Johanna Matintalo

Johanna Katariina Matintalo (born 11 December 1996) is a Finnish cross-country skier and former track and field athlete. She set Finnish age group records as a middle-distance runner and was national champion in the women's 800 metres in 2013, but injuries and stagnating results led her to concentrate on skiing. As a skier, she won silver in the women's skiathlon at the 2017 World U23 Championships and represented Finland in the 2017 World Championships.

Running career

Matintalo broke the national age-13 record in the 1000 metres in 2009 with her time of 3:01.01; the following year she set age group records in both the 600 metres (1:34.21) and 1000 metres (2:58.51).[1] In 2011, as a 14-year-old, she won silver in the 800 metres at the national senior championships; she improved her personal best by almost six seconds to 2:05.87, which was a national under-16 and under-18 record and the best time in the world by an under-16 runner that year.[2][3] Matintalo won silver again in 2012 (2:07.43) before winning her only individual national title in 2013.[1] She represented Finland in the women's 800 metres at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona, but was eliminated in the heats; at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Donetsk she survived the heats, but went out in the semifinals.[1]

Matintalo's development as a runner stagnated early, a problem exacerbated by injuries; she never improved her 800-meter personal best from 2011.[3][4][5] In 2016, she decided to drop athletics and concentrate solely on her other sport, cross-country skiing; the injuries and lack of improvement, as well as Finland's strong skiing team and high-level skiing tradition, were all factors in this choice.[4][5]

Skiing career

Matintalo was a talented skier from an early age; as a youth, her training programs for skiing and running were compatible and supported each other.[6] She represented Finland in cross-country skiing at the 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Brașov, placing eighth in the 5 km classical race.[7][8] In 2015, she competed in the World Junior Championships in Almaty, where she placed 16th in the under-20 skiathlon.[9]

At higher levels, the increasing incompatibility of skiing training and running training made it impossible for Matintalo to continue to seriously pursue both sports indefinitely; as a skier she needed much more upper-body strength, implying additional mass that would slow her down as a runner.[7] In 2016, she decided to continue skiing at the cost of athletics; she moved from her home town, Pöytyä in southwestern Finland, to Rovaniemi in the north for better training conditions.[4] The move paid off, as she had a good 2016–17 season; at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Park City she won silver in the under-23 women's skiathlon despite skiing with an injured ankle.[5][10]

Matintalo qualified for the February 2017 World Cup races in Otepää as a substitute for Riitta-Liisa Roponen, who had suffered a season-ending back injury.[5] Matintalo had a breakthrough race, placing an unexpectedly good 12th in the 10 km classical; she was the second-best Finn behind Krista Pärmäkoski, defeating national team mainstays Kerttu Niskanen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Laura Mononen and Anne Kyllönen.[3][5][10] On the strength of this result, she was added to the Finnish team for the 2017 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland; her championship debut was in the 15 km skiathlon, in which she placed 29th.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Johanna Matintalo at Tilastopaja (in Finnish) (registration required)
  2. ↑ Pusa, Ari (6 August 2011). "Vain 14-vuotias Johanna Matintalo voitti hopeaa 800 metrillä". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish).
  3. 1 2 3 Holopainen, Pekka (21 February 2017). "Huippulahjakas Johanna Matintalo teki oikean lajivalinnan – olympiavoitto laduilla on aito mahdollisuus". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Kallikari, Merja (26 September 2016). "Matintalo valitsi maastohiihdon". Turun Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Viinikka, Pekka; Saarinen, Joska (21 February 2017). "Matintalo luuli, että nuorten MM-hopea olisi kauden huipennus: "Tuli vähän isompia kisoja tälle kaudelle"" (in Finnish). Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  6. ↑ Lehtonen, Matti (22 February 2011). "Matintalo pärjää ladulla ja radalla". Turun Tienoo (in Finnish).
  7. 1 2 Viljanen, Tero (27 January 2014). "Johanna Matintalo tekee lajivalintansa parin vuoden sisällä" (in Finnish). Kestävyysurheilu.fi. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  8. ↑ "Kolme suomalaista kymmenen joukkoon EYOF-kisoissa" (in Finnish). Suomen Hiihtoliitto.
  9. ↑ "Matintalo pääsi tavoitteeseensa nuorten MM-yhdistelmäkilpailussa" (in Finnish). Kestävyysurheilu.fi. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  10. 1 2 Yliniemi, Kaija (19 February 2017). "Matintalo järjesti jättipaukun Otepäässä, hiihti toiseksi parhaaksi suomalaiseksi". Keskisuomalainen (in Finnish). Retrieved 1 March 2017.
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