Skiing|Antti Tuisku took a stand on the discussion about his skiing fitness.
Imatra
Ex-artistsa current competitive skier Antti Tuisku now takes a stand on the criticism that his skiing project has aroused in expert circles and among citizens.
Tuisku, 40, is fully investing in competitive skiing this season. On Saturday, he will compete in the 10 km traditional SM race in Imatra.
Information about Tuisku’s condition leaked recently when it was revealed that he had run 3,384 meters in Cooper’s test.
“If you can’t even get to 3,400 meters in a cooper, you don’t really want to do well with it, even in the 14-year-old boys’ series. It’s the cold truth”, the skiing expert Harri Kirvesniemi said in November.
“At least from my own time, I don’t remember a single guy who would have fit into our club’s first or second relay team without being able to run at least 3,600 meters. The worst ones ran somewhere between 3,700 and 3,800.”
Read more: Antti Tuisku, 40, said that his skiing career will be short – the expert reminds us of the facts of endurance sports
Kirvesniemi the speeches do not move Tuisku, even though he was not directly asked to comment on them.
“3,400 meters on a bad day in a cooper for a 40-year-old person is a damn hard achievement,” Tuisku uploads.
At the same time, he becomes aware of what kind of jerks he will face at Saturday’s intermediate start.
“Every man who skis in the top 60 runs a harder cooper result than me. It tells the beauty of cross-country skiing. How many exceptional endurance athletes the sport contains! People certainly haven’t understood that before,” says Tuisku.
Tuisku understands very well that TV viewers, journalists and experts blame his speed and results precisely.
He has noticed that the way his fitness is viewed has changed since he stopped working as a musician.
“It’s been a weird phenomenon to notice that if, as an artist with a slightly higher body fat percentage, I put a picture of myself on Instagram with little clothes on, it made headlines,” says Tuisku.
“When I’m in even better shape as an athlete and I do the same thing, it doesn’t even cross the news threshold anymore. It shows that in the world of athletes, everything like that is really normal.”
I’m going to blow according to him, for the same reason, his results should be viewed from the perspective of elite sports.
“It doesn’t mean that I have to start the comparison myself.”
The men’s ten will be skied on Saturday at 11:30. Tuisku is first on the start list.