Cross-country skiing | Kerttu Niskanen vomited herself on Thursday – now the top bet: “I think it's on the hilku”

Finland Kerttu Niskanen pulled off a great trick on Saturday in Oberhof's 20 kilometer (p) joint start race.

Niskanen skied Frida Karlsson and by Katharina Hennig after third, despite having just recovered from a severe stomach ailment. The Finn said that he “vomited himself empty on Thursday”.

Harri Kirvesniemi is deeply convinced of Niskanen's performance.

“It must have been quite a miracle that Kerttu was able to ski at all today. The good thing about gastritis is that it doesn't take so much time – at least, if you don't have a fever. But the problem is that the energy reserves can be restored. It's not a nice situation to go racing in,” says Kirvesniemi.

Niskanen tried to break away properly with Karlsson and Hennig in the long climb of the last lap. The chasing group caught up with the trio barely a couple of kilometers before the finish line, but Niskanen and the adjutants ran away once more before the stadium.

“Yes, that shows that 'Kepa' is in a really tough fight. At the end, the energy reserves did not seem to be as full as in a normal situation. He had a terribly good-looking appearance just a little while ago,” says Kirvesniemi.

Krista Pärmäkoski completed a good Finnish day with ninth place. Fighting all the way near the top Johanna Matintalo was the 13th

“A good overall contribution”, summarizes Kirvesniemi.

Also The Finnish men were quite fast earlier on Saturday. Perttu Hyvärinen was sixth and Cross mat Hakola ninth in a race that ended in a bloody massacre.

The top was occupied Norway's Erik Valnes, Martin Löwström Nyenget and Paul Golberg.

“Really excellent performance from the men. The ski was also really good looking. There were no grip problems and the glide was great. From Hakola, I skied to the top 15, but that 9th place was a bit of a surprise for me,” says Kirvesniemi.

There was still a lot to worry about. Especially Hakola seemed to have a lot of bangs on the final straight, but he got stuck in the bag on the last downhill, and couldn't get his own lane for the last hundreds of meters.

“Perttu was also feeling really strong at the end of the straight. It was down to a really small thing that a hole didn't open for Hakola and Hyvärinen a couple of hundred meters before the finish line. Both lost their stakes,” Kirvesniemi laments.

Finland's best male skier on Saturday, Perttu Hyvärinen (left), finished sixth in the final race. Norway's Erik Valne (11) took the win. Picture: Steffen Proessdorf / dpa

Enjoyed the role of a workhorse along the way Iivo Niskanen was 11th in the final results. He returned to the World Cup this weekend after being ill.

Kirvesniemi's assessment is crude.

“Iivo is by no means in his best condition, you noticed that especially at the end. But a really good comeback and incredibly brave skiing. He worked a lot. Unfortunately, I could see that Iivo wasn't one of the funniest guys in the group when we started to decide the final places”, he regrets.

Both the races were very uneventful on Saturday. It was practically impossible to get away on the 3.3 kilometer track, and the final places were decided in the stadium area.

The difficulty of breaking away has been notable even in the previous 20 km joint start races of this season. Skiers wait in line and desperately search for a place until the last kilometers until the organ is opened.

Many places do not open up.

“These have been sadly dull games for the spectators, when you can see all the time that nothing can even happen. In the hour-long race, about three quarters are passed and only a short time is skied properly. It doesn't favor pacers at all,” Kirvesniemi gloomily says.

The trend is by no means new, but Kirvesniemi is still saddened.

“I think there should be clearly harder track profiles in the joint start; long enough sections of work where you can escape. If the terrain is not tough enough, then you don't ski a joint start, but either an intermediate start or a chase-like race,” he suggests.

According to Kirvesniemi, even in many current World Cup locations there are routes with a harder profile.

“It would be nice if we skied a longer circuit. It is quite unlikely that you will find challenging terrain when you are pulling a 2.5 or 3.3 kilometer run. It is certainly not very realistic that the matter would be changed. The trend is not changing in that direction”.

On Sunday, the 4 x 7.5 kilometer relays will be postponed in Germany.