Finland has a new potential medal contender for next year's Winter Olympics – "An incredibly cool situation"

Finland's Olympic Prospects: A Breakthrough Season

Five World Championship medals and 28 World Cup podium finishes. That is the impressive tally of Finland's winter sports athletes for the 2024-2025 season as they gear up for next year's Winter Olympics.

Based on these two metrics, the Finnish team's starting position for the Olympic winter of 2025-2026 is considerably better than four years ago.

Iivo Niskanen was the most successful Finnish athlete in the World Cups this season, achieving two victories and two second places.

Jasmi Joensuu and Kerttu Niskanen triumphed in the World Cup team sprint competition in Cogne, although the competition was in traditional style, while the Olympic team sprint will feature freestyle techniques.

Ilkka Herola celebrated his first personal World Cup victory in Oslo.

Severi Vierelä took home victory in the World Cup event for dual mogul skiing. The discipline is making its Olympic debut next February.

Tero Seppälä and Suvi Minkkinen clinched first place in the mixed relay at the biathlon World Cup in Oberhof, with the duo also finishing third in Pokljuka. However, biathlon is not included in the Olympic program.

When results from this season are compared to the 2020-2021 season, which preceded the Beijing Olympics, two factors are noteworthy. Four years ago, the international competition was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting top athletes to a few key events. Additionally, unlike this winter, Russian athletes were present in competitions back then.

Eight years ago, prior to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Finnish athletes achieved slightly better results than this season. In the 2018 Pyeongchang games, the Finnish team secured six medals. Four years later in Beijing, they improved even further, amassing a total of eight medals.

In Pyeongchang, the medals came from cross-country skiing and ice hockey, the same sports that again marked Finland's success in Beijing. Additionally, Enni Rukajärvi claimed silver in snowboarding.

These three disciplines have accounted for all of Finland's Winter Olympic medals since 2010, totaling 24, with cross-country skiing contributing 15, ice hockey six, and snowboarding three.

Based on this winter's results, the trend may change as Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo host the Olympic Games next February.

Iivo Niskanen has two personal Olympic victories and one bronze medal. In the team sprint, he has won Olympic gold and silver.

Krista Pärmäkoski features five Olympic medals in her collection, including two silvers and three bronzes. Kerttu Niskanen has four Olympic medals, of which three are silver and one is bronze.

Snowboarder Enni Rukajärvi won the slopestyle Olympic silver in 2014 and bronze in 2018.

The Lions celebrated Olympic gold in 2022, with the players also earning bronze medals in 2010 and 2014.

A New Sport Showing Medal Potential

– It’s an incredibly cool situation.

Juho Kilkki, a free ski expert at Yle Sports, has reason to be pleased for three reasons.

Firstly, the freestyle World Championships concluded last weekend in Switzerland with Finland bringing home two medals in freeski big air, thanks to Elias Syrjä and Anni Kärävä.

Elias Syrjä (left) celebrated a silver medal at the World Championships.

Anni Kärävä (right) smiled as a bronze medalist at the World Championships.

-- "It's important to note that the World Championships were missing three top contenders due to injuries (China's Eileen Gu, France's Tess Ledeux, and Estonia's Kelly Sildaru). Additionally, Mathilde Gremaud (Switzerland) had an unusual failure in big air. Anni had a particularly good opportunity to strike, and as a good competitor, she seized her chance," Kilkki says.

Freeski is part of the freestyle skiing family and includes mogul skiing, where Finland had success in the early 2000s.

Freeski has only been part of the Olympic family since 2014. In this discipline, competitions take place in big air, slopestyle, and halfpipe.

A second factor warming Kilkki’s heart is the World Cup success. This season, Kärävä reached the World Cup podium in big air three times. Furthermore, Syrjä also placed in the top five three times before his World Championship silver. In addition to the duo, Kuura Koivisto also ranked once in the top six in big air.

– When a third factor is counted, Jon Sallisen's potential return to the top, Finland has for the first time a potential medal contender in every freeski discipline, Kilkki says.

Sallinen suffered a serious injury in the U.S. in March 2024 and has not competed this season. Prior to his injury, he managed to win one World Cup event and climb to the podium twice within just over a year.

– I wouldn't say it would be a disappointment if no medal comes from the Olympics. Freeski is a very sensitive competition format, and judging can be very subjective.

Ice Dance Potential

This quote can also be applied to figure skating, which has returned to Finland’s potential medal sports.

Ice dancers Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis narrowly missed out on European medals last February with record scores, but at last week’s World Championships, their aspirations for success collapsed due to Versluis' fall in the rhythm dance. The pair rose from 20th place to 11th thanks to a successful free dance.

Versluis and Turkkila are nearing the international elite in ice dance. Photo: Lehtikuva

The pair's record score is 205.69. They earned a score of 207.11 at the World Championships.

– At the World Championships, there were no completely clean performances. Therefore, for example, the bronze scores were lower than expected. To win medals in the Olympics, it takes over 210 points, says Sara Honkavaara, who serves as a commentator and expert in the sport for Yle Sports.

Honkavaara points out that when assessing the Finnish athletes' chances of success, competitors' eligibility must be taken into account. At the World Championships, athletes can represent the country where they train and live. In the Olympics, they must be citizens of the nation they represent.

– For example, France has been showcasing the pair Laurence Fournier Beaudry–Guillaume Cizeron, Honkavaara says.

Cizeron, 30, is the reigning Olympic champion and five-time world champion in ice dancing. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo

Cizeron and Beaudry can participate in the Olympics if Canadian-born Beaudry obtains French citizenship.

– It should also be noted that Russia gets a couple into the Olympics. The Russian level is so high that they automatically bring a pair into the top competitions, Honkavaara states.

– If the same group competes in the Olympics as at the World Championships, Turkkila–Versluis is currently ranked 5-10. If their development continues as it has in recent years, they will be in an excellent position at the Olympics, Honkavaara says.

The last time a Finnish pair was close to an ice dance Olympic medal was in the 1990s. In 1992, Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko placed sixth in the Albertville Games and two years later fourth in Lillehammer.