Dramatic second place for Lauri Vuorinen! The clueless Finnish hero needed Johannes Kläbo’s help: “Should I go somewhere?” | Sport

The cross-country skiing world cup culminates this weekend in Falun, Sweden. Kisarupeama started on Friday with traditional skiing sprints.

Lauri Vuorinen offered a great start to the Falun weekend in Finnish terms. He finished second in the final. Thus, in the last sprint race of the season, the first Finnish ranking of the season among the top three.

The position is the first personal podium finish for Vuori, 29.

Supplier Riku Salminen asked what Vuorinen said when he left victorious Johannes Hösflot Kläbon together with for a lap of honor.

– Yes, I asked Johannes after the race if we had to go somewhere. That’s why this is so basic oats. We didn’t have anything else to do, I just followed.

– I don’t think there have been many laps of honor before, so it’s a bit of a new thing for me. This podium is a really big deal, it makes it easier and it’s great. It’s rare for us Finns in a sprint.

This is how the dramatic race day progressed

The qualifiers offered huge disappointments for Finns. For example Jasmi Joensuu was completely broken in the interview after failing to qualify for the first time this season. Finnish women had bad problems with their equipment.

Successes were also seen. Lauri Vuorinen was third in the men’s qualifying, John Hill eighth. The women made it to the final stages Kerttu Niskanen and Johanna Matintalo.

In the heat stage, Matintalo was third in his own heat, Niskanen fifth and Mäki fourth. Those performances were not enough for the semi-finals, i.e. for the 12th group.

Instead, Lauri Vuorinen topped off his wonderful season with a real jackpot.

In the semifinals, only Norway managed to beat Vuorinen Harald Östberg Amundsen.

In the semi-final, Vuorinen finished fourth, while Kläbo, Erik Valnes and Amundsen. However, Vuorinen’s time was enough for the final from the time comparison, when the pace was not maintained in the second semi-final.

In the final, Vuorinen looked tired. At one point, Kärkinelikko was already significantly ahead, with Vuorinen in sixth place.

– In the previous rounds, he has been really cheerful here on the hill, but now all the pushes look tired. He just collapses on the poles and doesn’t have his body with him, said ‘s expert Ville Nousiainenwhen the final was just over a minute behind.

However, on the last ascent, Vuorinen started aggressively looking for overtakes. Vuorinen stung the top four on the uphill.

Then, in the fast, twisting descent to the stadium area, there was a wild drama. Swedish Johan Häggström and Erik Valnes crashed and fell. Vuorinen took third place.

– Oijjjoijjoij, the podium is there! Nousiainen called.

Towards the end of the straight, Kläbo led, then Amundsen, Vuorinen and Norway followed Even Northug. So the podium really didn’t look certain. At the start of the final stretch, Vuorinen was fourth.

– Now it was offered on a tray to Lauri. Now it has to be taken, Nousiainen said.

– Now let’s eat it! said the narrator Kimmo Porttila.

In the end, Vuorinen completely miraculously found the strength for the final straight, and he beat both Amundsen and Northug.

– An absolutely great day from Lauri. It was known before the final that he cannot beat two guys, Kläbo and Valnes. One fell, and then the others he was able to hit. Even though he was in trouble in the final and looked really bad on the hill, he was able to fight his way into the race, praised Nousiainen.

A great season in the mountains

Vuorinen himself considered his sprint day a success in all respects. There was some luck in the semi-finals, when the hard pace was enough from the time trial to the final.

– Yes, it was difficult in the final, and the final did not start as I would have liked. You always have to pull to the end and anything can happen. The end was really good, and I was still able to pick up a place from it.

Vuorinen pointed out that things got going in Ruka already in November. In between there was a “squat” in Östersund and Trondheim, but since then Vuorinen’s level has remained high.

– There have been opportunities to ski hard results earlier this season. Maybe the Finn’s sprint routine is not yet enough to get on the podium more often, but it’s great that I was able to do this after the end of the season.

So for Vuori, the first podium of his career in the World Cup on personal trips. In general, the first ranking among the top three came at the Salpausselkä World Cup, when Vuorinen was Iivo Niskanen with third in the pair sprint.

The current season has been a jackpot for Vuorin compared to the previous level. He has finished in the top 10 eight times, including relays.

There are five top 10 finishes in the individual sprint: 7th in Ruka, 7th in Toblach, 8th in Davos, 4th in Canmore and now second in Falun. The final spots have come in the traditional way of skiing, but there are still semi-final spots available.

Before this season, Vuorinen had six top-10 finishes in his entire career in the World Cup.

Vuorinen has been convincing this season also on normal trips. For example, in Lahti, he was 12th in the 20 kilometer distance.

Kläbo and Skistad

Kläbo has sovereignly dominated the World Cup lately. The win was his seventh in a row on personal trips.

However, due to illness, the World Cup victory is going to Amundsen. Kläbo took over Sprintticup.

The women’s race was won by Norway Kristine Stavås Skistad, for whom the sprint victory was the third in a row. However, the Sprint Cup victory went to Sweden Linn for Svahn.