Yle’s editorial manager Kristiina Kekäläinen says that the company would probably act differently if it could decide on the matter now.
Yle expert Kaisa Mäkäräinen will not go to the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Jussi Eskola
Yle biathlon expert Kaisa Mäkäräinen and commentator Johannes Oikarinen will not go to the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Parivaljakko explains the biathlon competitions organized in Anterselva at Yle’s studio in Pasila.
Yle told about the decision earlier Ilta-Sanomat.
According to Yle Urheilu’s editorial manager Kristiina Kekäläinen, the decision was influenced by the success of Finnish shooting sports. He says that Yle already decided two years ago which sports will be explained on the spot. In the Milan-Cortina games, only ice hockey and cross-country skiing are explained in Italy.
– Two years ago, when these decisions were made, these two sports have been successful sports for Finns, meaning they have won medals in previous winter games, Kekäläinen opens.
– Finnish biathlon was in a different situation then than it is now. For example, Suvi Minkkinen was not so high then.
Biathlonist Minkkinen is one of Finland’s strongest medal hopes at the Olympics starting this week. His career took off in the 2024–25 season, when he won the first medal of his career. Minkkinen took the World Cup bronze in Lenzerheide 2025 and has consistently achieved strong results in the World Cup as well.
Suvi Minkkinen has realistic chances for an Olympic medal. Jussi Saarinen
Kekäläinen says that changes to the commentary arrangements could no longer be made when Minkkinen’s success at the Olympics began to seem likely. Comment rooms, connections and accommodation must be booked well in advance of the Olympics.
– If we could decide at the beginning of this season, which sports will be explained on the spot, we would certainly make the decision that the biathlon would be explained from Anterselva, Kekäläinen thinks.
However, Yle will send a reporter and cameraman to Anterselva. Kekäläinen does not believe that the location of the narration has a significant effect on the TV viewing experience of Finns.
– Here we have good information available to the narrators and a good international image, as well as our own reporter and cameraman on site. The most important thing is that the viewer gets a good service. This will certainly not affect it, Kekäläinen sees.
Yle’s biathlon editor at the upcoming Olympics changed just a couple of weeks before the Games. Originally Inka Henelius was supposed to go to Anterselva, but he had to stay in Finland due to an injury. He will be replaced Joel Holm.
– Joel was already going to the Games anyway, but he would have been in Val di Fiemme with ski jumping, cross-country skiing and combined. Now he just moves a few hundred kilometers away in the other direction. Of course, there was already an interview spot reserved, so any accredited journalist can go there, says Kekäläinen.
Viewers react
Suvi Minkkinen has also been able to wear the red vest of the World Cup leader. EPA / AOP
The remote implementation of Yle’s biathlon coverage has aroused conflicting opinions on social media.
– I understand the reasoning, but that’s fucked up now. Kaisa in particular has received really nice content on the spot in the past, one user writes in the anonymous messaging service Jodel.
– All the narrators could very well be in Pasila. The interviewers then separately, the other thinks.
– Understandable, if and when the decisions were really made two years ago, when you think about the expectations of that moment, the third ponders.
