– I slept for a week in fear that my heart would stop at some point.
United national team athlete Leevi Mutru described how he felt Ilta-Sanom in February 2023, when he suffered from inflammation of the myocardium and could not participate in the World Championships in Planica.
The disease was unfortunately familiar to Mutru. A year earlier, it had prevented a Jyväskylä resident from going to the Beijing Olympics. Two serious illnesses requiring several months of recovery in a short period of time were too much.
In July 2024, Mutru answers the phone as a retired athlete. He blew the game just before his 29th birthday.
– A year ago in the summer, it started to bother me while jogging. I don’t know if it was a delusional disease related to the heart, but then I knew that my career would soon be over, Mutru recalls to Urheilu.
Mutru competed only once in the World Cup in the last season. The race in Lahti in March ended with jumbo place.
– That competition upset me to such an extent that I went to jump from the concrete of Lahti one more time in the spring. I got to 125 meters with it. It left a good feeling after everything, Mutru says.
In Mutru’s case, everything contains a lot.
Facing the wall
In the spring of 2016, Mutru was faced with a new challenge. His military service had just ended, and the athlete, who turned 21 in May, had decided to give his all to elite sports.
– When I was a junior, I was reminded in measurement situations that I could weigh less.
The 186-centimeter Mutru weighed 76 kilograms, which is a lot for a hill jumper. Mutru’s weight was especially affected by the muscle mass needed for the skiing section, as his body fat percentage was seven.
– The weight had to be lost from the muscle. I wasn’t in good shape, Mutru smiles.
Mutru drew up a plan with the trainers and a nutritional therapist to achieve the weight loss. The main work was done in the period between the end of the competition season and the new training season, when the athlete’s body is in the least stressed state.
– I dropped from 75-76 kilos to the corners of 72, but during the competition season I was 1-2 kilos lighter than the previous season. In the training season, I finally had to slack off on weight loss, because the training didn’t want to go any further.
Mutru shone at the Lahti World Cup held in January 2017. There he was 13th and right after 10th. The season was a clear step forward in Mutru’s career. Next up was the Olympic season.
– Then I dropped even more than the previous spring. In the Olympics, the weight was 72 kilograms. After that I continued to tighten. In the spring of 2018, I weighed 70 kilos. Then came a stop.
In the fall of 2018, Mutru had to miss the Ramsaun camp because his body could not take any kind of strain.
– In the fall, the intestine completely gave up on itself. I had been too strict for too long. It felt like nothing was being absorbed.
The tests already carried out in the spring denied that the limit had been exceeded. On the other hand, Mutru was in the best shape of the combined men in the national hill running race, where he finished Iivo Niskanen in the wake of. In the hill jump, however, the essential meters were in red.
– The bounce tests were non-existent when the nervous system was exhausted. There were no more glycogens in the muscles when the man had been wrung out so dry, Mutru says.
His body fat percentage was five at the time.
Connection to weight loss?
After the summer of 2018, Mutru competed for the rest of his career at 74–76 kg. By far the best personal competition result of his career, 10th place, came at the 2019 World Championships in Seefeld, i.e. immediately after Mutru had decided to give up weightlifting.
– When the weight was pulled down, we tried to make the ski jumping more efficient. But when I was tired, I couldn’t jump with the right technique. Although the weight loss was done professionally, there was too much fatigue in the winter, Mutru says, but emphasizes that he bears responsibility for the result.
– The athlete, i.e. the one who puts the food in his mouth, is ultimately responsible. It must be said as a thank you that the coaching handled the matter matter-of-factly.
Mutru suspects that the solutions of 2016–2018 were part of the reason for the difficulties that became apparent later in his career, i.e. the constant illness.
– I feel like I never fully recovered from them. After that, there were no more seasons when I was healthy. There may be a connection between weight loss and illness.
– In any case, you had to test your limits.
Topic on the surface
Pressing matters have been on the surface in recent days. The opening was made by a Slovenian who was recently appointed as the head coach of the Finnish men’s national ski jumping team Igor Medved.
Medved told that the jumpers of the Mäkiland team have an average of 3-5 kilos of weight to lose, especially from the muscles. The exception is a few of the team’s top individuals, who, according to Medved, are in the condition required for success.
Mutru, who is studying to become a mathematics subject teacher at the University of Jyväskylä, says that he misses the community of connected athletes, but not the life of a weight watcher associated with elite sports.
– I weighed 72.5 kilos with my tights on. That’s when I just made it to the A part of the hill jumpers’ table, i.e. the heaviest jumpers.
Head coach Medved, eight centimeters shorter than Mutu, said that he weighed an average of 58-60 kilograms during his active years. At his lowest point, he dropped his weight to 53–55 kilos.
– In my case, it was comforting that in combined you have to be able to ski. Then the weight loss might not be as difficult and frankly sick as it can be in ski jumping, Mutru says.
Still racing?
Mutru, 29, says that the discipline of a top athlete is still present in everyday life after his sports career.
– Some of the illnesses during my career were probably due to the uncompromising desire to get ahead. The same speed blindness tends to strike with studies.
– The big change from before is that now when you get sick with a little flu, work doesn’t stop.
Even though the international competitions have been left behind, Mutru keeps the door open for the national competitions.
– Before, you didn’t have to tell yourself to run. Now I have to, and it hasn’t always been possible. I’m still at the competition weight though. Being able to get into a hilly position is a good motivator for everyday life, Mutru says.
The topic will be discussed on Thursday at Radio Suomen Urheiluilla starting at 18:02.