The Finnish skier got his special tuned skis just a moment before the 50km race of Trondheim’s 1997 World Cup. The contemporaries remember what happened in Norway 28 years ago.
Mika Myllylä ruffle. The 50 kilometer traditional temporary start of Trondheim’s 1997 World Cup is about to begin, but the tools are missing.
– The guts were tried until the very last. When the best was found, the skis were cooled one by one in the yard. Just a moment before leaving, Mika got her race, recalls in the Finnish Service Team Kari Kyrö.
Myllylä personal ski maintenance Marko Anttola He knows his protector atomic arsenal more closely than his own pockets. Under the man of Haapajärvi, equipment that has never worked before.
– The skis still had to be bathed in Trondheim, says Anttola.
This means that the skis were held in the heat bag to open the tips and stumps of the equipment so to speak and the cream was better absorbed.
Dramatic change
Mika Myllylä (right) and Jari Isometsä twist his hand in 1995. IL Archive
The weather has been typical of the fjord at the turn of February and March. The World Championships started in the freezing weather, then skiing at zero at the temperature until the fifty day of the race is in harsh water.
– The road changed dramatically from the beginning of the Games. I knew the slow and tough water of the closing day is a good thing for Mika, teammate Jari Isometsä tells you.
In a slow watercraft, the biggest differences are made in the ski skiing.
Today, many ski manufacturers would have water and dirt -repellent transparent, but they only came to the race for the race until Trondheim in the Shots Olympic Games in 2014.
Myllylä skis are ordinary black -based and high -profile glue.
– The glue and skis happened. It was a bit of a lure that a suitable combination was found. I don’t know if it would have worked in any other competition, ”says Anttola.
Patriotic Norway
Mika Myllylä was an Atomic man. Jari Porttila
As usual, Norwegian media are patriotic. The country’s largest newspaper VG is speculating, celebrating Trondheim on a kingdom trip last year Kollen’s fifty winner Erling yevne or the big master Bjørn dæhlie.
– Mika’s gold was completely possible in advance. It was the best trip for Mika and he had already taken two personal medals in those races. It couldn’t be a surprise to the Norwegians, Isometsä downloads.
– Perhaps it affected the pre -settings when Mika’s message was a little silent, adds the Lappish breeder.
One million audiences
The world champion kissed his skis. Aop
In 1997, TV streaming services were not yet known. The world was much larger than today.
The men’s 50km World Championships in Finland attracted a total of 2.302 million viewers in Finland. According to the viewer measurement methods used since 1988, it was the second most watched sports broadcast in Finnish TV history by then.
The pile location was not held by the 1995 World Cup final of the men’s ice hockey, but the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics competition.
– In Trondheim, the audience was quite hell – as much or even more as Holmenkollen during the fifty races, Isometsä describes.
There is no exact information about the number of audiences along the track, but there are certainly more than 100,000 pairs of eyes.
Peppi Long Slipper
Haapajärvi Kiila shakes the first 1.8 kilometer break point. In the background, Peppi Pitkätossu was playing.
– It was a bull -like going, Anttola describes.
Men’s traditional skiing was still used in the last millennium, one -kicking evening. It is a lot of the mill in the leather weather.
– For a hard -working skier, the worker’s weather was really well passed.
Dæhlie is six seconds ahead of 8.4 kilometers at the temporary point.
– It was quite insane and the energy was decreased, Isometsä recalls.
The difference between fourteen kilometers is 8.7 and 16.7 kilometers 20.6 seconds for the Norwegian.
Good boys!
Half -way, the Finn has reduced the difference to thirteen seconds.
– In Norway’s leading ski slots, the tracks are similar: there are plenty of gentle and long climbs. Compared to Oslo and Lillehammer, Trondheim is the most gently, Isomets knows.
It fits the Myllylä Path. In 30.7 kilometers, Dæhlie is only 2.4 seconds ahead.
Trondheim Ski Stadium has a Finnish flag that says: Good boys! Dear Finland!
In 33.3 kilometers, the sled has turned. Myllylä is in the bow for 0.1 seconds.
“I was afraid of what happens”
Erling Jevne (left) congratulated Mika Myllylä in the finish. Aop
Dæhlie’s arrow is down. 8.2 kilometers before the goal, Yevne passes his compatriot by 23.1 seconds. Myllylä puts the jeans better in 47.1 seconds.
The game seems to be clear.
– Every 46.5 kilometers I was afraid of what happened, Myllylä describes to Iltalehti after the race.
Well done.
After 50 kilometers of skiing, the Finn is clocked by 2.16.37.5. Jevne has been beaten by 54.9 seconds and Dæhlie in almost two minutes.
– Mika was in the crowd that day, Isometsä estimates.
Terrible chill
In the finish, the master is crying, sometimes creates a gaze in heaven and puts his hands crossed. He kisses snow and skis. The golden cross depends on the neck.
– The world championship was very festive. It was certainly not common for a Finn to win a 50 kilometer race in Norway, says Kyrö.
The soul of Myllylä is warm, but soon after the performance, the body will have a terrible chill. The legs are frozen like 20 degrees Celsius.
– I was completely out. Two more hours after the race I frosted. As the energy decreases, it is frostbite even if there is a ice fishing coverall. Goddamn, it was cold, the Isometsä, who ended up in 13th place (+7.40.8), tells his own feelings.
From Aho
Myllylä became the first Finnish 50km value winner then Kalevi Oikarinen The 1970 World Championship. Since then, the same group has joined Iivo Niskanen With its 2018 Olympic gold.
– Esko Aho I think it would bring a small gift for us. It made the thirst go out, Kyrö says the mood of a service team that had been Hoila’s Song.
– A memorable moment when Mika finished as a champion, Anttola says.
“It brought the feeling to the whole group that we were at the top,” Isometsä says.
Eternal memory
Photos from Myllylä in Trondheim’s Royal Tour have been remembered by many who followed the event.
For a man himself and a good friend of Isomets, Trondheim had a different view.
– my spouse Johanna waited for our son Gonna. Mika’s spouse pushed their five -month -old son in the stroller in a terrible slim. Johanna went upright to her stomach. We saw the incident with Mika a little away and thought we would go to help or run away, Isometsä says.
– It was a wiser bet to go to help, he explains.