Niskanen tried with a small risk to rehabilitate himself so that he would have made it to the Tour de Skille. Taking risks caused the disease to worsen. The man’s expectations for the Oberhof World Cup are very moderate.
The most interesting Finnish name in the World Cup, which started with sprints in Germany’s Oberhof on Friday, turned 32 years ago a week ago Iivo Niskanen. The competition break from the Trondheim World Cup accumulates for more than a month. Niskanen fell ill in Norway with a persistent infection.
– There hasn’t been much to tell the public when I haven’t trained for over a month. I haven’t done anything in the snow that I would call training. Of course there have been arguments about the frost in Kuopio. I’ve been trying to do something inside, mostly on the treadmill.
The disease caused many setbacks and disappointments.
– Sometimes it was better for a period of about a week, but then it came back. Fluctuations in temperature and total hypothermia, Niskanen told Urheilu on Friday morning from Oberhof.
He considered for a long time the coach Olli Ohtonen with that he would not travel to Thuringia to compete yet.
– Normally, I wouldn’t have come, but when Saturday’s trip is a 20-kilometer joint start with a traditional one, it inspired me to go. Vire is frankly not animalistic and at least my expectations are very moderate, Niskanen laughed.
A little gluttony
At Christmas time, his health seemed to be going in such a direction that Niskanen would have been able to participate in the Tour de Skille, the program of which this time included no less than 45 kilometers of traditional skiing, the most suitable for him.
– There must have been a little bit of greediness with the time, and the illness set me back.
On Thursday, Niskanen went skiing in Oberhof on new snow on an otherwise heavy competition track, which is mostly known for biathlon. Niskanen has competed in Oberhof once, at the age of 20 at the end of December 2012. Placement in Tour de Ski’s four kilometer prologue (v) was 80th, winner Petter Northug was 46 seconds faster.
– I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sick on the trip. I watched the next day’s race in the hotel on a picture tube TV the size of a postage stamp and then I went back home.
Doesn’t fall out of the hose
Niskanen hopes that Friday’s sprint will serve the metabolism so that the body is more ready to receive the shock of the competition on Saturday.
– Of course, the basic level must be such that I’m not about to fall off the hose on Saturday. The metabolic situation is an enigma after a long competition and training break.
The three-time Olympic champion has done well in competitions twice this season. In Muonio, on November 11, he won a tough 10 kilometer (p) international competition and finished second in the Kuusamo World Cup on November 25.
– I got sick in Trondheim in the summer during the roller skating tournament and in December during the World Cup. Let’s hope it won’t be until next year’s World Cup.
Last season, Niskanen contracted the corona virus before the start of the World Cup, and the competition break accumulated as much as 1.5 months. The 20 km joint start was contested once in the Cup last season. With excellent skiing, Niskanen finished second in France’s Les Rousses on January 29, ahead of only Norway’s Johannes Hösflot Kläbo.