Planica World Cup skiing on channels 22.2.–5.3.2023. See the program and broadcast information of the World Ski Championships in this link.
Russian skiers are not seen competing in the World Championships in Planica. There is no need to repeat the reason anymore.
The exclusion of Russia from the Games naturally means that the number one skier of recent years will not be there Alexander Bolshunov be involved.
On Friday in Planica, the world’s best skier’s trip, the men’s combined competition, will be contested. Bolshunov is the reigning Olympic champion and world champion in the competition format.
Bolshunov’s absence is known to those preparing for Friday’s combined competition Iivo Niskanen a new situation.
Especially with the Norwegian Ski Association’s elections.
Only in Norway
– In Finland, you could choose the seaside where your house would go up.
It is about a Finnish journalist in Lahti in 2020 for a Norwegian Simen for Hegstad Krüger hose thrown by.
Krüger is the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic gold medalist in the medley and relay, and the silver medalist in the intermediate start. If Krüger were Finnish, he would live the aforementioned quote true.
However, Krüger’s success in Norway was only a part of the fjord country’s huge result from the Pyeongchang kickers: 39 medals were won, 14 of which were gold. That’s a Winter Olympic record.
When Niskanen was chosen as Finland’s athlete of the year with his 50 km Olympic gold in Pyeongchang, Krüger did not fit into the top 10 in Norway’s voting.
The 2018 Olympics were also a breakthrough in the combined competition for the winner of the first medal of his career, bronze For Hans Christer Holund.
Holund has since won the 50 km world championship in 2019 and collected a string of medals at the last World Championships.
In addition, a year ago, Holund was on the Norwegian team that won Olympic silver in the relay in Beijing. The medal in question and two fourth places in individual distances were enough for him to finish modestly instead of 100 in the Norwegian Athlete of the Year vote in 2022.
Only in Norway.
This season, Holund has been on the podium three times in the regular World Cup races and has averaged seventh place in the 11 races he has participated in. However, the Norwegian Skiing Federation announced on Thursday that this is not enough to qualify for Friday’s combined competition.
On Friday, Norway will rightfully be represented by those who took a double victory in the sprint and dominated the World Cup Johannes Hösflot Kläbo and Paul Golberg.
In addition to them, Krüger, the value race roller of the trip, will be seen at the starting line. This season, he has won a race in the World Cup, second place in the Tour de Ski, and behind Kläbo and Golberg, he was the Norwegian with the best Norwegian performances in individual competitions.
The fourth Norwegian competes instead of Holund Sjur Röthe. Röthe has lost 4–7 to Holund in the World Cup matches this season.
Where does Niskanen’s boyfriend come from?
Holund’s elimination from the representative crew of the Norwegian combined competition may sound like an indifferent matter. However, that is not what it is. Especially for Finns.
In top condition, Holund is, along with Bolshunov, the only skiers who can follow Niskas in the traditional skiing part of the combined race and be the driving force in the 15 kilometers of free skiing.
For Niskanen, the combined competition usually serves as a good opening move for the main event, which has also become a potential medal journey for him as his free technique has developed. It was realized a year ago in Beijing.
However, Niskanen needs a skier for the traditional section that works for his front teeth, who can match his release and is ready to keep pace in the free. In order for Niskanen to maintain his chance for a medal, the Kiritniks must not be in close contact on the final stretch.
Holund is known as a skier whose finish is one of the worst on the ski tour. Therefore, in order to be on the medals, he has to solve the game well before the final rounds. This would have fit Niskanen’s playbook perfectly.
After the Norwegian Ski Federation’s decision, one has to ask whether Röthe, who replaced Holundi, is Niskanen’s partner to try to break away until the finish line.
In any case, it is certain that Niskanen will have to do without his two best friends for this task, Bolshunov and Holundi, on Friday.