Finland achieved three final places in the World Championships in long course swimming in Doha, which just ended. Of these Matti Mattsson took sixth place in the Olympic race, i.e. in the 200-meter breaststroke. Ida Hulkko and Veera Kivirinta made Finnish swimming history by both swimming in the 50-meter breaststroke final. This is not an Olympic journey. Hulkko finished fifth and Kivirinta seventh.
Although the Finnish team’s achievement is good, Urheilu’s expert is not Ville Kallinen think the crisis has not been cancelled. Kallinen reminds that only Mattsson has made the A limit of the Paris Olympics.
– The outlook for Paris is worrying, it’s not going anywhere. It will be a big disappointment if we only have Mattsson on the Olympic team, especially considering how good a swimming year we had in 2021.
The year 2021 was Tokyo’s Olympic year. Then Ari-Pekka Liukkonen achieved EC gold in the 50-meter freestyle at the Budapest long course games and Ida Hulkko won EC silver in the 50-meter breaststroke at the same games. In addition, Finland had five swimmers in Tokyo and among them Matti Mattsson won bronze in the 200 meter breaststroke.
– In addition, many young people made a good progress at that time. Now they are nowhere near that caliber. It’s a big disappointment, says Kallinen.
A place to look in the mirror
In Kalline’s opinion, the final places in the Doha Games saved a lot, but in his opinion Finnish swimming now has a place to look in the mirror. Kallinen would like a sport analysis to be done in the sport, where we are going in terms of coaching and whether we are making the right choices and things in the clubs’ everyday life.
– You can’t rely on the fact that if Mattsson or Hulkko succeed, swimming would be in a good state. The phenomenon that happens behind these swimmers is much more worrying.
According to Kallinen, there are a lot of national team athletes in Finland who have not improved, especially in the long track results. In addition, many young athletes succeed reasonably well in the tough European youth championships. What happens when you jump from 18 years old to 20 years old and from 20 years old onwards?
– There are really big question marks, and it shows in these games as well, says Kallinen.
Promises from outside the system
At this moment, Finland has at least two hard-class swimming promises: Tomas Koski and Lunch Vegetable. Kallinen considers Koske to be the most talented and potential Finnish swimmer he has seen in twenty years.
Koski is actively trying to break the Olympic limit, and Kallinen considers it completely possible to succeed. In his opinion, Kasvio has more to do with the Olympic limit, but if the young swimmer’s development continues in the same way, he may also have a chance in Paris.
– In 400, 800 and 1,500 meters, the development jump can be larger in time compared to 50, 100 and 200 meters, Kallinen reminds.
What unites Koske and Kasvio is that neither is a product of the Finnish coaching system. Koski has applied for his scholarship from the American high school and university system, and Kasvio is the host Antti Kasvion and in the close coaching of his own team.
– Why can’t our coaching system produce promising young people of that level, let alone Olympic medalists? Mattsson is also a good example of this. He has trained in Pori by himself first Tomi Pystynen and later Eetu Karvonen with, not through any system or coaching center, the expert says.
In Kalline’s opinion, Finnish swimmers do not have a terrible panic with the Olympic limit yet, because there are enough places to show. The problem is mainly that the Finnish swimmers are too far from the borders of Paris at this point.
– For example, Ida is currently 1.5 seconds from the Olympic limit, and it is forever at that level. How can it still be torn away in such a short time? I am genuinely concerned.
Mattsson had the opportunity of a lifetime
Mattsson swam 2:09.80 in the 200-meter breaststroke World Cup final and missed the medal by about a second. In the beginning, he broke the Paris A limit by swimming 2:09.15. At the time, this convinced Kallinen, who believed that Mattsson could fight for the World Championship gold, but it turned out otherwise. China won Dong Zhihao with a time of 2:07.94. Mattsson’s Finnish swimming record in Tokyo is 2.07.13.
– Sorry to say about the World Cup, but that was an exceptionally bad winning time. Mati had the chance of a lifetime to win the world championship.
However, Kallinen is not worried about Mattsson’s condition. He believes that the person from Pori is hitting the Olympic pool again and is aiming for a medal again.
– An Olympic medal is an incredibly hard achievement in swimming, but bronze is possible for Mati. The World Cup was missing an ME man Qin Haiyang and former ME man Australia Zac Stubblety-Cook. They are probably the top two in Paris, says Kallinen.