Juha Lappalainen, the long-time national team and head coach of Greco-Roman wrestling, has been chosen as the head coach of the Estonian national team.
Served as Finnish national team and head coach of Greco-Roman wrestling for more than a decade and most recently piloted at the Paris Olympics Juha Lappalainen51, starts as head coach of the Estonian national team, informs Estonian Wrestling Federation
Lappalainen previously applied to be the head coach of the Finnish Wrestling Federation, but the 57-year-old was chosen by the Finnish Wrestling Federation’s board for the position on October 25 Marko Korpelanwho started in a temporary position a couple of weeks ago, from the beginning of 2025.
Two wrestlers represented Finland at the Olympic Games in Paris. Jonni Sarkkinen and Arvi Savolainen the tournament was disappointing and ended up being only three matches in total.
After Paris, the wrestling association abandoned the model of two head coaches when it turned its eyes towards the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
In the renewed operating model, the Wrestling Federation outlined that in the future Finland will have only one head coach, who will have top sports responsibility and responsibility for planning, implementing and monitoring the activities of the Finnish wrestling national team.
The Finnish wrestlers had previously expressed their concerns about the continuation of top coaching. In the view of some sports people, the current head coach of Finland, Korpela, lacks experience in day-to-day coaching.
Urheilu had gotten hold of the petition previously sent by four wrestlers to Painiliito.
The concern was especially related to coach Lappalainen, who is now moving to coach Estonia, whose continuation in the sport in Finland caused concern. The wrestlers were also surprised that their views were not asked when recruiting the new head coach.
Lappalainen has previously influenced Finland’s best and internationally excellent wrestlers, such as Elias Kuosmanen and under the coaching of Arvi Savolainen.