National team skier Verneri Poikonen competed today for the last time in the Rovaniemi 50 km ski championship. Urheilu’s expert Kalle Lassila considers the decision understandable.
Aino Paloniemi,
Laura Arffman
National team skier Verneri Poikonen finished his active career today in Rovaniemi SM skiing. The career of Poikonen, 25, who specialized in freestyle skiing sprint competitions, ended in completely opposite circumstances, when the distance was 50 kilometers and the style was traditional.
– The trip is made for us, the style is made for us, the weather is made for us, the track is made for us. Here we get to the core of endurance sports quite well. Cross-country skiing at its best, Poikonen anticipates the competition in the snow before.
However, did you think about enjoying yourself, loosening up, taking all the money in front of the audience and the sausages and buns and everything else on the way?
– Hell yeah. I expect there is Verneri Suhosella Lettuce pan hot. At the very last round, I thought I’d take the braids with me, and let’s hope that the solder is in place there.
Join Kähärä’s cheerleading squad
The decision to quit Poikonen, who was studying to become a pilot, was made during this season.
– After all, this is a bit like amputating one’s own limb, when for 16 years I have been going more and less almost every day to practice skiing, Poikonen, who represented Äänekoski Huimaa at the club level, described.
However, combining studies and skiing began to feel overwhelming and the passion for competing shone through its absence. Ending your own career also brings an opportunity to support your spouse more strongly Jasmin Kähärän career as a national team skier.
– Lately, it has taken a lot more than it has given, so I came to the decision that it was time to move from the race tracks to the pages. Then more able to jump on Jasmin’s bandwagon in the cheerleading squad.
Verneri Poikonen also shared his decision to quit on Instagram. You can watch the publication below.
A straightforward solution
Poikonen made his World Cup debut at the Salpausselkä Games in spring 2018.
This season, Poikonen participated in the Trondheim and Lahti world cup competitions. Last season, he reached the semi-finals of the free sprint at the World Cup competitions in Falun. In addition, in January 2023, Poikonen won the sprint championship of the students’ World Championships, the Universiade, in the United States.
Sports expert Kalle Lassila finds Poikonen’s decision to quit at a relatively young age understandable.
– This is a really smart young man. He made a nice and straightforward solution. There’s a lot of life outside of skiing too, Lassila said in the broadcast.
According to Lassila, when it comes to sports, it is especially difficult to be an athlete who clearly specializes in a certain type of skiing or competitive distance.
– It is really difficult for those who specialize to find such a Motivating and good enough competition calendar, in which case the screen spots and thus the opportunities to make a profit remain sadly small.