Niko Anttola rose to the middleweight division of Finnish sports sponsorship.
Last season’s junior world champion in skiing and the anchor of the men’s World Cup silver relay Niko Anttola has moved to the medium-heavy series of Finnish sports sponsorship. He has signed four significant partnerships, which enable the 20-year-old athlete to be fully professional for the next few years.
– A vital thing for Niko. It is not automatic for a young athlete to get partnerships when the visibility is not the same as Ivo and Kerttu in Niskase or Krista in Pärmäkoskisays Anttola’s manager Aki Pajunoja.
The amounts of the sponsorship contracts are secret, but considering the athlete’s age and previously achieved visibility, they could be characterized as a fortune.
– If a person of Niko’s age were to go to work during the day, we would move in such readings that we should not do any other work for a single day. No study grants, no unemployment benefits, and no housing subsidies, says Pajunoja.
– Not all the money goes to sports, but Niko gets a living with the contracts. He can pay for food, rent and other everyday expenses, the manager specifies.
Anttola’s partners are Pohjaset, Feelia, Renta and, most recently, Ponsse. Ponsse, which manufactures forest machines, has been among others Tero Pitkämäki and Iivo Niskanen’s visible supporter.
– Long-term partnerships have been discussed. The goal is not only the 2026 Winter Olympics, but also the Lahti World Ski Championships in 2029. If the partners remain satisfied until then, then the skiing will have passed.
Along with Anttola, the sponsored athletes of the food company Feelia include a hurdler Top Raitanen and another customer of Pajunoja Krista Pärmäkoski. Rental company Renta supports Raita and the triple jumper Kristiina Mäkelää.
Ivo to the sled?
Niko Anttola is Finnish men’s skiing’s greatest hope for future success. PASI LEISMA
Anttola is interested in training with Iivo Niskanen during the basic training season, but the three-time Olympic champion is about to leave the National Ski Association’s national team activities once and for all.
– The summer of 2023 was one of the best training seasons ever. There is no reason why I should not continue in the same way, Niskanen commented.
For Anttola, the Ponsse contract may offer a tangible sporting benefit.
– Niko looks up to Iivo and has certainly taken Iivo’s example. Would it be possible to unite the people of Ponce in the same camp? You should learn from the best. It is not worth skiing with Iivo for the entire training season of Niko, but individual camps would be useful at this stage of the career, Pajunoja states.
My own company
Aki Pajunoja works as Niko Anttola’s manager. Pasi Liesimaa/IL
The skier from Torni was awarded a tax-free state sports grant of 10,000 euros for the year 2023.
With the accelerated income stream, Pajunoja was encouraged to become an athlete-entrepreneur. In practice, it means establishing a limited company. The operating model is becoming more common in Finnish individual sports.
– It gives an opportunity to manage financial management: how any funds are invested and how they are used.