Iivo Niskasen, who left the national team, has a different summer now.
Finland the national ski teams for the 2023–24 season that started were published at the beginning of June, but one was missing. Iivo Niskanen the name was not found in the list.
He decided to train on his own instead of the national team package offered by the Ski Federation and return to the national team only when the World Cup starts in Ruka.
“The camp was so lame. I had already thought that I would go to compete in Norway in August. Then there would have been only one two-week camp left to offer from the union, and that’s not enough,” Niskanen commented on his shaken decision on Tuesday in Vuokatinvaara, where he participated in the traditional Aateli Race competition.
Decision leaving the national team had been on Niskanen’s mind for a long time. The union’s financial problems have been known for a long time, and when the camps had to be cut, the first star didn’t have to think about a solution.
“It (the national team package) is by no means sufficient. My goal is that I would be able to train in such conditions and for enough training days that it would lead to the best possible result.”
“Everyone goes according to their own goals and sets the bar where they feel their own goals are. At this point, I don’t want to make compromises in terms of training.”
Niskanen’s last season went off the wrong track as early as November’s corona infection, and at no point did the skiing king get to the level he was used to in the winter.
The national team instead, Niskanen is honing his fitness this training season with a small and close-knit group, which in addition to him includes a personal trainer Olli Ohtonen and maintenance man Mika Venäläinen.
In August, Niskanen is scheduled to move to Norway to train, where he will participate in, among other things, the Blink endurance sports event. He is also supposed to visit the 2025 World Cup terrains in Trondheim.
“It’s still a bit open, whether I’ll stay in Norway for the whole of August or whether I’ll go home in between. In the fall, then to central Europe for a longer time at high altitude. Then to Olos snow camp and towards Ruka”, Niskanen lists his plans.
Like Niskanen, Norway’s number one star left out of the national team Johannes Hösflot Kläbo.
Niskanen alone hardly needs to sweat drops in Norway.
“Let’s just say that there is an enthusiastic group in that country.”
“I’m not saying names yet,” Niskanen mumbles when asked about the training buddies coming to the fjord.
Niskanen’s independent training period is also a financially significant investment. Especially when the coach and the maintenance man also travel along on the camps. Collaborators are strongly present in making the pattern possible.
“But it’s good that I’m in a situation where backers are interested in supporting my project.”
From the national team the separation has not seemed to have left any bad blood, at least between Niskanen and the national team’s head coach Teemu Pasanen between.
The two also had a leisurely conversation on Tuesday after the roller skiing competition in Vuokatti.
“We just talked a little about training,” Pasanen said.
“There is no big change in our operations here. The only thing is that when Iivo is not present at all the camps, the other men do not have that world-class sparring resistance. From Iivo, others have always been able to measure where the top of the world is going,” continued the head coach.
In the opening race of the Aateli Race, at Vaara’s mile, Niskanen took his own again and won the uphill climb for the sixth year in a row.
“This is mostly like the beginning of the training season check pointthat you can catch your breath after a long time,” Niskanen said.
Niskanen was first in the Vaara mile, the Vuokatinvaara climb that opened the Aateli Race, ahead of Niko Husu and Arsi Ruuska.
Next in winter, there are no value competitions in the skiing calendar. After Rikkonainen’s last season, Niskanen’s plan is now to tour the World Cup properly – and also to be consistently successful there right from the start.
“For individual races, the 50 kilometers of Holmenkollen is the target. It is the crown I have been hunting for many years.”
“Of course I want to do well in the World Cup, but I would rather take Kollen’s victory than the third place in the World Cup that I already have.”
I ski Niskas has had enough noise outside as well. There is a half-year-old boy at home.
“It’s been great with the skiing chores around the house. It’s a rewarding time,” says Niskanen.
The passionate hobby of trotting has also kept the star skier busy. There has been success in that field as well.
Last week, at the midsummer races in his hometown of Vieremä, Niskanen managed his best competition of his career, finishing second.
“There hasn’t been a huge demand in the driver market,” Niskanen laughs.
“But that personal best was quite good. It was nice to be able to win the prize place”, says Niskanen, who owns three horses in addition to his duties as a trainer.
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