Urheilu’s expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen was there when the Finnish skiers celebrated their double victory last time. He was happy that Kerttu Niskanen “entered” the Falun race.
Finnish women dazzled on Saturday in the 10 km traditional skiing competition in Falun. Kerttu Niskanen and Johanna Matintalo took the double win and Krista Pärmäkoski completed the result with ninth place.
The last time the Finns celebrated a double victory on New Year’s Eve 2008, the winner was Virpi Kuitunen (now Sarasvuo) and second is the current Urheilu expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen.
– Unbelievable that such a long time has passed, and now the women of Finland exploded the bomb. A really hard performance overall. Johanna and Kerttu were clearly the two best skiers, because Jonna Sundling was far behind them, Saarinen stated.
Throughout the season, Saarinen has reminded us that success in every area is necessary for success. From the end of the season, the mood of the skiers often varies daily, but on Saturday, both Niskase and Matintalo were in the right mood. In addition to this, the Finnish maintenance team also did a great job.
– Both of them have had a good foundation. It’s easy to start making an effort. Of course, there has been a lot of variation and maintenance has had its own challenges, but today everything was successful. It made this a perfect day, and it was also manna for the rest of us Finns.
In Friday’s sprint, Finland’s maintenance was not successful for everyone, but Saarinen reminds us that it was not a disaster. Lauri Vuorinen skied second, and you can’t get to the prize places with bad skis.
– Even if the maintenance is successful, there is always variation in ski selection or equipment among the athletes. Yesterday’s maintenance was a lot on the plus side, additional lessons were learned from the day and today there were more successes.
Apologies, although the prediction did not go completely wrong
After the Holmenkollen Games, Saarinen doubted whether Kerttu Niskanen’s best condition of the season would remain in North America in February.
Niskanen seemed offended by the comment, and Saarinen stated in Urheilu’s chat that he owed an apology.
– Lahti, Kollen and Drammen were not as good for Kertu as the North American results. The skiing also looked stickier. I said in the same interview that when a really good day happens and the maintenance is successful, the podium is possible. So my prediction didn’t quite go wrong, Saarinen laughed.
– This was a really good stretch and success. I hope that we will continue to “make sense” and do things brilliantly. Kerttu dared to go fast today and lasted until the end. Both Kerttu and Johanna succeeded in speed sharing. The race went 100% to the button.
There is potential for success in Trondheim
In Saarinen’s opinion, Matintalo’s second place in particular was important, not only for the skier himself, but also for the entire women’s team.
Matintalo’s early season was difficult due to contracting the corona virus, but since then he has skied steadily. The second place was his first prize place in the World Cup on normal distances, before this he had been third twice in the sprint.
– This is really important for the next season. Now Finland has three strong standard distance skiers who have skied for awards. It is extremely important for the team.
Saarinen reminds that next season at the World Championships in Trondheim, the pair sprint and the 10 km intermediate start race will be skied in the traditional way – that is, with the strongest technique of Kerttu Niskanen and Johanna Matintalo.
– The chances of success in next year’s prize competitions are now potentially increasing, Saarinen stated.