will broadcast live the Alpine Skiing World Cup women’s slalom races from Levi on Saturday and Sunday. The broadcast of the sports studio starts at 10:45.
The last few years have been for the 20-year-old Rosa Pohjolainen challenging. The alpine skier, one of Finland’s most promising young winter athletes, has had to painfully watch from the sidelines as others compete.
Adversity has come to Pohjolainen, who made a promising debut at the adult level, in the form of serious injuries. First, the alpine promise fell through in training in January 2021. The anterior cruciate ligament and coil of his knee were damaged in the fall.
The latest injury started in March 2022. The northerner twisted his knee during the pair slalom of the European Youth Winter Olympic Festival in Vuokatti. At that time, based on the magnetic images, it was estimated that the injury would heal with rest. However, this did not happen and a month later the cruciate ligament of the knee snapped during a normal practice turn on the Levi slope. The whole last season went by the same token.
Now, after a break of more than 18 months, he returns to the World Cup slopes to compete.
The smile doesn’t seem to freeze, even though an interview in front of a TV camera is said to be more exciting than competing.
– Skis feel quite natural and at home, these interviews in front of the camera are still in the discomfort zone. Many have said that you get used to these things with time, but I haven’t at least not yet! The northerner justifies the wide smile on his lips.
Quitting was on my mind, but not seriously
Even though it is safer to be on skis, Pohjolainen admits that he is excited and feels a certain kind of uncertainty before his comeback race.
– In the end, however, I am very confident, the training has gone well. Of course, this one and a half year competition break is surprisingly long. So we’ll see how our own racing head holds up, he jokes.
– It’s wonderful to be able to compete, that’s why I’ve done all this.
Time has really passed and Pohjolainen says openly that there hasn’t been enough motivation for each day. Sometimes it has been deep and the work towards the return has felt tough. There have been a lot of bad and difficult days.
– It has not been easy at all. Even when the same injury occurred in a relatively short period of time. But, what do you do? Fortunately, I had a good background team and family to support me, so I was able to move forward.
At some point, I even thought about quitting, but the importance of alpine skiing in my life took me to victory even in difficult times.
– I have grown up with the sport, and in the end I didn’t know how to think about quitting at least that seriously, says Pohjolainen.
He wanted to invest in his future outside of alpine skiing. Pohjolainen graduated from Hyvinkää Swiss High School last spring and wanted to continue his studies. He applied to Aalto University to study economics and got in.
The brother is a prop that spikes from the hole-in-one
As Pohjolainen states, his family has been a very important pillar of support for him in continuing his alpine skiing career. Big brother two years older than Rosa Jesper Pohjolainen (22 years) has also competed in the Alpine Skiing World Cup and is also involved in Levi.
Pohjolainen’s siblings have been practicing together since childhood until their teenage years. On the slopes, the two no longer compete, but they still do side training together.
– Last winter, I think we trained together for the first time in three to four years, Jesper assessed as the siblings stood together in front of the camera.
Rosa describes Jesper as her support and security, especially now that she is suffering from injuries. He has been able to talk openly with his big brother, without being judged.
– Nicely said. Of course, I also want to be that kind of person for him, Jesper states.
– I think the best thing about Rosa’s character is her strong opinions, which she also stands behind. If he is better than us somewhere, at least he has more hole-in-ones in golf, Jesper Pohjolainen continues with a laugh.
The siblings have been playing golf since they were children and visit the courses a lot in the summer. Last summer, on the seventh fairway (par 3) of their home course in Hyvinkää, Rosa had hit the first “holar” of her life.
– It wasn’t really funny about it, he said that “after all, I tried it”, “Jeppe” laughs.
– But I also said that it was luck, Rosa acknowledges from the side.
Time to go back
In addition to golf, there has been a lot of work to prepare for the competition season, and before getting on skis, above all, rehabilitation. Preparation for the competition season finally took place at the beginning of autumn. Even though the rehabilitation took a year, Pohjolainen no longer goes only on the terms of the knee.
In autumn, he camped in Norway with other skiers and skied on the Juvass glacier and in an indoor hall in Oslo. Since October, the bills have been calculated at Levi after the slopes have opened.
At the weekend, Pohjolainen returns to the World Cup on a familiar slope in Levi. Does he trust the durability of his knee yet?
– Yes, I trust, but I still think about it almost every time I go to count. Of course, there is still a little uncertainty. However, I think it is part of the matter, he reflects.
In addition to the previously mentioned family support, he has sought certainty in his calculation through a sports psychologist.
– As stated, the last few years have been so tough. I’ve already used the services of a sports psychologist just to keep my cool.
He has been waiting for the weekend for a long time.
– I’m especially looking forward to being able to calculate my own level of calculations. I haven’t set terribly successful goals for myself, he says.
broadcasts the alpine skiing world cup women’s slalom races live from Levi. On Saturday, Urheilustudio’s broadcast on TV2, Areena and ‘s website’s winter sports tracking starts at 10:45 a.m.