Iivo Niskanen won Finnish Championship gold and Ristomatti Hakola was second in Rovaniemi. Behind Niskanen and Hakola, Ville Ahonen took the first personal Finnish Championship medal of his career.
Sakari Lund,
Laura Arffman
3.4. 17:33 • Updated 3.4. 17:43
Iivo Niskanen took his own 50 kilometers of traditional skiing in the Finnish Championships in Rovaniemi. Niskanen didn’t leave to tear everything off, but took two minutes to leave Ristomatti Hakola caught before the start of the last ten and then skied to the finish line together with Hakola. Hakola took the silver. Strictly speaking, the difference came to 2.01.3.
Niskanen’s profit margin was thus lower than that of his sister Kertu, who had it in the previously thirty 3.07.
– It was meant to ski Rise closed and then fold the distance to what amused. It was nice to ski around that it wasn’t necessary to hit everything in the game, Niskanen stated.
Like Kertu, he has Lapponia skiing in front of him, which starts tomorrow with a distance of 60 kilometers and then there are still 50 kilometers and 80 kilometers ahead. There was now more power left in storage.
– Of course, you should always ski until the finish line. The snow came to an end, so I was allowed to ski until the end.
According to Niskanen, the season that ended was great for him. The gifts of the Beijing Olympics were a gold medal in the 15-kilometer traditional, silver in the double print and a bronze in the combined competition.
– Yes, you have to be happy with the season. The World Cup season culminated in the victory in the distance cup and instead of the third in the overall race, it speaks volumes. And most of all, the fact that the main races of the season went to the finish line successfully.
For Hakola, the season has been difficult and he didn’t want to remember it anymore. However, the Fifty Championships went well.
– Surprisingly, I escaped Iivo. Then when Iivo caught up, we came up with a nice pace and went through what we have seen during the race. On the flat, it is best to talk, on the uphill we don’t talk to Iivo.
Bronze took Ville Ahonen 4.55 Lost to the neck. For Ahonen, the medal was his first personal championship.
– It matters a lot, it has been a goal for a long time. Anyway, this has been a good season, long-term goals have been achieved.
In addition to the Finnish Championship medal, Ahonen also won World Cup points. He was on points for both sprinting in Oberstdorf and 50 kilometers at Holmenkollen.
It was number one in the Finnish Cup Joni Mäkiwho was only 16th on Sunday over 12 and a half minutes lost to Niskanen.