Live Talk with Kristjan Ilves

Through the cooperation with the Norwegian Ski Association, the 27-year-old made it to the top of the World Cup field.
At the base in Trondheim, the Estonian trains regularly with the best Norwegian athletes and is an integral part of their team.

“When you’re from such a small country it is not easy to find training partners and also to get enough funding,” explained Ilves.
But money can always be found somehow, he emphasizes, while the individual training was the biggest disadvantage for him due to the lack of young talents in Estonia.
“That is why my training partners in Norway are the most valuable thing for me in this cooperation.”

Therefore, it was very special for the Estonian to reach the podium together with two of his Norwegian training partners at the season finale in Lahti (FIN), although the venue always pushes him to his limits.

“I have really mixed feeling about Lahti,” admits the Overall World Cup fifth. “The hill is very special. I am jumping either 100 meters or 130 meters – there is no in between”, he explained with a laugh.

In the fight for victory, Ilves lost by just 1.7 seconds to training partner and friend Jarl Magnus Riiber on the penultimate day of the season.
“Jarl has always been extremely good in Lahti, managing the hill very well. Therefore, fighting with him for the win on that day was special to me.”