NIKA One Goal puts Dressage on the Agenda as a Top Sport in Finland

Dressage

Finland

NIKA One Goal is a new program in Finland that enables top sport for dressage riders at a whole new level. The goal of the program is to lift every member of the team in their own age class to the European Championship Final, the Paris Olympics and the Para Olympics 2024.

The One Goal team consists of athletes that have a strong will to develop as riders and are willing to invest fully and long-term to the team goals. The members that have been chosen to represent One Goal are para rider Jessica Kerttunen, junior rider Oona Ylirautia, young rider Johanna Similä and senior rider Eevamaria Porthan - Broddell.

Developing Talented Riders

“We want to enable Dressage as a top sport in Finland and give talented riders the possibility to develop and progress. Since the financial aspect is very unequal compared to other larger top sports in Finland it makes riding and competing at an International level almost impossible. Through One Goal we want to be closer to the leading equestrian countries and show that we can also produce riders toward an International level,” says One Goal’s Karolina Liuksiala.

To Eurodressage Kia Herold added, "One Goal is a programme that is accessible to all Finnish riders and the selected riders were chosen through a thorough selection process during the autumn 2021. In Finland all riding programmes are privately owned since we do not get any support from the state or the Finnish Government. Finland is in this sense very different to i.e. Sweden, Germany or Denmark where the possibility in Finland to develop as a rider is much more difficult because there is only the private support."

Allocating Horses

One Goal is partnering with many of Finland's leading companies and has teamed up with Finnish Olympic dressage rider Henri Ruoste. Henri has competed at three European Championships (in 2013, 2019 and 2021), and competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Henri Ruoste now wants to support Finnish riding as part of One Goal and has sent his Grand Prix horse Marshall Ligthfoot (Michellino) that he has been competing with at a level of 73%. Marshall Lightfoot will be training and competing with junior rider Oona Ylirautia.

Rune Willum coached Cathrine Dufour to her first
great successes as a youth rider

“I am so happy to be able to support such a great initiative and am glad to see that we put an effort into the development of young and talented riders in Finland," said Henri.

Training Riders

One Goal is part of NIKA Academy and the head trainer of the program is well known Danish trainer Rune Willum. All training will take place at NIKA Academy in Finland. The team is also supported by marketing and communications professionals Hanna Nyholm and Kristiina Uurasmaa, sport enthusiast Hjallis Harkimo, ex-Olympian / snowboarder Heikki Sorsa and show jumper / media personality Jenni Väänänen.

"Both Rune and Henri are part of the One Goal program," Kia Herold told Eurodressage. "Henri as a partner and Rune as the main trainer for the program. Henri's hope is to develop riding in Finland and has therefore given his old Grand Prix horse for the program to use."