Representation sites for the upcoming Winter Olympics for the upcoming Winter Olympics may even be racing, says Emil Liekari.
The Finnish men’s national team has a maximum representation of eight seats. The situation is better than in previous races in Beijing, when Finnish male skiers had only six seats.
Exceptionally, there were only two representatives in the sprints, Joni Mäki and Lauri Vuorinen. Distanta travels represented Finland Iivo Niskanen, Perttu Hyvärinen, Ristomatti Hakola and Remi Lindholm.
Now the level of Finnish male skiing is much wider and smoother. The challenge of the Olympic choices is that the national team has two floors.
Is a sprint -specialized set of Vuorinen, Niilo MoilanenLiekari, Mäki, Eero Rantala, Wiljam Mattila, Olli Ahonen and Ike melnits.
There are also several international skiers at least on the top20 level on the Distan side. Niskanen, Hyvärinen, Lindholm, Ville Ahonen, Arsi RuuskanenHakola, Markus Vuorela, Niko Anttola, Miro Karppanen and Lauri Lepistö.
For the first time in the World Cup season, the 23-year-old flame, who first reached the semi-finals of the sprint, is chasing his first Olympic representation.
– Yes, this is probably one of the toughest battles for racing. However, the Olympics cannot be named in the same way for skiers as the World Cup, where in principle, every personal trip can have a fresh skier, says Liekari.
Underwhat representation on a potential medal trip?
Last season, Iivo Niskanen was twice number one and finished in the top two. Lauri Vuorinen, on the other hand, was third in the Sprints in the World Cup and in the Trondheim World Cup.
In addition to them, Lindholm (7th), Hakola (9) and Ville Ahonen (10th) were able to get their top10 investment in the Top10 investment. Moilanen (5th), Liekari (8th) and Joni Mäki (8th) were able to be responsible for sprinters.
Ruuskanen and Anttola often reached the top 15 or 20 in the World Cup. At their own level, Vuorela and Karppanen were able to perform individual top performances. Vuorela was 17th in the 50km World Cup and Karppanen in the World Cup finals in the 50 km race in the 50 km race.
For Perttu Hyvärinen, the winter became a passing. However, the winner in the World Cup once and in the value race on personal trips three times the top ten is still in order while still in the best of the Finnish male skiers.
In terms of Olympics, the Finnish coaching team has quite a bit of a puzzle to assemble.
Sports Expert Kalle Lassila says that the situation is complicated if the voters have to make decisions, for example, between a sprinter and a 50 kilometer skier.
Niilo Moilanen, who has skied in the Sprint final in the Ruka World Cup, points out that the traditional sprint is a potential medal trip in Finnish. However, it is possible that the sprint does not have a full representation of four athletes.
– Three years ago, Beijing did not have an optimum situation that a couple of seats were not used. I hope that the sprint is basically the best men on the line. However, coaching is the one who makes a presentation from the team.
Finals as samples
Moilanen suggests that there may be full representation in sprints, but not all skiers are necessarily clean sprint types.
– I believe that not all sprint skiers are just those who ski just sprint. Let’s also look at those who can take part in other trips.
Such skiers are Ville Ahonen, Vuorela and Lepistö. They are mostly regular skiers, but sometimes in sprints.
Liekari does not mean that the situation is any easier for distant skiers. He believes that sprinters are required to see harder evidence than seen.
– I don’t think skiing in one or two semi -finals is enough for the Olympic site. There must be a final level.
“There was no lack of abundance”
Hyvärinen points out that it is unlikely that all Finnish national team members are at the same time in top condition or healthy. Hyvärinen and Niskanen, who was in top refurbishment, had to leave Norway from the Trondheim World Championships.
– We have not had a lack of abundance in previous years. I wonder if there has ever been a situation where eight athletes have been in the value race at the same time. When you mirror this winter, finding eight healthy athletes is not easy.
Hyvärinen regards a tough competitive situation only as a positive problem.
– Hope it is as difficult to choose as possible. The competition should be as hard as possible from the national team’s point of view.
Famous skiers out?
Due to the tightening competitive situation, the Olympics may be eliminated by famous Finnish skiers. For example, Hyvärinen, who celebrated the winner of the World Cup, and Olympic medalist Joni Mäki’s Olympic places are not self -evident.
Mäki was silver medals with Niskanen from the previous Finnish Heroes of the Winter Olympics after reaching Niskanen. He was fourth in the free skiing sprint.
Mäki was Finland’s number one printer for a long time, but Vuorinen and Liekari and Moilanen have passed this season.
Kalle Lassila states that although the level of men is very wide, the successful outlook will eventually become the most important criterion for Olympic choices.
– It is clear that really hard skiers will stay on the beach next winter. I like simple. Clean success on a personal Olympic trip matters. Not everyone can try it, but in top-level sports it often does not happen.
Liekari sees that two athletes can already be quite confident about their Olympic tags.
– In my opinion, Iivo Niskanen and Lauri Vuorinen are a surefire.