One of Finland’s most promising talents, Iida Lanko, 15, hits three darts on the dart board in Pasila, Finland’s biggest darts tournament.
Brother-in-law wears a Dutch star by Raymond van Barneveld name sticks. However, the multiple world champion is not the Finn’s favorite.
She is Gerwyn Price, who is loved to hate. The knocking man often gets harsh feedback from the audience.
– I like his presence on stage. Now, of course, he had that one game where the audience got inside his head and he came on stage wearing earplugs. I wonder if this is an idol I look up to, but it is, says Lanko.
The Oulu resident refers to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, where Price solved the crowd’s roar by wearing hearing protection in the fifth round. It didn’t help though, because Gabriel Clemens advanced to the semi-finals.
15-year-old Lanko got into the sport as a result of the corona pandemic, following in his father’s footsteps. Father Antti Leinonen has been throwing in the sport for a long time.
– I used to do gymnastics and dance. When corona came, everything shut down, so I stopped them and started darts.
– Dad started throwing as a junior and now he got the board after a long time. I decided to give it a try. I then cheered for it.
Nowadays, Iida Lanko competes in darts at least once a week. There are numerous competitions available, but the level varies a lot depending on the day.
However, the passion for competition drives the people from Oulu forward the most. The brother-in-law throws darts every day and the hours accumulate from twelve to fourteen a week.
– I didn’t immediately notice that there are gifts for the sport. It required quite a lot of repetitions and training.
Lanko really came to the fore in December of last year, when she won silver in the girls’ series in a tough and prestigious invitational tournament.
The last time a Finn has won medals at the World Masters was in 2001, when Jarkko Komula also ranked second.
– I would not have thought that I would make it to the stage when it was my first time at the Games. It was a really great experience and I’m looking forward to this year’s games. Now there are goals, says Lanko.
The brother-in-law trains at home and travels to competitions with his father. However, Antti Leinonen has already admitted In an interview with Kaleva (you will switch to another service)that he has fallen off his daughter’s sled.
– Iida’s three-dart average is currently hovering around 60 points, mine doesn’t reach that level. For me, this is a hobby and having fun. I wouldn’t compete so much if Iida wasn’t so enthusiastic, Leinonen told Kaleva.
Lanko has already enjoyed a full 180-point performance in competitive situations. You can win a single leg with nine darts, but Lanko has not yet reached this rarer achievement.
– Competitively, the dream is to get on the big stages to throw against really tough guys. It’s a long way to get there and it requires training.
Success, on the other hand, also required endurance, because in the games, pressures pile up not only from one’s own expectations, but also from outsiders. For example, Lanko’s idol Price often has to endure the whistling and shouting of the audience.
– Head endurance comes with experience. If there are stage games here in Finland, they are exciting. When you have a little pressure resistance at the bottom, it really helps a lot when you get to the final stages of big competitions, says Lanko.
Two female throwers were seen in the open series of the World Championships that just ended. In male-dominated darts, in addition to open competitions, there are also competitions organized exclusively for women.
In Lanko’s opinion, different series for women and men is a good thing, because the level difference is big.
– After all, that (competing with men) is a different matter. That would be fun to experience.