Impairment Information |
Origin of Impairment |
Acquired |
Classification |
SB-LL1 |
Further Personal Information |
Family |
Partner Krista Makela |
Residence |
Kuusamo, FIN |
Languages |
English, Finnish |
Sport Specific Information |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
He began snowboarding in 1999 in the Messila ski resort in Finland. He got involved in Para snowboarding in 2013. |
Why this sport? |
"It looked cool and like it was fun." |
Club / Team |
Rukan Lumilautailijat: Kuusamo, FIN |
Name of coach |
Par Sundqvist [national] |
General Interest |
Nicknames |
Taiska (Athlete, 02 Mar 2022) |
Hobbies |
Cycling, going to the gym. (Athlete, 02 Mar 2022) |
Most influential person in career |
Coach Mikko Wendelin. (Athlete, 02 Mar 2022) |
Hero / Idol |
US snowboarder Kevin Pearce. (Athlete, 02 Mar 2022) |
Injuries |
In February 2021 he crashed during training and sustained a concussion. (Facebook page, 07 Feb 2021)
In 2019 he sustained a tear in his right shoulder and needed five months to recover. (Athlete, 02 Mar 2022) |
Superstitions / Rituals / Beliefs |
He has a playlist that he listens to before he starts his run. "It calms my mind and makes me feel good and invincible." (Athlete, 02 Mar 2022) |
Sporting philosophy / motto |
"Never give up." (Athlete, 02 Mar 2022) |
Other sports |
Before his accident he competed in able-bodied snowboarding at international level, including in big air at the 2009 World Cup event in Moscow, Russian Federation. (SportsDeskOnline, 22 Dec 2021) |
Ambitions |
To win a medal at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. (Athlete, 08 Jan 2019) |
Impairment |
His impairment is the result of hitting his head in a fall at a snowboarding contest in 2011. He was in a coma for two weeks and required a total of six operations during recovery. "I feel like I've grown up mentally because of this. I think I'm mentally someone in my thirties. I was without a third of my skull for six months. You could touch my brain. I had to learn to walk again. When the right side didn't work, it was frustrating at times. In the end, the will to live was what made me fight and the fact that I was told I was never going to be able to get on a snowboard again. I wanted to show everyone I could." (Athlete, 08 Jan 2019; yle.fi, 25 Dec 2014) |
Other information |
COACHING
He has worked as a coach at the LHS Snowboarders club in Hollola, Finland. (Facebook profile, 10 Sep 2021; LHS Snowboarders Facebook page, 25 Aug 2019) |
