Finland's New Investment In Olympic Snowboarding

After a few lackluster winter olympic games, Finland has announced their plan to revamp the country’s winter sports program. The plan is nothing short of ambitious. ”We want to be the world’s leading olympic center in winter sports”, says Mika Lehtimäki, the head of the Elite Sports branch of the Finnish Olympic committee. 

This new development includes a multi-million dollar deal between three winter sports organizations; the Finnish snowboard association, biathlon association and the ski association. But that’s not all. They have teamed up with Vuokatti sports institute, city of Kuusamo as well as the municipality of Sotkamo. Obviously, what we are most excited for is their future aim is to become a stronger competitor in olympic snowboarding. 

So what does this mean for the future olympic snowboarding phenomena? 

First of all, from now on it will be easier to train in better facilities while you study or do your army service. This will also make it easier for athletes to come to one place and practice instead of being scattered around the country. In addition to this, bringing three winter sports associations together will create more possibilities to be heard and to share practical ideas. This is something that the country has never done before, so in a way this is a trial for combining training centers for other sports as well. 

Organization and facilities are going to change

The project is starting off with moving the coaching teams as well as physiotherapists, nutritionists, athletic trainers and mental coaches to the new facilities. Ruka ski center is also going to have a bigger FIS-standard Slopestyle course while the half pipe is going to be even bigger. Vuokatti will have two full-sized airbags for trying out new tricks with better safety. The new plan also includes building housing for the next generation of athletes. 

It is safe to say that the future of olympic snowboarding in Finland is not looking bad at all.