Six-medal dream: cross-country skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen plans to take on all six distances in the Vancouver Olympics

After hard training camp, early season form still lacks speed

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By Jarmo Färdig
     
      It is less than three months to the opening of the Vancouver Olympics. Cross-country skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen has set her sights on bringing back a real jackpot from Canada.
      “One can and should always dream. I will start every race with a medal in mind”, the 30-year-old native of Hollola said at the Olos ski resort at the weekend.
      In Vancouver, Saarinen looks likely to take part in all six distances. And if everything goes as planned, she may well need to hire a personal assistant to help her carry the medal haul back to Finland.
     
On Sunday, Saarinen tested her early season form at the Lapland ski resort of Olos.
      Things could have gone better for the winner of three gold medals at the last World Championships. In the international free-style 10km race, Saarinen finished 21st, crossing the finish line with a trail of mucus lodged on her cheek.
      “There was no lactic acid build-up, I was not out of breath, but I just could not ski any faster”, Saarinen explained, while her twin sister Maija Saarinen wiped the skier’s cheekbones clean of the snot that had spilled there during the race.
     
The winner of the race in Olos was Russian Natalia Korosteleva, followed by Finland’s Riitta-Liisa Roponen 13 seconds adrift. Another Finnish Vancouver medal hopeful Virpi Kuitunen came home eighth, one minute and four seconds behind the winner.
      Saarinen was 1:36.4 slower than Korosteleva. Still, at least on the outside she did not appear worried.
      “The day was not the best possible outing. I have just completed a strenuous training stint. This was the last session of the period.”
     
Last spring, Saarinen elevated herself into the world’s cross-country skiing elite. From the World Championships she brought home three gold medals and a bronze. One of the golds was in the individual 10km event, though in the classic discipline rather than free-style.
      During the summer’s training period Saarinen and her support troops concentrated on two main things: free or skate skiing technique and improving the double pole thrust.
      The home stretch of the Whistler Ski Stadium is long. It will require strength in the upper body.
      “My skating free-style technique has been clearly weaker than my classic style. In free competitions I have only reaped success on a good day. In the future the idea is to turn the narrow defeats to narrow wins, at the very least.”
     
The FIS World Cup season will kick off next weekend in Beitostölen. The competition in Norway is a 10km free-style event, so this race in Olos was a kind of dress rehearsal.
      A year ago the season opener took place at Gällivare in Sweden. At that time Saarinen apparently had "a good day", as she proved quite competent in free-style as well, finishing third in the 10km.
      In Vancouver the women's 30km individual classic event is to be carried out as a mass start race. Saarinen was not crazy about the idea, but did not whine over it.
      “An intermediate-time race would suit me better. However, we just do the skiing - the bosses make the rules”, she laughed.
     
After crossing the finish line in Olos, Saarinen was quickly surrounded by the media.
      The long-time media magnet Virpi Kuitunen was left relatively alone.
      “This does not bother me any more. I got used to it last year”, Saarinen smiled.
      The success and publicity have not altered Saarinen’s everyday life.
      A week ago Saarinen announced that she would go public with the dates of her doping tests. This was a deliberate and personal decision.
      “It was not meant as a challenge towards anyone, but it would be great if others would follow suit.”
      “I live the same kind of Ordinary Joe's life as before.”
      Perhaps, but time will tell what the situation is in March, after the Vancouver Olympics.
     
     
PROFILE
     
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, 30, has steadily worked her way up to the top of the international cross-country skiing tree. In endurance sports there are no magic tricks, at least not the kind that would comply with the rulebook.
      Saarinen has stayed clear of scandals. She made it into the national team after the fiasco of the Lahti World Championships in 2001, where six Finnish skiers tested positive for a banned blood plasma expander.
      Last season Saarinen assumed her position as the number one skier in Finland by winning three gold medals and a bronze at the FIS Nordic World Championships in Liberec in February.
     
It will be interesting to observe whether the switch in the pecking order with Virpi Kuitunen is of a more permanent nature.
      One thing is certain: Saarinen will fight for her status. On the ski track she never gives up.
     
Saarinen is not necessarily overjoyed about all the publicity, but she does not shy away from it, either.
      Even last spring’s media circus did not change the skier’s thoughts.
      Saarinen is very close to her family. Especially her twin sister Maija is of importance to the skier. The duo’s cooperation and communication is seamless - as is often the case with twins.
      Saarinen is engaged to Tom Gustafsson. This helps, too, as the former national-level basketball player understands the ups and downs of sport at the highest level.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 16.11.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Cross-country skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen tested for doping nearly once a week (11.11.2009)
  Aino-Kaisa Saarinen enjoys a perfect day (20.2.2009)

Links:
  Aino-Kaisa Saarinen website (in Finnish)
  Aino-Kaisa Saarinen on the FIS site
  Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (Wikipedia)

JARMO FÄRDIG / Helsingin Sanomat
jarmo.fardig@hs.fi