WITH EETU AND JAAKKO THE HELSINKI SKATING STORY
When we traveled Helsinki HELride a few weeks ago, we certainly didn’t expect to find the skating community we did. We expected a few classic Euro squares and a handful of random groups of kids still trying to figure it out. As soon as we got to the capital, we realized we were completely wrong. Finnish skaters can hold their own against the rest of Europe and could definitely give any city on the continent a run for their money.
Just so you could get a taste of what kind of skaters Finland has to offer, both Jaakko Ojanen and Eetu Toropainen were born and raised there. In the last couple of years, they both managed to get the attention of big sponsors: Jaakko turned professional, and the Finnish duo dropped shared part of the video. All their efforts with the rest of the Finnish skating world have made Helsinki a destination for Euroskating tours.
During race downtime, the boys gave us an impromptu tour and introduction to places around the city, which was crap on every guided tour your grandparents took after they retired.