At the Tampere WC, in addition to the WC medals, there was competition for places in the final World Cup selections, the French and Italian World Cups.
Next week, the sprinters have the last screen place in the World Cup in France. It was known in advance that the WC dreams of some skiers would be crushed, even though they did not directly qualify for the WC in Tampere.
Juuso Haarala and Verneri Suhonen said, for example, directly to Urheilu after qualifying for the finals, that they believe their World Cup dreams have been dashed.
However, Tampere’s sprint track attracted a lot of criticism beforehand. The easy course was not considered internationally comparable.
Head coach of the Finnish national team Teemu Pasanen described the sprint track as “different” after the SC skiing.
– However, we were able to find out who are in good shape, Pasanen said after the SC skiing.
In a body Cross mat Hakola came back handsomely to compete with Finland’s sharpest top, when Hakola won the SM gold in the goal camera comparison Joni Mäen with. Hakola won by a hundredth of a second.
According to Pasanen, there will still be World Cup competitions for Hakola.
– The condition has been in place for a long time. Now he gets the games under his belt and is able to show his good form, Pasanen said.
Hakola himself did not yet want to lock down competing in the future World Cups and thus the World Championships. Puhe commented on SM skis Aino-Kaisa Saarinen however, was ready to send Hakola to the World Cup with these performances.
– If Ristomatti doesn’t get any fatal disease, he will go. Rise, pack your bag! Saarinen patisti.
Saarinen particularly praised one detail in Hakola’s performance that day.
– Ristomatti won all the heats in the qualifying. It’s a surprisingly hard performance and shows that he’s in good shape, Saarinen stated.
Moilanen already sent his skis to France
Before the WC race weekend, Joni Mäki had also given strong international displays in the sprint Niilo Moilanen.
The 21-year-old promise reached the semi-finals in the traditional sprint in Beitostölen at the beginning of December and was eighth in the final results. Mäki was in the final and fifth in the same competition.
Moilanen did not feel disappointed about qualifying from the Tampere WC final. He said he raced for the first time this season three days in a row.
– I had to refuel quite a lot of energy. My body was exhausted after the first two races, commented Moilanen.
Moilanen also reminded that he skied with traditional skis.
– I was the only one on traditional skis. The others were on free skis. It was an insanely slippery ski, but in turns and lane changes, the free ski and the pursuit mono were clearly better. I’m not saying it was a bad ride. It was surprisingly good, Moilanen said.
Moilanen couldn’t even use the free skis because he had already sent his pair to France for next week’s World Cup.
– I don’t know what the end result would have been otherwise, Moilanen stated.
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen would currently choose Planica for the WC sprint Hakola, Mäki and Lauri Vuorinen. Four skiers from one country can be nominated for one trip to the World Championships.
– Moilanen, Lauri Lepistö and Lauri Mannila – the fourth man from the trio would then be considered, Saarinen stated.
In women, Saarinen would choose the top three of the day Johanna Matintalo, Katri Lylynperän, Jasmin Kähärän and having missed the competition Jasmi to Joensuu.
– Yes, it would look like it would have these four women in it, Saarinen estimated.
Pasanen knows that Niskanen is fine
There is a month until the World Championships in Planica. Head coach Pasanen sees that the season has gone well towards the main goal of the season.
Pasanen reminds, for example, of the World Cup in Beitostölen, where, in addition to the aforementioned men’s sprint results, Johanna Matintalo was third. Kerttu Niskanen on the other hand won the normal distance with traditional skiing.
At the Tour de Ski, on the other hand, Kerttu Niskanen and Krista Pärmäkoski grabbed podium places.
– In that way, I am confident that it is possible to succeed. On the men’s side, we need to step up a bit. First teeth need to be fixed, Pasanen states.
At the Tampere WC skiing, all the other top names in Finland were at the starting line except for Perttu Hyvärinen, Iivo Niskanen and Kerttu Niskanen. Kerttu Niskanen, on the other hand, felt that it was good to hold a training session during the WC. Iivo Niskanen withdrew from the Championship at the last minute on Friday as a precaution. The matter has not been opened in more detail.
However, head coach Pasanen says he knows that Iivo Niskanen is fine.
– We have to do everything as well as possible so that everything is fine in Planica. Iivo knows his coach himself I was (Ohtonen) with how to prepare for the World Cup. Iivo has been able to prepare for value competitions before. I’m not worried about Iivo at all, Pasanen stated.