Alpine skiing Rosa Pohjolainen is the best skier of her age in Europe, and soon the Swedish and health sciences scripts are waiting for the champion: “So there are no terribly bad ones”

Sotkamo

In their competitions watching superior athletes is often rewarding. They make their performance look easy and sleek compared to everyone else and beat the others by a huge margin.

That’s the kind of athlete Rosa Pohjolainen accompanied by their European peers.

The 18-year-old Pohjolainen dropped gold at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Vuokatti on Tuesday, and after his handsome achievement, did not rush to any kind of victory celebration. That’s how this had to go.

Pohjolainen led the competition by almost six tenths after the opening fall. In the second round, he tore up the gap with Italy, who came in second in the race Emilia Mondinelli and won the race by more than a second.

It’s a light year on the track, which Pohjolainen cannulated as the only skier on both laps for less than 45 seconds. With basically safe bills without wrinkling, but still respecting the spirit of racing without braking.

“I think that a race is like a race, so we always start to count,” Pohjolainen said.

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“A race like a race, so we always start counting.”

EYOF Games was created to enable young athletes to experience high-profile international multidisciplinary events. Pohjolainen is clearly ahead of its competitors as a visitor to the Beijing Olympics, the 14th-ranked athlete in the World Cup and the top-ranked skier at the European Cup.

The race was like a sprint for him. Vuokatti was sled on a track with a height difference of 140 meters and 52 gates. The difference in altitude was 211 meters (65 gates) at the Olympics and 188 meters (55 gates) at Schladming.

“I would say this is very appropriate for such, whether these are children’s or youth’s races. Especially when descendants from exotic countries come here, this is just a passport to an event like this, ”the master said.

He only arrived at the race venue the night between Monday and Tuesday from Andorra, where he dropped to the final of the European Cup on Sunday.

“It’s a really nice event, but the home races are in question. Or the Finnish Games, ”said Pohjolainen.

He descended the Vuokatti slopes for the first time. For years, an athlete of the Ostrobothnian level has not been able to train in ski resorts of a similar size, but Vuokatti was not familiar even from his childhood.

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“This is very appropriate for these, whether these are children’s or youth competitions.”

Well done Slalomseura Pohjolainen, representing Sukkula, is a super promise of Finnish alpine skiing. The debut on the Olympic slopes ended in an interruption in the opening round, but the crash and knockout right at the start of the fall don’t sway the big picture. The season has been good for the Nordic people, and he is aware of that himself.

“Absolutely a good season behind us. I would not have expected such a good injury after returning, ”Pohjolainen said, referring to the severance of the knee ligament that occurred just over a year ago in January.

Pohjolainen also plans to compete in doubles in Vuokatti. He has good memories of the 2020 Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, which became the silver in the slalom and the gold in the doubles team competition. The European Youth Olympic Festival is a different event than the Youth Olympics.

“I would say the races were pretty similar. Of course it is here [urheilijoita] only from European countries, but the difference is not big, ”Pohjolainen compared.

Between the EYOF competitions and the Finnish Championships in Lapland, he is expected to return to the school desk for student writing. Pohjolainen, who is in his third year at the top sports line in Hyvinkää High School, will be in high school for four years and will open his writing contract this spring with two subjects.

“I write long Swedish and health information. So there’s nothing terribly bad, ”he said.

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“I write long Swedish and health information. So there are no terrible evils. ”

Relaxed and the alpine skier, who describes himself as hard-working, told HS before the Olympics that he sees the five-ring race as a great event that ranks on its own scale as equal to the World Cup.

“It was a great experience, of course, but I am really annoyed by my own performance,” Pohjolainen returned to the Olympic memories.

“But I would say I’m still young and I have time. Maybe it was a good first experience, though. ”

At the same time, Pohjolainen, Riikka Honkanen and Erika Pykäläinen returned Finnish women’s alpine skiing to the Olympic level after an eight-year break. The extremely tight corona bubble was also historic.

“Yes, it was pretty much pulled over. Everything was under control, ”Pohjolainen recalled.

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“I’m still young and I have time. Maybe it was a good first experience, though. ”

Read more: Rosa Pohjolainen, 18, has only been in school for a few days during the school year – and the reason for this is super talent

EYOF Games the table setting is much more exotic than in the World Cup. Athletes from war-torn Ukraine are also competing in Vuokatti.

Ukraine Anastasiia Matsola lost to Pohjolainen for more than 26 seconds and finished 55th. According to Pohjolainen, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has not been a topic of conversation among athletes.

HS tried to get Ukrainian athletes interviewed after the ski race on Tuesday morning. These refused, citing English language proficiency, and did not want to comment on the situation in their home country, even with the help of a representative of their team who had promised to be an interpreter in their own language.

Finland spent four medal days on Tuesday. In addition to the Nordic people, they received gold Erik Saravuo slalom and the second victory of the race skied Niko Anttola in the 7.5 km race of traditional skiing. In addition Jesperi Kemppainen dropped bronze in the slalom.