Crazy development before the Matterhorn descent: a Finnish-Swiss man suddenly becomes one of the favorites

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At no other World Cup downhill event is the chance of an outsider victory as great as at the premiere on the Gran Becca. This is mainly because there is no section on this slope such as the Brüggli in Wengen or the Hausberg in Kitzbühel, where the gifted top stars can make a difference with their technique and routine: the Matterhorn descent has many floating sections. And the 23-year-old proved that the Finn Elian Lehto is one of the stars with a sixth place in the first, completely windless training. What almost no one knows: the Scandinavian has a strong bond with Switzerland.

Strongly influenced by Osi Inglin

The son of a lawyer was given a lot of polish by Osi Inglin from Schwyz, who was head coach of the Finns from 2020 to 2022. «I immediately saw that Elian had great potential on skis. Because of his distorted perception, he still worried me at first,” Inglin admits. “Elian believed four years ago that he was ready for the really big tasks at the World Cup. He was still far from a top athlete at the time. He felt too comfortable to really work hard during endurance and strength training.”

To push Lehto out of his comfort zone, Inglin has come up with something very special: “In Finland, every athlete must meet a limit in performance tests so that he can participate in the association’s training camps. This benchmark was so low when I started working that Lehto achieved it with relative ease, despite his discomfort. That is why I increased this limit.” This measure has proven to be a direct hit. “Elian failed in the first test. But then I gave him another chance. The boy then trained so hard that he passed the second test.”

Finland’s collaboration with Swiss-Ski

Last winter, the hard work was rewarded for the first time with World Cup points – during the descent in Val Gardena, Lehto was in the top 20 for the first time. In the meantime, the Scandinavian is no longer trained by Inglin. But because Finland’s financially weak association now has a partnership with Swiss-Ski, Lehto now regularly trains with people like Yannick Chabloz, Lars Rösti, Ralph Weber, Josua Mettler and Franjo von Almen in the second Swiss downhill group of Vitus Lüönd.

This also had a positive effect on his knowledge of Swiss-German: “When I ran through the coaching zone in the finish area during the first training, a driver shouted at me: “Sali, who goats,” says the new SRF expert Beat Feuz .

A bottle of vodka for Feuz

«At first I thought a young Swiss ski athlete was greeting me. But when I turned around, I was quite surprised, because it was the Finn Letho who spoke to me in almost accent-free Swiss German,” says Feuz, who is working on the Matterhorn descent for the first time as a TV expert. By the way: Feuz received a high percentage as a gift from Lehto in January after his last World Cup appearance in Kitzbühel. “Elian gave me a bottle of vodka as a farewell.”

It is quite possible that Lehto and Feuz will toast the first Finnish downhill podium in World Cup history with a glass of champagne after the first Matterhorn race.

Source : Blick