Place 42 in Oberstdorf. Place 48 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Place 41 in Innsbruck.
During the hill week at the turn of the year 2023–2024 Niko Kytösaho the cup went upside down for good. And now we’re not talking about a cup in the sense that Finnish mountain men sometimes used to in the past years.
In the case of Kytösaho, there was talk of deep frustration, of course it also tasted bitter.
– I was so mature to take all the time. I felt like I couldn’t get any help to move forward. I thought that I would end the whole thing, Kytösaho recalls his darkest moment of last season.
Kytösaho toured the World Cup for the fifth time. The results had stagnated and now the curve had even turned downward.
– Coaching was always sold that things are starting to go in a better direction. Even if I put my all into it and put everything into it, the end result was always the same. During Mäki week, it became clear that I want a change.
During hill week, Kytösaho met his uncle, a hill coach Pekka Kytösahon and the idea of future patterns started to bubble up.
At the end of January, in connection with the lentomäki World Championships in Kulm, the two had a deeper discussion and the work started behind the scenes.
After this, Kytösaho jumped the best results of his career. Already in the lentomäki World Cup, he was a sensational seventh, and this was followed by career-best World Cup places from Willingen (9th) and Holmenkollen (7th).
– It released something in my own head when I knew that the vicious circle wouldn’t last very long, Kytösaho says now.
– Pekka started commenting on my jumps and brought his own thoughts along. After that I was ready to leave the national team and accept new ideas.
After the season, Kytösaho announced that he would stay aside from coaching the national team. The move was exceptional and radical in the history of the Finnish hill country team.
The 24-year-old from Paimio moved to Salzburg, Austria and took the training costs on his own shoulders. Pekka took over the coaching responsibility.
Mäkimaailma’s strange birds Kytösaho and Stoch
Salzburg is basking in the sun when Pekka Kytösaho picks up his nephew at seven in the morning.
The destination is Bischofshofen and its iconic hill, a 45-minute drive away.
Although Salzburg is known above all for Mozart, cultural events and the baroque old town, those were not the root causes of Kytösaho’s move.
The city at the foot of the Alps is surrounded by many World Cup-level hills, and the city is also home to one of the training centers of the Austrian mountain team.
Austria’s and the world’s top names, e.g. Stefan Kraft, Michael Hayböck, Daniel Huber and Jan Hörl live in the Salzburg area.
On the way to Bischofshofen, there is a lot of talk about equipment. Among other things, new monos need to be tested even more. Nowadays, Kytösaho also takes care of the equipment side entirely by itself and does not even get its mountain suits through the national team anymore.
When you reach the Bissen hill, the parking lot for vans of the Austrian Ski Association is full. After a while, another motorcade arrives with the stickers of the Slovenian Federation. Kytösahot is a small private team among big national teams.
– Poland Kamil Stoch seems to be the only jumper in Europe who also trains outside the national team. But he has a bigger team behind him. That guy has a pretty big status in Poland, Pekka says.
Pekka Kytösaho has coached Niko before, but not on this scale for ten years. Now a new physical trainer from outside the sport also joined. According to Kytösaho, the change in training has been big.
– No hill jumper in the world has certainly trained the way I did this summer. The system was blown up, how much to train and when to train what, says Niko.
– It would be nice to say that the summer would have been all about dancing with roses and that everything would have gone perfectly. Well, not really. A lot has had to be filed and changed and experimented with. But when a template is found, it does bear fruit.
On the summer Gran Prix tour, Kytösaho’s best finish was 20th from the first race in Courchevel. So that’s enough filing.
The goal is to be the best in the world
There is no more information about the sunshine in Salzburg. Bischofshofen is covered in fog. Niko goes to the initial warm-up. Pekka takes care of the skis and then climbs to the trainer’s tower to film the jumps.
