Iivo Niskanen disappeared in Lahti – Now tells what happened

Lauri Vuorinen stretched the Finnish men’s double relay to third in a merciless final battle at the World Cup in Lahti on Friday. However, his wife was the first to congratulate him Johanna Matintalo.

Where was Vuorinen’s couple Iivo Niskanen?

– I was pushing through the net fences. Couldn’t find a hole to come from. There were challenging route choices, Niskanen laughed after the race.

– No to Jukola’s message with these performances. We got to the podium and I saw the crowd cheering, but I couldn’t cross the line myself, he continued.

Vuorinen finished alongside the French first team Richard Jouven with. The race of the two was watched from the finish camera, but the Finn was ahead by the tip of the mono.

– I felt that I must have been a little ahead. It was an itch that he didn’t make it to the finish line. Of course, I always hoped that I would be third. It would have been a big disappointment to finish fourth, says Vuorinen.

“Game over”

According to the Finnish sprinter, the skis had a perfect grip, but it taxed the glide. Vuorinen knew that Jouve, who is one of the world’s top sprinters and sprinters, couldn’t be missed.

Vuorinen waited for a solution at the finish line, because his legs filled with lactic acid were hard in the tight j-bend. On Friday, the bill in question saw many crashes.

– The longer he stays behind, the better chances I have. If I let him past the j-bend, I’m game over. I have been involved in tight stretch battles many times this season. I knew that the line would be solved.

The podium place was Vuorinen’s first in his career. It warms you up, because in February, you got the fourth place in the Canmore sprint.

– Somehow a little relieved and feeling great. I’ve had the feeling many times that it might be enough for the podium. It’s really great that it came.

Vuorinen secured a place on the podium when he saw Matintalo running to him at the finish line. The audience also cheered when Finland was corrected to third place in the results list.

France experienced bad luck earlier in the competition, when the first team Jules Chappaz crashed in the descent after the j-bend from the top position.

Promise good

According to Niskanen, the Finns used two different sizes on their skis. In the qualifying phase, the only kink was in the tight climb, which became slushy when the temperature was on the positive side.

Towards evening, the section became even more difficult to ski.

– There must have been a lot of falls, because the previous grooves of the skis were visible. Many ran in it. There were no more tracks. As a long-legged person, running in slush is technically challenging for me. I was able to do a good job on the other sections.

Niskanen described his performance as an “ok bet”. He expects even better from Saturday, i.e. from the traditional 20 kilometer split race.

It is one of the main races of the Olympic champion’s season.

– This was a good start to the weekend. Let’s hope that Napsu can still be found and it will be a good day. It’s an interesting journey. When Kerttu sets the pace by skiing on the podium like the women do now, it’s good to continue.

After the break

Last time, in the men’s double relay, the world cup ball place was ventilated Cross mat Hakola and Iivo Niskanen in 2019. They were third.

Of course, there has been success in value competitions even after that. Joni Mäki and Hakola skied silver for Finland at the 2021 World Championships. A year later, Niskanen and Mäki won Olympic silver in the pair relay in Beijing.

Finland’s second team Hakola–Ville Ahonen was seventh. Norwegian Paul Golberg and Johannes Kläbo took the victory, Norway’s second team Håvard Taugböl and Even Northug sometimes came to the finish line.

– Maximum performance from our team for sure, summed up Hakola.