Ski World Cup competitions live from this weekend. See the complete program information for the Urheilustudio weekend here.
The Skiing World Cup will be contested this weekend in Goms, Switzerland. The last time high-level international ski races were competed in the village was in 2018, when the Junior World Ski Championships were held in the village of just over 4,000 inhabitants.
At that time, Finland took only one medal. He brought it Anita Korva five kilometers of traditional skiing for under 20s.
– Skiing always feels bad. That’s the first thing that comes to mind, Korva now shared his memories with Urheilu.
Sure, the moment was great, but at that time Korva only looked ahead. The aim was in the next games and other than youth games.
Many of Goms’ junior World Cup medalists are currently the brightest stars in skiing. For example, Sweden Frida Karlsson and Norway Erik Valnes and Tiril Udnes Weng won medals.
However, the now 24-year-old Korva has not been seen competing for a while. The Kuopio-born skier last competed in March 2022 in Kuopio in the youth ski championships. At that time, he was tenth in the under-23 age group.
Korva told Urheilu in the fall that he is not going to ski competitively this season. So it’s already the second season in a row without competitions.
Competitive skiing is still a distant thought for him.
– Opinions vary. Sometimes competitive skiing interests me and it would seem interesting to refine the idea of it. However, sometimes competitive skiing feels really far away. It’s a completely different life than what I lived in active competitive skiing for ten years. I don’t remember and I don’t recognize myself from cross-country skiing. I have changed so much, Korva describes.
He says that he has dealt with his thoughts related to competitive skiing very little.
– I have put aside thoughts about competitive skiing for years. I haven’t wanted to go through those thoughts. I don’t know if at some point it would be appropriate to think more. However, competitive skiing is now a distant world. I really thought a little about the time when I was an active competitive athlete. It’s like I never even was. It’s a really strange feeling these days, says Korva.
So is your active competitive skiing career over or do you still keep the doors open?
– Of course, age always increases, but I’m not that old yet. Yes, it is still theoretically possible. I’ve been saying for a long time that I keep the door open and feel for the feeling. I’m still on the same lines. I don’t want to deny the idea at any point, says Korva.
Coaching and kickboxing training
Korva says that he recently returned to more regular training. However, according to him, skiing training is still occasional. It’s not about the training required for competitive skiing.
– Sometimes there are good and bad episodes. However, I don’t want to make this a problem for myself. I go with the feeling, Korva says about his attitude to skiing.
He retired from the army in the spring of 2020. In the season after that, he did not compete at all. Korva has spoken openly in various interviews about his mental health problems at that time. Now he says that things are on track in that sense. I got a permanent job and found other things in life than competitive skiing.
He learned to think about life more broadly than through success in competitive skiing. Exercise has returned to be an important part of life.
– I feel really good now, Korva laughs.
He says he goes to the gym. You can go on running and cross-country skiing runs when you feel like it. Other hobbies have been found. Dance and kickboxing.
According to Korva, kickboxing has always turned him on. He has been going to kickboxing training lately.
So could Anita Korva become a competitive kickboxer?
– As an idea, it would be quite interesting. However, the sport is quite unique and wild. That has its own risks. If you get a lot of blows to the head, you start to think about reasonableness. Age also limits. If you want to seriously start a sport at a very late age, you have to put in a lot of work to succeed, Korva describes.
In kickboxing, like in skiing, he goes by feel and feeling. Dreams are currently related to coaching. It interested him even as a young competitive athlete.
Korva is currently training to become a personal trainer. He would like to make coaching a full-time profession and experience feelings of success on that side.
– It feels really good that I can now also do concrete things. I have started with the first customers. When you have all the keys in your hands and make training programs for people you don’t know before, there’s a lot of new things to come. This is where the road begins and will hopefully continue successfully, says Korva.
When the personal trainer training ends, he is supposed to take courses related to nutrition and mental training.
– I want to develop myself in matters of the psychological side. People can also often have locks and challenges in matters of the spiritual side. I’m interested in everything related to solving problems and self-development, Korva describes.
One missed workout is sad
Korva doesn’t regret anything as such, and wouldn’t necessarily have done anything differently. However, he remembers one turning point in his career, which is sad. Training from the Vuokatti roller rink after being discharged from the army in early autumn 2020. According to Korva, competitive skiing then stopped like a wall.
– I went home in the middle of training. It was atypical. That was the end of the matter. It was a bit sad. I could have taken a break for a month and tried harder to make things work and get back to training, says Korva.
Korva believes that the rise would not have been impossible at that time.
– You can’t know where I would be now if I had received help to return and work on things. It was really difficult to get up by myself, Korva describes.
After Goms’ 2018 under-20 World Championship bronze, Korva grabbed even more prestigious medals. There were three bronze medals from Lahti’s home championships. He hasn’t terribly remembered the old ones about skiing success. I don’t remember much about the first medal in Goms.
Now he looks ahead again.
– I try to believe that things have a purpose. I really see a lot of good in the situation I’m in now. I see things differently, Korva emphasizes.