Head coach Antti Kuisma has a new “extended family” – with Ruka, he thought something was missing | Sports in a nutshell

Finland’s combined men’s and women’s teams cooperate more closely this season. Last season’s sensation Minja Korhonen can make a splash this season as well.

Finland’s men’s and women’s national teams are closely together this season. They are in the men’s A national team Ilkka Herola, Eero Hirvonen, Wille Karhumaa, Otto Niittykoski, Arttu Mäkiaho, Jesse Pääkkönen and Perttu Reponen.

The women’s team includes teenagers Minja Korhonen mixed Heta Hirvonen. Head coach and former combined athlete Antti Kuisma may control the premaritals of both men and women.

On Friday, the women opened their combined World Cup season. So, Kuisma has quite an “extended family”.

– My own family on top of that, Kuisma enthuses.

– Yes, there is enough hustle and responsibility. It’s a great thing to be together, both men and women. All national team activities are done together. Of course, human resources are tight, so there can be long days when all the competitions are in a row, Kuisma refers to the men’s and women’s competitions.

Kuisma says that there are, however, more positive aspects to the situation. Last weekend, only men competed in the Ruka World Cup.

– Ruka had the feeling that something was missing when the women were not involved. Now the whole group is together. It brings its own spice and point of view to the whole group dynamic. For the whole group, it is important that we are all together, says Kuisma.

Two young people

17-year-old Minja Korhonen was ninth in the opening race. After the hill section, he was 15th.

A year ago, he was sixth in the season opener. Korhonen was satisfied with his skiing speed, but there is still work to be done on the downhill side.

– I guessed a little, what the skiing condition of the day is. Tactically, it was really good skiing. I was surprised on the track how well the final lap went, commented a happy Korhonen.

Hirvonen, who is a year younger than Korho, was 17th in the opening race and achieved the best World Cup ranking of his career.

Kuisma was overall satisfied with the openings of the young Finns.

– You have to be satisfied with the end result. The inability to jump on the hill is visible. We haven’t been able to skip exercises here either, so now we went straight to work. However, athletes need a lot of jumps in the early season. Skiing was great from both.

Snacks for the podium battle

Born in 2007, Korhonen was one of the bright spots of last season. She made Finnish history by becoming the first Finnish woman ever to finish on the podium in the World Cup.

He celebrated his victory at the World Junior Championships. Korhonen is nominated for Young Athlete of the Year at the Sports Gala.

Kuisma is confident that Korhonen can fight for the World Cup podium places this season as well.

– In a normal race, just by jumping, you get a minute off the starting time. Then we are in a different game, Kuisma believes.