The work of Perttu Hyvärinen and coach Mikko Virtanen was finally rewarded. Now there is a new challenge ahead.
Perttu Hyvärinen is in a tough spot on the first day of 2024.
On Sunday, Hyvärinen won the first World Cup individual race win and podium place in her career at the Tour de Ski. Savolainen defeated Norway with the traditional intermediate starting ten By Erik Valnes by more than 16 seconds.
However, there is no time to celebrate, because on Sunday there will be a 20-kilometer free and pursuit race.
– It’s a really tight spot now. It’s not easy to take the first win of your career and be in full lating again the next day. 20 kilometers on the same track is fierce competition, Hyvärinen’s coach Mikko Virtanen says.
Perttu Hyvärinen won on Sunday. Jussi Saarinen
Iltalehti caught up with Virtanen Hyvärinen after the victory. In addition to the skier, the coach was in a rather euphoric state. Tips for focusing on the next race were meant to be given, but not immediately after the race.
– Years of work have been done for this. The podium finally came, at the same time the victory was still up. Happy new year!
– Before the race, I was a little depressed. I do this with great passion. Sometimes there are moments of joy, sometimes snow comes carefully into the house. These days are rare, says Virtanen.
Virtanen has recently gone through a large emotional scale. One of his trainees Anni Alakoski had to withdraw from the Tour due to illness.
On Saturday, Hyvärinen failed to qualify in the opening leg of the Tour, in the free sprint.
– Coaching is a terrible hobby or profession. He’s messed up properly, then a few days later something like this happens, Virtanen refers to Hyvärinen’s victory.
Thoroughly considered
Mikko Virtanen was overjoyed with the win. Jussi Saarinen
Hyvärinen struck on the uphill section of the track on Sunday. It was a carefully considered decision.
Virtanen visited Toblach at Christmas to check the course and conditions.
– We had a really precise plan on how to ski the track. We succeeded perfectly.
– The track was flat at first. Then we started for the uphill section, and from 3.5 kilometers to the stadium at speed. The race actually started at the 5 kilometer mark, where Kerttu Niskanen and Perttu solved it. The stars aligned.
Hyvärinen had not skied in the top ten in the World Cup earlier this season. He had a surprisingly difficult time in the World Cup in Ruka, where the rankings were 21st and 47th, despite the fact that two weeks earlier, Savolainen skied sixth in the high-class cannonball competition in Olos.
– After Olos, we were inspired to do developing exercises a little too frequently and in the bitter cold before the Finnish Cup. The exercises were not returned, and the Finnish cup went to hell, Virtanen explains.
– Perttu caught a bit of the trick in Ruka’s traditional race. However, the musculature had to be reawakened.
Your eggs
Hyvärinen beat a bunch of Norwegians on the track. Jussi Saarinen
Hyvärinen did not compete in the Jällivaara and Östersund World Cups. It was a good bet.
In Trondheim, the skis covered up the real condition. Hyvärinen was 15th in the combined race and 24th in the traditional race.
– He himself chose the skis in Trondheim. Better would have been expected from there.
Hyvärinen opened the Tour by qualifying for the free sprint. Virtanen trusted that there was something better in the bank.
Now Virtanen plans to enjoy Hyvärinen’s victory with full chest.
– There is rarely a day of reckoning in these jobs. You have to know how to enjoy.