Iivo Niskanen is participating in the Tour de Ski tour that starts on Saturday, but he will probably only ski the first three races. Urheilu’s expert Kalle Lassila considers the plan to be expected.
The Tour de Ski starts on Saturday with sprints. See the Tour’s program and ‘s broadcast information from this link.
Iivo Niskanen the plans for the skiing Tour de Skill have become more detailed. Niskanen plans to ski at least the first three races of the tour and then decide on his continuation. Niskanen fell ill with the corona virus before the opening of the Ruka season and has not competed in the early season World Cups.
– I believe that I can ski a single race at a sufficiently good level, but the whole Tour may be too much for this point. The preliminary plan is to ski the first three races and then see where we go, writes Niskanen In your Instagram update (you switch to another service).
Niskanen, who trained hard on Christmas day, leaves the tailgate to ski the last legs of the Tour.
– It goes without saying that if the tour continues, the feeling and the results must be good and serve the preparation for the World Championships in Planica in the best possible way.
“A completely expected plan”
The possible solution to ski only a part of Tour must be understood when Niskanen’s early winter has been left in tatters.
– A completely expected plan. At the beginning of the tour, traditional routes are skied, which of course suit Iivo. The Tour is such a great strain that it is not worth skiing in its entirety if there is uncertainty in the background, Urheilu’s expert Kalle Lassila evaluate.
According to Lassila, Niskanen knows how to get himself in top shape for the World Championships in Planica, even if there are few starts before the prestigious championships.
– For most of the world’s top skiers, it is important to get hard international starts. But Iivo is one of the few who doesn’t need much comparison to others. He knows how to win traditional trips in international races, says Lassila.
In the World Championships, Iivo’s main trip, a 50-kilometer co-start with traditional skiing, will be held on the final day, March 5.
– I expect Iivo to be at the top already in these Tour skis, because he wants to succeed every time he is on the starting line. On the other hand, the 50th prize competition is always a completely special competition. None of the previous competitions of the season prepares for that, Lassila points out.
A last-minute change for the Tour gets a blunt verdict
The Tour de Ski tour starts with freestyle sprints on New Year’s Eve in Switzerland’s Val Müstair. The 10-kilometer traditional pursuits planned for Sundays have been changed to joint starts. In the background is the poor snow situation of Val Müstair.
– There would have been a great skiing competition in Tieto, which was largely destroyed by this change. The joint start race is not a celebration of skiing in that terrain, Lassila regrets.
The change makes it difficult for Finns to succeed.
– To the Finnish success favorites of the Tour, Iivo and Kerttu Niskanen mixed Krista Pärmäkoski, the change is not favorable. But for skiers whose strengths are on the sprint side, the change is positive, Lassila estimates.
From Val Müstair, the tour moves to Oberstdorf in Germany and Val di Fiemme in Italy next week. There will be challenging weather, because according to the forecasts, the thermometer will hover closer to ten degrees.