Kerttu Niskanen was the best Finn in the Tour de Ski 20 km (v) pursuit race. The men's race was ruined because of weak skis.
When the last day of 2023 was a Finnish skiing party at the Tour de Ski Perttu Hyvärinen and Kerttu Niskanen with profits, the year 2024 began with darker signs.
The 20-kilometer freestyle pursuit was a severe disappointment for the Finnish men's skiers. The ski did not slip at all – in the true sense of the word.
“Yes, this shows what kind of instrumental sport skiing is. Good will and any kind of effort have no chance of success when the ski is clearly slower than the others”, expert Harri Kirvesniemi states.
“When it was still a lot worse. If the price does not continue to fall, we are talking about a difference of at least 4–5 percent. When climbing, the difference can be even bigger. Yes, it is a hopeless task. Only a skier knows that himself.”
Because of this, the list of results was hard to read. Hyvärinen fell from the battle for the top to 31st place and more than three minutes away from the leader of the overall race, Norway Harald Østberg from Amundsen. The Finns ranked best Remi Lindholm27th and 2.41 different to the top.
Ax Cape find a clear reason why the Finnish men's skis did not slip.
“The important thing was that the weather changed a lot from yesterday [sunnuntaista], when new snow fell. It was a completely different weather. They probably didn't start there with the same kind of cream or the same type of pattern. It was probably the first time the weather was like that this year, and then we start a little bit from scratch with new creams to test, and there are no points of comparison.”
With the new creams, Kirvesniemi refers to the fact that fluoride creams were banned for this season.
“We haven't had time to do the durability test.”
Kirvesniemi also shares praise for the maintenance, because in the women's race the Finns had completely competitive skis.
“Maintenance was very able to react in a relatively short time. Probably, on the basis of the men's analyses, it was quickly concluded whether the problem was with the lubrication, the patterns or the type of ski. There was no other disaster for today.”
Women's the overwhelming number one in the competition was the United States Jessie Diggins, but it's confusingly even after him: there's only nine seconds between places two and nine. Niskanen is also in this group, in eighth place.
“In the women's race, Jessie Diggins is pretty much impossible to beat if nothing surprising happens. Otherwise, it's an incredibly weird situation. Eight women are almost level and not Krista too [Pärmäkoski] don't be far away”, says Kirvesniemi.
Diggins' gap to second, Germany Victoria to Carl, is 47 seconds. Niskanen is six seconds behind Carl, and tenth place Pärmäkoski is 25 seconds behind Niskanes.
Kirvesniemi in my opinion, the biggest advance favorites are at the top after the Toblach Games at the Tour de Ski.
“Finnishly, the women's side is pretty much where you could have imagined after Toblach. The men had a wild accordion upward, but today [maanantaina] returned wildly violently to the surface of the earth.”
In the women's race, Kirvesniemi still gives Sweden a small chance for a top 6 ranking For Ebba Anderssonwhich is now fourteenth and 2.02 from the top.
“Right now, though, it doesn't seem that way.”
In the men's race, Kirvesniemi is even surprised that the Norwegians have not grabbed more top positions. They have a triple lead, but there are “only” four Norwegians in the top ten.
“Norwegian men have been surprisingly weak as a whole. For example, typical rollers such as Paul Goldbergare really far away.”
The Tour de Ski continues on Wednesday, January 3 in Davos with freestyle sprints.
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