Normaalimäki crashed into the ski selection. My error has been processed, accepted and ignored. “There was a shitty choice of skis at that point,” the silver medalist at the World Championships admitted.
14.2. 19:19
Zhangjiakou
Combined skiing has trained Ilkka Herola to be quite a meditator. Thanks to his attitude, he will be able to compete in the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday without a dent.
In Suurmäki, Herola is looking for a surprise. He was one of the favorites in the Normaalimäki race last Wednesday, but finished sixth. The culprit Herola found the race village in the mirror.
“There was a shitty choice of skis at that point,” Herola summed up the failure on the eve of the big hill race.
“And the choice is the responsibility of the athlete.”
A tough account from the silver medalist at the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, but he has already dealt with the matter. Failures, disappointments, and failed ski choices are part of the sport and combined.
“Testing under these conditions is difficult, and the possibility of failure cannot be ruled out with any workload,” Herola pointed out.
Herola is known to be the toughest skier of the sport. This time in Germany Vinzenz Geiger and Jørgen Graabak rose from behind to the top spots, and Herola could only raise her ranking in skiing by two places.
“For Geiger and Graabak, the choice of ski certainly hit the button. For me and certainly many others, it was an average, Herola continued.
“Ski wasn’t a disaster, but the top result would have required a perfect pair of skis from me now.”
Little couple the selection is hampered by the fact that its slide is tested in one place. A comparison cannot be made at every ascent, descent, bend, and nod of a route. In windy weather, there was also a lot of snow on the track.
“Choice is part of the sport. In this situation, I had to think about it so that I’ve pretty often succeeded in that job, and it’s likely that it will go into the notebook someday. Now it just happened in an unfortunate place, ”Herola said.
“For example, at the World Championships in Oberstdorf, the competition went beyond expectations in this respect as well, so it’s not worth worrying about.”
In the competition in Suurmäki, Herola makes the choice of skis in the normal way and with confidence in her decision.
“You have to dare to trust your own choice. That trust should not be shattered by a single failure, ”Herola emphasized.
“Otherwise, it’s a point with that thing inside your head.”
In the process in serenity, Herola meets the demands of Zhangjiakou’s great hill. His jumping technique is better suited for smaller hills, but success is still possible on a large hill as well.
For example, out of ten World Cup prize places, he has achieved six in the Grand Hill Games.
“There’s nothing wrong with Zhangjiakou’s big hill, but I haven’t gotten top performance in it,” Herola admitted.
“The situation is not new. I need a plus sign performance from the hill again to succeed. ”
In Suurmäki, the differences usually grow larger than a normal hill, which favors the best jumpers in the sport. The big hills also emphasize the importance of maintaining air flight and momentum. They don’t favor Herola’s slightly rear-weighted flight position.
“The technical errors that are characteristic of me punish a big hill worse than a normal hill. The pace and airfare will suffer from my mistakes first, ”Herola confirmed.
Herola will deal with this fact as well.
“If I don’t struggle in the race for medals, then fight in the skiing for the places that lie ahead. “
#Olympic #Games #Ilkka #Herola #big #hill #race #intact #sign #performance #hill
