Finland Joni Mäki and Niilo Moilanen were far from the top in Planica’s WC Paris Sprint on Sunday. Mäki finally brought Finland to the finish line in 11th place, 58.4 seconds behind Norway, who took the win.
Moilanen, 21, who is taking part in the adult competition for the first time, admitted in an interview after the race that the pace was too fast for him.
– It was important to be able to ski and get this experience. The first and second sections were a bit too hard for me, which turned out to be fate in the third section. This was pretty much the maximum performance for me, there was no more to give, Moilanen regretted.
The more experienced Mäki, 28, did not celebrate too much after the performance. His skiing fitness has been a question mark, especially after Thursday’s disappointing individual sprint.
– The going was better than in the sprint, but it didn’t take off today either. I was able to go the first part in a group, but after that I worked alone, so bad to compare.
– We left with a fairly open mind and tried to stay involved as long as possible. After that, the tactic was to go as fast as you can with your legs and hands, Mäki continued.
Norwegian Johannes Höstflot Kläbo and Paul Golberg defined the pace at which Italy Francesco De Fabiani and Federico Pellegrino and France Jay Renaud and Richard Jouve strove along.
Pellegrino, who was the Italian anchor, was 2.5 seconds behind Kläbo in the end, while France’s Jouve was over 16 seconds behind.
Canada finished well in fourth place and Sweden froze in fifth place.
‘s expert Ville Nousiainen didn’t expect a medal from the Finnish couple in the “glue weather”, but being left out of the top 10 surprised me.
– If it goes a little bad, I believed that they could have been ranked 7-9. It was a big surprise to me that they stayed that far. Of course, Niilo got so much lactic acid on his leg that it stiffened, he collapsed surprisingly a lot. Even in the men’s race, there were shockingly big differences, which reflects the brutality of the weather, Nousiainen summed up.
In the qualifying for Parisprint, Moilanen and Mäki were still fifth.
Travel to the top in Moilasen
Sprint’s super promise Moilanen, 21, was also disappointed on his opening trip to the World Championships on Thursday. Moilanen was still ninth in the sprint qualifying as the best Finn, but he crashed the Swede by Johan Häggström with in batch phase. The duo led their set, but in the end Moilanen finished fifth and did not make it to the semi-finals.
Sports expert Kalle Lassila predicted earlier in the week that Moilas will become the first Finnish male sprinter with prestigious race medals. According to Lassila’s prediction, this will happen in the 2027 World Cup.
However, according to Nousiainen, Moilanen’s speed is not yet enough.
– You could already see in Toblach’s message that when they started skiing really hard, Niilo was not able to respond to it. In the double relay, there are harder acids than in normal distance skiing, and the difference can only double. There is still a level difference between the Nile and the peaks for now.
The convincing performance of the Norwegians, on the other hand, gets praise from Nousiainen.
– I was surprised that they wanted to keep up the pace all the time. France and Italy were in a bit of trouble all the time when they couldn’t handle the speed, while the Norwegians didn’t seem to have any problems with that speed. There is a convincing way to work in Norway.
Men’s pair sprint (6 x 1.4 km):
1. Norway 17.28,14
2. Italy +2.48
3. France +16.48
4. Canada +22.95
5. Sweden +29.58
6. Great Britain +32.52
7. Germany +37.54
8. Poland +39.70
9. Czech Republic +43.16
10. USA +44.73
11. Finland +58.38