40, 40, 34, 11, 30, 28, 38, 28, 31, 25, 31 and 39.
That’s the ranking of the best Finn in the 12 individual events of the current season in the Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup.
The Slovenian who has been appointed as Finland’s men’s head coach for this season Igor Medved not laughing when he answers the phone on New Year’s Day.
Just behind us is the legendary Garmisch-Partenkirchen competition of the Central European Hill Week, which has seen seven Finnish winners throughout history.
For now Niko Kytösaho is 39th as the best Finn. The other two members of the team, Antti Aalto and Kasperi Valtodid not make it through the qualification to the entire competition.
According to Medved, Valto will stop the tour and fly to Finland on Thursday morning.
– Together we came to the same conclusion that going home is the best solution at this point, Medved said.
Kytösaho and Aalto continue to the end of the hill week. Next, the tour arrives in Innsbruck, where the qualifying jump will take place on Friday, January 3rd.
This season, 29 individual events will be contested in the Hill Jumping World Cup. After 12 races, Aalto and Kytösaho have reached the World Cup points as the only Finnish men. Aalto and Kytösaho are 36th and 42nd in the total points of the Cup.
Two-thirds of Aalto’s points came from the last race of the weekend in Ruka, which was interrupted after one lap due to difficult wind conditions. In the same race, Kytösaho was 13th and got 20 world cup points. In the other 11 races, the points tally has only increased by two points.
– I would say that the atmosphere in the team is positive despite the challenges, says Medved.
With the challenges, the head coach refers to the equipment, especially the jumpsuits. The national team had problems with them at the opening of the World Cup in Lillehammer.
An ex-jumper who sewed suits there Janne Happonen had to work day and night to get the suits in race condition due to problems at equipment inspection.
Finland’s mountain men did not compete at all at the summer GP due to the Ski Association’s financial difficulties.
– The first two weekends of winter were a struggle with equipment. Even if you don’t want these things to affect athletes, they are not stupid, says Medved.
– When there are challenges in these matters, it affects the part not only mentally but also technically. In terms of equipment, however, we are now going in the right direction.
“We need time”
Medved, 43, made headlines immediately after the Skiing Federation named him head coach of the men’s downhill team.
The outspoken Slovenian said in an interview with Urheilu that Finnish mountaineers have too much weight, which should be lost by melting the muscle.
Half a year later, Medved still doesn’t want to talk about weights on an individual level, but he says that he is satisfied with the results achieved by the team on the weight side.
– Some of the team did an excellent job, and the athletes look more like ski jumpers than before. However, changes in weight change the landing position, which immediately affects the technique.
– They have to get used to their new body. Especially after the season, the competition weight should not increase much, so that in the summer there would be an opportunity to run in technical issues better than last summer.
Doesn’t feel pressure
There have been few reasons to be happy about the Finnish men’s ski jumping for a long time, except for a few individual successes.
Medved says that he views the current situation with a longer view, extending to the 2026 Olympics.
– Of course, I am not satisfied, let alone happy, with the recent competition results. And they’re not jumpers either. For them, sadness and disappointment are genuine feelings that convey how much they care about hill jumping.
– I personally don’t take pressure from the current situation. I am focused and know how to achieve results. I won’t let anything or anyone disturb that. I hope that the same mentality is transferred to the athletes as well, says Medved.