The broadcast of the sports studio starts at 11:15 on TV2 and Areena.
The broadcast of Puhe starts at 11:25.
at 11:30 combined, hill section HS138, men
at 13:00 skiing, 30 km (p), joint start, women
at 16:00 combined, ski section 10 km, men
at 17:30 ski jumping HS138, men, team competition
What are we talking about?
The Finnish men’s relay team had read the script well and executed it perfectly: the traditional sections break up and dominate, the free sections ensure a medal.
Norway immediately ran away in the opening leg of the 4×10 km relay, but more dimmed medals were available to several countries. Finland’s opener Cross mat Hakola was a big question mark, but he stayed well in the top fight. Iivo Niskanen did what he does best in the second leg and broke up the main crowd with his strong drive.
Perttu Hyvärinen got to the third leg in second, more than half a minute away and held the position until the end. World Cup first-timer Niko Anttola instead, he kept a cool head and completed Finland’s silver medal.
Sports expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen thought the team’s performance was great, but he wants to highlight above all the coaching and the head coach Teemu Pasanen tactical success
– I myself would have chosen Hakola as the starter, but the fact that Pasanen dared to take Anttola as anchor was brave. I myself had envisioned him for the third part. Now he was thrown directly into the wolf’s mouth, Saarinen said.
– It was a great and brave solution. The young man was put in a bad place, but it worked.
Anttola, 20, showed that he is a ready bearer of responsibility and did not flinch in a high-pressure situation. His skiing was quite mature. In Saarinen’s opinion, Finland succeeded in the men’s relay above all as a team.
– The whole thing was resolved. The athletes succeeded, but so did the coaching and maintenance. All three areas succeeded perfectly in the competition.
Who surprised?
Niko Anttola turned 20 a few weeks ago. The recent junior world champion had a really tough job as anchor of the relay team. The place could have been too tough for many, but even though Anttola admitted that he was nervous, he said that he went to the anchor section with a calm mind.
– Nothing was really on my mind at that point. It was just going, he stated calmly.
Urheilu’s experts had enough words about the youngster, because Niko Anttola is Kalle Lassilan, Ville Nousiainen and Matias Strandvallin think the future maker.
Anttola is known for his hard maximal oxygen uptake capacity, but besides that he is technically skilled, durable, fast, knows how to use his skis to his advantage.
Known as a good golfer, Anttola also has a very good eye for the game, and he himself has actively studied different skiing techniques.
– He still needs to develop a little everywhere, but he can read himself the areas that he needs to develop. That’s rare, especially for someone so young, Strandvall said.
Who flopped?
The Swedish men had to fight for medals, but the result was a bitter sixth place. Just like after the women’s relay, when Sweden fell from the championship to bronze, the Swedish camp began to buzz after the competition.
Skied the third stage William Poromaa got tired of television cameras and showed the middle finger to SVT’s cameraman. Calle Halfvarsson instead criticized the coaching staff for putting him in the anchor section.
– If I am chosen as an anchor, what should I do? Just trying my best. But with that in mind, it would have been better to put Poromaa on the last leg. I wouldn’t have received a single sprint cannon, Halfvarsson told SVT.
Urheilu’s expert Ville Nousiainen, on the other hand, thanked Halfvarsson for cheating Finland of a medal with his skiing. Halfvarsson did not lead the yacht group very actively.
– I understood in time that we won’t catch Finland. Then I tried to lower the tempo in order to stay in the fight for bronze, Halfvarsson told Sporten.
What next?
The number of races is decreasing, but Finland’s medal chances are improving. On Saturday, the women will ski a 30-kilometer traditional cross-country race, which is Kerttu Niskanen the main trip in these games.
Niskanen himself said after the message that he feels that he has never before come in such good shape to a prestigious competition. However, the individual medals have so far been around at the World Cup level.
– However, there is still one last attempt! Niskanen reminded.
Niskanen himself expects the competition to be interesting and his worst opponents to be, among others, Germany Katharina Hennig and Norway Astrid Öyre Slindi.
– Of course, Swedes are counted in their own caste, Niskanen laughed in reference to Frida Karlsson and to Ebba Andersson.
Saturday’s race might be Krista Pärmäkoski the last value race start of a long career. However, Pärmäkoski himself did not want to speculate on the matter yet.
Ville Nousiainen believes that the men’s relay medal on Friday will give the skiers of the Finnish team additional energy for the competition.
– Before the Games, I said that the two best medal distances in Finland are the women’s 30 kilometers, Kerttu Niskanen and Krista Pärmäkoski are good favorites, and the men’s 50 kilometers and Iivo Niskanen as the favorite. One medal has now been obtained, and the best trips are still ahead, Nouaisinen said.
– Finland has a good chance to get a medal from these, especially since both Kerttu and Iivo showed in the relay that traditional works.