Top performance also requires success from the background team. According to the coach of Sirviö, who is going to the Olympics, it was successful in the qualifying competition.
Kamilla Rajander,
Only Paloniemi
Last weekend’s qualifying competitions in Budapest, Hungary were skaters Heili to Sirviö the last chance to secure a place at the Paris Olympics. Although the hot weather made the conditions challenging, especially at the beginning of the week, the 13-year-old Finn achieved an almost perfect performance in the qualifiers.
– Now that I’ve secured a place at the Olympics, I feel really good, Sirviö is happy with the skateboarding association’s interview tape.
– I’m really happy with how I skated.
It says a lot about Sirviö’s attitude to the sport, how he described the final day’s exercises as a fun session with his friends.
– One of my best friends was there. We skated and it was really fun.
The whole team succeeded
Sirviö’s coach Jussi Korhonen according to, in the qualifying competition in Budapest, in addition to Sirviö, the background team also succeeded better than ever before. In particular, it enabled a top result.
– In the past, our problem has been that we have not been able to compose and harmonize the whole as a team. When it comes to the best tricks, Heili is at the world’s top level in his knowledge of tricks and his ability to combine tricks. But in terms of how to fit them on the track, there has not yet been enough experience in this way that we would have been successful, Korhonen explains.
Although the skater performs alone, the background crowd plays an important role in making the competition plan and choreography.
– We look at the “runes” of all the competitors, both men and women, so that we can choose similar routes and tricks. You have to steal bits of other people’s songs and compose your own song from them, Korhonen illustrates.
– We know in advance what all Heili has in the so-called bag of tricks, that is, what can be dug out of it.
In the final of the qualifiers, Sirviö collected the best points from his third “run”. Before that, his second performance had gone wrong due to a fall in the opening trick.
According to the coach, Sirviö would have had a chance for a few points better result and a couple of places higher in the ranking, but the skater had to make sure a little to get an intact performance.
– All of those who had already secured their place, maybe couldn’t bring themselves to put all of themselves into the game after Shanghai (the previous qualification). But that didn’t affect Heil’s situation. In any case, he had to give his best, says Korhonen.
The pace is picking up
Korhonen considers it realistic that even in the Olympics, Sirviö can finish in the top seven, just like in the qualifying competition.
– Duni must be done every time. You don’t go very far on the old sea routes.
According to the coach, the qualifying competitions are even higher than the Olympics, because due to country quotas, not all of the tough athletes who took part in the qualifiers will be seen at the Olympics.
According to the quotas, a maximum of three skaters from each country can participate. Korhonen says that competition fatigue has also been noticeable in some athletes during the qualifiers.
Women’s park is on the program of the Olympic Games on August 6. Before that, Sirviö will focus on training, and according to the coach, the pace will only accelerate.
– When girls are quite young, they are hungry and want to learn more new tricks.
Learning new tricks in a month is challenging, so the plans are to focus especially on making the combination of basic tricks go better.
– Every day we skate more and more. Of course, we play the flute for a day here and there, says Korhonen.
The Paris Olympics can be seen and heard on channels from July 26 to August 11.