Kerttu Niskanen took his fourth career World Cup competition victory when he beat Beitostölen to the number one spot with his mind trip.
Anu Karttunen,
Laura Arffman
11:57•Updated 13:07
Kerttu Niskanen succeeded in his speed distribution perfectly in the intermediate start of the 10 km traditional skiing method in Beitostölen. The competition took place in bitterly cold weather, it was almost 19 degrees below zero on the track, and many skiers set off too hard. Among other things, they strongly opened up Sweden Frida Karlsson and Norway Anne Kjersti Kalvå were eliminated in the second round from the battle for victory.
Niskanen beat second-placed Kalvå by 12.7 seconds and third-placed Karlsson by 16.5 seconds. The Finns’ contribution was strong, because Johanna Matintalo was the 5th Jasmi Joensuu 10th and Krista Pärmäkoski 11:s. Anne Kyllönen ranked 24th, Anni Alakoski interrupted.
– It was really cold today. I tried to keep myself as warm as possible before leaving, but when I left in the race suit, it was quite cold. At the beginning of the second lap, when I came down a long descent, I felt like my thighs were getting really hard. I was a little nervous about how the legs worked at the end, but the distribution of forces went well, and I didn’t fall into a too fast initial pace, Niskanen stated.
– When you wanted to go all the time in the race, somehow you stayed warm. The weather felt really chilly, but not so much that it took your breath away.
The race win was Niskanen’s fourth in his career. The Finnish skier has taken all his victories on this, 10 km traditional skiing route. Three wins have come from intermediate start races and his first win of 2014 came from a joint start race.
At the Beijing Olympics, Niskanen got silver from this trip. That time he lost to the winner, Norway For Therese Johaug only a measly 0.4 seconds.
Niskanen had a fluctuating start to his season, but already last weekend’s fifth place in the traditional 20-kilometer joint start race gave an indication of what is to come. The ninth place in Friday’s sprint also opened up a lot of places. Niskanen did not speculate whether the victory in Saturday’s race is just the beginning, but he has been confident about the beginning of the season.
– The World Cup competitions in Kuusamo and Lillehammer have not been what I expected in terms of rankings. It’s been a bit slow going, but I’ve been confident that my condition is good, and when all the equipment works and it happens to be a good day, I can make a result. It’s really nice that we succeeded today, he stated and said that the victory feels really good.
– Nice to succeed. No matter how confident I’ve been, when success comes, it’s good and easy to continue. At least it wasn’t completely wrong!
Beitostölen, Norway
Women, 10 km (p)
1. Kerttu Niskanen FIN 26.56,3
2. Anne Kjersti Kalvå NOR + 12.7
3. Frida Karlsson SWE + 16.5
4. Katharina Hennig GER + 23.0
5. Johanna Matintalo FIN + 31.0
6. Jessica Diggins USA + 33.8
7. Tiril Udnes Weng NOR + 38.2
8. Rosie Brennan USA + 39.8
9. Victoria Carl GER + 40.7
10. Jasmi Joensuu FIN + 48.6
11. Krista Pärmäkoski FIN + 59.1
24. Anne Kyllönen FIN +1.43.3