You had to withdraw from the Games due to a back injury, what can you tell about it?

The problems started in The Open back in the spring. The symptoms at the Games were identical to the symptoms I had in the Open. Back then I had small tears in both of my glutes, which partly caused the pain there. Now at the Games the pain radiated to my right leg causing a feeling that it would fail. The back itself wasn’t too painful but it caused the pain in my leg.

I went to see a doctor last week and the injury seems to be in the disc. Now I just need to wait for the MRI. Sitting for long times is the worst and the flight over Atlantic before the Games was terrible; the symptoms started right after the flight. The first Games events I survived thanks to the adrenaline boost, but right after every event even tying my shoelaces was difficult because of the pain.

What about your knee you hurt in the Regionals?

The knee is okay. I sprained my knee’s ACL while doing the pistol squats (surprise). As a result, I couldn’t squat at all after the Regionals. I am not a doctor, but I could imagine the knee injury having something to do with the recent back injury, from reserving too heavy loads on my back. According to the doctor my pelvis is slightly lopsided, so that might cause some extra pressure for the back.

When did you make the decision to withdraw from the competition?

The first time I was thinking of withdrawing was after the deadlift ladder (2nd event). We had only about 20 minutes to do the warm-up for that event and the heaviest weight I lifted was 140 kg, which already felt like 200 kg. After the deadlift ladder I felt a lot of pain in my back just sitting in the GHD machine, and that was the moment I almost quit.  The third event I could barely do, but finished last. GHDs were the worst, wallballs were fine as there was so few of those.

The third event was the ocean swim, announced at the ranch. Although I was quite sure I could swim and finish high in the event, I considered withdrawing before the swim. There is always a risk that something extra appears, some additional workouts or a maximum test. I also thought that if I swim and would win the event, it could be even more frustrating to withdraw. My team took very good care of me and I received many valuable tips from Finland and Dubai over phone and social media, so I decided to take the chance and participate in the swimming event.

What do you have to say about the events you were able to participate and when did you realize that you were going to the ranch?

The mystery started to resolve at the airport when we got the flight tickets. Some of the athletes had already been at the ranch and they were the first ones starting to figure out the plot.

The trail run was such a great event. What an amazing sport. All the athletes starting in one heat generates a true competitive atmosphere. The profile of the track was insane. After approximately one mile of flat ground, the track was basically only steep up- and downhill. The pace of the race was quite unbelievable, I ran the first kilometer in 3:40 and felt exhausted already at that point. Some athletes took some damage and blood scratches during the race but I managed to finish without any bigger injuries. My right leg was just failing few times in the descends. All in all, a great experience and an awesome event!

After the run there was a short break and a deadlift ladder. I knew right away that we were going to do deadlifts when we were arriving to the ranch as the place was full of signs reminding about 2009 (the events of 2009 can be found from here). I wasn’t quite sure about my condition to do deadlifts and as I said the 140 kg felt like 200 kg in the warm up. In the competition I lifted 475 lb (about 215 kg), which is 50 lb less than my personal record. The barbell came up so inclined that I thought it would fly out of the area when I dropped it. I simply didn’t have strength to lift more as I wasn’t able to fully use the strength of my right leg.

Can you tell us something about the games as an event from athlete’s perspective?

Are you sure you don’t want to hear my experiences as a spectator? Just kidding. It is truly one of a kind as an event. Everything is just so well arranged and the atmosphere is like in a big sport festival where everyone from athletes to spectators share the same interest and passion towards CrossFit. The atmosphere between the athletes is great. It is different from what I have been used to in swimming competitions, where you mostly spend time only with your teammates. Before and after the events we are friends and joke around. Of course you have to remember that we are competing against each other and everyone is there to win. When you hear the 3,2,1 Go, you are there by yourself and have to fight for your space and be aware of elbows.

How do you prepare for the Games besides of physical training? Do you use mental coaching or analyze the possible events for instance?

