Support for Kerttu Niskanen’s harsh criticism – the expert criticized Finland’s World Cup trip: “What’s the point of going there?” | Sport

Urheilu’s expert Kalle Lassila sees that Finland made a bad decision when preparing for the Goms World Cup.

At the cross-country skiing world cup in Gomsi, the Finnish national team’s accommodation solution has spoken. Finland lives at a low level of competition. Goms is located 1300 meters above sea level.

One of the top names in Finland Kerttu Niskanen opened violently in an interview with on Friday. He was not satisfied with his performance in the medley relay.

– It wasn’t easy. It was one fight until the end. I hope it’s not like this every day. It was not good, Niskanen said.

Niskanen blamed the situation on accommodation.

– Everyone else is high here, have been since Monday and got used to this. We’re crawling from down there to up this gap. I already knew in advance that it is not the best possible thing, Niskanen downloaded.

Sports expert Kalle Lassila also wondered about Finland’s solution. He reminded that many Central Europeans competing in the free sprint on Saturday also live higher than Goms, at an altitude of about 1500 meters. For them, adapting to high altitude is nothing compared to the Nordics.

– When the preparation is already worse than others, what was the point of going there? Lassila uploaded.

Of course, there is not much accommodation available in a small Swiss village. According to Lassila, such things should still be able to be handled.

– Skiers must be given the best possible preparation and the best opportunities to succeed. This is a bit self-explanatory. There are better and worse ways to prepare. The way is worse in Finland, says Lassila.

According to the expert, of course, living at a lower level does not rule out success.

– However, it has not been perceived in the long term as the best possible way to prepare for competition, Lassila said.

Finnish women had a hard time in the women’s free sprint qualifying on Saturday. Only Jasmi Joensuu and Jasmin Kähärä got to the draw stage. Joensuu was 12th and Kähärä 25th. Kerttu Niskanen narrowly qualified for the top 30 heats by 0.31 seconds. Johanna Matintalo was the 36th and Krista Pärmäkoski only 38.p. Tiia Olkkonen bowed to 42nd place.

Niskanen regretted his narrow elimination from the heats. It also happened twice at the Tour de Ski in the free sprints in Toblach and Davos.

– It was quite a demanding sprint course. It was a good job, but there were downs. There’s no going back there. You have to be sharp. I do not know. Halfway through I snapped. The beginning and the end were good. There were only 31 better, Niskanen said.

Niskanen did not want to comment more on his striking ability at the moment. He expects Sunday’s 20-kilometer freestyle cross-country race to be nice and interesting, but the weather can also create risks.

– If the track is icy early in the morning, it makes it uncomfortable. It is not nice to ski in a large group if the track is very icy. However, it is the same for everyone. Let’s sharpen the swords, Niskanen said.

Three of the Finnish men advanced to the heats. Joni Mäki was 12th, Lauri Vuorinen 18th and Niilo Moilanen 21st. Emil Liekari, Juuso Haarala and Wiljam Mattila were out of the heats.

Updated at 14:38. Kerttu Niskanen’s comments.