Finnish Cross-country medal production has been on the shoulders of a few athletes, and the situation is not getting any better.
The number of juniors skiing in races has literally collapsed in 20 years. While in 2002 nearly 9,000 juniors claimed a ski pass or a competition license, last year there were only 3,000 who acquired a license and a ski pass.
The number of juniors skiing the race has decreased fairly steadily from year to year, although the gap caused by the corona epidemic has now been bridged.
The decrease in the number of juniors means that future top athletes are also being screened from an even smaller group.
Has the group of young competitive skiers already shrunk too small?
Are there enough top individuals left in skiing who can grow into new Olympic winners and world champions?
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“The number of junior athletes is never large enough.”
The ski association managing director Ismo Hämäläinen admit that the situation could be better.
To the question whether the number of junior skiers is already too small from the point of view of elite sports, Hämäläinen gives a round answer.
“The number of junior athletes is never large enough.”
Hämäläinen is a long-time professional coach. He has coached, among other things, Finnish and German cross country teams and worked Aino-Kaisa Saarinen as a personal trainer.
According to Hämäläinen, the big challenge facing Finnish society is whether young people choose the path of movement or immobility. Too many fall for the latter.
“I’m not in favor of competition between sports, but I hope for versatile physical activity, from which talents can be screened.”
However, skiing is not necessarily first or even third on the list when sporty young people choose their own sports. For example, there are many potential young people playing in the rings of Liiga clubs, who could also have become top skiers.
The matter is well known in the ski association.
“The numbers are decreasing and we have thought about what factors affect it. Now, during the snowy winters, the interest in skiing is good, but juniors should also be attracted to clubs, thereby competitive activities, and maybe someone can also be guided on the path of a top athlete.”
In the public domain, the Ski Federation is profiled as a top sports organization, but the future peaks will still grow in clubs.
“We have around 500 clubs, but too few strong clubs that support the whole.”
Hämäläinen admits that the clubs have been left too alone.
“It is a clear target for development.”
We will try to support the clubs better in the future, even if there is not too much money to share.
“We should get more parents involved in club activities and get attached in such a way that an adult stays in the club, even if the child stops skiing. Any sport is good for a young person, but of course we hope that Snow Sports would be of interest.”
Ski Association CEO Ismo Hämäläinen. Picture: Samuli Ikäheimo / Magazine photo
The number of junior skiers has decreased in other Nordic countries as well. In Norway, however, the starting level is so exceptional that the reduced number of enthusiasts is irrelevant.
“When four clubs organize an event at Oslo’s Kollen, there are 2,000 juniors there.”
In Finland, we have to follow with envy the medal celebrations of the neighboring countries at the World Championships in Planica.
Hämäläinen is not too worried about Finland’s slow success. He admits that it is somewhat below expectations when the results are compared to the World Cup.
“The competition gives a picture of how the whole operation works. Are the tops great and the flops tolerable.”
Now that’s not necessarily the case. Sweden has also run away for a long time.
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“The figures are the largest in the history of EHS.”
Model Skiers can apply for development work, for example, from the Espoo Ski Association, which runs upstream in junior activities.
EHS currently has more than a hundred juniors in its training groups. On top of this, there are 60 ski school students.
“The figures are the largest in the history of EHS”, the president of the club Patrik Ehrnrooth says.
For the past five years, EHS has been Finland’s best junior club in skiing and now also the number one in the entire club classification.
Ehrnrooth says that the basis of success is “the productization of junior activities”.
The club started building the model with the current head coach of the national ski team Teemu Pasanen in charge ten years ago.
Pasanen worked at EHS, among other things, as a salaried employee and head of a ski school before moving to the Ski Federation.
Marjo Matikainen, a member of the Espoo Ski Club, won, among other things, Olympic gold and three World Championship golds in her career. Picture: Pentti Nissinen
According to Ehrnrooth, the club is now able to offer high-quality coaching, and it is not dependent on one person.
There are a total of seven different coaching groups, five of which are aimed at young people. When joining the club, the junior knows exactly what kind of coaching he will receive and what the activities include. This is not self-evident in all clubs.
With clear group work, EHS has succeeded in tackling, among other things, the teenage drop out phenomenon.
“We’ve had big groups in the youth before, but they started to get smaller in the 15-year-olds. Now we got three relay medals from four races at the Junior Championship. That also shows that we offer high-quality coaching and the team will continue for longer.”
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“Only one Marjo Matikainen has come here. There could be more of them.”
EHS’s activities have proven to be of such high quality that it has attracted skiers from other clubs in the surrounding area.
“Unfortunately, it has impoverished other clubs. Although skiing is an individual sport, young people want a sense of community,” Ehrnrooth sums up.
EHS has also managed to attract good coaches. Among others, there is a former national team skier Laura Mononen and also skied in the World Cup Maija Hakala.
“I believe that our girls are excited that their role models and not just enthusiastic parents are coaching them. This is where the Norwegian model is realized. There, many national team athletes pay back their sport in this way.”
Ehrnrooth admits that the decrease in the number of junior skiers may soon be reflected in the national team. So far, there have been enough talented individuals for top skiing, but a critical limit may be reached.
The majority of national team athletes come from smaller towns, but the biggest ski clubs are located in growth centers such as the capital region, Jyväskylä and Tampere.
There is a big contradiction here.
“Only one Marjo Matikainen has come here. There could be more of them.”
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IIvo Niskas has Olympic gold from three different competitions. Picture: Rio Gandara / HS
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