouse of Matintalo Lauri Vuorinen got into the Olympic Stadium sprint only last time. Vuorinen’s contract in the Olympic freestyle sprint went wrong due to a pole vault in the semi-finals.
– Lauri was on our lists already in September. It just so happened that no one on the team that selected the athletes remembered to let Laurie know for herself that she wanted to join. Lauri contacted me. There was an accident at work, but in a good spirit the matter was fixed.
The Olympic Stadium sprint can be watched on TV2 and the Arena on Thursday from 6.45 pm.