Aino‑Kaisa Saarinen praises Jasmi Joensuu’s medal potential — shoots down British skier’s complaints about the Olympic course

Pirjo Muranen, Virpi Sarasvuo, Mona‑Liisa Nousiainen — and now Jasmi Joensuu.

Joensuu joined the small club of Finnish women who have won World Cup sprints on Saturday. Before Joensuu the last Finnish winner in a sprint World Cup was Nousiainen, 13 years ago in Liberec.

With her classic‑sprint triumph the Finnish star also delivered Finland’s first podium of the current World Cup season.

Joensuu’s road to a World Cup win is unusual. The victory is only her second individual World Cup podium: the previous one was a second place she took on last year’s Tour.

When Muranen first won a sprint she was only 19. Sprinting itself was a much younger discipline then.

Both Muranen and Sarasvuo were already experienced top‑3 sprinters. Yle Sport’s expert, former sprint podium finisher and today’s commentator Aino‑Kaisa Saarinen, reminds us that athletes reach the top by very different paths.

Joensuu tried to find her way in her early twenties via the U.S. college system. She broke through to the international level in the early 2020s and last year won the Sprint Cup.

"It’s really great that she is finally a winner. I don’t know whether it matters at what age you make it — a win is a win," the Yle expert praises.

Jasmi Joensuu dominated the sprint on Val di Fiemme’s Olympic track.

Jasmi Joensuu celebrates on the podium!

Right place at the right time

Joensuu controlled the race from qualifying onwards at Val di Fiemme, the course that will be used for the Olympics. She won qualifying, dominated her quarterfinal and secured excellent positions in the very strong first semifinal.

In the final Joensuu continually made the right choices and had no trouble in the closing stretch.

This sprint course was unusually long: the women’s race lasted almost four minutes (the men’s nearly three). Saarinen was pleased with how Joensuu handled the many small decisions inside heat racing.

"That’s the mark of a winning sprint skier. Joensuu has been fast in past seasons too, but tactically in heats she used to give places away to the very top names."

"It was confident and enduring skiing. When the skiing works, you can make tactically correct choices. If a person is fit and able to control their own skiing, it’s easier to be in the right place at the right time. Now everything clicked. Her race fitness has been steadily improving all season. She’s in shape, and now she scored a bullseye."

Joensuu has found excellent form on the Tour; she also sits second overall in the Tour standings. Photo: Getty Images

Disagreeing with the British skier

Sprint specialist Briton James Clugnet criticised the Val di Fiemme sprint course as being too long (he told Iltalehti he thought organisers might reshape the course before the Olympics). The Val di Fiemme profile had raised questions beforehand, but Saarinen was happy with what she saw on Saturday.

"This is a really fine course. The best won here today as well. I think the course was very fair for everyone. Sure, there were a few small crashes, but nothing major.

"You had to make decisions already in the earlier climbs to be in a good position for the final climb, and that's where places were mostly decided. This was a race decided by skiing, which is the important thing. Last year it was still possible to snatch victory a bit later on by crouching in the finish."

Saarinen thinks the course suits the Olympics.

"I don’t see any need to change it."

One of the medal favourites

Missing from Val di Fiemme were some of the top sprinters — Sweden’s Jonna Sundling, who sat out the Tour, and Norway’s Kristine Stavås Skistad, who withdrew from the Tour after illness.

Still, strong competition included Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich (2nd), Sweden’s Johanna Hagström (3rd) and Maja Dahlqvist (4th).

When thinking about championship events people often look at the whole season, but a World Cup win on the Olympic course was a warning sign of Joensuu’s capacity here.

Saarinen believes Joensuu is at least one of the Olympic sprint medal favourites.

"Jasmi herself said this is a different race and that new opponents will be present. But she has a head start now. Joensuu gains confidence from the fact she can win on this course.

"She knows what kinds of tactical choices are worth making here. Joensuu skied the course four times flat‑out, so she now has a memory of it. Not many others have that — and that matters."