Cross-country skiing | Finnish women ended a wait of more than 15 years with their trick – Harri Kirvesniemi is beaming

Finland Kerttu Niskanen and Johanna Matintalo skied to a wonderful double victory at the Falun World Cup on Saturday.

Something about the historicity of the achievement is said by the fact that more than 15 years have passed since the previous Finnish double World Cup victory.

The last time they got on the podium Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen In Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, in December 2008. The distance was also 10 kilometers, and the skiing style was traditional.

“After all, this is a really rare treat!” expert Harri Kirvesniemi beamed after Saturday's race.

He said that he was especially happy for Matintalo. For the 27-year-old Matintalo, the podium finish was the first on the side of normal distances. The Pöytyälä skier has been in the prize positions in sprints twice before: in Oberstdorf in January 2022 and in Beitostölen in December 2022.

Kirvesniemi according to Niskanen and Matintalo's success on Saturday was not only the choice of skis but also a successful speed distribution. Both skiers started the race fast, but Matintalo managed to pick up his pace towards the end.

“Johanna's speed distribution was a little better than Kertu's,” Kirvesniemi said.

According to him, Niskanen's start might have been a bit too brisk, which backfired in the last kilometer, where Niskanen lost to Matintalo by a second.

However, Kirvesniemi does not believe that the struggle for victory would have turned the other way around, even if Matintalo had also messed up the gas at full throttle right from the start.

“Johanna's speed distribution was optimal for those conditions.”

By “those conditions” Kirvesniemi means the sleet that hit Falun during the women's race and the sub-zero weather, which made the race difficult and visibility poor, especially on the descents.

Kirvesniemi describes Niskanen's speed distribution as “well accumulated”.

“I believe that Kerttu wanted to make a sufficient difference in the first eight kilometers, because his final acceleration is not the strongest.”

Neck and Matintalo – as well as all other Finnish women – went to the track with a holding pad. The solution turned out to be correct and, according to Kirvesniemi, was one of the factors that led to Niskanen's victory.

“The conditions favor Kerttu”, Kirvesniemi stated.

Niskanen also knew that, who stated in Viaplay's finish interview that “I guess the traction sole suits me”.

Niskanen said in an interview with Viaplay that he only heard about the double victory at the finish line from Matintalo.

“Krista [Pärmäkosken] we've been to the ball a couple of times, but we've never taken a double win, so it feels great!” he rejoiced at Viaplay.

It's only been a couple of weeks since Pärmäkoski and Niskanen's last shared podium moment. Pärmäkoski took first place in Lahti's 20 km joint start race, and Niskanen took third place on the highest podium.

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Skiers remember the victories at the end of the season the best.

Although Finnish women's holidays are scheduled for the end of the World Cup, Harri Kirvesniemi is not worried. According to him, from the point of view of the next season, it may even be better that success comes only at the beginning of the season than if it had been drawn from the beginning of winter.

“The wins at the end of the season are best remembered by skiers.”

“Especially for Johanna, this certainly creates a lot of motivation (for the training season and next winter).”

At the same time, Kirvesniemi reminds that both Salpauselkä and Falun are highly respected, traditional competitions in the skiing world, where success is considered important. In three years, the World Ski Championships will also be held in Falun.

Next winter, the world championships will be held in Trondheim, Norway.