I have never had any problems with competing as I have competed more or less all my life. I have never tried a mental coach, maybe someday I will. I don’t spend too much time on speculating the possible events. I just concentrate on my own thing. It just causes unnecessary stress if you try to guess what the events are going to be. After all, it is a surprise for everyone else as well. Of course you can deduce in which way some event could develop next year but further analysis is pointless in my opinion. Besides, it is more thrilling for me and an interesting aspect of the sport, that I don’t know what is happening next.

Physically my preparation to the Games is slightly different compared to the Regionals and Open, which are more traditional CrossFit. Before the Games I try to add versatility into my training because there you have to be ready for almost anything.

Did you see a significant development in the fitness of the athletes and who did impress you the most?

(Mathew) Fraser was quite impressive by winning the Games with such a big margin. It was clear from the beginning that he really wanted to win the title. To be honest, I didn’t believe that he would be so dominant. Women’s standings weren’t that surprising but it was a great and exciting competition until the very end, Katrin Davidsdottir taking the win on the last meters. The general level of the athletes has clearly risen in one year. The level of a CrossFit athletes has constantly risen during the past years and this year wasn’t exception.

I wasn’t too excited for the spectator’s role after I withdrew, so I didn’t follow the rest of the Games that intensively. I started to rehabilitate my back straight away and spent the remaining time  walking in the town, visiting different cafeterias and Rogue’s tent.

What plans do you have for next year and are there going to be any changes in your life?

I will fly to Dubai in two weeks. There I can focus on what really matters, I can live a life of a full time athlete, which wouldn’t be possible for me in Helsinki. Moving to Dubai has been a change in itself. In training everything went well and I made progress in every section. Next I need to get permanently rid of all the injuries so I just have to be patient. Maybe I had too many changes this year, moving first to Helsinki and then to Dubai. The injuries caused a lot of external distraction as I had to visit a doctor too often and the people around me changed all the time. It was definitely not an easy season for me, but now I have good time to recover from those injuries because there are no important competitions in the near future.

We are waiting for Jonne Koski in Helsinki, but he is still hours away, in a bank in Pori. Our meeting is postponed, but it’s understandable. The fittest man in Europe is soon leaving to the US to compete at The CrossFit Games, but as the young man still has quite low credit card limits, he needs to raise them with his father before the trip...

In Helsinki awaits an evening workout, some mobility and on the next day departure to Stockholm. From Sweden Jonne returns to Helsinki before heading to Ohio. There is four weeks left until the CrossFit Games begin. This year Koski has reserved plenty of time to get used to the climate and the time difference.

It was last May, latest, that Jonne Koski became well known in the CrossFit world. He won the Meridian Regionals with a solid performance. He began with breaking the world record in the first event, and won four out of seven events.

Workout of the day

Regionals were only a milestone, the actual goal is in CrossFit Games finals. This hard goal shows in his training. The evening before our meeting, Koski tells in Instagram how he ran a half marathon instead of the originally planned 10K. His time was 1:44, a good time even for a runner. The morning of our interview he rowed 1.5K and did 150 wallballs (30 lbs). Now it’s time to do the evening workout. Koski does clean and jerks, thrusters and back squats with heavy weights. He is not happy with the performance – the clean and jerk stays at 140 kilos today.

For a regular crossfitter it would take days to recover from this kind of training day, but for Jonne this is only part of normal preparation for competition. On the opening day of the Games he will probably face first an endurance type of event on the beach requiring some lactic acid tolerance, and secondly lifting heavy weights in the evening. This means that also training has to be like that, he needs to be able to do reps with proper technique and strength with a tired body.

Koski has the advantage of being able to train exceptionally hard. For top-level athletes in any sport it is necessary to practice a lot, in order to grow work capacity and achieve the best level of performance in competitions.

Koski has the ability to gain strength and has great body mechanics. The benefit in being at his twenties is that he recovers fast and his body still naturally produces a lot of testosterone. He is also extremely competitive and trains with people that push him to go harder. This combination helps him grow to a top-level CrossFit athlete.

