On Saturday, Elian Lehto will compete in the World Cup in Val Gardena in the diving competition starting at 12:40. Live broadcast on TV2 and Areena. You can find everything from the Urheilustudio weekend in the highly popular live stream here!
Elian Lehton the back is locked right at the beginning of the world cup season. Back jerks in Beaver Creek during giant slalom practice.
The next few days will be difficult. Last season’s Finnish sensation can only count the jump competition, and he will not be seen in the super giant slalom or giant slalom.
Lehto states that it was impossible to count in full. He had also been ill.
– It was quite a vulnerable state, Lehto recalls a couple of weeks later.
Lehto admits that what happened was a tough place. He would have liked to count and be successful, but it was difficult to get started in general.
– It was an unfortunate fact that our people are human and I get hurt just like everyone else. We have to work harder and work better so that things don’t go like that in the future, Lehto describes.
According to Lehto, in a couple of weeks, “however, things have come to a head”. It was cool to count on him on Tuesday in the first practices in Val Gardena. According to Lehto, everything is fine.
– There’s no need to run around here. We are here to win sometimes. Be it five years from now or this weekend, says Lehto.
Lehto has been with the Swiss national team again preparing for the season. They did physical exercises before the race weekend started in an Italian garage.
When Lehto is with the Swiss national team, he acts as his physical trainer Gabriel Gwerder.
Gwerder feels that Lehto needs to develop specifically in the middle body.
– Elian’s legs are quite strong. Compared to that, I think his average body is probably not that good, says Gwerder.
Crazy in a fun way
According to Gwerder, nowadays Swiss TV remembers to mention every time Lehto competes that he is part of the Swiss team. Lehto also feels that now the team has started to feel like his own.
Has become one of the best friends Arnaud Boisset. He was unfortunately injured at Beaver Creek and is now out of Val Gardena.
Otherwise, Lehto describes the people of the Swiss national team like a school class, while the Finnish alpine skier thinks that the group is so “unbelievably large”.
The 24-year-old Finnish comet is also starting to speak German. Rovaniemeläinen has enrolled as a high school student, but according to his own words, he has not “attended any schools”.
– I haven’t read German. It was hard to understand at first. All team information comes in German and the meetings are in German. Yes, it has been a must to learn. Nowadays, communication with friends is done in German, says Lehto.
He spent a lot of time in the summer Urs of Kryenbühl with. Then the German language went forward.
Lehto has also used a textbook and a phone application in learning the language.
The challenge is that Lehto’s best friends speak French. Otherwise, the team is bilingual. In addition, the team speaks Swiss German.
– We speak French mixed with German all the time. It’s been a saving grace. Of course, it’s nice to understand what guys are talking about. Otherwise, it is nice to know German from a life point of view, Lehto describes.
Roommates constantly change during competition and training trips. Sometimes Lehto gets his own room as a Finn. Now in Val Gardena, he has an eighth-place finish in Friday’s super-G as his roommate Lars Roast.
– Elian is a wonderful guy with a lot of energy. He always smiles a lot. He always punches in training. Bad or good weather, he still pulls hard, Röst enthuses.
The Swiss national team scorers interviewed by Urheilu all praise the Finn as a funny guy.
– He has a different attitude. If he has a bad race, he’ll be angry for an hour and then look away. We need more time to reset. We can learn from him in that, finishing sixth in the Val Gardena super-G on Friday Stephen Rogent’s glowed.
Almost the same vintage as Lehto Franjo won Allmen describes Lehto as funny in another way.
– He’s a bit crazy sometimes. He lifts the spirit in the team. Sometimes when the weather is bad, everyone is a little upset. He might throw that “come on, we need more fog!”, Von Allmen reveals.
The one who had a lot of fun with Lehto continues on the same line Alexis Money.
– Elian is a really nice guy. He is always ready to joke. We were born in the same year, so we get along well. We even have the same habits. We watch quite a lot of Instagram and Tiktok videos. We laugh a lot together, Monney incenses.
Endurance confirmed
Last season, Lehto made his international breakthrough. He was at his best in the World Cup competition twice eleventh.
In addition to that, he reached the finals of the World Cup in the downhill at the end of the season. The best 25 reached there, but the race was not held at all due to bad conditions in Saalbach.
Lehto sees that after the successes of last season, it is difficult to start the new season. He refers to the sports legend and Urheilu’s alpine skiing expert Kalle Palander to repeated words.
– Kalle has said many times that it is difficult to stay at the top. I’m nowhere near the top because I haven’t gotten a single podium finish. But there are always guys who want to be in the top 30. We have a knife at our throats in every race, Lehto describes.
According to his own words, he still doesn’t put pressure on himself.
During the summer, he has focused on strengthening the coping side. He remembers that he coped well last year, but still feels that there is a lot of “tournament fatigue” when touring the Alpine Skiing World Cup.
– You have to stay mentally in such shape that you can always pull through the tour. When you have physical endurance on your side, it helps a lot with the mental side, says Lehto.