Finnish ski couple: Massive life change

Skiers living in the Arctic Circle Johanna Matintalo and Lauri Vuorinen are on the verge of a significant life change.

– We have the mentality that we will move from Rovaniemi to the capital region when Lauri’s career ends, Matintalo said on Sunday after the Tour de Ski.

The career of Vuorinen, 31, will end after this or the 2026–27 season. Matintalo, 29, will continue until the 2029 World Cup home games in Lahti.

– We are trying to collect a nest egg for a new apartment.

17,000 euros came into the coffers from the Tour de Ski, because that’s how much Matintalo earned for sixth place in the overall tour.

– We have an owner-occupied apartment at the moment, but in Southern Finland, you can put even more euros in the pile with apartment deals.

Matintalo is from Pöytä and Vuorinen Perniö in Varsinais-Suomi. They moved to Rovaniemi because of the training conditions.

Vuorinen already knows his future job, as he has worked as a photographer and videographer during his skiing career.

Hard whipping

Matintalo gives itself an eight from the Tour de Ski.

– It seems stupid to say when I took the 7th, 6th and 5th places on the traditional trips, but I can do much better. The top successes were missing, he describes.

– I’m almost satisfied with how I skied the stadium area without counting the free vito race. Freestyle skiing has moved forward, he adds.

Matintalo flogged himself after almost every stage of the Tour, although for the first time since the spring winter of 2024 he regularly skied in the top ten.

– The basic level is good. It doesn’t take a top day to get the kind of results you got at the Tour. If you want to succeed at the mc level, you have to have consistency. Then individual top results are possible.

During his career, Matintalo has reached the podium twice in the World Cup after a traditional sprint and once after a traditional sprint.

The woman’s last season was very broken due to various health challenges.

The expert was impressed

Iltalehti’s skiing expert Pirjo Muranen is very impressed with Matintalo’s performance at the Tour. In six competitions, the Finn took the places 60, 7, 13, 6, 5 and 15. The place number 60 came from the free sprint and the fifth place from the traditional sprint.

– Johanna has come out of last season’s difficulties to a great pace. He was Finland’s most consistent scorer on the Tour. Technically and tactically good races, Muranen estimates.

– Johanna is a guts bag who demands a lot from herself. When things have gone well, the hunger grows when you eat. I believe that there will be more good races from the end of the season, the expert adds.

In the Olympics, the main distances for the women of the Ounasvaara skiing club are the traditional sprint and 50 kilometers.

– In the traditional sprint, we have two women fighting for the top positions: Johanna and Jasmi Joensuu, responsible coach of the women’s national team Reijo Jylhä announced.

Along with Matintalo, Joensuu made a 17,000 euro account with Tour. Joensuu was ninth in the overall competition, which comes to 12,000 euros. In the sprint points, the Finn was fifth and received 2,000 euros. The profit of one stage was 3,000 euros.

Among the Finnish men, the only skier who got the money was 1,500 euros instead of the tour, who received 20 Perttu Hyvärinen.