24 November 2023
Finnish curling then, now and in the future
Finland’s men concluded their round-robin programme at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 in Aberdeen with yet another defeat, this time at the hands of Olympic champions Sweden, and now return to next season’s B-Division.
Meanwhile their women ended up with a mid-table performance in their B-Division competition.
This is all a long way from previous glory days for Finnish curling, an era that saw them win the European title in 2000, as well as two European bronzes, and culminating in a silver medal at the Turin 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Pinerolo, Italy.
Current Finnish skip Kalle Kiiskinen was on the Finland team that took that Olympic silver medal, and through an international career that started at the 1995 World Junior Championships in Perth, Scotland, he has lived through the highs and the lows of Finnish curling.
Looking at the modern-day game, which is different from the more amateur-style approach at the start of the century he says, “There has been a lot of movement in the sport. I think I would have enjoyed being an athlete like they are now, but it’s a lifestyle now.”
However, while he recognises the difficulties that Finnish curling faces, he also has hope for the future. He says, “We have tricky issues to resolve, like how to get more young people into the sport. Maybe we have skipped a generation, and we need to find a generation who will be serious enough to get involved in what is an Olympic sport.”
When it comes to the type of national funding and support that other national curling federations can tap into, he also points out a unique difficulty that Finnish curling faces.
“The problem with Finland is that we have so many good winter sports, so we are competing against ice hockey, cross-country skiing and others to try to get funds. And old habits [of support] are very strong, so it is difficult to get in among that.”
However, progress is being made, as Kalle explains, “There are two people working for the Finnish federation, although they are part-time, but this season we do have more grant money and we are bringing the sport to schools.”
There is also significant progress happening in Kalle’s hometown of Hyvinkää.
“Next spring, we will have a new three-sheet rink in Hyvinkää, and that would be one big step for curling,” he explains.
Perhaps these developments will bring results that will strengthen Finnish curling in the future and eventually return their teams to the medal podium. Time, as well as a lot of effort in Finland, will tell.
Engage with the World Curling Federation during the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook and by searching the hashtags #curling and #ECC
