Breaking the ice with the flying Finn ready to dominate Ice Cross
Mirko Lahti has one simple aim in 2020, to be the Red Bull Ice Cross world champion. Lahti took a break from speeding over the ice at 80 km/h to discuss rivals, rollerblading and his journey so far.
Mirko Lahti may have finished off the podium in his first race of the new-for-2020 Red Bull Ice Cross season but the 23-year-old believes he has the capacity to be crowned overall world champion at the end of the season.
Having finished 18th in Pra-Loup, France, we spoke to him about his rise to the top of the sport from winning the junior crowns consecutively in 2017 and 2018.
Ice hockey was the first love
By his own admission Lahti's number-one hobby was always ice hockey, acting as the perfect springboard to the physically demanding nature of Ice Cross. He first stumbled across his new sport on TV and decided to give it a go when he turned 18.
“Ice hockey was my first passion and I played it for over 10 years,” he recalls. “I also rode motocross and skied. Those three sports all combined to make me suitable for ice cross. I didn’t know what I was doing the first time, but it went pretty well pretty quickly, and I made friends with the Finnish riders and started training with them.”
A world title on his radar
Three races into the season (Lahti has only raced in one) and he finds himself lying in 53rd place in the championship standings, but he has ambitions to climb much higher as the 2020 season progresses.
Making no secret of those ambitions, he says: “My aim is to win the world championship this year and I think it's possible, but it's going to be a tight season for everyone. It would be really awesome. It has been a dream for a couple of years now and I have been working hard. It would mean a lot to me.”
The skaters in his sights in 2020
Last season, Cameron Naasz sealed a third title and confirmed his tag as the man to beat by winning at his first attempt in Pra-Loup on January 11, and following it up with a second-placed finish in Mont Du Lac a week later. Lahti believes the dominant American will still be the man to overcome this season.
He says: “I think there are around 10 guys who can win it. It's really tight at the top. It is hard to say before the season who trained the best in the off season and that kind of thing. Naasz is always pretty confident and strong in the races, as are the Dallago brothers.”
Rollerblading into the new season
How do you prepare for Ice Cross in the summer months when the ice is non-existent? For Lahti, he generally straps on his rollerblades but says preparations for a campaign vary from either side of the Atlantic.
He says: “North Americans train a lot more with rollerblades in the skate parks and jumps while, in North Europe, there is more pump-track training and things like that in the off-season.
“We have a lot of asphalt pump tracks in Finland, which is really good for rollerblading training. I have to drive around 90 minutes to get to one, but I go twice a week to train. I also rollerblade once a week at a skate park.”
The personal touch to getting fit
Now in his second season in the senior ranks, Lahti boasts the increased experience, but has also ramped up his fitness in order to be better prepared for the full rigours of a season in which the racing comes thick and fast.
“I managed to stay healthy the whole off season and I had my new personal trainer this summer so I improved my physique a lot.”
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The future’s bright in 2020
The championship has a new name this season, but the drama continues to come thick and fast. For Lahti, he's relishing both the old and the new during the ensuing weeks and months of competition.
Lahti said: “It's going to be a really exciting season. I'm really looking forward to my home race in Finland and the Japan race in Yokohoma as it was really cool last year. Also, the track looks really good for the big final in Moscow.”