Oliver Helander, chosen as the overall athlete of the year, assures that he will prepare for next season in an optimal way, and close training is also planned.
Having won the European Championship bronze in javelin in Rome in June Oliver Helander27, was awarded on Friday in Helsinki as the all-around athlete of the year, as expected.
However, Helander already made headlines on Thursday, when Urheilu reported that the man had given up his apartment in Vaasa and moved to Denmark. The thrower’s girlfriend is studying dentistry at the University of Aarhus in East Jutland. The studies will be completed in 2026.
The beginning of the end?
Helander’s coach, Tero Pitkämäki after taking the reins in September Petteri Piironen again works in Kuortane, where Helander, having stored his possessions in his former hometown of Raaseporin Karjaa, is supposed to train for about a week every month.
In the steepest in the estimate Helander’s decision to switch to “smartphone coaching” was initially seen as the end of a top sports career.
Helander, who had arrived at the Helsinki city center hotel for the athletics gala, had read the estimates about his future and was somewhat amused by them.
– It’s not about the beginning of the end. Training in Denmark is not a compromise in terms of a sports career. There are top-class training facilities there, and I do the same work as I would in Finland.
Plenty of close training
Sports Federation GM Jani Tanskanen admitted to Urheilu that the situation where one’s coach is in a completely different country most of the time is not ideal. However, athletes in athletics or other individual sports do not have employers who can dictate where the work is done.
Helander reckoned that there will still be a lot of close training.
– We calculated with Petter (Piironen) that from the moment onward, when there are 250 days to the javelin qualifying for the World Championships in Tokyo, we will train together for about 50 percent of that time. So it is by no means a catastrophic situation, said the ex-handball player who started his basic training season a couple of weeks ago.
“Nice city”
Helander wanted to emphasize that even though the cooperation with Pitkämäki is over, the relationship between the men is excellent and the exchange of messages is regular.
– Aarhus is a nice city, which also has an excellent training hall and a very good weight room. Everything I need as an athlete.
Coach Piironen estimated that he follows about three training sessions a week with the help of a smartphone from Finland. For the week-long Kuortaneen camps, Helander will be accompanied by Piironen’s other trainees, i.e. Toni from Keräse and Janne from Läspä.
Keihääsen Helander applies only in the presence of Piironen, i.e. in Kuortane or in foreign camps, the first of which is aimed at South Africa at the beginning of the year.
In addition to Helander, the Paralympic Athlete of the Year was awarded at the athletics gala Toni Piispanen. The thrower of the year was, of course, Helander, an all-rounder Saga Vanninena sprinter Retta Piousan endurance runner Nathalie Blomqvistjumper Wilma Burglary and a walker A battery Beard.