Jonne Kähkönen is the new shooting coach for the Swedish biathlon national team, according to official sources. He will not be based in Östersund but will instead operate from Finland, a clear difference from his predecessor Jean-Marc Chabloz. How Kähkönen's remote work from Finland will practically affect his coaching and interaction with the team remains uncertain.
According to SVT Sport, Björn Ferry described Kähkönen as a genuinely nice person and linguistically gifted, having learned Italian. Ferry sees Kähkönen's main strength lying more in the mental aspect, as a fellow human and psychologist who can get everything to work, and views him as a safe choice. Whether Kähkönen has any specific secret training methods or techniques to improve shooting performance is unknown.
He has been around for a long time, already in my time he was involved. What you hear about him and notice when you meet him is that he is a genuinely nice person and is linguistically gifted, having learned Italian. Then I don't know if he has a secret ace up his sleeve, a super exercise that makes everyone start shooting better. But I don't think that's where his strength lies.
Kähkönen's main challenge is to get the athletes to do that little extra, according to Ferry. Whether his appointment will lead to any new super results for the Swedish biathlon team is also unclear, with Ferry noting it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks. According to SVT Sport, Ferry described that while remote work loses closeness, it gains in that something new is happening.
It lies even more between the ears. The important thing is to be a fellow human and psychologist and get everything to work. That he can win the trust of the skiers and leaders, that is important. To get them to do what they can, a little more often. But whether it will lead to any new super results I don't know, it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks. But if he does that, it's a Nobel Prize.
You lose the closeness. At the same time, you gain in that something new is happening.