Although the three-time Olympic champion allowed himself to be selected for the A national team, he plans to train mainly independently outside the national team until the fall.
When the Ski Federation on Wednesday announced the composition of its national teams preparing for next season, the Krista Pärmäkoski was missing from the crowd. But the big surprise of the selections was the three-time Olympic champion Iivo Niskanen return to the strength of the A national team.
Less than a month ago, in an interview with Urheilu, Niskanen was firmly making the same decision as a year ago in the spring, i.e. leaving out of the A national team. The reason was the fiscal year that brought the Skiing Federation to its knees, from which the organization group reported losses of almost two million euros in March. It strongly cuts the national teams’ possibilities for action.
The skier, who heavily financed his last training season with his own money, stated that he was satisfied with his independent training season, even though the results during the season did not fully meet expectations.
On Wednesday, Niskanen did not want to comment on the background of his surprise decision himself, but his manager did Miro Rousku told Urheilu the background of the matter. The truth is that the situation from last summer’s training season has not actually changed much, but Niskanen is training very independently this training season as well.
For example, Niskanen has not signed an athlete contract with the Ski Federation for the 2024-2025 season.
“Starting from Ruka with you”
– The actual athlete contract has not yet been worked on, but it has been agreed that Iivo will handle the training season himself and will be with the national team starting from Ruka, commented manager Rousku.
The World Cup of Nordic Skiing starts as usual from Ruka in Kuusamo in November-December.
Niskanen’s return to the national team was discussed with the athlete first and foremost by the head coach Teemu Pasanen and the skiing representative of the Olympic Committee Tony Roponen. Last summer and autumn, the top sports unit supported Niskanen’s independent training with 25,000 euros.
Pasanen believes that even though Niskasen has a lot of his own camping during the training season alongside his home training, the star skier is also seen to some extent in the training of the A national team.
– In addition to this, for example, certain important services, such as Kihu’s (Institute of Elite Sports) tests are now free of charge for Iivo when he is part of the national team. The national team’s camping package also turned out better than it looked in the threat photos, so I believe that Iivo will also be seen from time to time, says Pasanen.