Snowboarder Eveliina Taka’s goal is a career as a professional snowboarder and access to the Olympics, where her brother has already been.
Paavo Forsberg,
Sakari Lund
29.3. 07:33 • Updated March 29. 07:42
The final race of the women’s snowboard slopestyle was counted on Sunday in Silvaplana, Switzerland. Finland Eveliina Taka placed sixth in his second World Cup slopestyle race with 54.00 points.
Austria won the race Anna Gasser with a high score of 95.40. Canada took second place Laurie Blouin. The third was Japanese Kokomo Murasewho at the same time grabbed the overall victory of slopestyle in the World Cup.
Taka competed in the World Cup for the first time in January at Mammoth Móuntain, California. He was 18th then. The 20-year-old skier was pleased with his performance.
– It feels really good. For myself, the really tough performance was already getting into the top eight and reaching the finals. And I got another place in the qualifiers, Taka told Sport.
The first landing was successful the way Takan wanted. He set out to make a sure landing.
– It was a similar fall to the one I made in the finals. I stayed upright throughout the bill. There was little stuff in it that I could have done a little bigger or cleaner. However, I got the bill down. It felt really good when I was in the World Cup final for the first time.
On the second landing, Taka increased the difficulty of the tricks.
– From the last jump, I tried a buck to nine instead of seven, which means more than 180 degrees. I didn’t take that jump down. But on the first bill, I finished sixth. That’s true, yes.
Head coach of the snowboard team Antti Koskinen praised Taka’s performance.
– Really hard and great performance. He was behind these really tough names in the race and yes, there were tough race sisters behind in the result list, Koskinen said.
– It was remarkable how well Eveliina took care of preparing for the race here. He came to do his own thing and was able to keep the pressures of the big race out in a certain way. He followed what he wanted to do himself and did it as nicely as he could. It will have a good result.
Aiming for a career as a professional snowboarder
Taka wants to develop as a snowboarder.
– I have not yet set concrete goals for next season, but in general I have such goals that I want to develop as a snowboarder as much as possible, learn new tricks and gain confidence in my own calculations and the more difficult tricks.
Taka has studied at the Vuokatti-Ruka snowboard high school.
– Just had the last writings. I come from Rovaniemi, but with the Academy I first moved to Sotkamo and when the Academy moved to Ruka, I moved there. I spend a lot of time in Ruka going downhill. I do snowboarding for long days.
Is the future a career as a professional snowboarder?
– Yeah. Yes, I think that would be really cool. That’s what I’m working for.
According to Koskinen, Taka has a good starting point for his career.
– Eveliina is a really hard promise. In calculating him, the certainty and manner of doing the tricks is noteworthy. He has really good control over his calculations and thus a great base to do bigger tricks in the future. I think over time, Evelina will become a really tough skier.
Takan brother Jussi represented Finland in snowboard crossing at the 2014 Olympics. She has served as an important role model for her sister.
– Jussi went to the hill for the first time. A huge thank you to him for introducing me to this sport. As a calculator and human being, he has always been a really big role model and inspiration.
The Olympics are also Eveliina’s goal. He has not yet made it to the Beijing Games, but in four years there will be another opportunity.
A psychic coach helped with the excitement of the race
The rear has been spared injuries in recent years.
– There must have been luck in the journey, but I’ve been able to train at my own level, and I haven’t taken unnecessary risks, for example, when trying new tricks. On the other hand, I have done a physical workout and a lot of training outside of snowboarding. It has helped that there have been no injuries.
The psychic coach has been helping Taka for the last couple of years. It has been useful in race situations.
– Absolutely. I had trouble with the race tension. Now it has been possible to work on this issue with the help of a professional. It has helped a lot. And anyway, once you’ve gotten to know yourself better as a person and an athlete, it helps in psychic stuff, but it’s also reflected in the calculation style and your own calculation, Taka analyzes.