We are in the punching hall of the University of Tampere’s Tamppi Areena. Skier’s promise Hilla Niemeläintends to pull jaws with 15 kilos of additional weight, but suddenly states that it is “too light”.
Niemelä takes the weight away and goes to get a 20 kilo blue disc instead. He chains it around himself and starts pulling jaws. Many people’s jaws will drop.
Niemelä, 22, won the under-23 World Championship silver in Slovenia’s Planica in February. It was a great success from a young skier.
– I got in a really good mood for that day, and I already felt when I went to Planica that I now have a good feeling in my body, says Niemelä.
The silver medal came from the free sprint. The race was won by Canada Sonja Schmidt.
– Hilla had already decided several years ago that she would aim for a medal. Often, when a girl decides to do something, she succeeds, she explains Ville Niemelä his daughter’s character.
Genetic inheritance from parents
In Finlandia skiing in 2002, Ville Niemelä’s skis slid a little faster than normal. A baby girl was born to the family just three months ago.
Ville Niemelä couldn’t have guessed at the time that his daughter would be on the podium of the prestigious youth competitions in 22 years. At that time, Isä-Niemelä was struggling to reach the podium himself in Finlandia skiing.
– Victory came. It’s probably my number one story from my own skiing career, recalls Ville Niemelä, who coaches his daughter.
The following year, Finlandia skiing was won by someone else Mika Myllylä.
Hilla Niemelä has inherited a big pile of sports genes from her parents. Mother used to play volleyball and father’s favorite sport was long-distance skiing.
Niemelä had a strong will, already the size of a foam extinguisher. Dad says that as a little girl Hilla always wanted to enter skiing competitions, even though she didn’t even have her own series yet. The girl got angry when her father didn’t want to take her.
– I was a little ashamed when I thought about what people think when a father brings his daughter to the games as a minor.
In the end, the father had to give in and the daughter got her first competition.
– Now I don’t really remember anything from there, but I have heard and seen pictures, says Hilla Niemelä.
The bite of the ski fly sent the girl forward. When he was little, he went to watch his father’s competitions and when he was in elementary school, he did his own skiing exercises in the yard.
– Grandma told me how I swore at a young age that I would become the best skier in the world. But we are still on that path.
The road has been covered for twenty years now and Niemelä is currently the second best skier in the world in his age group.
– Little snowflakes like that are not enough for me. I really want to do well in the adult competitions, downloads Niemelä and twirls in his hand the junior World Cup silver medal, which is slightly smaller than the adult competition medal.
The father-daughter coaching relationship is sometimes challenging
Niemelä was also involved in orienteering when he was younger, but did not experience it as his own.
– That orienteering went so that I just ran there and didn’t orient.
The final enlightenment regarding one’s sport took place at the threshold of adolescence.
– Sometime when I was 12–13 years old, I thought that yes, this skiing is my thing.
The father-daughter coaching relationship has been challenging at times.
– At worst, I have had to suggest to Hilla that I have two phone numbers. One is for the coach and the other is for the father. But it’s much easier now that Hilla has grown into a young adult.
– It has good and bad sides. Dad is easy to work with and he knows me. When you don’t live under the same roof, you can get along, Hilla Niemelä laughs.
Becoming independent at the age of 15
After high school, Niemelä entered Sotkamo sports high school and moved there at the age of 15.
– That’s when you became independent when you moved in on your own. It was there in Sotkamo that I got the feeling that the life of an athlete is what I want.
– There were top coaches in Vuokatti who have helped Hilla enormously. At the same time, she has also had to use her own judgement, says Ville Niemelä, who considers the daughter’s independence process a good thing.
Four and a half years were spent in Sotkamo, and after that Niemelä returned to his home region near Tampere.
Niemelä is currently studying at the University of Tampere and will eventually graduate with a master’s degree in engineering.
– I’m studying environmental engineering, and it’s progressing slowly but surely. It’s my hobby at the moment. The main focus is on skiing, says Niemelä, who uses a lot of distance learning opportunities.
Last year, he won three gold medals at the Universiade, i.e. the international competition for university students.
– The Universiade as a whole was a turning point. They gave me more confidence that I can do well in skiing.
Inspiration and advice from the best
Niemelä’s childhood sports club was Lempäälä Kisa. He recalled that he was quite young when he became the world champion in skiing Aino-Kaisa Saarinen joined the club.
– Maybe there was such a Lempäälä moment that the best skiers in the world come here. What on earth? Yes, it was inspiring.
Today, his club is Ikaalisten Urheilijat. The same club also skis with a multiple medalist Krista Pärmäkoski. He has some good advice for a young skier.
– I vividly remember the first time I was selected for the Junior World Championships as a minor in Lahti. Krista sent me a message on WhatsApp, which are the best places to hit in a sprint.
Last winter, Niemelä skied Pärmäkoski and Katariina Lonkan with Ikaalisten Urheilijat in the relay for SM silver.
Niemelä participated in the Lahti World Cup sprint at the beginning of March. He skied by throwing from the qualification to the next stage, was sixth in the qualification and at the same time the best Finn. But in the heat, he collided his skis with his competitor and fell.
Next, Niemelä will test his striking ability in the Drammen World Cup sprint on Tuesday.
– Of course, the world cups are where you want to succeed, Hilla Niemelä states.
– The biggest thing in Hilla’s development is that she gets to ski as much as possible against athletes who are tougher than Hilla, thinks the coach-father.
The future plans of the younger Niemelä are clear.
– Next year there will be the World Championships in Trondheim, then there will be the Olympics, then there will be the World Championships again, then there will be a gap year and again the World Championships and the Olympics and again the World Championships, so yes there is something to aim for.
And you’re already thirty?
– Don’t think about it, laughs Niemelä.
The cross-country skiing world cup continues on Tuesday, March 12. At the Drammen city sprint with traditional skiing. Qualifying at 12:30 p.m., heats from 3 p.m. does not have TV rights, but the events are followed moment by moment on the website and in the app.
will show the World Cup’s culminating Falun Games on March 15-17. You can find shipping information at this link.