Venloje’s relay ended again with a Swedish party – this is how skiing star Krista Pärmäkoski managed in the middle of a bog | Sport

Stora Tuna won the Venloje relay. Kalevan Rasti won silver and the big surprise Lahti Suunnistajat-37 won bronze.

Venloje’s relay ended with a Swedish celebration, when Stora Tuna crossed the finish line first. Tove Alexandersson was strong as expected in his anchor section, and the winning time was more than four minutes faster than the others.

In addition to Alexandersson, the winning team that went to Kauhava as one of the early favorites was formed by Rebecca Heinrup, Marie Olaussen and Magdalena Olsson. The last time the team celebrated the victory of the Venlo relay was in the summer of 2018 in Lahti-Hollola.

The last time a Finnish team won the Venlo relay was in 2010, when Tampere’s Pyrintö was the best. Since then, the win has gone to other Nordic countries, now for the seventh time to Sweden in that period.

Kalevan Rasti from Joensuu brightened last year’s bronze place into silver with a composition Cecile Calandry, Ida Haapala, Marika Teini and Miia Niittynen.

One of the biggest surprises of the competition was Lahti Suunnistajat-37’s rise to the podium. Karoliina Ukskoski, Sanna Kauppilan, Minna Kaupin and Elisa Mattilan the team ensured its third place with the successful finish of Mattila, who brought the message as an anchor. In the end, the difference was nine seconds to IFK Göteborg’s second team, which finished fourth. IFK Göteborg’s first team, which was still in the middle of the anchor season, was seventh in the final results.

19-time world champion Tove Alexandersson said that she values ​​Venloje’s message very much.

– It’s so cool to run together with the team. Everyone performed well, Andersson was happy at the finish, who won the Tiomila competition in Stora Tuna in May.

Battle of the anchors

We went to the anchor leg with IFK Göteborg’s first team in the lead, after convincingly completing the third leg Sanna Fasth brought his team to change one minute and 13 seconds before the second Kalevan Rasti. Stora Tuna’s difference to the top was about three and a half minutes in the last change. Orienteer Minna Kauppi, who finished her active career in 2015, brought Lahti Suunnistajat-37 to the exchange in fifth place.

Tove Alexandersson raced to the top of the race, and was the first to arrive at the 5.9-kilometer intermediate stop of the anchor section, 14 seconds behind IFK Göteborg.

With a good kilometer to go to the finish line, Stora Tuna’s lead had already grown to almost two minutes. After the Swedes, Kalevan Rasti had come second, whose Miia Niittynen had left the other teams more than two minutes behind. Niittynen made a big mistake right at the end of his section, but the lead from the previous stages was enough to keep his competitors behind.

You could see the relief on Niittynen’s face when, at the finish line, his teammates confirmed that the team was still second.

– It was quite scary that someone had passed by, but fortunately they hadn’t. It was a big mistake, Niittynen said.

The anchor regretted that due to a mistake at the beginning of the leg, he couldn’t properly measure up with Tove Alexandersson during the leg. Otherwise, Kalevan Rasti’s team was satisfied with their competition.

– Everyone probably did a really good performance, and that’s what we went for. And again a notch better, Niittynen compared to last year.

Krista Pärmäkoski was also involved

A cross-country skier also participated in the orienteering event Krista Pärmäkoski. Pärmäkoski, who completed the opening leg, brought his team to change after Kyrös-Rast, a good seven minutes behind the lead in 80th place.

– Of course I knew that the difficult terrain was coming and that I had the strength to run, so it was definitely a saving grace. In a way, even the top orienteers had to take it easy, so I kept up with it, Pärmäkoski described with satisfaction immediately after his performance.

– I was promised that the bog is knee-deep, but it seemed that sometimes it was up to the neck. It was a heavy bottom, but I liked it, the skier continued.

In the final results, Kyrös-Rasti’s ranking was 103rd.

‘s live broadcast of Jukola’s message on Areena and TV1 on Saturday 15.6. from 22:45.

Correction 15.6.2024 at 7:24 p.m.: Corrected that IFK Göteborg’s second team came fourth and IFK Göteborg’s first team was not yet anchored in the battle for victory. Kyrös-Rasti’s ranking was 103rd and not 106th, as was erroneously claimed earlier in the story.