Urheilu’s skiing expert Aino–Kaisa About the islands speaks to an interesting early season on the women’s side. By the Christmas break, there have been eight races. There have been six different winners in these eight races. Only Therese Johaug and Jonna Sundling have taken two wins.
– It was said that Johaug will come back and win everything. The early season has been interesting in the sense that this has not happened. Sunday’s race in Davos reflected a smooth early season. Johaug started hard, but two harder ones passed, Saarinen pointed out.
Norwegian Astrid A mole Slind took the win. Finland Kerttu Neck also rose past Johaug, who was left in third place.
Of course, the beginning of the season has also included two abnormally large victories: Johaug in Lillehammer in the skiathlon and Frida Karlsson in a ten kilometer race on traditional Ruka.
What on earth?
Therese Johaug is also associated with weekend wondering. Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reportsthat Johaug had felt unwell during the race. Johaug admitted to NRK that he threw up on his skis and ski suit.
The Norwegian superstar explained his vomiting by suffering from altitude sickness for a long time. Davos is located more than 1,500 meters above sea level.
NRK’s expert Fredik Auckland had never seen Johaug as tired as he was on Sunday.
– This was a tough race. It’s been a long time since I skied high. I possibly started too hard, Johaug said to Norway’s Viaplay.
Aino-Kaisa Saarisen Johaug’s unwellness due to the altitude in Davos sounded special and surprising.
– Johaug has been very high during his life, Saarinen wondered.
The Norwegian superstar’s explanation raised a lot of questions.
– So have they come to Davos with a short preparation time? I myself have sometimes gotten high with only a day’s preparation and still skied to the podium. Is Johaug just getting sick? Saarinen pondered.
In other interviews with the Norwegian media, Johaug no longer referred to the height of Davos, but only talked about going too hard and throwing up. Thus was, for example, the Norwegian newspaper VG.
In Saarinen’s opinion, Johaug just seemed to have lost his fast start.
Surprise?
The biggest surprise of the weekend for Aino-Kaisa Saarinen were the top women in Finland Kerttu Neck and Krista Pärmäkoski. So Niskanen was second and Pärmäkoski fourth.
– Kerttu himself said that he has had a difficult early season. Now he has had an exceptionally difficult early season. I expected both Kertu and Krista to improve the pace, but this was a big improvement on previous races. Both appear to be on schedule. All followers of skiing can start celebrating Christmas with peace of mind, Saarinen stated.
A flop?
The Finns had a two-part weekend.
On Sunday, the Finns were able to ski on their parade trips. The result was two podium places in the men’s category Ivo Neck like his siblings, was second in the 20 km time trial in traditional skiing. On Saturday, we competed in this winter’s WC trip in the free sprint.
Tuon Saarinen turns the weekend into a flop. Only four Finns made it to the heats, i.e. to the top 30: Jasmine Joensuu (5th), Nile Moilanen (14..), Katri Lylynperä (20th) and Lauri Mountainous (25th).
Joensuu was really close to a podium place, which is rare for Finns. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen herself is the previous Finnish woman on the podium in the freestyle skiing sprint competition in the World Cup. That happened in Davos 2009.
According to Saarinen, Joensuu has started to consolidate his place in the sprint finals, when he has developed endurance even for normal distances. Finland still has a lot to do as a team.
– Free sprint, so oh well! There are good things along the way, but we’re just taking small baby steps forward. There would be a lot to do on that trip, Saarinen wondered.
What next?
The cross-country skiers are retiring now for the Christmas break. At the turn of the year, there will be a Tour de Ski, which is now exceptionally contested only in Italy. There are two competition locations, Toblach and Val di Fiemme.
In Saarinen’s opinion, the expectations of success are aimed at Finnish women Krista Pärmäkoske and Kerttu Niskase. He believes that successes at a high level in Davos will push fitness forward and the level will rise on other trips as well.
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen is more skeptical about Iivo Niskasen.
– Iivo is hard on traditional normal tours, but the Tour requires more skills and hard work. That’s just not enough, says Saarinen.
According to Saarinen, Sunday’s second place was a good performance from Iivo Niskanes. With the Norwegian winner of the competition Martin Löwstrom On Nyengeti according to the expert, flow mode was on. He would have been hard to beat.
– At Iivo, a basic ookoo performance is not enough to win. He has to be able to do better so that the victory will come like it did in Ruka, Saarinen estimates.
Updated at 7:24 am. Added Johaug’s comments to VG.