The victory in Holmenkollen’s 50-kilometer race was still not achieved by Iivo Niskanen. Norway took a triple victory under Martin Löwström Nyenget.
Iivo Niskanen fought from the first victory of his career in the Holmenkollen 50 kilometers race to the last kilometers. However, even the pre-favorite was left in fourth place when the Norwegians grabbed a triple victory in front of the home crowd. It was the first time the Norwegian men grabbed a triple victory in Holmenkollen’s 50-kilometer World Cup.
Winner of the competition Martin Löwström Nyenget passed the finish line first in 2.03,27.3. Sjur Röthe was 0.6 seconds away and Didrik Tönseth 3.5 seconds from the tip. Niskanen was 11.1 seconds behind the Norwegian winner. He defeated Sweden in the final fight William Poroman In 0.1 second.
– In the end, there were cramps in both stretchers. I was pretty sure this was going well, but I wasn’t able to give that end to the kind I wanted. The skis worked just fine, the muscles just weren’t good enough. The end was a bit awkward when both coaches were out of the game, Niskanen commented in an interview with Sports.
– Maybe you can wonder if it made sense to hit the hill tactically in each round. It was hard when everyone assumed I was keeping up the pace. Expenditure was passivated in many rounds. Your own fifth round could have saved more. But the skiing felt pretty good and went as I thought.
About other Finns Perttu Hyvärinen was 19th (+3.37.30), Ville Ahonen 22: s (+4.07.0) Ristomatti Hakola 28: s (+5.50.8) and Lauri Lepistö 38: s (+6.40.5). Remi Lindholm interrupted due to back problems.
This is how the competition progressed
The men started the race calmly and the pace in the opening round was slow. Niskanen redeemed the maximum bonus points from another breakpoint.
After the first round, the Norwegians Harald Östberg Amundsen led were in the sixth lead. However, the differences were small, and Niskanen, who was eighth at the 8.3-kilometer breakpoint, was just two seconds from the top.
Niskanen was also the first to record for the second intermediate point, where bonus points were distributed. Niskanen led the third round. About Finns Remi Lindholm left the game in the middle after two rounds due to back problems.
Niskanen let the others pull the hose at times, but rose to the top again with a third bonus point.
Starting for the fourth round, Hyvärinen and Niskanen skied in the top hose in a row with nine and ten. However, Niskanen took over again when it came to fourth place. Hyvärinen had a bit of a challenge to keep up with the top group, but he skied with the tail of the top group.
Leaving for the second round, all the top skiers in Norway, with the exception of Östberg Amundsen in Norway, went to change their skis. Niskanen kept his tactics to the end and also grabbed bonus points from a 36.2-kilometer break. After that, the Finnish skier seemed to slow down and let the top group members pass.
– That was part of the tactic. There were so few outfits and I had made a pretty hard hit for the fifth lap ascent after changing skis. I did a little bit to get others to pull, Niskanen revealed.
Two kilometers later, Niskanen was eighth in the top group. Hyvärinen was already a minute and a half away from the top group.
Niskanen skied with the tail of the top group for the next kilometers. When starting the final round, Niskanen was five seconds away from Martin Löwström Nyenget, who was leading the team. Just over six kilometers before the goal, Östberg Amundsen was 15 seconds behind.
By the time the final bonus point reached 44.5 miles, the top group had shrunk to six skiers. Niskanen was fourth in the group and received eight bonus points. Hyvärinen was two and a half minutes behind the tip.
Niskanen persevered, but at the end of the race, the Norwegian trio went.
In Swiss skiing Dario Colognalle Holmenkollen’s competition was the last in his career. The farewell race was darkened by the drifting to the forest side off the trail as Cologna had to dodge the Norwegian Simen Hegstad Krügeriawho fell in front of a Swiss man.
Kläbo secured World Cup victory
Niskanen is third in the World Cup overall. Norwegian Johannes Hösflot Kläbo was sidelined by Holmenkollen because of the corona, but has already secured a World Cup victory. Second in total points Alexander Bolshunov like other Russian skiers, he will no longer compete in the World Cup this season.
The World Cross Country Cup will culminate next weekend in Falun, Sweden. It was originally scheduled to compete a week later in Tyumen, Russia, but the race was canceled due to Russian hostilities. On Friday, the International Ski Federation FIS announced that no replacement race could be found for the Russian race.