Riikka Honkanen ended her sports career.
Riikka Honkanen ends her sports career. KIMMO BRANDT/EPA/AOP
Alpine skier who represented Finland at the Beijing Olympics and three World Championships Riikka Honkanen, 24, says he will end his sports career this season. There are many reasons for the decision.
– The decision to stop has matured in recent months and is the sum of many factors. After thinking about things for a long time, I have come to the conclusion that the current season will be the last one in the field of top sports, Honkanen tells the national team in the bulletin.
– However, I’m not going to give up counting and practicing versatile sports, but in the future I’d rather look at performance times on a calendar than a stopwatch.
Completing studies in particular became a big factor.
– My intention is also to finish my unfinished engineering studies and to continue with a master’s degree in exercise science.
In addition to prestigious competitions, Honkanen collected 42 World Cup and 88 European Cup starts. In the adult series, success was on the cards. In 2019, the Špinrelův Mlýn World Cup giant slalom took 30th place, and in the same winter, the slalom in Levi took 28th place.
On the other hand, Honkanen was successful in the youth competitions. In 2016, he was second in the giant slalom and a couple of years later third.