Tiia Olkkonen reached the sprint semifinals for the first time in her career. Originally, Jasmi Joensuu should have been skiing in his place.
24 years old Tiia Olkkonen was the most exciting Finnish name of the day in the sprint of the traditional skiing style of the cross-country skiing world cup in Östersund, Sweden. At the club level, the Finn representing Haapajärvi Kiiloja advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in his career.
Olkkonen, who skied brilliantly in the fifth heat, narrowly missed out on a direct semi-final spot, but the next spot was determined by time comparison. He was 18th in qualifying.
Even at the beginning of the week, it seemed that Olkkonen would not race at all during the weekend. He was not named in the original Östersund team.
He was, however, sent to Östersund sick with the coronavirus Jasmi to Joensuu in place of.
The talented sprinter has risen to a whole new level since the beginning of the season. A couple of weeks ago at the Ruka World Cup, he flashed his speed, finishing sixth in the qualifier.
Drama in the finale
However, Olkkonen was not the best Finn of the day, as he skied in the same semi-final Kerttu Niskanen was eighth. Olkkonen’s final dreams were dashed right at the start of the semi-final with a stick break.
The best place of the young Finn’s career was 12th. Olkkonen admitted in an interview with Viaplay that it was a pity that the rod broke.
– It would have been nice to try. Obviously, a good day was coming. When the rod breaks at the beginning, there is nothing you can do about it, Olkkonen stated.
Like Ruka, Sweden won the women’s sprint Emma Ribom. Norwegian Kristine Staavas Skistad was second before Sweden Linn Svahnia.
There was drama in the penultimate climb of the final, when a member of the Swedish cross-country team entered the track and accidentally hit the American To Rosie Brennan. He staggered a little at the situation, but still stood.
The Swede who came to the track was the leader of the cross country team Lars Öberg. He tried to shout instructions to Ribom.
Manager of the Norwegian national team Erik Myhr Nossum immediately gave his colleague feedback on the situation.
– I told you to act like an adult and leave. He has been to competitions before, so he should know that, Nossum stated Aftonbladet by.
The American was fourth in the race. Brennan won the 10 km traditional intermediate start race skied in Ruka a couple of weeks ago.
Brennan was also frustrated by the situation.
– It is clear that he was in my way. It’s from deep. The situation could have been worse. I could have fallen or broken the pole, Brennan commented.
Öberg later regretted the situation. He was fined 100 euros for the situation.
– I am mad at myself.
Iivo Niskanen washed the sprint scares
On the men’s side, all five Finnish men missed the heats. The race was won for the first time this season by a Norwegian superstar Johanes Höfslot Kläbo before his countryman Erik Valnesia.
Americans James Clinton Schoonmaker and Ben Ogden ranked 3–4.
Returned to the World Cup after a one-weekend break Iivo Niskanen showed himself a good ride in a challenging competition format. In qualifying, he beat Italy’s sprinter cannon Federico Pellegrino’s on the side of the qualifiers.
He skied in the first heat behind the tough Norwegian stars Johannes Höfslot Kläbo and Erik Valnes to the third place and for some time was close to the next place through the time comparison.
– There was a good feeling in the set. The pace was better than in qualifying, Niskanen stated to Viaplay.
In addition to Pellegrino, another big surprise was seen in the qualifiers, when Rukalla made it to France in the top three Richard Jouve was left out of the lots.
Updated 16:48: Edited story with comments and video.
Updated 19.10: Added comments about the collision situation to the story and corrected the title and story that the leader of the cross-country team bumped into Brennan, not the maintenance man.