Iivo Niskanen confused Vantaa in a way that was not expected – a surprise friend in the pair sprint | Sport

The audience at the Hakunila ski stadium watched in confusion as the three-time Olympic champion Iivo Niskanen arrived at the finish line in the 20-kilometer traditional skiing race in the so-called “other than others” places for him. Niskasen had time to greet the spectators who cheered him on, when he stopped the clock at 54:15.8 and took eighth place.

Niskanen had time to surprise the recent Finnish champion, Cross mat for Hakolaa few words, before even taking the skis off his feet.

– Iivo seems to have mentioned that there was no ice cream. It was pretty slow weather. I thought in the second round that if the champion’s hand lasts, then it’s a tough hand, Hakola said after the race.

Niskanen had also asked the ninth skier on the online course From Niilo Moilasen, did he have grips on the bottoms of his skis. When Moilanen had said that he was going to parties, Niskanen had stated that in Kuopio in the summer they would practice tasuri. The youth world champion, like many other skiers, has joined Savo’s ski mafia and moved to Kuopio.

After the competition, Iivo Niskas had time to answer the journalists’ questions, as he was not expected for the flowers or the medal distribution.

How would the party have gone?

For the first time in years, Finland’s number one skier had to acknowledge someone else’s traditional way of skiing as better on a normal distance. When he was asked why the last time he was other than number one, Niskanen had to think about the answer for a long time.

– Would there have been in Hakunila? There have been. I don’t remember, maybe the last time I was worse was in 2010, he laughed.

The last time Niskanen has been in traditional skiing in the SC championships was someone other than the winner in 2016 at Taivalvaara. In the Suomen Cup, Niskanen had to bow to Ristomatti Hakola in Rovaniemi 2018. Instead, the last time he was worse than eighth place on Saturday was in 2012, when Niskanen finished 14th in the 50 km traditional race in Imatra.

Niskanen didn’t want to explain his poor result, even though he sometimes switched gears in his answers. The day was fine for him, but he nevertheless made a crucial error of judgment when he started the race on flat thrust skis. Niskanen came to Hakunila on Friday evening, and did not visit the track in the morning.

– There was a rumor that the track would be an ice slide, but it wasn’t icy. It was a pretty tough set compared to yesterday, he stated, and he didn’t stop to think about what the result would have been if he had skied with grip creams.

– I don’t know if I would have stayed ninth.

“Slight miscalculation”

Three years ago, Niskanen took the SM gold in the 15 km traditional race with a push, but admitted that it was not a winning tactic now. He even thought about stopping after the first round, but he decided to continue in order to get training for the Holmenkollen 50 km race.

– I thought I would have skied well in the beginning, but I was already far away at the beginning. And you know that you get tired in the end when you push, Niskanen said and went around to take it in his head? – question.

– Let’s just say that if you thought in advance that Hakunila had easy tracks, today you had to be really tough.

In Ristomatti Hakola’s opinion, Niskanen gave the others a handicap when he went straight into traffic. According to Hakola, however, Niskanen would be the only one who could have made it through the trip with a tasur. If the race had been skied on Friday, when the weather was icy, Niskanen would probably have celebrated the championship again.

– But it’s always great to win that monster, a three-time Olympic champion. Even if she went without hands, Hakola glowed.

– A small misjudgment, and it makes you work, Niskanen finally acknowledged his race reflection with Tyyne.

Skiers in their twenties to pair sprint

Niskanen was supposed to ski the freestyle sprint in Hakunila already on Friday, but he was not seen in the race. Niskanen said that he intended to save money and miss someone from the weekend’s competitions. The options were a sprint or a pair sprint.

Puijo Ski Club would have had a great team in the pair sprint, if Perttu Hyvärinen would have participated in the Vantaa Games.

– The notification period had expired when Pera announced that he would not be skiing. That sprint was then not skied, Niskanen said and told that he would ski a pair sprint on Sunday Valtteri Pennanen22, with.

– Valtteri skied in his twenties yesterday and I myself skied in his twenties today, so we will be two men in their twenties tomorrow.

So Pennanen was 10th in the freestyle sprint on Friday. On Saturday, he was 20th in 20 kilometers.