The extraordinary snow chaos at the Tour de Ski confused even Aino-Kaisa Saarinen – this is how wild the weather conditions were on the race | Sport

Kerttu Niskanen nailed a handsome competition victory in Davos. According to Urheilu’s expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, you can’t understand competition conditions if you haven’t experienced them yourself.

– You don’t usually see something like this, really, laughed Urheilu’s expert Aino-Kaisa Saarinenwhen the women had finished in Davos after the 5th race of the Tour de Ski.

Kerttu Niskanen already took his second victory in the thick snowstorm on the Tour. According to Saarinen, even in an extreme sport like cross-country skiing, a very rare lottery drum was rolled in the competition.

– It’s very rare to see competitions where some go with can skates with grips under them, some, like Kerttu, with grip sole skis and some completely without grips to push flat and branch climb. All the choices had their tactical opportunities and risks, and to the great credit of the Finnish maintenance group, it must be said that the best guessers were now found there. A lot of work has to be done to make the best guesses.

Kerttu Niskanen also praised Finland’s ski service for its success.

– I bet there’s been quite a bit of panic in the air with ski choices, but Astrid Öyre Slind was definitely calm. He is a hard pusher of Ski Classics, for whom grip creams are more the exception than the rule, Saarinen said.

Tremendous duration

According to the conditions, the 20-kilometer journey took up to 20 minutes more time for the women than during the same-scale filming in normal weather conditions when skiing closer to sea level.

In the pursuit-style race, the one who started first suffered the most, of course Jessica Diggins, which was quickly caught. In Saarinen’s opinion, the American, who eventually finished third and saved his 44-second lead in the overall race, came close to disaster.

– The most obvious thing is that the grips froze, which of course loses both slip and grip. The going looked really difficult, but he probably got rid of the ice blocks and the device started working, Saarinen said.

Diggins also crashed early in the race.

– Jessie magically dodged the big bullet, and at the latest now we can say that beating her from the first position is as difficult as displacing Kertu from the second position. It’s also special that you can stay in qualifying in two sprints and still be stuck in a great position like Kerttu.

Kerttu Niskanen is second overall in the Tour de Ski.

“Can’t describe in words”

The TV camera is known to lie about the steepness of the uphills and the distances between the skiers. Something else like that remains in the dark.

– You can’t describe that kind of Alpine snow noise in words, unless you’ve experienced it yourself. Otherwise, you can’t understand what kind of snow can fall in a short time and, above all, at what speed Pyry covers the track groove. Peesi’s advantage becomes enormous, and the pursuit or mass start race will inevitably become boring.

In Davos, the gauge was just on the minus side, but the snow came down from the sky very wet.

In extreme weather conditions, the Jury Council can change the format of the competition. On Thursday, the options would have been an intermediate start or a mass start.

– A mass start would have been fairer to those who were successful in previous stages than a chase, and I think it’s worth considering today. The intermediate start, on the other hand, would hardly have fit into the TV time frame.

Jessica Diggins is being chased by Niskanen 44 and Sweden Jonna Sundling 52 seconds away. Before Sunday’s final ascent, a 15-kilometer mass start will be skied in Italy’s Val di Fiemme on Saturday. In the current forecast, rain is expected for the race area.

– It does not affect the results as critically as this kind of snowfall, says Saarinen.