Maikku Hiljanen continued his winning streak at the Lahti Championship.
Maikku Hiljanen made a return to fitness stages in the spring after a 10-year break. The aftermath has been deafening.
Hiljanen has managed to win, among other things, European Championship gold and the tough Arnold Classic. On Saturday, the man from Tampere won the SM gold at the Nordic Fitness Expo in Lahti.
Hiljanen’s sport is acrobatic fitness, which can be raised to the most demanding of the whole range of sports, as it includes a spectacular free program in addition to a physical round. The combination requires a lot from the body, because just the competition diet and the physical round are a tough combination.
Even though the most recent first place came in the domestic championship, it means the most to Hiljanen.
– This has been a really long competition season. All the time this is getting tougher and tougher. After the Arnold a couple of weeks ago, the competition condition has been really good otherwise, but I’ve been in a lot of pain, Hiljanen says.
– Yesterday I was afraid that I had norovirus or corona. I thought about skipping the whole race when the oxygen was so weak, but in the end I was able to pull off a very good free program. For the first time this season, I felt like I would have been satisfied even if I hadn’t won.
An incredible comeback
Maikku Hiljanen will still compete in the World Championships this season. Tommi Mankki, NFE
Hiljanen’s story is exceptional, as the thirty-year-old athlete took a 10-year break from competition after winning the junior EC gold.
He simply burned out. There were health problems and many other troubles behind.
Chairman of Suomen Fitnessurheilhu ry, who has seen everything in the fitness world KP Ourama told Iltalehte in the spring that Hiljanen is Finland’s most talented fitness athlete of all time.
– There are quite a few athletes who are able to make a return to the top after a 10-year break, Ourama added on Saturday.
The last goal of the season is the World Championships in just over a week. Ourama considers Hilja a really strong candidate for world champion.
The athlete himself reminds that there are many other tough athletes, many of whom have not competed as closely this season.
Hiljanen believes that his return to the top was made possible by the really hard foundations he created at a young age. The native of Tampere was part of the decade’s legendary Sorin Circus and also did a lot of exercise.
– Thanks to the circus.
The leg is already heavy
Maikku Hiljanen’s sport includes a spectacular and demanding free program. Tommi Mankki, NFE
Hiljanen says that the long competition season is already starting to feel.
– Otherwise, this has felt good, but the leg is already starting to feel heavy. There have been no more trips either. When you spend the whole year on low fats and the load is heavy, you can feel it in your body.
In addition to sports, he also works as a physical education instructor and is studying in his fourth year at Jyväskylä’s Faculty of Physical Education.
– Of course, that also increases the load when there is no opportunity to just play sports and compete.
He is already looking forward to the end of the competition season, even though the culmination of the World Cup is still ahead.
– Then there is another opportunity to develop, do hard training and recover properly. I know I still have a lot of potential. There is also a knee problem behind me, so I know that I can still take, for example, the free program to a new level.
– The next time I return to the competition stages, I will return better.
Success has not changed everyday life.
– This is a nice hobby. Sometimes it’s tough, of course, but that’s part of the sport. Nothing more than that.
Maikku Hiljanen on stage during the physics round. Tommi Mankki, NFE