Niemelae to coach Finnish ski jumping

The Finnish National Ski Jumping team will have new leadership and direction for the coming season, it has been announced. Long-time head coach Janne Vaeaetaeinen will step down and Finnish native Pekka Niemelae, who has worked in recent years for the growing French jumping squad, will assume the reins of the program.

Niemelae, who has been working with the French team since 2006, will take over this spring.

"I feel very good and honored and I have a lot of motivation," Niemelae said at a press conference. Niemelae, 35, began his professional coaching career working as a club coach in Kuopio then onto to Japan and finally in France before coming home to coach the Finns.

Vaeaetaeinen, who has been the head coach of the Finnish team for two years, following a number of years as an assistant coach, implied he was tired of traveling all over the world.

"There has to be more in life that just jumping hills and airports,” Vaeaetaeinen said. “But I do not know what I will do next."

The Finnish jumpers have not had much success as of late. They did not enjoy great success at Planica's ski flying event, outside of a bronze medal in the team competition. Finland enjoyed only one World Cup win this season and came away from the Whistler Olympic Park hills without any medals whatsoever -- something that hasn't happened since 1994 at the Lillehammer Olympic Games.

Niemelae is already thinking big. He told the web site Berkutschi that medals will be won again. "It's a tough time for Finnish jumping,” Niemelae told the ski jumping website Berkutschi.com. “I like challenges and working with the Finns is a great project."