Kerttu Niskanen is starting to recover. In the final race of the World Cup weekend in Trondheim, he was already fifth.
Anu Karttunen,
Kimmo Porttila
Kerttu Niskanen has been able to get himself in such shape after a rough early season that he can fight for the top positions.
In Trondheim, he was responsible for the best Finnish result, when he was fifth in the 10 km freestyle skiing race. However, the difference to the top was still 42.1 seconds. Before this, Niskanen was 11th in the combined race on Saturday and 16th in the free sprint on Friday.
– Of course, this was one of those games where I wanted to be on the podium. But if you rewind the season, this has not gone as it should have. Not even there. The beginning of winter has been difficult. The main thing is that the rankings go up little by little, Niskanen stated after Sunday’s race.
During the weekend, the skiers’ ski equipment and the success of maintenance in Finland have become a topic of conversation, but Niskas had nothing to complain about after Sunday’s race. In his opinion, the fleet was competitive.
– Today was also competitive skiing. It depends on my fitness that I’m not in the top fight yet, Niskanen assured.
– The skis worked well, the grip was good and it was nice to ski. The differences were big either way and the winner (Victoria Carl) was overwhelming. Today was icy and fast weather in places, but still there were differences.
Niskanen plans to contract this season and ski as many World Cup races as he can, preferably all of them. The turn-of-the-year Tour de Ski is next on the program, so can we expect prize positions from Niskas, who is in good shape.
– I can’t promise anything, because this doesn’t always go the way you want. The early winter hasn’t gone as smoothly as the late summer and fall. It has been challenging when I moved to the snow. But there is so much time until the snow melts. I won’t give up, beep, give it! he laughed.
1. Victoria Carl GER 28.13,6
2. Rosie Brennan USA + 19.6
3. Ebba Andersson SWE + 21.6
4. Jessie Diggins USA + 28.3
5. Kerttu Niskanen FIN + 42.1
22. Anne Kyllönen FIN +1.41.8
44. Eveliina Piippo FIN +2.35.0
47. Tiia Olkkonen FIN +3.14.8
Jasmi Joensuu FIN DNF