At the turn of the week in Olos, Muonio, it was even the most spectacular of the international Gunnery Championships Finnish performance answered Juice Branch28, who spent the entire training season training in Trondheim, Norway, in the scenery of next winter’s World Cup. Haarala, who represents Pohti Ski Team, was not selected for the A national team last spring, but he belongs privately funded to the strength of Team Electrofit.
In previous years, Haarala, who was mainly considered a sprinter, skied on Saturday in a 12 kilometer (p) race in Olos Iivo Niskanen after as the second best Finn in sixth, less than a second before Niko Anttolaa and Markus Vuorelaa and just under 14 seconds before Arsi Ruuska.
The competition was categorized in the Ski Association as an observation event Kuusamo for the World Cup starting at the end of next week. On Saturday, Haarala believed that a hard performance would be enough for the 10 km (p) time-trial race to be skied in Ruka on Friday, November 29.
It was the other way around
However, it turned out differently: as the A national team skiers, Finland will be represented in the competition by Niskanen, Perttu Hyvärinen, Cross mat HakolaAnttola, Ruuskanen and Lauri Vuorinenof which Niskanen, Anttola and Ruuskanen participated in the observation competition in Olos.
The Ski Federation will only announce the selections to the public on November 25, but the athletes were told about them already on Monday. In addition to the A-national team, the so-called national group skis in the domestic world cups, to which Haarala and Vuorela were also selected.
Haarala, who has put everything into this season as an athlete, admitted on Monday to Urheilu that the disappointment was very heavy. He had learned about the selections just before the interview.
– It was a good competition and strong going. I thought on Saturday that it would be rewarded with a spot in the A national team, but it wasn’t enough. I had calculated that if I was the second best Finn on Saturday, that would be enough.
Both Haarala and his colleagues and friends, including Markus Vuorela, who belongs to Team Electrofit, do not believe that the skiers of the private team would be treated in strict selection situations in the same way as the athletes who were part of the A national team during the training season.
“An advantage in a choice situation”
– It would seem that being part of the A national team instead of a private team would be an advantage in this situation, said Haarala, who made his debut in the World Cup 2017 and has so far been without a prestigious competition.
Vuorela stressed to Urheilu that he understands his own stay in the national team at Ruka, but on behalf of Haarala, he admitted that he was even hot.
– I can’t stand fooling around anymore. Injustice goes to feelings, the man from Jämin Jänte said.
If the competition category is an observation competition, above it in terms of display value are last season’s international success and inspection competitions under the start of the World Cup.
– You can get it any way you want. The weight seems to be affected by whether the guys you want to succeed are successful. If this happens, the weight value is significant. If this is not the case, the weight value will be lower. No matter how I take my own team’s glasses off, I don’t understand this solution, Vuorela downloads.
A layman might wonder about the disappointment of Haarala and Vuorela, because both of them get to ski Kuusamo’s Ruka World Cup, in the national group. However, the difference in the resources of the A national team is very significant even in this situation.
– In the case of Juuso, dropping into the care of the national team is a really significant thing, Urheilu’s expert Kalle Lassila says.
He admits that he was surprised by the coaching management’s decision.
A big competitive advantage
It’s not that the ski maintenance staff of the national team don’t know what they’re doing, but simply the resources of the ski maintenance.
– As a skier of the A national team, you can test practically an unlimited number of lubricated skis and still leave four pairs to test on race day. The national team does not enjoy nearly such services, which gives the A national team a big competitive advantage from the outset, explains Vuorela, who has accumulated a lot of experience in both positions.
National team coach Ville Oksanen said he understood Jarmo Riskin coach Haarala’s disappointment and that he thinks his performance on Saturday in Olos was very good.
– Juuso trained in the summer in Trondheim with the A national team during our camp and even then he looked really good. However, last season’s international shows weighed heavily on Ruka in the selections.
Oksanen does not under any circumstances agree that the coaching staff would screen out athletes who have prepared outside of the A national team in selection situations.
– Yes, we national team coaches always want to get the best possible team and that every Finnish skier succeeds in the best possible way.
Oksanen stated that even if, for example, Haarala doesn’t ski with Ruka in the A national team, Ruka doesn’t for the whole season.
– There will always be turnover, and even from the national team, Rukalla can give good performances.