On Sunday, Rebecca Immonen will ski her first World Cup race abroad. He does not support the drastic reform of the International Ski Federation.
Joel Sippola,
Riikka Smolander-Slotte
24 years old Rebecca Immonen will become a part of skiing history on Sunday, when the first ever women’s 50 km race in the World Cup will be held at Holmenkollen. For Immonen, the competition is also the first world cup competition abroad.
He is waiting for a grueling job.
– The track causes a little fear. However, this is a wonderful thing and a big thing for me.
Immonen, born in 1998, is known in skiing circles as a promising skier who competed, among other things, at the youth competition level. In the 2018 World Junior Championships, he formed the relay team Eveliina Piipon, Jasmin Kähärän mixed Anita Korvan with.
Suffering from challenges, Immonen’s skiing career was on hiatus in 2020. However, the young woman later found the joy of competition again.
The current season has been difficult for him, but the historic 50 kilometer race gives him a whole new kind of enthusiasm.
– I am proud that I get to ski at Holmenkollen and in the national team. However, I have been able to achieve things that you couldn’t believe in before, says Immonen.
Even at a leisurely pace, I could feel it in my thighs
Immonen starts the 50 km race with a good attitude. For athletes skiing in the World Cup, 30 kilometers is a more familiar distance. At 50 kilometers, endurance is even more emphasized.
– Thirty is still a relatively short journey, but fifty is really a longer journey.
Holmenkollen’s terrain also creates an additional challenge.
– There will be more than 2,000 meters of ascent during the race. There are a lot of similar angles, which requires a lot of muscle endurance. When skiing calmly, I also felt it in my thighs, Immonen laughs.
At 50 kilometers, speed distribution is even more important. Immonen has prepared for the task with sufficient energy and a good refueling.
– You have to try to be as economical as possible. You have to leave out the actual wobbles. Immonen knows that all small increases in speed consume energy.
The international skiing federation FIS has an effort to make men’s and women’s distances the same size, which has been seen in the World Cup this season. In the future, also in the World Cup, it is possible that men and women have the same distances. The FIS will decide on the routes for the 2025 World Championships in the spring.
Immonen is not a fan of the reform.
– It’s basically an interesting idea. But when there are big differences even at 30 kilometers, now it will probably jump even more. The tight World Cup calendar is exhausting for many.
At Holmenkollen, the number of participants has been small for both men and women.
– I believe that the top end doesn’t have quite the same feeling. Of course, that’s fine for me, but it might reduce the value a bit.