Athlete since childhood

Crossfit being a young sport leads to most of it’s top athletes coming from other sports. Koski was still a baby when he found his first sport. His parents have told him that he cried when a baby swimming session ended. He competed in swimming at national level until the age of 16. He’s specialty were sprints that require explosive strength and medium distances that require tolerance to lactic acid.

Koski’s parents have always supported their children’s engagement in sports. Sometimes supporting included  'forcing'; quitting wasn’t allowed, even when swimming tasted like chlorine… Afterwards, Koski says he’s thankful for his father’s perseverance.

It’s somewhat a lucky coincidence for the Finnish CrossFit community, that Koski’s swimming results started to come to a halt. There was many reasons. First of all, the crew that had been training together for a long time started to fall apart, and Koski trained by himself for a while.

“Swimming is lonely as it is, and training alone makes it even more boring.”

Koski started to lose interest in three-hour-long training sessions spent practising pulls and being in the water. He had always preferred hard, intense training and lactic acid threshold training that make you feel sick.

Swimming requires muscles, so Koski has spent a lot of time at the gym since teenager. At 15, he already bench pressed 145 kilos. That’s still his record, by the way. Indeed, his swimming background turned out to be a great advantage.

Tough mind and strong core of a swimmer

Many successful CrossFit athletes come from athletics, gymnastics and ball games, but swimming isn’t a bad base for a competitor either. Firstly, it develops body control in different ways, as every part of the body is moving in a foreign element. Secondly, it strengthens abdominals and back muscles, and all the small muscles in between.

What swimming and CrossFit have in common is the importance of core strength. In swimming, core muscles maintain the right position, which decreases water’s resistance.

“Another important thing is the core muscles’ tonus, a kind of activation. Among top swimmers it’s better than average, as water is moving the body in different directions” says Finnish Swimming Association’s national team’s and young swimmers’ olympic coach Jari Varjonen.

Core control is the key to almost everything in CrossFit as well. A CrossFit athlete moves the power of his hips and legs to the object to be moved through the core. When it’s in control, the movement is efficient. Another advantage in swimming is a small risk for injuries, which means unbroken training phases.

CrossFit started to sneak into Koski’s life in high school. His PE teacher made a group of competitive athletes do CrossFit type of workouts.

“Doing well in that kind of workouts got me thinking that it could be my thing, my sport.”

Koski didn’t feel that he was too old to switch sport. He believes that the human body adapts to different training methods. He also wanted to use his capacity gained from a 10-year-long period of training.

“I had trained hard all my childhood and given my all to be in as good condition as I could for every competition. It would have felt stupid to throw that away. Visiting the gym a couple of times a week didn’t feel inspiring when I had always been training two times a day, real goals in mind. CrossFit seemed like a sport that could motivate me.”

In August 2012, a 17-year-old accustomed to hard training stepped into CrossFit Pori’s OnRamp course.

Fast progress in a new sport

At the on ramp course Koski was one beginner among others. Tuomas Vainio, coach and nowadays also owner at CrossFit Pori (also Games 2011 athlete) remembers that Koski trained humbly.

“At the time Jonne didn’t stand out as a superstar, as we practice mainly technique and easy WODs with beginners. But of course I saw that each workout was a piece of cake for him.”

Soon Vainio started to coach Koski more. He invited Koski to his morning training sessions and helped him especially with olympic lifting.

“I had myself had the chance to train with Mikko Salo, and learned that training with more advanced company is great for progress. I thought that it would be a good thing for Jonne if he trained with me.”

Koski respected Vainio’s effort, especially knowing he had just started to manage his own gym and had all the other clients to coach. Vainio saw that Koski can work like a bull, but felt the need to hold him back slightly. As a coach he wanted to make sure that Koski wasn’t training too much.

“At the point where you only want to train and learn as much as you can, there’s a risk of overtraining. If you only follow a training plan and don’t listen to your body, your training loses its effect. When you’re tired, it’s better to focus on the following days and do a recovery type of workout, not some tough workout against time. Of course you need to be able to train CrossFit even when you’re tired, but if you do it all the time, progress isn’t optimal.”

