“It was enough to hit the head on the wall”

Hill jumper Eetu Nousiainen has been one of the Finnish spots of light at the Salpausselä Games not only because of the best performances of his career but also because of the joyful outbursts of emotion that result from them.

On Friday, Nousiainen, 24, finished 18th in the Lahti Suurkäki personal race, which is his best World Cup ranking. Prior to Friday, his best was 25th place at Titisee-Neustadt in December 2017.

Four years is a long time to drill without results, sighs Nousiainen in the Lahti hillside after Saturday’s team hill. Finland performed briskly under Nousiainen and was sixth.

– Sports have not been nice all along, so they really aren’t, Nousiainen says and continues:

– That’s why I left for the Continental Cup a year ago, when it was enough to hit my head on the wall in the World Cup. There, all the while trying to do more than what was on offer and available.

According to Nousiainen, the Continental Cup returned him to the basics. He was looking for a new impetus for his career on a slightly lower level tour and was ready to return to the World Cup with a new look again.

– It was the best decision of my career to go to the Continental Cup. Learn to compete and learn to succeed. And then come back and enjoy doing this again. It’s quite different now to pull your head up and smile than the fact that you walk past the mixed zone in head presses and, frankly, you can be here in a hurry, Nousiainen says.

In his own words, Nousiainen has changed little in his jumping. He believes the improvement is driven by success in the Continental Cup and the self-confidence they have raised.

– It’s a little surprise, I have to admit. Yes, I knew success was near. There’s really such a hard level in the Conti Cup that when you get to move those jumps here, it’s going well. However, there is talk of small things, and it is more inside the head, Nousiainen ponders.

There have been no celebration topics in hill jumping in recent years in terms of Finnish success. Represented the only Finn at the Beijing Olympics Antti Aalto tinted on a normal hill, reaching 12th. In Lahti, Aalto was slightly better than Nousia in his 17th place in Friday’s Suurmäki race.

Nousiainen hopes that with his latest displays, he will earn a place on the national team again. The Kuopio jumper was dropped from the national team last summer.

– It became a desire to show and an extra boost for training. Yes, it pushed forward. The summer training season was really intact. You were actually allowed to be at home all the time and just make your own dune and work on your own weaknesses. Now it’s starting to look like the right things have been done, Nousiainen says.

Nousiainen has been able to play sports full-time outside of the national team. The Savo athlete does not intend to leave behind the framework of Puijo, the training group and skilled coaching.

– Whatever it’s there. Everyday life really consists of training and being with friends and a girlfriend. It provides a good counterweight to sports. I’m fine. Sports are nice and housework is fine, Nousiainen says.

In Saturday’s team hill race, Nousiainen’s 124.5-meter jump, especially in the second round, caused delightful noises in the audience. It was the longest hit of the Finnish quartet in the team competition.

Relief and happiness in the stadium’s evening light exuded from Nousiainen’s face. Downhill jumpers have competed in empty spectators during the Korona period.

– For a long time there was a really loud noise in that tower. As for his name, when the noise started to sound, it was heartwarming. Actually, it was such a neat feeling. However, one had to try to put aside the idea of ​​not focusing on that sound, but concentrating on doing it. Let’s listen to the sound after the jump in that montage, Nousiainen times.

– I couldn’t imagine a better place in the world right now, Nousiainen glows.

A better place than Lahti?

– Well, not this mountain ash now, Nousiainen laughs.