Good news from Rane. He will jump at Vikersund! I think that sounds promising. If he feels good enough to jump that hill, he certainly is confident with his jump.
It's more than probable that Olli will not jump even one competition at Oslo. But I'm starting to worry Pekka as Finnish coach. It seems quite clear, that he has favourites. Or maybe it's fairer to say, that some jumpers have been more open to his new system than others. And of course he wants to reward those, who work hard in the guidelines he has given. But the problem is, that for the reason or the other, three of four last season's top jumpers have been in ruins this year. If it would only be Hapa, it would be easy to explain with personal problems (and being lazy.) If it would have been only Rane, it could be explained with motivational issues (and being lazy.) If it would have been only Kalle, it could be explained with difficult character and loosing his nerve with changes (and being lazy.) But it is all three! And they all have one thing in common. They are strong-willed, critical and independent thinkers and one way or the other from Lahti.
I have absolutely nothing against Ville or Havu. They are exemplary young athletes and I'm very happy, how well they have done this season. But we are not Austria. We don't have legions of villes and havus just waiting the place in National team. In fact even some of our most immediate promises (Sami Niemi for example) fit more to the Harri, Rane, Kalle category than with Ville's and Havu's one. Just now I'm very afraid that while Pekka's system certainly brings up a lot of good things, it may cause just too much damage goods on the process. Harri is already out, Kalle may as well be. Rane is saved only because of the name, and I have a great difficulty to believe, he wants to continue like this. Cost of Pekka's system starts to feel very high.
Last spring, Pekka was hailed for his people skills. Now it starts to feel different. He has essentially lost half of his team, he seems to not be at speaking terms with some of the most prominent personal coaches, his actions and talk of his jumpers seems very passive-aggressive immediately if there is a problem, he has not been able to handle difficult situations efficiently (whole Hapa thing has been an epic fail. Yes, Hapa may have been deeply troubled and impossible to work with, but how Pekka handled it, was just not a good decorum, at all.) For the outsider it seems there is clear favourites system going on etc.
I'm worried.
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