Last winter’s Finlandia Ski Marathon winner Oona Kettunen aims for long distances in Finnish Team Kaskipuu’s colors this season. 

However, her main goals for the coming season are traditional skiing, and the race calendar will be built in a way that supports those goals. 

Kettunen, who is coached by Finnish national team coach Juho Halonen seeks new challenges from Ski Classics this winter. Last winter, she took victory at Finlandia Ski Marathon in Lahti, and this season, Ski Classics will also be part of her racing calendar: 

“I have always liked long distances, and last year’s Finlandia Ski Marathon happened to be in good time between the main races. I had already signed up when the Kaskipuu’s Pro Team director asked me if I wanted to ski the race in their colors. In the summer, he called me again to see if I would be interested in a place on the Ski Classics team, and I did not really have to think very long about it.”

The upcoming Ski Classics season has mainly affected her training in the form of adding more double poling focus to the workouts: 

“Double poling has been one of the main focuses of the training season, but it will also show up positively in the traditional distance races. In addition, some of the intensities have been a little longer than last season, but I think that will also bring a good stamina to the normal distances. Many skiers and coaches who specialize in the Ski Classics will probably think that I do too few long sessions. Still, my own training philosophy is to ensure that I can develop my skiing at a high pace and that the shape in each main session is sufficient for the demands of the training. Although basic endurance training covers a very large part of the overall training, it is done with the main goals in mind.”

Kettunen took part in Team Kaskipuu’s August camp when the team held a training camp in Vuokatti, and overall training at home fits her well: 

“I attended the team’s camp in August at Vuokatti. I decided to skip the camp in Spain in October and concentrate on getting a feel for the snow at home in Vuokatti. I’m in the lucky position so that I don’t have to travel to seek for the good training conditions, as Vuokatti has everything I need to develop as a skier.” 

Focus On Classic Racing  

“My main goal for the season is to ski as fast as I can in the traditional distances in classic, but of course, I also want to do as well as I can in Ski Classics.” 

“The early part of the season is nicely timed, as I will be able to ski the normal distance races in Finland in November and concentrate on the Ski Classic in December. After the Christmas break, I will ski for a couple of weekends in Finland, and then in January will continue with the Ski Classics. So it looks like I will be skiing most of the Ski Classics races in the early part of the season.”

Kettunen’s racing calendar for the rest of the season will be determined by how the shape and results are at the beginning of the season: 

“The aim is to be in good shape for the qualifying races for the World Cups in Finland and, of course, for the World Cup itself if my performance is good enough to qualify for them.” 

“The competition schedule is rather tight, and if there are challenges with recovery, I have to be able to react. Because too much is too much, we decided already at the beginning of the training season that the focus in training and competitions would be on classic, and I will ski only a few skate races during the season.”

Work As A Good Counterbalance To Sport 

In addition to competitive skiing, Kettunen, who works at the University of Jyväskylä’s Vuokatti unit, has a busy schedule around training and work: 

“I work part-time as a Ph.D. and project researcher in exercise physiology. Currently, my more specific research interests are related to sports nutrition and high-altitude training, so it should not be a surprise that I find my work very interesting. I also do individual testing, coaching, and expert work at Vuokatti Sport.” 

Remote work and building training schedules around work have made managing the overall load easier. Moreover, meaningful work provides a counterbalance to the sport. 

“At the moment, I can do almost all my work remotely at a time that suits me, which makes it easier to combine work and skiing. Working in a laboratory is, of course, more challenging. Still, the busiest periods are often known well in advance and thus taken into account as lighter training periods when the annual plan is drawn up. I have also learned to say “no” through mistakes, and as a result, I feel that right now the overall workload is well-balanced, and work feels like a nice counterbalance to the sport.”