Team Kaski-Ekovilla aims to raise its level in Ski Classics, and the team has worked hard towards potential success. This interview was conducted on Finnish Independence Day morning, and Kari had already taken an hour-long ski workout before going to work. In addition to his responsibilities with Team Kaski-Ekovilla, Kari runs a store named Hiihtokulma near the Pärnävaara First Snow Trail in Joensuu.

“Everything has gone better now than in previous years. We have more skiers who have focused on the double poling. Oona Kettunen and Juuso Mäkelä have been seriously emphasizing it for the first year, and of course, Veli-Matti Räsänen has been doing it for a longer time. Now it’s nice to see how they have progressed,” Kari said over to Maastohiihto.com.

The team’s skiers haven’t made any revolutionary changes to their training programs, but they have increased the intensity.

“We stick to the old template, but the lengths and intensities of the workouts have grown. We have done harder long workouts to build endurance for longer distances. They haven’t worked well enough for us yet. Short distances have worked when skiing at high altitudes, but we still need to raise our level for long races.”

According to Kari, Vasaloppet-style training sessions have been implemented, especially by Juuso, where efficient sprints are done at the beginning of a long ski, followed by longer sprints after halfway, and the end is skied at a brisk pace. In training, there has also been a slow roller often enough to provide sufficient resistance.

The mentioned training format was introduced by Swedish and Norwegian teams, but Kari had done similar exercises during his active career. In his own career, Kari won silver in the 50-kilometer cross-country skiing at Ristijärvi in 2021, behind Iivo Niskanen. In addition to his silver, he has won three bronze medals in individual races, and his trophy cabinet also includes numerous relay medals. In Finland, he is also known as “Mr. Finlandia-hiihto,” a title he earned with his 12 victories.

“I often had workouts where I skied at the beginning at full speed, then continued at a base pace, and at the end, there was still a strong finish. It was quite new at the time. The training worked very well for me and brought endurance in a different way. Many still have the idea that skiing three to four hours of easy aerobic training is enough for good long-distance skiing. We should move away from that mindset.”

It’s easy to agree with Kari’s words when looking at last weekend’s Ski Classics skiers and analyzing their performance. In Saturday’s Pro Team Tempo race, the pace was once again high.

“That race serves as the start of the season for us on the personal side, but next weekend’s La Venosta is one of the main races early in the season. There, too, we’ll be skiing at high altitudes and in very dry air, which suits Juuso and Oona well. After Bad Gastein, we go to Livigno and have a week at high altitude, so I expect a lot from La Venosta. It’s important to start the season well so that there are no bad races early on. It’s then difficult to move forward if the start has been challenging.”

Kari himself has participated in Ski Classics races and, of course, numerous other long-distance races both internationally and domestically. He admitted that the level has risen tremendously over the years, and mediocre skiing doesn’t cut it anymore for both men and women.

“One new challenge from the skier’s perspective is this fluor-free era. Costs will rise for teams, and it may be difficult to find competitive waxes compared to Swedish and Norwegian teams, for example. We were very competitive in waxing last winter, and we didn’t lose in any races. Now we start building the palette again from scratch. Juuso has tested a lot of waxes and their different application methods to stay competitive.”

Read also: Ski Classics Standings after the Bad Gastein weekend

The Challenges of Fluor-Free Skis

As a second challenge, Kari pointed out the overall workload of his team because the plan is for the team to ski the entire Ski Classics Pro Tour series. In February, Oona and Juuso will also have to participate in the Finnish Championships due to their club obligations, adding more to their load.

“That February is a critical point for the end of the season. It’s good that Ski Classics has different distances. We don’t always ski just sixty kilometers. Even the shorter distances work well for us, and the gaps don’t grow as big in them. Of course, it’s not a good thing that we ski too much in Norway and Sweden towards the end of the season. It’s too expensive for everyone other than Norwegians and Swedes. It’s not good for the spread of the sport.”

According to Kari, Finland has a good situation regarding long-distance skiing, and the spring races also attract national team skiers. This wasn’t the case 20 years ago when normal distance skiers usually didn’t venture into long races.

“Nowadays, the situation is different. We also tried to recruit young skiers in the spring with the angle that long-distance skiing is good for building a base and improving performance even in normal distances. There are good examples of this, especially in Sweden and Norway, and I hope that young people realize that long-distance skiing doesn’t take away from them, even if they focus on shorter distances,” Kari stated firmly.

Team Kaski-Ekovilla now aims for the top with a three-year project, with the first year currently underway. At the end of the season, the results will be analyzed, and then improvements will be made so that in the third year, they can reach the top six Pro Teams. This, of course, also requires individual athletes to achieve top ten placements and near the top.

“Every year we have to be better. There has been interest even from abroad, but at this point, we haven’t made any commitments to foreign skiers. We keep the doors open, and the situation may change in the future.”

These ambitious goals will surely propel this team forward, but does the team manager himself still have ambition for competitive tracks?

“I still compete in free skiing to some extent. I will ski the Finlandia-hiihto and Lapponia this winter. In the summer, I mainly trained by running. I’ve skipped roller skiing for the past couple of years. This summer, I skied 30 kilometers at a camp, so considering that, last spring’s results were good. With targeted training, I’m trying to get into good shape for the end of the season, but I certainly won’t be in as good shape as last spring. I’ve thought about it in a way that it’s better not to announce my retirement so that it’s easier to go to races.”

Certainly, Kari’s example and solid experience will inspire Team Kaski-Ekovilla’s skiers toward that ambitious goal. And already this winter, the battle for the Finnish dominance in Ski Classics among the three teams will be fierce. Regardless of who or which team takes control of the domestic dominance, it’s great to see dedicated skiers from Finland contributing to the sport, raising the value of long-distance skiing in the country, and increasing interest among future young talents.