Johanna Matintalo won 5,000 euros

Johanna Matintalo, 26, competed on Sunday in the final of the Finnish Cup in Rovaniemi, concretely in his backyard. He lives almost next to the race track and about 200 meters from the Ounasvaara ski stadium.

The athlete from the table walked home after Sunday’s event with a 5,000 euro wallet in his pocket.

He was second in the mass start of the sacred 15 km traditional race and secured the overall victory of the Cup with this ranking.

– Of course, it’s a lot of money compared to the amount of money involved in domestic competitions. Really big money for all athletes, regardless of their income level, commented Matintalo.

He earned 500 euros for his second place in Sunday’s competition.

– Of course, the good taste remained. There were a lot of failures and small disappointments this season, so even though this is “just” the domestic modern series and the title, this is better than nothing.

Matintalo was already packing his skis after the World Cup in Lahti in March, until it dawned on him that the Finnish Cup title is a realistic goal after the competitions in Inari and Rovaniemi.

– It was worth suffering 30 kilometers in Inari, the skier laughed and pointed to the sloppy free SC start the other Sunday.

Cut the stick

The skier’s voice was in trouble on Sunday, because he got a cold on Easter.

– Even though my own career will continue for many more years, I don’t know if this title will come again. Let’s try to win more in the future.

Before Sunday’s start, it could be concluded that the one in a wild spring mood compared to her racing sisters Kerttu Niskanen win. In this scenario, fourth place was enough for Matintalo to take first place in the Cup.

– I skied instead. When Kerttu snapped, maybe I could have gone and tried to join. I settled for skiing in that group. I wanted to secure the placement in the four checkers.

Matintalo, Anne Kyllönen, Jasmi Joensuu and Eveliina Piippo skied from places 2–5 for more than half of the distance. So Matintalo had to defeat one of this group in order to grab the cup title.

– I wanted to stay and ski for the overall cup win in that group. Sometimes it was quite relaxed. I knew I would probably be pretty strong against those women at the end.

That’s how it happened.

In the end, Matintalo settled for second place, Kyllönen was third, Joensuu fourth and Piippo, who was a little behind, fifth.

Joensuu’s pole broke before the last 3.75 kilometer lap, but he soon got a new tool to replace it. The rod Joensuu received was from a different manufacturer than his own, but coincidentally the same size as the destroyed tool.

– It hardly affected the final result, Joensuu commented.

Change, decision makers!

The Suomen Cup is a functional competition series, especially for the skiers behind the sharpest tip in Finland, but of course there is room for improvement.

– I think the season starts too early – that’s why I will never participate in the Vuokatti cup opening in October. And few competing countries compete anymore. On the other hand, for everyone, these spring games are spring games. We’re skiing, and we don’t concentrate like that anymore, Matintalo estimates.

– In a certain way, it would tighten up the competition if the season were shorter. On the other hand, the national team athletes have such a busy midwinter, so would it change anything if the Finnish Cup was more compact, he continued.

On Sunday, we started together for the first and last time this season.

– I would advertise travel changes. It was really nice when we started together. In Finland, you can ride intermediate departures to your heart’s content. Joint starts would prepare for international competitions much better than intermediate starts, Matintalo commented.

– And more sprints. In the World Cup, almost half are sprints, but in the Finnish Cup, only two at the beginning of the season and in addition the winter WC sprint, he specified.