The fuzzy financial situation of the ski association worries athletes before the training season for the World Championships. National team level athletes Remi Lindholm, Markus Vuorela and Lauri Lepistö are looking for a lifeline from a private team.
The financial situation of the Finnish Ski Association and its weakened camping resources worried the representative athletes already last spring so much that the superstar Iivo Niskanen decided to stay outside the A national team for the entire training season.
When the Hiihtoliitto Group announced at the end of March that its most recently ended fiscal year resulted in a negative result of almost two million euros, this spring contains even more question marks than last spring from the point of view of coaching activities and its funding by the federation. Camp resources and national team sizes are estimated to drop really small, even to zero at the B national team level.
At least three national team-level skiers have decided to seek a lifeline from the privately funded team, Team Electrofit, which is a coaching entrepreneur Simo-Viljami Ojanen creation. Markus Vuorela and Lauri Lepistö were part of the team for the already ended season, and now also the fresh Finnish champion of 50 kilometers (p). Remi Lindholm says that he aspires to become a member of the team. The application ends on April 14.
– It’s a very realistic option and on a general level it’s great that there are such Teams. There are a lot of these in Norway, commented Lindholm.
Lindholm says that his interest in Team Electrofit is also largely based on the fact that the continuation of Lepistö and Vuorela ensures a high-quality training club at the team’s training camps. Ojanen confirms that there will be a place for all three athletes in Team Electrofit if the application comes in. Vuorela and Lepistö are applying.
Lindholm, who is currently participating in the three-round Lapponia skiing in Lapland, says that he is not yet stressed about the patterns of the starting training season per se, but that the information should not linger too much either.
Now it’s either or
– Within a couple of weeks, it would be good to hear what (the Ski Association) has to offer, said Lindholm, who is also part of the defense forces’ coaching group.
Whereas Vuorela, Wiljam Mattila and Verneri Suhonen of the season that ended belonged to both the B national team and To Team Electrofitsuch an arrangement will not be possible in the future.
– In the future, the athlete either belongs to our strength or to the Ski Federation’s group. It is clearer for all parties, says Simo-Viljami Ojanen.
The head coach of his team and a clear attraction factor is a meritorious coach Jarmo Riski.
Last spring, Lauri Lepistö would have also received a place in the B national team, but did not accept it.
40 camp days
Vuorela, who is applying for an extension to the team, and who bowed to Lindholm at the Rovaniemi WC in his 50s, reminds us of the dull edge conditions.
– Electrofit’s camps are already known, and they will be held. There is no information about the ski association’s package.
The private team organizes five camps for its athletes and other coaching clients from mid-May to mid-November, for a total of about 40 days. Campsites in Finland are Helsinki, Vuokatti and Muonio, abroad Sollefteå in Sweden and Ramsau in Austria.
Vuorela talks about the Skiing Federation quite directly when assessing the situation from a tip for athletes who are seriously preparing for next year’s World Cup and the 2026 Olympic Games.
– If I speak for everyone, it’s pretty deep that the athletes are hanging on a loose log like this until spring when it comes to such very essential information as the national team patterns of the federation.