Lauri Vuorinen broke the rock-hard Norwegian front in the traditional sprint of the Olos cannon competition.
The Olos gunnery competition is the biggest non-World Cup event of the 2023–24 skiing season. Mittelöt in Muonio started on Friday with sprints of the traditional progression method.
Lauri Vuorinen organized a positive Finnish bang when he broke the front made up of the Norwegian A national team men in the final and finished third.
Railed to a crushing victory Erik Valnes.
– It wasn’t a surprise, although you’re never sure about your condition. I’m happy, 1.20 seconds behind the runner-up Mattis Stenshagen’s the victorious Valnes said in the stadium interview.
Vuorinen finished third (+1.22).
– It was a day of driving and a really good day on the slopes at the same time. Norway has the best sprinters in the world, so it was nice to ski against them. Surely those boys will increase their speed in the World Cup, so you have to increase your speed as well, comments Vuorinen.
Even Northug (+1.68) was fourth, Goran Tefre Fifth (+1.76) and Harald Amundsen sixth (+4.62).
Konkari softened
Lauri Vuorinen was third on Friday in the cannonball competition in Olos. Stock photo. Jussi Saarinen
Anne Kyllönen was number one in the time trial and dominated his own semi-final, but the conker softened in the semi-final and did not advance to the next round.
There were no Finns in the women’s final, because like Kyllönen Amanda Saari made it to the semifinals of the best 12 as the best blue and white.
The diver in the final race was from Germany Pia Finkwho beat Norway by a hundredth of a second on the finish line Anna Svendsen past. Norwegian Andréa Gulbrandsen was third.
Germany had national team women on the line, but the other major women’s skiing countries, Norway, Sweden, the USA and Finland, did not compete with first-tier athletes.
Finland’s top women were missing from the event. Among other things Kerttu Niskanen, Krista Pärmäkoski, Johanna Matintalo, Jasmi Joensuu and Katri Lylynperä were gone.
The traditional Sprint of the Olos cannon races does not have the value of a World Cup inspection race. The representation places in the traditional sprint world cup will be discussed in a week at the Suomen Cup in Ruka.
The Ruka World Cup is on the program in two weeks.
The Olos cannon races continue on Saturday with the traditional style 10 kilometer intermediate start races.
Anne Kyllönen’s career in the traditional sprint of the Olos cannon competition ended in the semi-finals. Stock photo. Jussi Saarinen