The balance of the Finnish skiing team from the World Championships in Planica was one silver medal, which the men’s team received from the relay. According to Urheilu’s experts, Finland’s lack of success is not due to one clear issue, but was the sum of several issues.
– It is a big and important theme for Finns. Although a nice relay medal was won, at the individual level neither the front nor the back were sharp enough, Ville Nousiainen said.
– Eveliina Piippo succeeded well after difficulties, Ville Ahonen was good at sprinting as well Niko Anttola in the message. It bodes well, but the wrong men and women succeeded, so to speak.
Top skiers Iivo Niskanen and Krista Pärmäkoski have suffered from illnesses during the season and only Kerttu Niskanen was able to build his condition and finish it according to plans. That didn’t bring a medal to Niskanen either.
The competition program also contributed to the success. In Planica, a different program was skied than at the Beijing Olympics, where six medals were won. The Finns’ favorite trips, 10 and 15 kilometers with traditional intermediate starts, were not included this year.
– This has been the more difficult program when skiing in this direction. There were individual successes, but no success in the big picture, Kalle Lassila said.
He was also wondering whether, especially on the women’s team, the choices of trips and the clarity of the choices were clear to everyone early enough.
– Even in Toblach there were indications that this would not be the case. However, it would be really important to calm down the situation for a sufficiently long period of time for the preparation phase, Lassila said.
Who surprised?
Niko Anttola20, was selected for the team as the junior world champion and Niilo Moilanen, 21, thanks to good World Cup performances. The debutantes of the adult competition had a great success. According to experts, this was a positive thing rather than a surprise.
– Guiding their preparation and their own activities has been really professional and good for such a young age, Lassila said.
Moilanen skied strongly in the sprint qualifying, but a crash in the heat dropped him to 21st place. Anttola was the second best Finn in the 15-kilometer freestyle skiing race in 24th place, and his cool-headed performance as anchor of the relay guaranteed Finland silver.
– Anttola’s performance was quite mature on heavy tracks. Performances like that on a normal trip don’t come by luck, Nousiainen reminded.
According to Lassila, both skied clearly at their own level, neither flopped nor stretched.
– Those performances weren’t a fluke, where everything just falls into place and the big day comes. It gives faith in the future, Lassila said.
Who flopped?
Last year, at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Finnish skiers won no fewer than six medals, one of which was gold, two silver and three bronze. The now achieved one silver medal was a flop according to Urheilu’s experts.
A similar fluctuation has been seen before, for example the balance of eight medals from the World Championships in Liberec changed to two medals from the Vancouver Olympics.
In the Olympic Games in Beijing, for example, the 10 and 15 km intermediate start races and the pair sprint were skied in the traditional way, which suits Finland’s top skiers perfectly. In Planica, these trips were free-skied.
– This is a wave movement. The World Cup season has already shown that Planica is not going to be the same success as Beijing. But even that should be critically evaluated; Has there been some degree of satisfaction, Lassila thought.
Nousiainen reminded that everything was successful in Finland last year, while Norwegians, for example, suffered from the corona virus.
– We can’t expect everything to go smoothly every year, because we currently only have three successful people from whom we can expect medals, Nousiainen said, referring to Iivo and Kerttu Niskas and Krista Pärmäkoske.
What next?
Cross-country skiing is currently a hugely popular sport in Finland, but there is plenty to do in the field of elite sports. Kalle Lassila now needs a sport analysis in Finnish skiing, role-playing of the system and an assessment of whether things have been successful, what they have produced and what they should produce.
– Cross-country skiing is a big thing in Finland and the level of requirements must be high. It requires a reform of the system, Lassila said.
The term basic training has been used several times in cross-country discussions during the Planica Games. According to Lassila, the situation is currently being monitored too much from the top level.
– However, basic training means very different things to a 5-year-old than to a 10-, 15-, 20- or 25-year-old, for example. We should make the path of cross-country skiers more clear, so that it doesn’t just remain loose and headline-level talk.
In Ville Nousiainen’s opinion, the national team should also find out areas for development. In his opinion, such could be seen, for example, in the women’s message.
– When the other top three were pushing hard on the hill, the Finns skied in turns, and there was a clear difference. However, investing in straight thrust is the easiest thing in the world, Nousiainen said.
– In addition to development targets, it is necessary to find out what Finns are good at, and they must be able to maintain and develop them. And that development work must start already in the spring. It is not enough to start investing in it only in the fall.