Murray State University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Kiuru Featured In Largest Newspaper in Nordic Region
6/12/2020 4:07:00 PM | Rifle
Below is the article, written by Ari Pusa and reprinted with the permission of Pusa an the Helsingin Sanomat. Translation of the article from Finnish to English was done through Google Translate with the assistance of Kiuru and Parker Griffith.
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MATIAS KIURU, 21, is a pioneer in Finnish shooting sports. He is the first Finnish shooter to attend an American university on a rifle scholarship.
The Helsinki-native is studying business at Murray State University. Murray is a city of about 17,000 people in the American state of Kentucky, while the university itself has an enrollment of over 10,000 students.
Kiuru has been a member of the university's rifle team since January.
In the most recent rankings, he was the sixth best rifle shooter in the nation, across all universities in the United States that have a rifle team.
"There is still a long way to go. The top two were already selected for the US Olympic team next year," Kiuru tells HS by phone.
KIURU has just woken up. The time difference to Finland is eight hours.
In Kentucky, there is already a summer. It is almost 90 degrees outside.
"It's been warm for two months now. It wasn't a real winter at all," laughs Kiuru.
 "Good care is taken here and everything works."
He was planning returning to Finland for the summer, but due to travel restrictions, Kiuru decided to stay in the USA until next school year.
He tried twice to return to Finland, but on both occasions the flights were canceled.
Kiuru lives on campus in his own two-room apartment which also has a kitchen.
"It's a nice thing. I will stay in this apartment for the summer and practice. At the same time, I have summer classes to do," Kiuru thinks about the future.
There are three years of business studies left for Kiuru. His major is marketing. Upon graduation, he will receive a bachelor's degree.
"A marketing manager would be a dream job," Kiuru answers the question of what he wants to be after he graduates.
During the season, Kiuru trains shooting for 20-25 hours a week. The team has workouts twice a week.
"It's good to get professional guidance, the quality is better than otherwise," Kiuru says.
Kiuru has a four-year scholarship in Murray. He has to take care of the plane tickets to Finland and back, as well as the spending money.
Although the school has ended for this semester, the university pays Kiuru some food allowance. Ammunition is also covered as Kiuru trains almost daily.
"Good care is taken here and everything works. In the winter, I got sick and got to the team doctor right away. He prescribed me the medication and after a couple of days I was back in training," Kiuru says.
According to Kiuru, the coronavirus situation was never as bad in Murray, as in the country's larger cities.
"Last week, Kentucky as a state began slowly open up to normal."
THIS SEASON, the university team had seven sports shooters. Next season, Murray's shooting team will grow to ten athletes. Kiuru is the only international rifle athlete on the team.
In all, there are couple of hundred shooters in the universities. The level remains high as university teams compete against each other on weekends.
In the matches, there's first 3x20 shots with smallbore rifle and after a break with an air rifle a 60-shot race.
"Rifle is a division I sport, but not a very big one. Yet on campus, people in general know us. They'll know if we are doing well," says Kiuru.
There has been something to follow, as Kiuru's rifle team has excelled in sports shooting.
MSU will compete with their Racers teams at the Ohio Valley Conference.
MSU has won the conference championship fourteen times and has regularly been among the top four in the U.S. University (NCAA) Championships.
So it was this year. However, the culmination of the season ended on the evening of the practice day, when it became known that the match had been canceled due to the coronavirus.
"It was an understandable decision," Kiuru says.
Kiuru fired so well during the spring that he was named the conference's best shooter in the air rifle and was selected to the All American team. The top eight shooters earned spots
"It was a really good achievement."
Kiuru got excited about sport shooting at the age of eleven when he got a hunting license.
"I immediately got hooked on to the sport and started competing. I'm still on that road. I've done a lot of traveling around the world shooting at international matches. Shooting is not a big sport in Helsinki," says Kiuru.
In Finland, he represents the Helsinki Police Shooting Association (PAS).
The decision to go to a U.S. university was a whim at the beginning, but it took two years to mature and arrange the practical matters.
"Quite a few people from Mäkelänrinne Sports High School representing different sports came here [to the United States]. It started to interest me too and I was wondering if it was possible? It was, even though there was enough work to figure it out and make it happen," laughs Kiuru.
KIURU is part of the Finnish Rifle Shooting National Team and he is an experienced athlete at an international championship stage.
Two years ago, he finished seventh at the World Championships in South Korea with a smallbore rifle. He also has a team bronze for both the European Championships and the World Championships.
What kind of shooter will you be when returning to Finland when your time at the university ends?
"There is no better place than this where I could get better and achieve my potential. For the Finnish National Team it is only advantageous that the shooter will develop, even if I am abroad, "Kiuru says.
Finland does not yet have a place in rifle sports for the next summer's Tokyo Olympics. The next opportunity is in next year's qualifiers.
It is literally also in Kiuru's sights.
"The ultimate goal is to get to the Olympics. Paris 2024 is a realistic possibility. You might be among the best shooters in the world and yet you still may not make it to the Olympics. It's not as easy as people usually think," says Kiuru.
Who?
â– Born July 1998 in Helsinki, 21 years old.
â– Â Residence in Helsinki.
â– Â Sport Shooter, events smallbore and air rifle.
■ Studies and trains at Murray State University, Kentucky (USA) years 2020–2023.
â– Â Club Murray State Racers.
â– Â Trains under coaching of Alan Lollar and Francis Wikström.
â– Â High School graduate from Mäkelänrinne Sports High, Spring 2018.
â– Â 7th at 2018 World Championships in Junior Men class, Junior Men ECH- and WCH-team bronze medalist, multiple podium finishes in international matches.
