On Sunday, Beitostölen will be skiing a mixed relay that rarely competes in the World Cup. Finland starts the mixed relay with two teams.
11.12. 6:00•Updated 11.12. 12:22 p.m
Beitostölen’s World Cup skiing will end on Sunday with the exciting mixed relay. There are 17 teams in total. Finland starts the mixed relay with two teams. In the mixed relay, sections of five kilometers are skied, and the teams have two men and two women. Like normal relays, the first two sections are skied in traditional and the latter two in freestyle.
They form Finland’s first team Johanna Matintalo, Perttu Hyvärinen, Kerttu Niskanen and Joni Mäki. They ski in the second team Anne Kyllönen, Markus Vuorela, Jasmi Joensuu and Remi Lindholm.
Krista Pärmäkoski skips a mixed message of his own wish.
– I look forward to an exciting and steady message. Big countries have dominated cross-country skiing in recent years, now more countries are getting a competitive team, Urheilu’s expert Kalle Lassila anticipate.
Finnish women’s national team coach Jussi Piirainen not too keen on the mixed message. The women’s sections are emphasized too much when all sections of the relay are five kilometers long.
– Five kilometers is a short distance for men and longer for women. The message is largely resolved by women’s shares, while the differences between men remain small. Of course, now in Norway men ski the anchor section, but the real differences are made in the women’s sections, Piirainen points out.
There are big differences between the World Cup and the World Championships
Jussi Piirainen hopes that the World Cup program would have more of the same competitions as the culminating World Championships in Planica.
– In the World Cup, very different distances are skied than in the World Championships. The sports change when you move from the World Cup to the World Championships. If we compare it to athletics, for example, in the Diamond League, the same distances are run as in the prestigious competitions. I would also miss the linearity for cross-country skiing, Piirainen compares.
Lassila is also a little worried about the development of cross-country skiing competition distances.
– The journeys have become much shorter and the terrains have become easier. At the core of cross-country skiing, however, is a raw endurance sport, there should be enough competitions that measure that aspect as well, Lassila sends her wishes to the international skiing decision-makers.
According to Lassila, it has been typical for the last few years that the World Cup goes its own way in comparison to prestigious competitions.
– Last winter, this was even more emphasized when skiing was held at high altitude and in slow conditions at the Olympics. Skiing was actually a completely different sport at the Olympics than at the World Cup, Lassila said.