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The Finnish national skiing team has announced the teams for the first competition trip of the World Cup weekend in Lahti. In the pair sprint on Friday, Finland has two teams, both men and women.
Ladies:
Krista Pärmäkoski and Johanna Matintalo
Anne Kyllönen and Jasmi Joensuu
Gentlemen:
Iivo Niskanen and Lauri Vuorinen
Cross mat Hakola and Ville Ahonen
There are a couple of big surprises among the teams. ‘s experts Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Jussi Piirainen raved in advance how there are an exceptionally large number of strong alternatives for pair sprints in Finland: Iivo Niskanen, Ristomatti Hakola, Niilo Moilanen, Joni MäkiLauri Vuorinen…
Instead, Ville Ahonen’s name was not found in the preliminary speculations. Ahonen, 29, has competed in the World Cup this season only in Ruka at the season opener. Then he failed to qualify in the sprint and in the 10 km traditional he was 30th.
The last time the traditional skiing pair sprint was in the program of the World Cup in Lahti 2019. At that time, Iivo Niskanen and Ristomatti Hakola were third after two Norwegian teams.
Lauri Vuori and Joni Mäke were considered to be perhaps the most likely number one pair for Finnish men. Both were recently in the traditional sprint finals in Canmore. However, Iivo Niskanen’s rise is not a big surprise.
– When Iivo is fit, he is a very strong messenger of the pair sprint. He has competed so little that it might be good that he is skiing a pair sprint. There are several teams in Finland, so I believe that he will ski in one of the teams, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen said earlier.
Instead Kerttu Niskanen is clearly concentrating fully on the 20 km intermediate start for his main trip on Saturday.
– Kerttu is in great shape. I believe that the Home Audience and the pleasant skiing technique will interest him. Johanna Matintalo is probably the other one, because she has seen good progress in traditional sprints. Of course, Jasmi Joensuu can also be Kertu’s friend, predicts Jussi Piirainen.
It so happened that Niskanen won’t compete on Friday, but Pärmäkoski, who showed great improvement in Kuopio’s Suomen Cup, will already be seen in the pair sprint.
SWEDISH:
Ladies:
Linn Svahn and Jonna Sundling
Frida Karlsson and Maja Dahlqvist
Gentlemen:
Johan Häggström and Calle Halfvarsson
William Poromaa and Marcus Grate
The list is being completed…
Lahti World Cup program
shows all the competition events on its channels and they are followed moment by moment in the app and on Urheilu’s website.
Friday 1.3.
9.55 Hill jumping, women, 1st round (HS130)
10.55 Hill jumping, women, 2nd round
2:40 p.m. Qualifying cross-country pair sprint (p)
16.40 Cross-country skiing pair sprint finals (p)
16.40 Hill jumping, men, qualifying (HS130)
17.55 Hill jumping, men, 1st round
19.10 Hill jumping, men, 2nd round
Saturday 2.3.
9.50 Cross-country skiing, women, 20 km split start (p)
11.25 Combined, men, hill section of the pair sprint (HS130)
12.55 Cross-country skiing, men, 20 km split start (p)
15.15 Combined, men, the skiing part of the pair sprint
17.10 Hill jumping, men’s team competition, 1st round (HS130)
18.20 Hill jumping, men’s team competition, 2nd round
Sunday 3.3.
10.10 Cross-country skiing, sprint qualifying (v)
10.55 Combined, men, hill section (HS130)
12.40 Cross-country skiing, sprint heats (v)
14.55 Combined, men, skiing section (10 km)
16.55 Hill jumping, men, 1st round (HS130)
18.10 Hill jumping, men, 2nd round