Katri Lylynperä suddenly made headlines around the world – tells about the surprising consequences of her videos at the Beijing Olympics

– It was a pretty special trip in this world. The corona pandemic created its challenges and the country’s culture on it. Even after the final trip, the situation in Russia and Ukraine was hot and he thought about how to travel home.

This is how the Finnish skier remembers the first Olympics of his career a few weeks later Katri Lylynperä. He competed in the Zhangjiakou tracks in China only once and in the early springs in the free sprint. The result was 23rd. Lylyperä described skiing with the grade “baseline minus”.

During the three-week trip, Lylynperä got to experience more than just race events. For example, a skier described water damage in a race village on his Instagram account. In the videos published by Lylynperä, water flooded into the Finnish team’s house. The water also flowed properly on the floors.

With the videos, Lylyperä suddenly made headlines around the world. For example British Daily Mail (switch to another service)and Fox Sports Australian version (switching to another service) reported on Lylynperä’s videos. It was also reported that the videos were removed from Lylynperä’s Instagram account. During the Games, it was denied to the Daily Mail that the videos had been removed from the Finnish Olympic team. Lylynperä did not comment on whether he was asked to delete the videos. There were still consequences for the videos.

– A surprising number of Chinese followers began to come. There were also quite a few private messages. Fortunately, there were no races left. Otherwise, the concentration could have been disrupted. There was a lot of attention and also requests for interviews, Lylynperä describes.

Lylyperä captures going outside of race events on social media because it is not so often communicated to the public. According to him, the news of the water damage was made bigger than what it actually was.

– Pretty humor, we were able to deal with that case. Situations were always taken over quickly. There is a good side to the Olympics that there are so many organizing organizations. In the end, we had no worries. Of course, it was special that water flooded from every hole in the roof, Lylynperä says.

The Beijing Olympics were held under strict Chinese control. At the Olympic bubble, everyone was tested for coronavirus daily. Also, just before starting the race, two negative tests had to be given.

– I was afraid in advance that Korona would spread easily in the race village. There were really strict rules for entering the races. It clearly helped. Otherwise, Korona could have spread easily if the disease had occurred, Lylynperä states.

Strict isolation practices rose to the headlines in Finland and around the world after corona infections detected in entry tests into China.

– Westerners are certainly not used to the quarantine conditions that were available in China. It was the reverse of the coin, Lylyper thought.

Did it ever occur to us to be in an authoritarian country?

– In a way, it became clear under what circumstances we are. We also knew where we were going. We had been told. He did well there when he followed the rules and did as he was told. Then there was nothing to worry about, Lylynperä characterizes.

– Of course, at first I wondered how many cameras and microphones are everywhere. But he did well there, not terribly questioning why something is being done.

The last World Cup skiing of the season in Falun, Sweden, is due this weekend. Lylynperä will compete on both personal trips in both the traditional sprint on Friday and the free 10 mile race on Saturday. From the beginning of the season, Lylynperä was toned when she reached fifth in Ruka in the traditional sprint. Now expectations for Friday’s Falun traditional sprint are more dilute.

– If I were at my best, it would be possible to reach the finals here too. However, my body feels pretty tired. You may not be able to expect final level skiing from myself, but we still hope for a good result, Lylynperä describes.

On Sunday, the World Cup season ends with special trips. The program has both a mixed message and a mixed message. In the mixed message, four five-kilometer sections are skied. There are two men and two women on the teams. There is one man and one woman per team in a double message. Each skis 6 x 1.4 miles.

Lylynperä himself would be interested in skiing rather than mixed.

– For women, it has a normal message section. The sprint track has pretty steep inclines. It is pulled six times with a short return. It’s a surprisingly long race for the third day of the race. That couple of messages would stink a bit from the endurance side jobs, Lylynperä estimates.

What is the key feeling among athletes, are such more special forms of competition valued?

– Appreciation must always be earned. When the form is new, there can be no appreciation on these journeys. Mostly this is quite a fun experiment. Let’s see how it goes. Certainly (the International Ski Federation) FIS also wants feedback from the teams, Lylynperä states.

The mixed message has been competed in the history of the World Ski Cup in Ruka in 2002. At that time, Finland celebrated a double victory. That’s when the trip was raced with women skiing 2×5 kilometers and men 2×10 kilometers.

The 4×5-mile mixed message was supposed to be on the World Cup program in Canmore, Canada in March 2020, but the races were canceled due to a corona pandemic. In the World Championships for under-23s, the 4×5-kilometer mixed message has been raced three times. Norway has won the trip every time.

Parisekaviesti is completely new in the competition program of the World Cross Country Skiing Cup.

In the Biathlon World Cup, various mixed competitions have been familiar in World Cups and value competitions in recent years.

So how important does Lylyperä consider for the whole cross-country skiing that there are mixed races in the program?

He considers the mixed message to be a good experiment and with it the competition will intensify, but there is room for improvement for new trips.

– The challenge is that skiers don’t stay on the rules either. A clear competition format should be obtained, which would be repeated in several years, Lylynperä states.

Although the Beijing Olympics did not go to the button at the age of 28, he has risen to a new level this season as a whole. At next year’s Planica World Championships, the sprint of traditional skiing will be of interest to Lylynperä, but also to normal trips.

– There is a feeling that you should be able to practice the cross-country side in the traditional way of skiing. Could be involved in team quotas at World Cups. Could be a reasonable goer on long distance trips, Lylynperä reflects on his next steps.

At the Salpausselä Games two weeks ago, Lylynperä skied in the World Cup, the best normal distance of his career. Lylynperä was 24th in the traditional 10 km race. It left him happy.

– It left the feeling that you could sometimes be at least a point-level skier on traditional long-distance trips, Lylynperä says.

Above has no television rights to the Falun World Ski Championships. The competitions will be followed in the latest sports and highlights will be seen on ‘s digital services half an hour after the end of the competition. The NENT Group has the television rights to the Falun World Cup and the games are shown on Viaplay. A list of the games shown by can be found here.