During the closing weekend of the World Ski Championships in Planica, the skis of the Finnish skiers have spoken.
Saturday in the women’s 30 km co-start race Kerttu Niskanen, Krista Pärmäkoski, Johanna Matintalo and Anne Kyllönen everyone said there were problems with the skis. Lubrication was not successful when the weather warmed up quickly before the race.
Lubrication manager of the Finnish cross country team Mika Venäläinen admitted that Finland’s maintenance failed. However, the Russian could not say the reason for the failure.
On Sunday, in the men’s 50 km race, several Finns had ski problems. For example Perttu Hyvärinen went to change skis at 14.2 kilometers due to grip problems.
Later, Hyvärinen interrupted. Also Ville Ahosella and Cross mat at Hakola seemed to have trouble with the skis at times.
After the race, the Finnish men didn’t put their poor results on their skis. The same line was followed by the sixth place finisher Iivo Niskanen.
National team skier watching the race in the sports studio’s grandstand Katri Lylynperä considered the actions of Finnish men “polite” after he had heard Ville Ahonen’s interview.
– People always shout that a skier should say about skis. No matter what is said about them, terrible headlines always appear. That makes one’s own guardian feel pretty bad, Lylynperä said.
“There’s no point in causing a media frenzy”
On Saturday, there was a stir when Finnish women commented on their skis. Finland’s maintenance forces made a lot of headlines in the media.
Lylynperä is not part of the competition team this time, but he has experience in what kind of feedback can follow from such a commotion.
– After all, we get death threats, the maintenance service has too, Lylynperä began.
This was not the first time that the success of ski maintenance was reported in the media. There have been similar commotions almost every year in prestigious ski competitions.
– We are at the games as a team and as such a pretty big family. We really work together day after day.
– There is no point in causing a media uproar. After the competition, we can discuss among ourselves with maintenance and coaching why we didn’t succeed. That discussion should be held within the team, not in the direction of the media, Lylynperä said.
Lylynperä said he understands that skiing is important to Finns. However, the death threats are too much.
Brutal social feedback
After that, the conversation turned in the Urheilustudio’s race viewing room to what kind of feedback the athletes get.
Former volleyball player Olli-Pekka Ojansivu recalled the social feedback he received during his active career. Today, Ojansivu, who is the manager of skier Perttu Hyvärinen, must have also heard from Hyvärinen what kind of feedback the skiers get.
Hyvärinen referred to the matter on ‘s TV broadcast on Sunday.
– There has been a lot of feedback in one direction and the other. Yes, the Finnish sports consumer is an incredibly wonderful person, Hyvärinen said.
Lylynperä and Ojansivu agreed that elite sports deserve proper criticism.
– You have to withstand criticism to a certain extent. If someone says you were bad today, you have to raise your hand and admit that I was, Lylynperä said.
Especially on social media, the tone of the feedback is much more violent.
– Some people slander after every race. I have taken such a line on social media that I block them systematically, Lylynperä said.
Lylynperä and Ojansivu hoped that citizen feedback would come face-to-face rather than on social media.
– If someone comes to talk face to face, it can be a good conversation.