CustomSki from Lahti has developed a new way of handling the grip area for traditional skiing skis. There was a buzz about the innovation at the time of the World Cup in Falun, although a great veil of secrecy hung around the method. However, it was used in Finnish skis, which were used to ski for prizes.
Finland’s lubrication manager Heikki Tonteri estimates that this innovation has a competitive advantage for the team. Sports expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen according to this is a real jackpot.
The new treatment of the holding area was not tried on the athletes’ first pairs. Saarinen thinks it’s interesting to see how it goes when it’s tried on the best traditional skis.
In the past, fur-bottomed skis revolutionized traditional skiing, but in Saarinen’s opinion, this invention cannot even be compared to the same.
– The future will now show where this will end up in the end games. It’s great that something like this can be found in Finland, and it’s also brave of the athletes that they have dared to put such a new method to the test right away.
Who surprised?
Couple Lauri Vuorinen and Johanna Matintalo was responsible for the happiest Finnish surprises of Falun’s weekend, as both took second place. Vuorinen skied on the podium for the first time in the sprint of traditional skiing, and Matintalo took the first prize place of his career in the normal distances in the World Cup.
– For Lauri, this season has been such a blast and buzz that I could say that Johanna’s second place was an even bigger surprise.
Matintalo got sick with the corona virus before the Ruka World Cup and was also sick at the turn of the year, but he was able to hit his peak at the end of the season.
– This is good for next season. Now there are more players in the Finnish team who can be expected to succeed, Saarinen said.
In the men’s sprint, Finland now has two rock-hard skiers, Vuorinen and Joni Mäkiwho are able to forge a result and take all the joy out of the competitive situation.
On the women’s side, on the other hand, the situation now resembles, according to Saarinen, the time when she, Virpi Sarasvuo (born Kuitunen), Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Pirjo Muranen (born Manninen) used each other in training. At that time, Finnish women’s skiers won awards almost every weekend.
– Then we drummed really hard in practice, and the result came. Now women are at the point where we can start expecting results from them in all seriousness.
What the hell?
Marco Odermatt has been completely superior in the past season on the giant slalom slopes. Odermatt was looking for his tenth win of the season in Saalbach, but it happened differently. The Swiss’s race ended in a stoppage, and it confused ‘s newsroom:
– Help! What a big mistake! Is not real! commentator Nina Old house exclaimed.
Expert Kalle Palander tried next to understand what happened.
– He faltered once before. Made a similar mistake to his model above. It was a rare mistake as well, and then again on a flat downhill. He just lost his grip, Palander updated.
Odermatt chased the alpine greatness By Ingemar Stenmark record. The Swede once won all the World Cup giant slalom competitions in the 1978–79 season and all 15 giant slalom competitions in a row.
Who flopped?
For the Swedish team, the home games were downright miserable. In the sprint of traditional skiing, Sweden got three women to the final and two to prizes, but even in that race Norway Kristine Stavås Skistad celebrate the victory.
Finland celebrated in the women’s race on Saturday, when Kerttu Niskanen and Johanna Matintalo took the double win. Jonna Sundling third place was a small consolation, because the Swedes had big problems with their skis. The media screamed fiasco, because Linn Svahn dropped out of the overall World Cup competition due to his miserable race.
Also on Sunday, Swedish maintenance had a bad day, and not, for example Frida Karlsson crashing and mouthpiece Astrid Öyre Slindin with helped the matter. Maja Dahlqvist let burn in Swedish mediabecause according to him, he has never skied with such bad skis. Emma Ribomin it was like skiing on sandpaper.
– Home games and the king was still there watching, and the subjects’ skis don’t run. This hardly left them feeling festive, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen reflected.
What next?
Although the World Cup season is over, the skiing competitions continue. In Finland, the championships will already be skied this coming weekend, when the SC championships will be held in Äänekoski after a five-year break.
On Friday, the women’s 5-kilometer and men’s 10-kilometer freestyle skiing competitions are on the program. On Saturday, the traditional 10 and 15 kilometer pursuit races will be skied. Sunday is a holiday for the club teams, because then the program includes messages.
– There are now tired World Cup tourers, so now young people or skiers in the next category from the World Cup team have a chance to surprise. I’ll wait for that now.
In Saarinen’s opinion, one such potential surprise could be silver in the sprint at the Junior World Championships Hilla Niemelä. Niemelä also performed strongly in Kuopio’s Suomen Cup, where he anchored Ikaalisten Urheilijat to second place.