Head coach of the cross country team Teemu Pasasella was a smile on his face after the Les Rousses World Cup co-start race, when he told Urheilu Iivo Niskanen back in the medal fight. Niskanen fell in Friday’s competition and slightly injured his leg, but there was no information about a leg injury in the traditional skiing race on Sunday.
Niskanen was active in the top fight and even challenged the world cup leader Johannes Hösflot Kläboa. The Norwegian was still unbeaten, but in the fight for second place, Niskanen defeated Sweden William Poromaan.
Kläbo was also excited about Niskanen’s strong skiing.
– It’s great to finally have him back. It has been a while. What he did in the last 1.5 kilometers was pretty good, Kläbo beamed.
– Hopefully he will be even stronger in the World Cup, and that is probably his plan. Great to have him back!
Niskanen himself was in a calm mood after the race. His comeback races had not been as successful as he would have liked, but “there have been some OK days”.
– Yes, you can be very happy here. I got to the ball and I found the ability to cope just fine, Niskanen talked after the race.
– Maybe a couple of weeks of training will weigh a little, what has been done. That kind of final sharpness is missing, but as the race progressed, the going got better. The last couple of pucks felt really good.
Handbrake on when climbing
Niskanen found positive aspects of his trip, including the fact that his skis were really slippery. Despite the poor grip, he continued to ski the entire 20 kilometers, and his strength did not run out of control.
– I had to ski a bit with the handbrake on those climbs to be able to finish well. The intention was that at the end, where the positions are decided, the ski and the man would be at their best. It worked, although of course I couldn’t challenge Kläbo. Tactical success for this track, though.
Niskanen has only skied a handful of competitions this season, as he fell ill with corona just before the start of the World Cup season. At the Tour de Ski, he left Oberstdorf in the middle of the 10 km traditional race, because the course was not to his liking. He missed last weekend’s WC as a precaution.
With only three weeks left until the World Championships in Planica, Niskanen is confident.
– Yes, I would have liked to have been on the schedule already in November before Ruka, but one bus was late. Then we’ll come with the next one. Isn’t it possible to go there in the middle of March from a perfectly OK situation, said Niskanen, who will next travel to the World Cup in Toblach.
“Language under the belt and let’s sing”
Perttu Hyvärinen has been hunting for a top ten finish this season, and from Les Rousses he finally succeeded. Hyvärinen was ninth in the race, even though he fell during the race.
– Great race. You have to be prepared for what our colonel Pasanen tells the relay sections to do, so I thought I’d practice a bit on the rear section, be in the race right from the start and try the front position a bit, grinned Hyvärinen, who led the race after the first round.
In Hyvärinen’s opinion, big conclusions can be drawn from the race regarding the World Championships in Planica.
– A joint departure is always a joint departure. There is no tactic in it. Let’s stick the tongue under the belt and let’s sing.
Hakola already feels better
One of the most satisfied Finns on Sunday had skied to 18th place Cross mat Hakola. Hakola, who struggled with health problems, was disappointed on Saturday when he was eliminated from the sprint heats. In the joint start race, he had to start from the rear, because he hasn’t raced that much this season, but he “sworded” himself steadily towards the top.
– At least I’m in a better mood than yesterday. It’s good to start building from there, Hakola stated, but refused to look to the future one day at a time.
– Let’s see how the diesel starts to roar. Not a big notch on it yet.
Unlike Niskanen and Hyvärinen, Hakola returns to Finland to train. Because he will compete next time, that’s what he refused to say. According to him, Planica’s World Cup speculations are mainly only in the media’s mind.
– Let’s see if I’ll come back in better spirits. I do not know when. Those comebacks have been made here several times, he smiled.