The head coach of the Finnish national skiing team, Teemu Pasanen, tells Urheilu that Iivo Niskanen is currently scheduled to participate in the Tour de Skill.
Simo Arkko,
Kimmo Porttila
Finland’s top star in cross-country skiing Iivo Niskanen will participate in the Tour de Ski starting on New Year’s Eve. That’s how the head coach of the national cross country team says Teemu Pasanen In an interview with Urheilu.
– At the moment, the idea is that Iivo would probably get there already. We’ll see how the next few weeks’ training goes. He has already been able to practice a little. He should get there, Pasanen tells Urheilu.
Niskanen has not participated in the early season competitions, as he received the crown just before the Ruka World Cup weekend.
However, Niskasen has good memories of last year’s Tour, when he was historically third overall. It was the first time that a Finnish male skier reached the top three in the overall competition.
For now Joni Mäki, Lauri Vuorinen and Eveliina Piippo have announced that they will not be seen participating in the Tour de Ski. Krista Pärmäkoski on the other hand, said that he would stay in Davos to train before the start of the Tour de Ski.
The size of the Finnish national ski team at the Tour is probably around 10–12 skiers.