Suvi Minkkinen is the Finns’ superior prize pool in skiing

Multi in the skiing World Cup, the season is about halfway through. While waiting for the Olympics, it is appropriate to list the season’s most meritorious Finnish skiers so far.

The overwhelming number one on the list is biathlon Suvi Minkkinen. Minkkinen, who has become a superstar, has collected a total of 129,850 euros in prize money from World Cup competitions.

Since there is still a lot left in the season, the road distance record of the Joensuu native will almost certainly be broken. In the previous season, he accumulated a good 147,000 euros.

In addition to personal competitions and so-called vest bonuses, Minkkinen has collected prizes from messages.

He said last week that the prize money does not go directly into a bank account.

“That way, that money goes into my own career, of course. I want that as long as I continue my career, the resources will be in order. Let’s take care of things as well as possible,” Minkkinen said.

The list in second place is an alpine skier Eduard Hallberg. He has already reached the podium twice in the World Cup and has also achieved other good positions. There is 53,350 euros in prize money.

The third and at the same time the most meritorious cross-country skier is Jasmi Joensuu. He has 28,000 euros saved from the current season’s World Cup.

The biathletes have made good money even behind Suvi Minkkinen. Sonja Leinamo and Inka Hämäläinen reach the top ten. Tero Seppälä too would have been immediately next on the list.

Minja Korhonen is a specialty of the list. He has earned prize money from the World Cup in two different sports. There has been much more combined from the bread event (17,600 e) than from the hill jumping (2,925 e).

Finns’ top 10, skiing world cups

1. Suvi Minkkinen, biathlon, 129,850 euros

2. Eduard Hallberg, alpine skiing, 53,350 e

3. Jasmi Joensuu, cross-country skiing, 28,000 e

4. Sonja Leinamo, biathlon, 24,850 e

5. Johanna Matintalo, cross-country skiing, 23,600 e

6. Anni Kärävä, freestyle, 22,136 e

7. Ilkka Herola, combined, 21,400 e

8. Minja Korhonen, combined and ski jumping, 20,525 e

9. Inka Hämäläinen, biathlon, 19,150 e

10. Antti Aalto, ski jumping 18,875 e

In the past years, we are used to seeing the Niskanen siblings at the top of the list. Now only about them Iivo Niskanen has caught significant results, and even he does not fit into the top ten with his 15,000 euro catch.

Kerttu Niskanen the balance is even shockingly modest. There is only 1,700 euros in the prize pool so far.

In previous seasons, his reading has been dozens of times higher at this point in the season. A year ago at this time, there were 48,000 Swiss francs in the bank, and in mid-January 2024, 61,200 Swiss francs, which is roughly the same amount in euros.

Fortunately, prize money is not the only source of income for Niskanen or many other top athletes. Living expenses can be covered, for example, with income from cooperation agreements, grants or subsidies.

According to the financial statements published last April, Kerttu Niskanen’s company had almost 794,000 euros in its cash.

When other than Finns are also taken into account, the Alpine skiers who make up the leading edge of the Winter Sports World Cup Marco Odermatt (484,231 euros) and Mikaela Shiffrin (423,512 euros) and a ski jumper Domain Prevc (331,275 euros).

On the list only World Cup competitions are taken into account. Some of the athletes have also earned prize money in, for example, the Scandinavian Cup of cross-country skiing, the IBU Cup of biathlon, the Continental Cup of ski jumping, the European Cup of alpine skiing and domestic competitions. In them, the prizes are much smaller than in the World Cup.