It has been 13 years since Finland’s last ski jumping medal. What happened and where are we going in the winter of 2023?
Janne Happonen (left), Matti Hautamäki, Olli Muotka and Harri Olli won the World Ski Jumping bronze in Planica in 2010. It is Finland’s most recent ski jumping medal. PASI STOVE LAND/IL
What significant happened on February 21, 2010, the head coach of Finnish ski jumping Janne Väätäinen?
– I don’t know if it’s significant in the bigger picture, but that’s when the last medal came to Finland, Väätäinen answers.
It is right.
– I wouldn’t have remembered the day, but the answer to your question was predictable.
In March 2010, at this year’s World Championship venue in Planica, the competition for the World Championship medals was held in March 2010.
Finland took the bronze with the team Janne Happonen, Olli Muotka, Matti Hautamäki and Harri Olli. Väätäinen was also the head coach at that time.
– The most significant memory is that with Poland we were tight for the bronze medal.
Austria won gold (1,641.4 points), Norway got silver (1,542.3), Finland was third (1,474.3) and Poland fourth (1,452.5).
– Janne Ahonen was not in the team due to a knee injury. Olli Muotka became the situation, and there were enough doubters. Back then, the sport was of much more interest in the media than it is today.
Unknown to the general public, Muotka filled his place effectively and defeated other jumpers in the comparison, such as Poland by Lukasz Rutkowski.
The best man in Finland was Happonen, who collected a total of 398.9 points. Of course, due to the variation of the starting platforms, the comparison between athletes who jumped in different rounds is not completely valid.
“Self-clarity”
Janne Happonen was Finland’s number one 13 years ago. PASI STOVE LAND/IL
Before the Planica Airfield Games, Finland had missed a medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2009 World Championships in Liberec.
The last similar “scandal” had happened in 1993–94.
– That Planica bronze was not exactly my thing. A medal was so obvious at that time, Väätäinen recalls.
Before the flying hills, it had become clear that Väätäinen would not continue at the helm of Finland. When the bronze was secured, the man said with relief:
– This was the last place to achieve a medal. Then I didn’t become the first Finnish head coach who didn’t win a single prestigious medal, he said in a story published in Iltalehti, printed on March 22, 2010.
Now the man smiles at his comment.
– I don’t remember that, but I must have thought about it a little at the time, he says.
– Today, you can see the bigger picture. I don’t underestimate the responsibility of the head coach, but as a coach with more than 13 years of experience, you can see what other things are required to be successful, the pilot from Kuopio continues.
The abc of collapse
Head coach Janne Väätäinen was a relieved man in Planica in 2010. PASI STOVE LAND/IL
If the Finnish hill team at this year’s World Championships in Planica were to win bronze in the team competition, it would be one of the biggest Finnish sensations in the Nordic skiing sports of the 21st century.
– Of course it feels that way now. There are currently six hard countries in hill jumping and seventh place is our championship.
The neglect of junior activities, the financial difficulties of the Ski Association and Finnjumping, the ski jumping’s own umbrella organization that operated in 2009–12, as well as the retirements and injuries of many top athletes at the same time.
That summarizes the biggest reasons why Finnish ski jumping collapsed in the 2010s.
– The economy tanked for the first time in 2007–08, junior activities were compromised and they forcibly tried to use the available resources to keep the A national team at the top of the world, Väätäinen feels.
Easy lift
Vilho Palosaari is the 2023 junior world champion. PDO
In the 2022–23 season, Finnish ski jumping is on the rise.
– The worst trough has been passed. A couple of years ago there was no promise of anything better, but now the sport has a future. Vilho Palosaari won the youth World Cup gold and in the team competition Finland was fourth.
Finland is eighth in the Men’s World Cup country points. The positions of the previous four seasons are 9–10. Of course, Russia’s cold will pave the way for Finland. In individual competitions Antti Aalto (36:s), Niko Kytösaho (41st) and Palosaari (56th) have reached the Cup points.
– I would hope that the boys would compete at the top of their abilities. But why not be there – that’s what I look in the mirror as the head coach.
How are you?
Harri Olli has been in the headlines in recent years because of his private life. Photo from 2015. Pasi Liesimaa/IL
What about Planica 2010 bronze medalists?
Hautamäki is a locomotive engineer, Happonen works with ski jumping suits and Muotka is a ski coach in Lahti.
– I think Harri Olli is studying mathematics at university. I haven’t seen the man in years, says Väätäinen.
The coach went to Japan after the bronze medal in the flying hill. The gig, which was planned to last a couple of years at most, dragged on because, among other things Noriaki Kasai and Ryōyū Kobayashi’s the man who coached to top success started a family and took root in Sapporo.
Väätäinen returned to the helm of Finland in 2020. He is spending the third consecutive season of a hectic suitcase life. The contract is on hold after this season.
Janne Väätäinen has been Finland’s head coach since 2020. The last wash was in 2008–10. PASI LEISMA