Two years ago, a disappointed man left Denmark. Navigator Tuomas Heikkilä was selected for only one trip to the World Championships and that too went under the bench. The representative place was only for the knock-out sprint, but he didn’t even make it through the qualification to enter the heats of the race.
Now, two years later, the same Tuomas Heikkilä is in Scotland, in the scenery of Edinburgh, waiting for new orienteering sprint distance World Cup starts – and is among the early favorites.
– There in Denmark, the expected result did not come, but those competitions went down quite badly. That’s when I decided that in a couple of years, when the next time the world championships are decided on sprint distances, I want to be at the very top fighting for those medals.
Heikkilä’s change is also admired by the head coach Thierry Gueorgiouwho in his own career had time to enjoy several prestigious competition medals.
– His development has been amazing. Two years later, he qualified for the finals at the World Championships and now he is one of the early favorites. I even consider the development to be of a special quality, but it just shows that even in a couple of years a real breakthrough can happen. It gives faith to the entire Finnish team, Gueorgiou emphasizes.
When Denmark went to the 2022 World Championships, Heikkilä had already focused mostly on sprint orienteering, but in the past couple of years he has found the training model that suits him best.
– In the past, I started to lighten up my training too early. Now the training is kept pretty hard until almost the end. Only the last week is a slightly lighter week. It gives your body the best physical tone. Too much lightening brought a too loose feeling to the legs.
New situation
According to the head coach, Heikkilä has of course progressed physically, but development has taken place especially technically.
– Tuomas is already able to take his own time in his technical performance. In my opinion, the biggest development has taken place on the technical side. And of course self-confidence has also grown at the same time. Then you know that even the basic performance is high enough.
However, the pre-favorite cape of the World Championships in Edinburgh is a completely new acquaintance for Heikkilä. The head coach also reminds us that we are facing a new situation.
– So there is definitely pressure. But, he already showed in the first World Cups of the season in Switzerland and Italy that he is capable of good performances, even though they were already expected of him.
– The situation is new for him, and of course the medal is by no means certain. But the good thing is, Tuomas is still young, so if he doesn’t get a medal here, he still has many opportunities ahead of him. But I do believe in him.
There are five to six medal favorites in the men’s category, and the clearest favorite is Norway, who defended the World Cup gold from two years ago Kasper Harlem Fosser. However, Heikkilä was able to beat him, among other things, in the test race that took place a couple of weeks ago. The Swedes were absent from the test race.
– Yes, it said that we are on the right path towards the Games. Especially since the previous ones had been a bit broken due to knee problems. That race gave a sign that the fitness has been preserved. And the knee hasn’t bothered me anymore either, so the condition is peaking at the right time, Heikkilä confidently states.
The rest of the team is also ready to fight for the top spot
As a whole, head coach Gueorgiou expects a good improvement from the team in these games. The team arrived at the WC camp in Scotland already at the end of June, and Akseli Ruoholaa except that everyone stayed at the competition venue to recharge for the entire time between the camp and the competition.
– I am happy that there have been no last-minute setbacks, no injuries, no illnesses and the athletes’ self-confidence is in place, Gueorgiou states.
Already starting his eighth World Cup sprint on Friday Even Venla Harjuk still exuding enthusiasm before the start of the prestigious competitions. The 2013 sprint WC bronze medalist was third in the test race held there, which gave just the right kind of confirmation before the race starts
– It’s nice to gain self-confidence and see where you are compared to others. There were stages in that race too that I was even a little surprised how I was able to answer others. And since that race was so close to the start of the World Cup and in a similar environment, it was nice to get that feedback for myself.
Harju is also looking forward to the orientation challenges brought by Edinburgh’s old town. He expects a lot of narrow alleys and stairs leading up and down. According to Harju, suitably similar training tracks have been found at the national team’s camps in Scotland as well as on the Riviera.
In addition to Heikkilä and Harju, the Finnish team includes Miika Kirmula, Teemu OksanenAkseli Ruohola, Maija Sianoja and Inka Nurminen.
In the World Orienteering Championships, the medals will be awarded on Friday, July 12. in a sprint, on Sunday 14.7. in the sprint relay and on Tuesday 16.7. in the knockout sprint. The games can be watched on TV2 and Areena.