Cross-country skiing | Kerttu Niskanen earned almost 50,000 euros from the Tour de Ski – told where the prize money goes

Alpe Cermis

Women's The Tour de Ski culminated on Sunday at Alpe Cermis in the USA Jessie Diggins to the party.

Kerttu Niskanen finished third in the overall results and followed up last year's second place with the second Tour podium finish of his career.

“I value this very highly. All in all a good Tour. Two wins, they are never easy to take. I messed up the sprints, but luckily I was still able to be among the top three. Yes, this was 9+”, Niskanen said after the race.

Behind Diggins, who was the leader in the barren, the leading fight was rarely relaxed at the start of the final stage. The women in places 2–6 were within 20 seconds of each other in the overall standings.

Niskanen started the final stage from fourth place. The same was his ranking in the ascent of Alpe Cermis.

Since the race was skied as a joint start, Niskanen wasn't sure of his final position when he reached the finish line.

“I didn't know yet if I was third in it. I saw that Frida is coming and there are more seconds than on the start list. I still had to make sure I was third.”

Krista from Pärmäkoski Niskanen received final confirmation of his position.

“Krista came to congratulate, so I had to make sure from her that it's now certain that I'm third.”

Niskanen experienced more confusing moments on the podium with a sparkling drink. Tour runner-up Heidi Weng grabbed his bottle open and started spraying, but Diggins and Niskanen couldn't open theirs.

“I told the girls that I still have to practice. The bottle doesn't open that quickly. But on the other hand, it was good that I didn't get it open, so I'll take it to Heiki,” said Niskanen, most obviously referring to maintenance manager Tonteri.

Tour third place also had a significant financial impact on Niskanen. He received about 43,000 euros in prize money for it. When the prizes of the individual competitions of the tour are added, Niskanen's pot rises to around 50,000 euros.

“Hard work pays off. That's good,” Niskanen smiled.

There is no need to think about the purpose of the money.

“That's where Villa Murunen rises. It absorbs quite nicely,” said Niskanen, referring to her stone house under construction in Vuokatti, where she and her husband Juho Mikkonen is scheduled to move in this spring.

Vaisumman after the start of the season, Niskanen has again improved his competition condition as the winter progresses.

In the overall points of the World Cup, Niskanen already rose to seventh place.

“The course has been reversed, and the situation is better. We hope that we will stay healthy, but we still have the same idea as at the beginning of winter, that we will avoid all the competitions,” said Niskanen.

“We hope that Tour will recover well now. There are still good races left.”

Tour de Ski after finishing, another Finnish star Pärmäkoski announced that he had skied the Alpe Cermis climb for the last time. However, Pärmäkoski, who made confusing comments, did not directly say whether his career will end this season.

Niskanen said he heard the same from Pärmäkoski.

“It said that to me too, but I said don't say it yet,” Niskanen laughed.