Surprise, Regionals!

After a couple of months of training Koski registered to the 2013 CrossFit Games Open. He finished 52nd. Only 48 best get to go to Regionals, but as some of the individual athletes moved to team division, Jonne got a place. It was his first trip to Copenhagen.

“I didn’t know what to expect and I had no clue what type of events I was facing.”

The competition was a success. The 18-year-old that had trained CrossFit less than a year placed 10th. Koski remembers especially the deadlifts.

“The weights were the heaviest I had experienced. It was called 'a man test'. My back hurt for two weeks”

In the summer 2013 Koski participated to Karjalan Kovin competition. In the final Koski lost to Mikko Ojala in deadlift.

CrossFit had become the main thing for Koski. Towards the end of 2013 his everyday life started to build around the sport even more. Koski started to work at Rogue Europe’s warehouse, and began training with Rogue’s staff and Mikko Salo on the other side of the wall of CrossFit Pori, at CrossFit Varasto.

Learning from Salo

The winner of CrossFit Games 2009, Mikko Salo, had seen Koski and noticed his talent. When they started training together, gave Salo a few conditions. All training happens at CrossFit Varasto, and arriving late is not an option. A new phase had began in Koski’s training. Salo confirms the rumor according to which nobody spoke to Koski during the first six months, they just trained with high intensity. Mental toughness and testing is part of training. It’s about measuring if the newcomer has what it takes. Does he break, or does the stress make him stronger.

“Many break, but Jonne got strong. Everyone else couldn’t do it. We are not a social services, we are looking for tough guys. For regular training there are regular CrossFit gyms and regular methods.”

The young man had his hands full following Salo’s method. The days begun with long aerobic training early in the morning, evenings were spent practising strength and between there was a regular workday at the warehouse.

Salo noticed that Jonne got used to ‘training by feeling’ quickly. The idea is that training is planned only a day or two ahead. Of course there is a rough week schedule saying that two times a week there’s squats, but the schedule lives.

“Those who have weaknesses, have to have a tighter system. But when you don’t have them, training by feeling is a smarter approach.”

According to Salo’s view aerobic endurance is the cornerstone. On top of that basic strength levels must be increased to a level where the athlete can move 75-85 percent of his bodyweight easily. At that point the effectiveness is right. In addition to these the athlete needs to master gymnastics.

Koski’s aerobic capacity is huge and he’s a quick learner. According to Salo, Koski has also started to gain strength during the last 1,5 years.

“He also tends to perform well in competitions. Many athletes are the best in training, but suck at competitions. Jonne is a tough competitor.”

Mikko who?

CrossFit Varasto and Salo prepared Koski for the following year. In CrossFit Games Open 2014 Koski proceeded to Regionals easily. Before the final at Regionals it looked like Koski will take the podium. The event had gone well and also the last event included his strengths. A classic T-shirt was born.

At the warmup area, Koski’s team planned a little trick for the final. Mikko Salo coached Koski during the Regionals, and Koski being a newcomer it was still Salo that was posing with fans all weekend. Salo said that after the win, attention would shift and people would be asking “Mikko who?”.

The team found a Mikko Salo branded Rogue shirt somewhere, grabbed a marker and wrote those words on the back of the shirt.

Koski won the final wearing that shirt. CrossFit world’s attention was guaranteed.

First fail

After the Regionals it was time to get real again. Koski trained for the Games.

Preparing wasn’t going in the best possible way. There were different issues, and he couldn’t train at full effort. He traveled to the competition place a couple of days ahead. Performing in front of 27 000 people stressed him out. But Koski doesn’t have excuses.

“All I can say is that I sucked. I sucked at the events.”

On the second competition day, in Triple-3, Koski lagged behind. His self confidence dropped, he placed 42nd. After that, getting himself together was hard.

“I just wanted to get it done, the fire was gone.”

At the Games Koski underachieved, but also broke some personal records. He even came second in the second event, but it wasn’t comforting.

“I knew that I wouldn’t do very well, but I still wanted to be among the twenty best.”

