What happened to Finland’s Olympic medalist? The expert downloads a harsh assessment: “It requires now”

Parisprint Olympic silver medalist and World Cup silver medalist Joni Mäki29, was 19th in the free sprint on Saturday in Lillehammer, Norway.

After this, Mäki announced in an interview with Viaplay that “we will try to get a little more speed” for the Davos sprint, which will be skied on December 14.

Iltalehti’s expert Reijo Jylhä keeps an eye on Mäki, who finished 39th in Ruka’s traditional sprint, despite the sticky start.

– He has been healthy and trained well. This can also be training fatigue. Joni is a skier who I expect to ski really hard in the free sprint this year, says Jylhä.

– The hill has the conditions to ski in the finals at the World Championships in Trondheim. It now requires that we move steadily forward all the time. Competitions are definitely what keeps your fitness moving forward.

Mäki is also remembered for, among other things, the fourth place in the free sprint at the Beijing Olympics.

Leap forward

All four Finnish men who survived the heats were out of the semifinals.

In Jylhä’s opinion, he performed the most cheerfully Niilo Moilanenwho in an interview with Iltalehti during the season said that he had focused on free technical skills.

– Moilanen’s skiing and free speed have definitely gone a long way, Jylhä estimates.

– Niilo has a pretty high expectation that there will be a better result all the time.

In the traditional sprint at Ruka, Moilanen was a fantastic fifth. Since he is only 23 years old, eyes will turn to Moilasen in the long term, when considering possible successes for the Finns with a weak free progression.

– Niilo has the potential to develop a lot in the coming years, says Jylhä.

The top three were in the Lillehammer final Johannes Klæbo, Even Northug (+1.22 seconds), Federico Pellegrino (+1.57).

– Pellegrino was surprisingly good, even though the track was fast. In the last couple of years, he has focused heavily on normal trips and has succeeded in them, Jylhä commented.

– Klæbo can choose any tactic and still win. Northug can ski in a small space well, even though it is bulky.

Result in Davos?

Jylhä presents a somewhat surprising assessment of the situation of Finnish sprint women.

– The trio is in good shape, says Jylhä.

– Finns haven’t had expectations for the free sprint in Davos for many years, but now they are already expecting a step improvement.

Jasmi Joensuu missed the final stage in Lillehammer and swallowed tears in an interview with Viaplay. Also Katri Lylynperä remained in the batch phase. Jasmin Kähärä was the best Finn of the whole day, third in his semi-final and seventh in the final results.

– In the end, all three of them had pretty small moments where the right things didn’t happen. They certainly affected the outcome.

Jylhä is looking forward to December 14th and the Davos free sprint.

– There, it is not so precise how you will be placed. The run is done twice, and it has such a wide starting straight for the round. It ends in a defection.

The most convincing of the day

Sweden won the women’s race in Lillehammer Jonna Sundling made the most convincing performance of the whole Saturday in Jylhä’s opinion.

– Totally superior in qualifying as well as in every round and final. He solved every time in the same place at the top of the climb.

Sweden made up the top three in Ruka Johanna Hagströmof Norway Julie Myhre and Sweden Maja Dahlqvist. The first two were on the podium again – Hagström second and Myhre third.

– It seems that the Swedes have strong control in the women’s sprint, says Jylhä.

Myhre, who broke the front of the Swedes, is already a 28-year-old skier, whose podium positions are the first in the World Cup.

– It is interesting how many older skiers Norway has, who can do well in the World Cup when they have been given a place in the team.

– It’s positive that there are new names and you can’t know in advance who will be there.