About a year ago Eevi-Inkeri Tossavainen fanned out with a wide smile in Whistler’s Olympic scenery. The promise of the future, who won medals on the youth championship tracks, had fulfilled one of his goals and got to live an athlete’s dream day, because he had become the under-20-year-old skiing world champion in the sprint of traditional skiing.
At the same time, Tossavainen got his name as the ninth Finnish skier on the fine list of Junior World Champions. A few days later too Niko Anttola join this crowd.
This year, in early February, when the youth national team was preparing for the World Championships in the scenery of Planica, Eevi-Inkeri Tossavainen arrived in Vantaa for the WC skiing to start her season once again.
Before the SC Games, Tossavainen had skied the previous entire competition last spring in March. After that, the result was only suspensions, disqualifications and DNS entries.
Tossavais was thus not selected for the youth World Cup team. It didn’t feel good, but he understood why. Of course, Tossavainen would have liked to defend his world championship, especially when the sprint was still free.
– At this moment, it was not where I should have been. It’s easier this way, compared to if everything had gone well and I still wouldn’t have made it to the Games, Tossavainen said on the eve of the WC and stated that he’s not going to watch the Games on TV, at most read the results somewhere.
More medals will only hurt
In addition to the sprint world championship, Tossavainen also took home the World Championship bronze from Canada in the 20 km traditional cross-country skiing race. In addition to this, the season could fit Elsa Torvinen with the silver in the Parisprint Championship in the ranks of Ylöjärvi Ryhti and the first points achieved in the spring in the World Cup.
There were enough expectations for this season, and before the start of the season it looked good. Tossavainen made records and good results in the tests, he was in better shape than ever before. Despite this, he was not satisfied, the record results were not enough.
– Maybe those medals felt in the back of my head. That the bar has now been set and the basic level must always be at the top of the world, already very close to the top of the adult world. A couple of times it occurred to me that those medals have only been a nuisance.
Tossavainen wanted to ski the World Cup, advance in the sprints at least until the semi-finals. Defending the medals at the Junior World Championships was also on his mind, and the first individual championship at the World Championships intrigued him.
In early October, these were still realistic goals. But not a few months later.
Tossavainen got sick for the first time at the beginning of October and was sick for more or less three months after that. He laughed that he must have caught every possible disease that goes to the lungs and respiratory tract.
After a course of antibiotics for several weeks, Tossavainen’s body went haywire and never recovered properly. His biggest challenge was not getting through the sprint qualifiers, but whether he could walk a couple of kilometers to the store.
– Time just passed, I was still in pain. I couldn’t do anything and the others were already competing. It increased the load on the psychological side, and did not contribute to healing.
Tossavainen came to start and qualify in the Ruka World Cup sprint, but was unable to compete after that. In December, he still had hopes for the World Youth Championships, but Corona and its aftermath crushed the plans once and for all.
Thanks to her skiing success, Eevi-Inkeri Tossavainen was invited to Linna’s party last year. In addition, he graduated from Sotkamo sports high school.
– The end of the year felt like it was a really creepy year. However, a couple of World Youth Championship medals and the president’s invitation brought glimmers of joy. At least a couple of times I have succeeded in my life.
– It makes it easier to know that I have overcome difficulties before. It somehow educates and teaches.
Quitting is not an option
Tossavainen’s mind has been running through a wide variety of thoughts during the past three months. What has frustrated him the most is how much of his time has been wasted.
– It is not at all nice to watch others ski in those races, where I myself would like to take part. And at the same time, he’s thinking about whether he’ll be able to go walking with a pole even for an hour.
Tossavainen admits that he has felt like giving up many times during this winter. On a few occasions, he has said out loud that he will stop skiing, but no one has taken him seriously. Not even himself.
– It’s been more like I’ve been able to say out loud: ‘This is bullshit! I will definitely never ski again.’ If I have to think about whether I should go to school or work or whether I want to be a top athlete, I would never choose anything other than top sports. I want to invest only in sports.
Tossavainen hoped that he would be one of those rare athletes whose career path goes straight up. That he would be able to succeed immediately when moving to the 23-year-old league. Töysvainen’s career has had setbacks before, but he had never experienced such a big pitfall.
Tossavain, who lives in Vuokatti, has had close people around him to whom he has been able to vent his anxiety. It has been most important for him to notice that people have been interested in his activities other than his skiing results. He has only been allowed to be Eevi-Inkeri.
Tossavainen has enjoyed himself in Vuokatti, where he has many friends of his parents. He has received a lot of support from them.
– Maybe you can’t talk about your own team, but they have been there in both good and bad moments.
Despite everything, the fire for the competition has remained strong, and that has made him continue.
– I know that when I can train well, I can also ski really well and hard. I have been able to show that I have potential and capacity.
At the Vantaa Ski Championships, Tossavainen was the first athlete to fall from the final in the sprint. He stopped the traditional 20 kilometer race, but in the pair sprint he and Elsa Torvinen took Ylöjärvi Ryhti to the SC medals. This year’s bronze tasted even better than last year’s silver.
– Yes, that bronze is fine. This was a battle victory above all for myself, Tossavainen assured after the race.
Tossavais has often been compared Krista Pärmäkoski. He is very much like Pärmäkoski in his characteristics and also has a similar sense of purpose. Tossavainen admits that if he is anything, he is at least persistent. If he decides to do something, he does everything he can for it, and is not about to give up right away.
– As an athlete, I am really strict and demanding, but as a person, I am gentler and friendlier, I take others into account better. If you see me scared at the competition venues, my basic expression is not very happy, but outside of sports I’m not quite so self-centered, he laughs.
Mercy and patience
This season has taught Tossavainen a lot, but above all kindness and patience – although patience is the word for his dislike. In difficult moments, he has returned to the World Championships a year ago, remembered his performances and medals, and now they seem like flashes of joy.
Tossavainen would still like to make it to this season’s snow World Cup, but if that doesn’t happen, it’s not the end of the world. He has already shifted his gaze more towards next season.
– The fact is that those currently skiing on the World Cup podium are 5–15 years older than me. However, I am only 20 years old.
– I’m not in such a hurry. If I can’t ski in all the competitions I want to in one winter, that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to later.
The Finnish Cup, the World Championship and the World Cup are part of Tossavainen’s plans, but next winter’s competition calendar also includes the World Cup in Trondheim. Those, if any, fascinate Tossavai.
– It has been comforting when I have realized that a possible success in Trondheim does not depend on whether I ski the World Cup this winter or not. Fortunately, Trondheim is still a long time away.