The final placement was 32nd.

Practice, practice, practice

After the competition Koski returned in Finland, recovered for a while and got back to work. Weaknesses had to be eliminated. Competitive sports at the highest level require many kind of commitment. To get to the top, everyday life needs to be organized around training. You also need to train a lot, because CrossFit requires such diverse condition. CrossFit athletes need to be strong in every area.

Before, Koski wasn’t good enough in heavy lifts. Thanks to diligent training his deadlift maximum is 240 kilos.

Nowadays Koski makes his training plan himself with Salo – they compete with each other in training. Most of the time Koski trains six days a week, two times a day. The year is divided into basic condition training phase, preparatory phase and competitive phase. Regionals is the first goal of the year, and then it’s the Games if he gets that far.

During basic condition training phase Koski gains strength and aerobic capacity. Before the competitive phase he adds more metcons in the training plan and practices skills.

It’s said about Koski that he’s on top not only for his talent but because his body withstands huge amounts of training. On top of that, Koski is mentally mature. It shows when interviewing him – he gives calm, profound answers. There’s certainty in his views, and his results speak for themselves.

Even though Koski trains hard and a lot, he doesn’t really love it.

“Even the toughest guys want to quit, but the thing is that those who want to succeed, don’t quit. Most of the time it pisses off that everything doesn’t go as I would like to – that everything goes to shit. It’s hard to not think about what I’m doing wrong, when I’m in such bad shape, but then it’s only matter of attitude. Probably that feeling is related to that specific day, and the next day everything goes a lot better again.”

Koski doesn’t feel the need for a coach right now, he says he has a strong network of people surrounding him that helps whenever he needs something.

“I could call Mikko my coach, as he is always there in competitions and acts like a coach should. It’s a huge advantage. In the training phase we go back to being training buddies.”

Having a coach has also its problems, and it’s related to CrossFit being such a new sport. There hasn’t been enough studies on CrossFit training, and as a sport it’s also very hard to study, when you compare it to running for example.

“Swimming and running have their principles based on science. If you run 10 kilometers at a certain percent of your maximum heart rate, we know what it means. But nobody else knows how 150 wall balls have affected your body, when there have been other specific workouts before that.”

Towards top ten

The past year has been good for Koski. Regionals were a success. When this article will be published, Koski has already been in the US for a while, preparing for the Games.

Koski is full of strength. The young man who’s name refers to ‘a rapid’, a section of a river where water’s velocity and turbulence is higher, has made his way among the top athletes quickly. This time his goal is to finish among the 10 best CrossFit athletes in the world.

“All my records have improved. My running, rowing and all other ways I’ve tested my condition show that I’m ready. I’ve learned more about myself as an athlete, my performances are more effective and I know what’s coming.”

But what happens if there will be no success in competitions? Koski plans to have a full CrossFit athlete career, and possibly study. His interested in university studies in Stockholm, Sweden, with a major in sports science and coaching. The goal is to slowly move away from Pori. The city has been his home for all his life, and also many of his friends have moved away to do their studies or other things.

Mikko Salo gives his encouragement, having shared to him all his knowledge.

“After the Games it’s time for Jonne to go further. He won’t get anything more from Finland, his progress requires a step further.”

That’s Koski’s goal.

“Every year I aim to make as much progress as I can. Of course I seek to win and someday I would like to win as much as possible, which means winning the Games. But as long as I know that I’m making progress and I’ve given my all, I won’t be disappointed, even if I won’t win.”

If you don't know Jonne yet, you may want to read our previous interviews here and here.

WODconnect staff wishes Jonne the best luck to his first CrossFit Games!

With this schedule Jonne Koski's Finnish fans don't have to count time differences. The schedule will be updated according to CrossFit Games’ announcements and there can be changes.

CET – Central European Summer Time

BST – British Summer Time

FIN – EET, Eastern European Summer Time

TUESDAY 22.7.

