The ski association’s weak financial situation once again made headlines when Urheilu reported on Monday about the dire situation of ski jumping and the combined national team.
The Ski Federation cannot promise the athletes of the sports any kind of national team-led training activities during the training season.
All coaches and other employees of the national teams have received the message that there are no financial conditions for continued contracts.
MTV on the other hand news, that the contracts of the coaches of the Finnish national skiing team have not been renewed. Responsible coach of the women’s national team Ville Maunuskelan the contract expires in a week at the end of April. Finland’s head coach and the head coach of the men’s team Teemu Pasanen the contract expires at the end of May.
– The plans have been made in such a way that cross-country skiing would be continued with the same coaching team, and of course the hope is that the maintenance team would remain the same for the most part. But at least I don’t have a name on any paper, Maunuksela said to MTV.
Skiing, ski jumping and combined events will take place in Vuokatti on Tuesday. Plans are being made in Rihi for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics.
According to Teemu Pasanen, head coach of the national cross-country team, in the morning, instead of economics, the discussion was about doing things in practice.
– The most important thing now is that we focus on what we actually do and how we have to train in Finland. It’s been more on my mind the last few weeks. Others take care of things in the background so that these can be done, Pasanen tells .
There must be enough resources for ski maintenance
Pasanen described that the most important thing in coaching is to focus on doing things as well as possible with the resources that exist.
Last week, Pasanen already told Urheilu that the camp program will change in the face of necessity and that compromises can be made, because the most important thing is to secure funding for the competition season.
Pasanen underlined to on Tuesday in Vuokatti that there must be enough resources for ski maintenance and its importance is very important.
– It is pointless to go to the Games if the maintenance is not at an international level. If this is not the case, there is no chance of success, Pasanen underlines.
A skier going to the A national team told Urheilu anonymously last week that the information received about the summer and autumn program has been disappointing for the athletes. The biggest surprise for the athletes was that the high-place camp in August would be completely left out of the national team program.
Pasanen emphasized on Tuesday that daily activities and training are the most important. According to the head coach’s view, the camp is only a few dozen days of summer.
– The next value races are not coming up high. The next four value races are all practically low. You don’t have to adapt to high altitude because of the Games. Athletes certainly have individual processes where they have used high altitude training to improve their condition. It’s certainly still there, Pasanen describes on a general level.
Finnish national team skiers Jasmi Joensuu you can also see in the big picture that the basic work done at home is the basis for everyone.
Already last year, there was talk that due to the financial problems of the Ski Federation, the training days of the A national teams were shortened. During the joint camp weeks in Vuokatti, the athletes had to pay for the accommodation and other expenses themselves. Joensuu doesn’t see such big problems now compared to last season.
Iivo Niskanen left the national team for the training season last summer. It cost Niskanen his manager Miro Rouskun including “tens of thousands of euros”, but the athlete is also ready to invest a considerable amount of his own money in the World Cup and Olympic seasons. Niskanen’s own partners participated and participate in financing the investment as well.
Joensuu also praises his manager in his own career Heli Vepsäläinen work. There is also a wide network of partners around Joensuu, which enables him to play sports.
– Heli has done a good job in terms of resources, so that we can react when necessary, says Joensuu.
Olympic Committee in a hurry
For a long time he was one of the top athletes of the combined Finnish national team Ilkka Herola uploaded a harsh text to on Monday. In his opinion, things are now “arranged quite nicely and the consequences are now borne at the core of the operation.”
– Let’s see what kind of solutions exist for this. Now the existence of the entire association is the biggest obstacle for all Finnish winter sports. I am tied to a concrete anchor that pulls us to the bottom. There are no other good options here than to somehow get rid of the organization, Herola said.
Top sports representative of the Olympic Committee Toni Roponen responded on Tuesday to Yelle in Vuokatti to the criticism that the Olympic Committee and the Ski Federation are able to solve the current financial problems together.
– We are able to ensure the preparation of our top athletes and national teams for the upcoming season and above all for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics, says Roponen.
Roponen reminds that, in the big picture, most individual sports and many team sports are currently suffering from financial challenges.
– All people have seen that all prices rise enormously all the time. We need to be able to get more sponsors and partners to finance top Finnish sports. Hopefully the state will also be strongly involved in the future, says Roponen.
Finnish ski jumping champions Julia Kykkänen has been outside the national team since 2017 and paid for his own camps. He sees that the situation will not look bright in the long term, and the current problems will not be fixed quickly.
He writes a gloomy text about the future of Finnish ski jumping.
– It’s certainly not an easy place if you think about young people who are supposed to succeed in the sport they like. We will demand quite a lot from parents and supporters. In the near future, nobody will have an easy way to the top, says Kykkänen.