Suurmäki in Ruka is not suitable for combined athletes

Sixteen races and at best tenth place. One of the United World Championships Ilkka Herolan the results in the home competition in the Ruka World Cup have been dull.

The Kuopio resident says directly that there is a simple reason behind it: Suurmäki in Ruka is not suitable for a pirta.

– My jumping technique is such that on the hill I lose speed and gain height. Ruka should maintain speed on the mound and fly forward for a long time, he specifies.

Ruka’s hill is one of the biggest on the combined world cup tour. The hill record is 147.5 meters. It separates the wheat from the chaff.

– Even though next weekend in Lillehammer the time difference between the first and the 20th man in the hill section is about one and a half minutes, but here it can be three minutes.

The combined men’s 2.5 km ski course has two steep climbs, but the long descents bring the group together. Herola is one of the best on the tour on the track, but in Koillismaa, the little ski can’t push hard enough if things have gone wrong on the hill.

– I still wanted to tame this place. It feels like there are successful races from everywhere else and the hill is in the hands of the 27-year-old Herola.

– However, due to the compulsive need, I am not able to get away. If I can’t tame Ruka, then so be it, the 2021 World Cup medalist continues.

It runs in the summer

Like last year, Herola has a very strong summer GP season. He won the tour and was the fifth best on the hill in the four individual races on the tour.

If a similar trend were to continue in the World Cup, the podium places would be closed.

– At best, what I do doesn’t change in any way when we move from plastic to ice rinks, but this transition phase has caused difficulties, says the man who has been on the individual podium in the World Cup ten times in his career.

The hard ones are hard on the hill all year round, but that famous big mass improves from the summer races to the winter.

At Herola, the summer Endurance Training does not eat up the hills on the GP tour in the same way as many racing partners.

– Now I feel like I’ve been able to pick up where I left off in the summer. Of course, the fact that he missed the summer GP tour due to a shoulder injury brings his own spice Jarl Magnus Riiber is included in Ruka – and it reduces the rate of decline.

Last weekend, in the training competition in Rovaniemi, Herola was only twelfth. He says that he tried a few things at risk, and does not give weight to the outcome of the event.

More relaxed going

There have been significant changes in the United national team. Lajin Kekkonen, head coach Petter Kukkonen withdrew and was replaced by Herola’s former personal pilot Antti Kuisma.

– When we are in a group and at national team camps, the spirit has somehow been more flexible and relaxed. Calm has been a new thing.

Dress up guy Janne Ahonen already gave way a year ago, and now a team of three is responsible for both the hill and combined jumping suits.

Herola praises the reform and says that there is more information than before.

– Now there is no panic in any area, whether the right things are being done. We’ll see how it goes and analyze afterwards whether we’re going in the right direction or whether we’ll make changes.

Suomalaistahtih admits that the jumping helmet has been very tight in previous years due to Ruka’s failures.

– The feeling is calmer. If it doesn’t work in Ruka, it doesn’t mean it can’t work in Lillehammer a week from now.