MASTERS

Event: Deadlift ladder: 1-rep every 30 seconds with progressively heavier barbells

Event: Max distance: handstand walk

Event: Sled sprint

Event: Run rope

CET: 6:00pm – 2:00am

BST: 5:00pm – 1:00am

FIN: 19:00 – 03:00

  WEDNESDAY 23.7.

INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS

Event: The Beach

CET: 6:00pm – 10:00pm

BST: 5:00pm – 9:00pm

FIN: 19:00 – 23:00

MASTERS

Events: 2007 & Medball Burpee

CET: 6:00pm – 2:00am

BST: 5:00pm – 1:00am

FIN: 19:00 – 03:00

INDIVIDUALS

Event: Overhead Squat

WOMEN

CET: 3:30am – 4:30am

BST: 2:30am – 3:30am

FIN: 04:30 – 05:30

MEN

CET: 4:30am – 5:30am

BST: 3:30am – 4:30am

FIN: 05:30 – 06:30

THURSDAY 24.7.

MASTERS

Event: Down & Back chipper

CET: 6:00pm – 2:00am

BST: 5:00pm – 1:00am

FIN: 19:00 – 03:00

MASTERS FINAL

CET: 10:30pm – 12:45 am

BST: 9:30pm – 11:45am

FIN: 23:30 – 01:45

  FRIDAY 25.7.

INDIVIDUALS

Event: Triple 3

CET: 7:00pm – 7:45pm

BST: 6:00pm – 7:45pm

FIN: 20:00 – 20:45

Events: Sprint sled 1&2

MEN

CET: 11:45pm – 12:15am

BST: 10:45pm – 11:15pm

FIN: 00:45 – 01:15

WOMEN

CET: 12:15am – 12:45am

BST: 11:15pm – 11:45pm

FIN: 01:15 – 01:45

Event: 21-15-9 Complex

CET: 01:30am – 03:54am

BST: 12:30am – 02:54am

FIN: 02:30 – 04:54

TEAMS

Event: 6-Mile Relay Run

CET: 6:00pm – 6:50pm

BST: 5:00pm – 5:50pm

FIN: 19:00 – 19:50

Events: Frantasy Land & Big Bob 100

CET: 8:00pm – 9:45pm

BST: 7:00pm – 8:45pm

FIN: 21:00 – 22:45

Events: 1RM Deadlift & Big Bob 200

CET: 10:00pm – 11:15pm

BST: 9:00pm – 10:15pm

FIN: 23:00 – 00:15

  SATURDAY 26.7.

TEAMS

Event: Triples Chipper

CET: 6:00pm – 7:30pm

BST: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

FIN: 19:00 – 20:30

Events: Squat Burpee & Worm Sprint

CET: 7:40pm – 9:10pm

BST: 6:40pm – 8:10pm

FIN: 20:40 – 22:10

INDIVIDUALS

Event: Muscle-up Biathlon

CET: 9:30pm – 11:45pm

BST: 8:30pm – 10:45pm

FIN: 22:30 – 00:45

Event: Sprint Carry

CET: 12:00am – 01:00am

BST: 11:00pm – 12:00am

FIN: 01:00 – 02:00

Events: Clean Speed Ladder & Push and Pull

CET: 02:00am – 05:50am

BST: 01:00pm – 04:50:00am

FIN: 03:00 – 06:50

SUNDAY 27.7.

TEAM

Event: Team Fifties

CET: 6:00pm – 7:15pm

BST: 5:00pm – 6:15pm

FIN: 19:00 – 20:15

Event: Worm Bob Final

CET: 07:30pm – 09:00pm

BST: 06:30pm – 08:00pm

FIN: 20:30 – 22:00

INDIVIDUALS

Event: Midline March

CET: 09:30pm – 11:15pm

BST: 08:30pm – 10:15pm

FIN: 22:30 – 00:15

Event: Thick 'N Quick / Double Grace

CET: 12:00am – 03:00am

BST: 11:00pm – 02:00am

FIN: 01:00 – 04:00

  The original schedule and all event information can be found here: http://games.crossfit.com/workouts/games