Is this the breeding ground for Iivo Niskanen’s problems? The coach dismissed the doubts and laughed at his star athlete’s hustle | Sport

Lahti’s second place gave Iivo Niskanen a lot of confidence. The gestures in the goal were a perfect contrast to Kuusamo’s stick banging, which made coach Olli Ohto laugh.

Ruka, 25 November 2023. Norwegian Martin Löwström Nyenget blow From Iivo Niskas 10 km (p) victory by a margin of only 2.9 seconds.

The Finn reacted to the disappointment by throwing his 500-euro carbon fiber pole at the project, which the representatives of the brand, which gained enormous visibility through the episode, were at least speechless.

Lahti, March 2, 2024. Norwegian Johannes Hösflot Kläbo displaces Niskanen from the winning woman by 24 seconds. The sticks are left alone when Niskanen received the Norwegian with a bear hug at the finish line.

Between these two episodes, the leading topic of discussion in Finnish sports at the end of last week and the beginning of this week was Niskanen and Kalle Parantainen clash in Kuopio’s Suomen Cup, based on the results of which Niskas seemed to have little chance of returning to the top fight at Lahti’s 10 kilometers (p).

– There have been challenges here, laughed Niskanen’s long-time coach Olli Ohtonen For Urheilu on Saturday afternoon.

He had quickly gone to congratulate his athlete and returned to his work. Ohtonen and his teams collect and analyze competition data from the World Cup, for example for the use of competition projects.

– They say that today there was no reason to throw sticks or be dissatisfied. When Iivo staked his end-of-season main competition in January, this day was the second of them and the result was very good considering the starting points. Even second place with a taste of victory, Ohtonen said.

The Oslo win is missing

Niskanen said at the end of January that he is practically moved by two competitions for the rest of the season, i.e. the Lahti World Cup 20 km (p) intermediate start and of course the Oslo 50 km mass start next weekend. Its victory he still lacks; second place is in the poster.

The most recent victory in the World Cup competition had come specifically from Lahti on March 17, 2022, when Kläbo took 15 kilometers (p) with 18 seconds.

Last spring, Niskanen decided to stay outside of the A national team, which suffered from a lack of resources, to train for the training season, which some have even suspected as the breeding ground for this season’s problems. Ohtonen, who planned and coordinated the training, disagrees.

– Based on all the factors that could be measured about the athlete and the test results, it was going to be a very good season. But this became a very illustrative example of how easily even quite small health problems can turn things in a completely different direction in extreme endurance sports.

In December, Niskanen took a break from competition for more than a month due to health reasons and was looking for his top form all the way to the World Cup in Lahti, which brought him two podium finishes.

– The result, of course, also gives confidence in the Oslo World Cup, says Ohtonen.

Maintenance man in a tough spot

While Ohtonen has been the strongest single background factor in all of Niskanen’s value competition successes since 2014, his second key partner, i.e. his personal ski guardian, started this season Niko Nättinen.

The seam was not the easiest, because the predecessors were legends of the industry Mika Venäläinen and Heikki Alakärppä. Niskanen is known as a demanding partner in this sector.

On Saturday, Nättinen found a very functional pair of water-resistant skis among the skis that were already in use for the athlete. The matter worried Niskas a little during the Lahti Games.

– As far as clean “vesars” (vesikel’s skis) are concerned, the ski pack is still a bit piled up. The cooperation with Iivo has worked well, but everyone has misses.

The initial period was also very variable for Finnish maintenance, when the new era of only fluorine-free lubricants began under supervision. Nättinen didn’t stress about it that much. Niskanen’s parade is the traditional style intermediate starts.

– Then grip is more emphasized than sliding. A lot has been skied and tested, said Nättinen, who recently placed fourth in Finlandia skiing.

The two have tentatively agreed that the collaboration will continue until the end of the Olympics, i.e. it will culminate in the competitions of the Milan Olympic Games in Val di Fiemme 2026. The client’s superstar status does not stress Nättista.

– No way, but you have to have passion for this job. Fleet successes are always the work of a large team.

Although both the man and the skis work optimally in Lahti, Nättinen does not promise the moon from the sky based on that when the caravan arrives in Holmenkollen at the end of next week.

– Then everything starts all over again.

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