51-year-old Noriaki Kasai jumped to the World Cup points at the Salpausselka Games. According to Janne Ahonen, it tells about the level of the sport.
The Salpausselkä races drew 47,500 spectators to Lahti over the weekend. The goal of 50,000 viewers was not quite met. The result is far from the best years, when there were hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Mountain legend and Urheilu expert Janne Ahonen however, is optimistic.
– The races are picking up. Even before the corona, there were really quiet years, but now the mood is starting to improve and the mood is picking up.
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Ahonen has been able to enjoy the competition atmosphere in the audience in recent years. The athlete only feels the rush of racing from afar.
– From the tower, you can only see the crowd of spectators in the stadium. When we managed, there were many times more people in Iltamäki compared to now, Ahonen recalls.
For the city of Lahti, the games are still of great importance, even though the audience has shrunk. The competitions will bring about four million euros to the area’s entrepreneurs and the city, says Lahti’s director of urban development Olli Alho. The tourism and restaurant industry will benefit the most.
– The competitions are an inseparable part of Lahti. Salpauselkä, skiing and ski jumping towers are still the first things that come to mind about Lahti, says Alho.
“Behind the tip there is a big leap in level difference”
Janne Ahonen’s old competition partner, from Japan Noriaki Kasai51, joined the World Cup points at the weekend.
According to Ahonen, Kasai’s success tells about the man’s dedication and passion for the sport, but also something about the current state of ski jumping.
– The absolute top jumps at their own level, they are extreme machines. But right behind the top there is a big leap in level difference. It allows Kasai to jump to such places.
Ahonen has also climbed the jumping tower in recent years, even though his active career has already stalled. In the second year, he won suurmäki SM bronze.
Ahonen was going to participate in the Suurmäki SC this year as well. The race will be jumped today, Monday, in Lahti. However, the new instrument rules were too much.
Today, the measurements of the jumper are taken with a scanner, on the basis of which a costume according to the rules is designed. The scanner of the International Ski Federation was in Lahti over the weekend, but the schedule was impossible.
– I should have sewn the suit at night. It’s far from fun.
On Sunday, however, Ahonen revealed new competition plans: he and another mountain legend Toni Nieminen will take part in the combined SM competitions a year from now.