Gymnastics | Elias Koski trains 30 hours a week and finally gets to live his dream: “Cool job”

22 years old Elias Koski despite his young age, he competes for the fourth time in the World Championships in gymnastics.

The previous World Cups in 2021, 2019 and 2018 ended with the qualifiers. At the World Championships in Liverpool, Koski is aiming for a place in the six-match final.

Either the fourth time tells the truth?

“Of course, I already have experience behind me and I’m in better shape than before. A place in the finals in six matches is starting to become possible. An exciting place”, says Koski about Monday’s qualifying race.

In Finland, Koski has won almost everything in his career. The third six-match Finnish championship came in September. He renewed his championship from last year with a total score of 80.500.

Going to his third World Cup Robert Kirmes was the championship runner-up and a 17-year-old promise of the future Joona Reiman third. Reiman is not participating in the World Championships, where Finland’s third male gymnast is Akseli Karikas.

Read more: The great promise of gymnastics is sometimes so fast in its movements that not even the coach can always keep up

Gymnastics the world level is tough, even though the Russian gymnasts who won ten medals at the Tokyo Olympics last year are missing. There are 73 countries in the World Cup, 213 men and 199 women.

In Liverpool, the first places for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are already qualified, where the top three countries in the team competition will secure their entry. Finland does not have a men’s team at the World Championships.

The first individual Olympic places will be awarded in the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 World Cup. If a country does not have a team, it can enter a maximum of three gymnasts in the Olympic Games.

“It would be cool to be an Olympic athlete,” says Koski.

If getting to the Olympic Games is difficult, so is the selection system, which can be characterized as confusing.

“Not even all coaches understand that. The best would be a ranking system where the gymnasts would be in order of merit,” says the head coach of the men’s national team Timo Holopainen.

Elias Koski agrees with the head coach.

“The system is quite complicated, and I criticized it. I have to sharpen myself to keep up. In the end, it’s pretty clear, that is, the Olympic spots in the hexaathlon come from the previous year’s World Championships,” Koski sums up.

“That’s why this year’s World Cup is not so important in terms of the Olympic Games, when the Olympic places are allocated to only three big countries. At this time next year, you have to be on the attack. Due to the qualification system, you must not get injured.”

A year ago, Finland received a surprise medal at the World Championships in Japan, when Emil Soravuo bronze medal in gymnastics. Soravuo injured his leg in the spring and will not defend his World Championship bronze medal.

In the six-match final of the same games, Robert Kirmes was 18th and Oskar Kirmes 22:s.

Gymnastics club Koski, who represents Helsinki, started gymnastics at the age of five. Competitive gymnastics came along quite soon. Now he is studying at the Capital Region Sports Academy in Urhea as a sports advisor.

The actual training for sports counselors aimed at athletes is at the Kisakallio sports college in Lohja, but the courses can be taken in Urhea, where Koski also lives.

“It’s the kind of studying that you can do alongside sports. There are a few hours of face-to-face teaching per week. It is quite personal at what pace one studies and goes. Urhea is outrageously good, a top hall. Now I save a lot of time when I don’t have to travel.”

When the racing career will eventually end, so there is quite a physical continuation ahead?

“Probably, but that’s not set in stone either. Studying more at this point in my career is because I can’t stand university studies. Training takes so much time out of everyday life, and it’s good to have a school you can attend at the same time. It has to be light to be able to handle it.”

National team gymnasts have 9–10 long training sessions per week. 25–30 hours are accumulated. In practice, gymnasts train together, so you can even talk about team sports.

“The two training days are from 9 to 11 and in the afternoons from 14 to 17. Basically, we train at the same time, although everyone takes care of their own program.”

The team going to the World Championships has been training mainly in the evening during the fall. The men’s qualifying competition starts on Monday in Liverpool at 23:00 Finnish time due to the time difference. The women’s qualifiers are on Sunday.

Koski says he is a consistent performer in each of the six mounts: pommel, horse, rings, jumping, poles and sled.

“All racks are equally loved. Perhaps I stand out the best with the support. Then comes the horse and sleigh. They are the strongest.”

In six games Koski’s record is 81.6 points. At the World Championships, it would allow a good number of 24 gymnasts to reach the finals.

“Then I don’t know which ranking it would be enough for, maybe 16–17. I’ll make it to the final clearly if I can compete with more than 80 points.”

Koski’s shoulder was operated on at the beginning of the year. My back has also been bothering me. Because of that, the degree of difficulty of the movements, which affects the starting points, has had to be made a little easier.

“I’m probably half or one surface short of my record, but I have the potential to reach more than 80 points. There’s been a lot of trouble with my back and shoulder, but I’ve gotten in pretty good shape.”

Should you have chosen a sport other than gymnastics?

“Not really. This has been such a cool thing. I’m excited and I’m enjoying this more than anything.”

Touching there is no actual sports background in the family. Father plays kettle drums and percussion in the orchestra of the National Opera.

“Not that much of a difference either. It’s a similar job to this. You have to be careful all the time”, Koski says with a laugh.

The World Gymnastics Championships will be held in Liverpool from 30 October to 6 November. The women’s qualifying race is on Sunday 30.10. and men’s on Monday 31.10.

Read more: The gymnast Kaia Tanskanen wants to continue in the footsteps of her father and uncle