You gotta dig Kalle Palander, the Finnish number one Alpine skier and the (suprise) World Champion in slalom 1999. Whatever Kalle is up to, he is always going at the full force (was it good or bad!). He is kind of like our own Bode Miller - likes to talk straight and doesn’t respect/fear the (often rigid) institutions of sport (like FIS) too much. We have been liking the way guy skis and acts since the late nineties.

Photo Source: www.iltalehti.fi

Recovering from the injury

It also seems that Kalle is still going strong after all these years. Last season was a clear disappointment though - a fracture in shinbone (so called repetive stress injury) required an operation in the spring and Palander had to stop the season before it ended in early February. However, recovering from the injury has been going on very well and at the moment, already in August,  Kalle feels like there is no worries at all for the upcoming season.

Palander states: The best season is yet to be seen

Quote and (loose) translation from the Finnish Iltasanomat interview says:

“Be warned. I have this certain feel that I am already in the very strong shape. And the going is only getting tougher from now on. I can surely say that I am more dangerous than ever before. This is going to be the best season ever for me”

That is the way to talk the talk (no need to suspect that the guy can also walk the walk!). You don’t go for chasing fourth places in the World Cup!

Kalle Palander has his own blog too!

Btw. Kalle has a nice own blog too. Check it out here. I also added this official site to our blogroll. We are going to follow the guy’s season for sure from now on. The blog has entries mostly in Finnish but some texts in English too + a few videos/interviews in English. And great pics of course.

Here a video of Kalle’s SL action. Lately he has been doing better in GS but Slalom skiing is what brought him really to the limelight. It seems like he is always very sharp when the conditions are the worst possible - loose snow, stormy and very low visibility.

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