Ebba Andersson fell, Kerttu Niskanen avoided

In the second part of the women’s 4×5 kilometer relay, there was a rhythm.

Swedish star Ebba Andersson fell on the uphill a kilometer before the changeover and fell on his knees and suffered a broken pole. Andersson got a new rod soon, but he couldn’t get hold of the tightened Lenk.

– I tried to go as fast as possible after that with the broken stick. Not a perfect race, Andersson commented.

Finland Kerttu Niskanen and Norway Astrid Slind were behind Andersson, but managed to avoid falling.

– He got tangled up in his own tools and broke his stick. I just had time to dodge, Niskanen explained his friend’s fall.

– Germany got a little off when their skier didn’t have to go around Ebba. Good thing we didn’t run into the same mine.

The second part was tough, because in addition to the aforementioned trio, Germany was also on the track Katharina Hennig.

Niskanen’s tactic was to stay at the tail end of the leading group at the beginning.

– When we started up, I went to the front and picked up the pace when the group came alongside. I tried to make someone fall. The group stayed together very well.

Niskanen brought Finland to the exchange in second place, 0.3 seconds behind Germany. The leg injury from the fall last Saturday did not hinder the pace.

– The leg was fine. Let’s say that in the finals you have to think about other things than the leg.

“I didn’t mess up!”

Finland opened with skiing Johanna Matintalo. He brought the team to change, firmly in the top fight.

– Fortunately, I didn’t spoil that message! Failure would have had all the seams for that, the skier shook.

Matintalo had already been planned for the first stage, but the 26th place in the WC sprint raised uncertainty. Even the skier himself was worried.

– Surely everyone can guess that if a week ago you have skied against the wall, it arouses uncertainty.

After the sprint, Matintalo has rested more than planned and trained lightly. He feels that he was too burdened and tired.

– There has been too much load and fatigue. It shows in Sprint. If the body is too tired, it won’t move. I am satisfied that I dared to rest and make even drastic corrective movements.

Victory battle far away

Matintalo was satisfied with his share and Finland’s performance.

– There have been quite a few misses in recent months. This was closer to the finish line.

– It is descriptive that we were not medal favorites and Sweden was one of the biggest gold favorites. Still, we lost the bronze to them by just a couple of seconds. There was no realism to fight for victory.

Niskanen was on the same lines.

– This is a good performance for us in these games. I don’t know if anyone believed that we would be half a minute short of victory and fight for the medal until the last meters for the medal. The Yankees were considered stronger than us, but they were about that far behind.

Norway won the gold. Germany took silver, Sweden bronze.