Nikkola taking Slovenia towards ski-jumping elite

Olympic gold medallist would be happy to stay in the frame until Vancouver 2010

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By Satu Pajuriutta
     
      Ski-jumping coach Ari-Pekka Nikkola spent Independence Day at work, even if most of the population had the day off to watch or attend the big function at the Palace.
      For Nikkola, head coach of the Slovenian ski-jumping squad, December 6th was just another day, as he took his jumpers through their routines ahead of the weekend’s FIS World Cup competitions in Norway.
      On Thursday he and the team-members flew from Lillehammer to Trondheim. The Slovenians had been training in Lillehammer in the early part of the week and made the hop to the competition site ahead of Saturday and Sunday’s competitions.
     
"I’ve just walked into the hotel reception. Haven't really had time to spend it at all", he said in answering on his mobile to questions as to how he was passing his Independence Day.
      In January it will be a year since the former ski-jumper - a regular with the Finnish national team in the 1980s and 1990s - started work with the team from Ljubljana.
      He first got an idea about the country and its ski-jumping prowess when taking on the job of coaching the Slovenian B team in May 2006. Promotion to the A squad followed at the beginning of this year.
     
Last season’s best Slovenian ski-jumper in the FIS World Cup standings was Jernej Damjan, who finished in 23rd place with 225 points.
      He managed to get onto the podium twice, coming home third on both occasions. Damjan has a large plus next to his name on Nikkola’s papers.
      Robert Kranjec and Primož Pikl are two other members of the team from whom Nikkola is expecting good things soon. Also wearing the Slovenian colours is the veteran Primož Peterka, the World Cup winner from 1997 and 1998. However, Peterka is nowhere near the jumper he was ten years ago, or even up to the standard that brought him the latest of his 15 World Cup victories, nearly five years ago.
      The Slovenians turned in quite a respectable performance in the team event at the season-opener in Ruka at the turn of the month. They jumped into fourth place, immediately behind Finland, though at a distance of 52.1 points.
     
"We’re keeping out feet figuratively on the ground. Our main objective is to transfer the decent jumps we are getting in training onto the competition side", said Nikkola in Kuusamo during that first weekend of competitions.
      He knew in advance that taking on a job like this would take the father of two away from his home in Siilinjärvi to destinations in Europe and Japan throughout the winter months.
      "But I was also in Slovenia a lot during the summer. I spent three weeks there and a week at home each month", Nikkola reports.
     
When he is in Slovenia, the coach lives in the city of Kranj, about 20km outside the capital Ljubljana. "I have a place in a little boarding-house there, with a relatively large room and a WiFi connection", Nikkola says.
      "It’s a good thing I have the computer and a Skype connection."
      These two allow Nikkola to stay in touch with his two young daughters. Both of them gather around the screen back home, even though the younger one is still only three.
      Nikkola’s contract is up for renegotiation in April of next year. As of now he would like to continue with his work, but as a family man he has to weigh the pros and cons up very carefully.
      "We thought it was important that our oldest girl should start school in Finland. Of course it would be interesting to stay on as head coach, in order that the work doesn’t just go to waste before it’s properly seen through."
      Nikkola says that as of now the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 seem like a good place to draw a line under this chapter of his career.
     
At the Ruka competition, there was much discussion and heat generated by the changes made to the big hill’s profile - and particularly to the work done with a spade in mid-competition.
      Many of the Finnish ski-jumpers taking part were unsparing in their condemnation of what went on, as the end of the take-off run was shortened to reduce distances flown.
      Nikkola feels they should keep the griping to themselves.
      "FIS decides these things and we have to live with them. They’d be better off spending their energy in doing something constructive, rather than grumbling."
     
It will be ten years next spring since Nikkola was himself one of the active ski-jumping crowd suiting up to jump.
      He admits that he has to stay sharp so as not to let the time-gap get in the way, and in order to be able to understand his jumpers in a discipline that is forever changing.
      "You have to remain curious about what the athletes are doing, keep your antennae out all the time and try to react to things as they happen", says the 38-year-old.
      "The jumpers’ suit has been developed in such a way that the authorities have tried to limit the aerodynamic properties, but now we have come up against a situation where the effect of the wind direction - ahead or from behind - has become very significant indeed."
     
Nikkola would like to see the tightly-tailored suits let out a little so as to improve the gliding characteristics.
      "It would lead to slower speeds, too, because at times we have been seeing some dangerously fast speeds off the end of the ramp and through the air."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.12.2007
     
Note: The weekend in Trondheim saw two good performances from Jernej Damjan, who finished 5th in both competitions on the HS131 hill, and is currently lying in 8th place in the World Cup table after four events. Robert Kranjec, Primož Peterka, and Primož Pikl did not make it past the first round of jumping in either competition.

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: Nikkola's record as a ski-jumper

Links:
  Ari-Pekka Nikkola (Wikipedia)
  FIS Ski-jumping

SATU PAJURIUTTA / Helsingin Sanomat
satu.pajuriutta@hs.fi