There is a traffic jam on the hill. Dozens of jumpers from Austria and Slovenia come in one loose chain from hill to hill. The lone Finnish jumper in this crowd is an apt metaphor for the power relations of the sport today.
Finland used to be big, like Austria and Slovenia now, but the collapse has been drastic. from Finland’s previous value competition win, Janne Ahonen from the jumping suurmäki world championship, it will be 20 years in February.
The previous competition medal is from 2010, when the foursome Janne Happonen–Olli Muotka–Matti Hautamäki–Harri Olli won the World Championship bronze in the lentomäki team race.
Since that day in March, in just over 14 years, 65 value competitions have been jumped, if you count the men’s and women’s Olympic, World and Flying World Championships together. In these games, 14 different countries have reached prestigious medals.
From this point of view, it’s no wonder that Kytösaho’s faith in Finland’s national team-led coaching system is on very shaky ground.
– I want to be the best hill jumper in the world. An athlete’s career is quite short and I want to do everything I can to be the best in the world, says Kytösaho.
The goal is quite tough for a jumper who has been at his best in the 30th place overall in the World Cup.
Who would open the blinds in the Ski Union?
The fog quickly recedes as the sun also reaches the mountain slopes towards Bischofshofen.
Niko manages to jump five jumps in two and a half hours before the hill is closed for maintenance. The sun melts and quickly slows down the ice slope.
The legendary Bischofshofen is Niko Kytösaho’s current neighborhood hill.
The journey back to Salzburg begins. During the 45-minute return journey, there is time to practice Finnish ski jumping. Fuel saws are not very flattering to the Ski Federation and its sports management.
– The Ski Association has been standing for a very long time only for coaches and not for athletes. It has plagued athletes for a very long time. Athletes have never really had power over coach choices or anything else. The athletes are just informed that this happens, Niko gasps.
– Few have questioned the activities of the Ski Association. Everyone is just satisfied that this is the situation, the jumper continues.
History adds to the pain. Finland used to be the best in ski jumping, now in the margin. The Mäkimen’s conversation in the car is very similar to what has happened in Finnish sports since the Paris Olympics.
– The mouth works, but nothing happens. And when we are in this situation and should do something, we just remember the old days, says Pekka.
– If we are going to continue doing the same thing in the same way, then it is the same as putting a note on the door, Niko states.
Yes, it’s quite sad that if and when I get a good season, then we’ll wake up.
Niko Kytösaho
I should have woken up more than 10 years ago.
Niko Kytösaho
You can still sense Kytösaho’s frustration with the union, and he doesn’t hold his candle low.
Jumping out of the national team for the training season is reportedly not a source of joy for the coaches and sports manager Mika in Kojonkoski caused by
Then received the criticism that Kytösaho has given. Are you afraid that these things could affect you in the future?
– If someone wants to be so petty, so be it… My goal is to be the best in the world and every Finnish ski jumper should help athletes become the best in the world, Kytösaho states.
– I have never received as much positive feedback in my mountain career as I did after this solution. Former and current jumpers and coaches sent a message that brave and great muuvi, Kytösaho points out.
To clarify, let’s say that even though Kytösaho no longer trains with the national team in the summer and autumn, the competition season normally goes with the national team.
Kytösaho has a huge desire to show off with the showy and tinged with union criticism. The main goal is the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games in 2026.
– The goal is to get precious metal around the neck. This winter shows which direction we are going. One big goal is to be on the podium this winter, says Kytösaho.
– If two years from now we are in a similar situation as now, that I am just making a living from ski jumping, and there are no results, then I have to think about whether I really want to do this.
The hectic conversation ends when we reach Salzburg. Niko goes to the gym to do some maintenance training, Pekka continues in his car to his own home.
Salzburg is known above all as the birthplace of Mozart. Comparing a great composer to a Finnish hillbilly is a bit corny, but let’s do it anyway.
Like Kytösaho, Mozart was also a traveler of his own way. He used to rebel against authority figures and wanted to do things his own way.