Here is one of the highlights of the cross-country season – the final week of the World Cup left much to be desired, especially in the women’s sprint

In the last games of the cross-country skiing World Cup season, the most interest is focused on the women’s sprint. Kerttu Niskanen is struggling to win the distance cup.

On its channels, broadcasts all the events of the Salpausselkä Games from Friday to Sunday, March 24–26.

The cross-country skiing World Cup season culminates this week in Tallinn and Lahti’s Salpauselä. Free sprint skiing is held in Tallinn. On the backstroke, on the other hand, the program includes free pair sprints, a free individual sprint and a 20 kilometer traditional co-start.

There is not much stake in the remaining races. Kerttu Niskanen is strong as the winner of the overall competition for normal trips. He is 22 points ahead of the USA Jessie Diggins.

However, in the traditional sense, Niskanen is fundamentally better than the United States, so mostly getting sick or having a breakdown can take the win away from the Finn.

Although Niskanen’s victory in the distance cup seems likely, Nousiainen reminds, everything is always possible.

– It can be a bad lubrication day. Then he’s in trouble with Diggins. However, it is a theoretical possibility.

The most interesting battle is for the victory of the women’s sprint cup. Swiss Nadine Fähndrich leads before the last two races by five points ahead of Sweden Maja Dahlqvist. Dahlqvist was third in Saturday’s Falun sprint and Fähndrich was fourth.

The Swiss is one of the colors of the season. The World Cup season has otherwise been mainly a celebration of Norway and Sweden. Fähndrich won three World Cup competitions in the beginning of the season.

However, the 27-year-old Fähndrich has not come out of any box. In 2021, he won the Paris Sprint World Cup silver Laurie van der Graaff with.

– He has been able to perform even more consistently. More skiers like Fähndrich would be needed from Central European countries. It would be good if the supremacy of Norway and Sweden could be broken by the forces of more countries and more athletes, Uhreilu’s expert Ville Nousiainen says.

Fähndrich has won both free and traditional this season. According to Nousiainen, Fähndrich is technically nothing special. He used to start sprints always at full throttle.

– Technically, he is not the best. He’s more of a poet type. Now he has much more composure and tactical knowledge. It comes through experience.

Fähndrich has the potential to develop into a tough normal distance skier as well.

– His technique should become a little smoother. It has steam on all the time. Add smoothness to it and Tatsia in the snow, and on a normal trip the going will become more stable, analyzes Nousiainen.

Iivo Niskanen can soften

Norwegian superstar Johannes Höfslot Kläbo has set the men’s single-season wins record this season. Saturday’s sprint win was his 17th.

The women’s single-season winning record is Therese Johaugin 20 first places. Kläbo can put it aside if he wins all three remaining individual races.

Kläbo doesn’t really have any weaknesses.

– His only weakness is on a normal trip. He is not so economical to ski the hoe uphill like many others. That’s his weakness. On all other trips, he wins if he is fit, says Nousiainen.

On Salpauselkä, you should focus on young Finnish skiers. Youth world champion and Planica’s relay bronze medalist Niko Anttola is the absolute number one name in the youth field this season.

– Niko Anttola’s progress on a normal trip is worth following. It will also be interesting to see how our sprint team does.

Traditional intermediate start competitions have often been skied in Lahti. So now the program includes a 20-kilometer ass as a joint start. Been away from the Falun weekend Iivo Niskanen skied second on that trip at the beginning of the year in France.

– It is Iivo’s screen location. He can bomb if his health hasn’t gone down. He has been riding for a few weekends, so he has good snacks.

– Salppur has good terrain. He can soften up the crowd there.