Finnish alpine skiing permit Eduard Hallberg became the biggest talking point of the Urheilustudio weekend. 21-year-old Hallberg was no less than eighth in the Levi World Cup after the first round of slalom.
In the second round, the Sipoo made bad mistakes and fell to 24th place. The World Cup points were Hallberg’s first in his career. Finnish men had not been seen in slalom with World Cup points for 11 years.
Hallberg’s performances brought Levi’s audience to tears, ‘s alpine skiing experts to tears, and the father’s heart to “explode”.
Urheilu’s alpine skiing expert, sports legend, Kalle Palander considers Hallberg’s abilities unfathomable.
– Hallberg has a skill that I can’t even explain. No Finnish slalom athlete has had that at the start of a turn before. He has realized something. Even very few hard international names have that. Absolutely insane.
Hallberg’s season continues next weekend in Gurgli, Austria, with two World Cup slalom races. At Levi, Hallberg’s starting number was 40. Rinne was still in good shape at Levi with that number.
– This season there will be races where the slope is in bad shape for everyone with a start number over 30. I hope Gurgl is in good shape, Palander reminded.
Surprise
The biggest surprises of the sports studio weekend were found in cross-country skiing at the Olos Artillery Games. There were many of them.
Better known as sprinters Jasmine Joensuu and Juice Branch spoiled the traditional on Saturday with normal trips. Anne Kyllönen and Arsi Ruuskanen surprised on Sunday with free skiing on normal trips.
Urheilu’s skiing expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen reminds how before the season there has been a lot of talk about the financial problems of the Ski Federation. According to Saarinen, Olos saw with the large surprise crowd that the weak economic situation has not disturbed. The skiers’ creative solutions have been successful.
One example is Haarala, who interestingly opened up to after moving to Norway.
– It was a bold move from him to go to Norway to train. Apparently it was successful, Saarinen estimated.
A flop?
There were no actual flops or disappointments in the winter sports over the weekend. If you’re trying to find one, it’s one that has long been one of the top names in Finnish skiing Krista Pärmäkoski however, was very far from the top in both ski races of the weekend.
Jasmi Joensuu had time on a traditional, normal trip Kerttu My neck and Pärmäkoski as the second best Finn. On the free normal course, the harder than Pärmäkoski were Niskanen, Anne Kyllönen and Jasmin Kinky.
– The crystal was really sticky. This has been the case in previous years as well in Olos. Then in the following weekends, the pace has been significantly faster, says Saarinen and he is not worried.
What on earth?
Like Pärmäkoski, one of the top names in Finnish skiing, Kerttu and Ivo Neck opened their season at the weekend in Olos.
Iivo Niskas’ pole broke in his opening race on Saturday. It watered down Niskanen’s battle for victory. Niskanen, who finished fourth, lost to the Norwegian winner Mattis to Stenshagen more than 50 seconds.
Niskanen was described as confusing with his comments after the competition. Niskanen said that in two weeks from now, at the opening of the World Cup in Ruka, you can expect “a tough attempt to get into the top 30”.
Niskanen also blurted out that “the condition just won’t last”. For example Ilta-Sanomat titled his story so that “the Olympic winner made confusing speeches”.
– Ivo is fine. Those are typical comments from Iivo. Even if Iivo is in great shape, he will blow things like that. The regulars here can then roll their eyes at what he is talking about. Yes, Iivo is fighting for victory in the Ruka World Cup, Saarinen said and praised that there were positive signs in skiing.
What next?
Next weekend in cross-country skiing, General Ruka is scheduled for the opening of the World Cup, when the Finnish Cup will be competed on the same slopes.
Two topics of conversation have already arisen in advance of these games. The first is the competition program. Saturday is a sprint with traditional skiing. On Sunday, 20 kilometers of free skiing will be raced as a joint start. Pärmäkoski would have liked to have raced 10 kilometers in the traditional way on Sunday.
– That program will definitely eliminate skiers in the Ruka World Cup. On the other hand, that is good for others. It’s good to be able to try that trip, because it’s not skied often at the national level. It’s good that such trips are contested, Saarinen thinks.
There has also been enough talk about the rules. According to the Ski Association’s competition rules, foreigners who live in Finland and represent a Finnish Ski Association member club can compete in the Suomen Cup.
Many national teams would be interested in competing in Ruka, if non-Finnish athletes were allowed to participate in the Finnish Cup. Arsi Ruuskanen and head coach of the national team Teemu Pasanen told that they would like to let foreigners into the Suomen Cup to challenge Finnish skiers.
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen has made a fuss about the subject before and surprised the Finnish Cup manager with the rule For Hannu Koivusalo already eight years ago.
– The American team was in Rovaniemi at the time, but they could not be included due to the rules. I wondered about that because everyone here would benefit and win. I didn’t understand it then, and I don’t understand it now. It would be good if there you could mirror your own speed in going international, says Saarinen.