You have to worry about Joni Mäe, says Reijo Jylhä. After uncertainty, Remi Lindholm became a promising sign.
- Joni Mäen should be worried, says Reijo Jylhä.
- Good signs were received from Remi Lindholm.
- This is the situation regarding the World Cup.
– Joni Mäen you should really be worried, Iltalehti expert Reijo Jylhä says.
The Olympic and World Cup medalist has not been at his level this season. The setback came on Sunday, when Mäki stopped the 10+10 kilometer free race in the SC skiing.
He was in 24th place at five kilometers.
– Didn’t really go. It didn’t make sense to ski. We’ll have to see what we come up with, a disappointed Mäki said and said that the health situation is fine.
This season, Mäki has been 19th at the best in the World Cup and missed the sprint qualifying twice. In December, a severe flu knocked the medalist to the bottom of the bed.
Joni Mäki had to interrupt. Jussi Saarinen
Another skier, whose early season results have made me think, is Remi Lindholm. Even on Saturday, Jylhä was worried about the national team’s color patch.
Lindholm, who was stronger in freestyle skiing, was 17th in the traditional intermediate start group in the SC skiing at that time and was the winner Cross mat from Hakola one minute and 42 seconds.
On Sunday, there was a different man on the track. Lindholm fought for the SC bronze in the combined race, but succumbed in the final stretch To Ville Ahonen. The ranking was fourth.
– When you’re not in top shape, poor skiing is much worse. You have to be in good shape so that a worse skiing style can pass, Jylhä analyzes Lindholm’s Saturday.
– On Sunday, Remi was free to ski Miro Karpanen with quite a good pace. It showed that we are going in the right direction. If there is a lot of speed, is the sensitivity to ski hard enough? he continues.
Does it need time
Remi Lindholm’s combined race showed signs of improvement. Jussi Saarinen
At the World Cup opening in Ruka, Lindholm was 42nd in the traditional 10 and 21st in the 20 kilometer free race. In the latter report, he reports on the skiing tragedy.
At the World Cup in Lillehammer, the ranking of the free skier was 27th and in the combined race the Finnish skier was 36th. In the Scandinavian Cup in mid-December, Lindholm was only in the 48th place.
After the Scandinavian Cup, Lindholm took a three-week break. There were two national competitions on the calendar before the Imatra SC skiing.
– It seems that Lindholm has had a large training load, from which he has not recovered to be able to make a good result. The result will come before long, but will the snow melt before then? Jylhä thought before the combined race.
It rained in Imatra on Saturday before and during the race, and it snowed quite a bit. The conditions were against the stronger Lindholm on the free skiing course.
– Due to heavier than normal conditions, it was considerably difficult to ski on Saturday for those who are not primarily traditional skiers.
Display location
Reijo Jylhä is Iltalehti’s skiing expert. PASI LEISMA
There are about six weeks until the World Championships in Trondheim. Before that, four World Cup weekends will be skied.
In the World Cups, displays are given to the racing machine, but there is a fierce competition for places on the starting line. Lindholm already announced that he would like to go to Engadin and Falun for 20 kilometers.
According to Jylhä, the question mark is whether there will be enough space in the World Cup for all those fighting for World Cup spots.
– There are quite a few pure free skiers. If you want to make use of the free demonstration spots for potential skiers, you also have to take them to the games to give demonstrations, he answers Lindholm’s dream.
Jylhä thinks Lindholm’s situation is better than Mäen’s when thinking about the World Cup. The game has not been played yet.
– I have known Mäki for years. He can change really fast. Mäi had a hard time during the Beijing Olympic season at this time, then his life was fine, Jylhä refers to Mäi’s pair relay medal.
Changes?
Less than 50 women skied on Sunday. Jussi Saarinen
Imatra’s SC skis lacked a crooked pile of national team skiers. Among other things, it was not seen on the track Kerttu and Iivo from Niska, Krista Pärmäkoski, Jasmi Joensuuta and Perttu from Hyväri.
The situation brought up the eternal question: should the SC skiing be held at a different time?
– There is no such thing as a weekend that is okay for everyone. When I was the head coach of the national team, the WC skiing was sometimes at the same time as the World Cup. At that time, Finns, Swedes and Norwegians were out of the World Cup, Jylhä says.
Kerttu Niskanen, Pärmäkoski and Joensuu were still competing at the Tour de Ski a week ago. Iivo Niskanen and Hyvärinen got sick in December, and are apparently still gathering their best energy.
– It’s rare that everyone who has been on the Tour has missed out. This weekend would have been different if Iivo and Perttu had been there.
In Sweden, the championships were organized at the same time as the Imatra SC skiing. In Norway, on the other hand, the national medals will be competed for between the 15th and the 19th. January, i.e. at the same time as the Les Rousses World Cup.
One option would be to dedicate an entire week in the spring to SC skiing.
– It wouldn’t look better either, because there would be tired national team skiers on the line. They wouldn’t participate in all the trips, says Jylhä.
There is undoubtedly one good side to January’s WC skiing.
– The value is in the fact that the athletes can give displays and get to the World Cups at the end of the winter.
At Imatra, displays were given to the world cups of Les Rousses, Engadin and Cogne.
Perttu Hyvärinen has suffered from illnesses. Jussi Saarinen