Urheilu’s ski expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen wraps up the Tour de Ski’s hottest topics in the continuation of Urheilustudio.
The Tour de Ski had a double meaning this season. Test competitions were also held at the final location in Val di Fiemme, thinking about next year’s Olympics. The tracks modified for next year’s Olympics caused a stir.
Friday’s sprint course was condemned by almost everyone except Jasmine Joensuu. Opinions were divided about the 3.3-kilometer run used only in the 20-kilometer combined race. Some thought it was heavy, some thought it was light. Some liked it, some didn’t. Some opened up about the dangerousness of the course.
– Now it seemed that the tracks suited women better than men. Yes, something must be done about them. That has been discussed and the discussion will certainly continue, Urheilu’s expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen says Urheilustudio’s continuation.
In his opinion, it was now a mystery whether the tracks are good or bad. A special episode was also that in the test race it was possible to use only one of the tracks of the normal distance. The reason for that was that the landowner did not give permission to use the track on the traditional side. That’s why only one loop on the free skiing side was used.
– In Italian style, the pack is messed up, Saarinen summed up with a laugh about the root cause of the problems.
Surprise
To the Tour de Ski’s biggest surprise, Saarinen lifts the great Finnish winner of the tour Jasmine Joensuu. He immediately took the first World Cup podium place of his career in the freestyle sprint in the opening race of the Tour in Toblach.
In addition, Joensuu saw the best normal distance races of my career. Finally, Joensuu climbed Alpe Cermis for the first time in his career and was 15th in the final results of the Tour.
– Jasmi surprised. It was refreshing that he skied really well on the podium and even on normal trips. I wanted to see him skiing normal distances before. Now he could ski them from behind his shoulder. It was great, Saarinen praised.
A flop
The biggest disappointment at the Tour was the expert Finnish men. Only two Finns skied to the end of the Tour: Arsi Ruuskanen and Lauri Mountainous. Ruuskanen was the best Finn, being 19th in the overall results and more than five minutes behind the winner Johannes Hösflot from Kläbo.
The best individual results were Lauri Vuorinen’s eighth place in the free sprint in Toblach on the opening distance and Niilo Moilanen ninth place in Val di Fiemme in the traditional sprint. Niko Anttola skied his own best World Cup placings in the top 20 before having to miss the final climb due to respiratory symptoms.
The men’s expectations of success experienced a crash already on the eve of the Tour, when the number one name Ivo Neck was sidelined due to illness. Also celebrated a race win at the Tour last season Perttu Hyvärinen had to be sidelined at the last minute due to illness.
In addition to Anttola, Niilo Moilanen left the Tour prematurely. Finnish men fell from second to fourth in the cup between the countries during the Tour.
– Since the beginning of the season, Finnish men have had good rankings. It has shown that we have gone in the right direction. Now, the further I went on the Tour, the weaker I got. Are we relying on Iivo Niskanen again? That’s what I’m afraid of, Saarinen described.
What on earth?
Tour de Skille introduced a hill point competition as a novelty. In addition to the overall competition, the cavalcade already included a sprint points competition. These two have been criticized in the past for being difficult to understand, but now a third equally complicated competition was brought alongside.
– The points races within the Tour have been difficult to follow before. Why was another point competition like this started again? Saarinen was amazed.
What next?
There are only 7 weeks until the biggest games of the season, the World Championships.
Norwegian Therese Johaug and John Hösflot Kläbo were the overwhelming powers of this season’s Tour.
Johaug was not supposed to participate in the Tour, but he wanted to get more races. He described to that the victory was a pleasant surprise.
Aino-Kaisa Saarisen also thinks that Johaug’s performance improved during the Tour. Now he is waiting to see if Johaug’s wild ride will continue.
Before the Tour, a tough challenger was expected for Kläbo Harald Östberg of Amundsen. He took a convincing victory in the special race of the Tour in the Toblach 20 km freestyle race in the mountain scenery of the Dolomites, but fell ill after the pursuit race that followed.
– Will there be a pick-up for Amundsen? For all other athletes, it is good to monitor whether the curve goes up or down. For those who are sick, it is likely that the curve will go down, Saarinen said.
According to Aino-Kaisa Saarinen Kerttu On the neck the continuation of top performances requires recovery, because Niskanen had to do a lot of work alone in several long races.
– Kerttu performed absolutely insane, Saarinen finally won the number one title in this year’s Tour of Finland.