Mäkäräinen: "After Nove Mesto, everyone will certainly enjoy the fact that there will hopefully be a large audience"

Kaisa Mäkäräinen, Mari Eder, Tero Seppälä and other Finnish biathletes were in a relaxed mood on the eve of the World Cup in Kontiolahti. The familiar home stadium and Home crowd create a good framework for searching for successful performances.

- After Nove Mesto, all the athletes will certainly enjoy the fact that there will hopefully be a large audience. Hopefully the spectators will also cheer for everyone and not just us, Mäkäräinen wished the spectators at the media conference of the Finnish national team, in which the athletes participated via remote connection.

In biathlon, many things depend on the little things, and an athlete's feeling, for example, about shooting can be the same, whether the hits were within a centimeter or outside.

– In the mass start in Nove Mesto, two straight zeroes was a really great feeling for me that I can still do it. Last weekend showed that it is not impossible to shoot zero even from the upright. Let's still try to do our best and see what it's enough for, Mäkäräinen said with a smile about the thoughts of this weekend.

Mari Eder is also healthy and otherwise ready for the weekend, which she describes as tough. If Nove Mesto was a successful trip for Eder with fourth place, it was also for Tero Seppälä. Seppälä took the best position of his career in Nove Mesto after finishing seventh in the sprint race.

– We have been waiting for that all winter, for success to come. Now everything fell into place on the same day. When I left the mat, you were smiling. It was just in the mind that now the zeros came, the last lap must be pedaled hard, Seppälä recounted his success with a smile

For success, it is good to continue competing in the home races in Kontiolahti, where Seppälä will start his career in the sprint race on Thursday.