Iivo Niskanen skis on traditional, particularly stiff skis

Served as head coach of the national ski team for nine years Reijo Jylhä tells that Iivo Niskanen prefers particularly stiff skis in traditional skiing.

– In the same way as At Mika Mylly: Iivo skis on stiff and slippery skis, Jylhä, who works as Iltalehti’s expert, begins.

As everyone who follows skiing knows, a stiff ski requires strength from the user in order for the equipment to function optimally. On Sunday in Val Müstair on the second stage of the Tour de Ski, stiff skis were a challenge for Niskanen.

– If you can’t take it, it will blow through, says Jylhä.

– When fatigue sets in, the athlete cannot press down on the grip area. This same thing was visible in the World Championships in Oberstdorf 2021: when Iivo was not in top condition, skiing caused its own challenge, the expert specifies.

Niskanen made a drastic rise from 57th place to fourteenth place in the Tour as a saint. The difference between the host from Savo and the winner of the race Johannes Kläboon was 52.3 seconds. He reached 10 kilometers in the traditional pursuit, 22 seconds behind the Norwegian.

The Finn, who competed this weekend for the first time this season after Corona, described after the race that the bet started to freeze after 2.5 kilometers.

– At least Iivo is neither sick nor well anymore, but he is not in top condition yet. He would have been able to continue his initial pace in top condition the whole way. The performance showed illness, lack of competition and the fact that he came to ski from the bottom up.

In Switzerland, the race was held at just under 1,700 meters above sea level in the thin mountain air.

– Iivo put incredible pressure on Oberstdorf’s traditional ten on Tuesday. It is worth taking into account Iivo’s chance of success in the competition when we are closer to sea level. After Tuesday, we can look at Iivo’s real situation.

In Germany, at the foot of the Alps, the competition is about 800 meters above sea level. Altitude doesn’t even affect the performance of a fitness skier, but oxygen travels the same way as at home.

The flapping of the shutter

The most interesting result of Sunday’s race was the Italian sprint champion Federico Pellegrino third place.

– The journey is ten. For sprinters, it’s completely different than 15 kilometers. That’s a shockingly big difference. Many sprinters have been good in the past and have achieved top results when they have skied dozens in the relay, commented Jylhä.

– He didn’t have to ski hard when Paul Golberg went ahead. Pelle got into the peis and the ski was particularly good. Of course, the performance reflects that his aerobic fitness factors have improved, the expert continues.

In the past, “Kikkopelle” has been a pure sprinter, but the saint’s ball place was already the second of the season on a normal distance. In the 20 kilometer free pursuit of the Ruka World Cup at the end of November, the countryman from Saapas was third.

– In recent years, Pelle has also invested in normal trips and has taken positions in the top 30. He is now a better distance skier than before. It has brought a certain vulnerability to the sprints, as training for the normal distance has its price. After all, he meant to drop out of the free sprint final on the opening leg of the Tour on Saturday.

Kudos to Hyvärinen

Like the neck Perttu Hyvärinen made a handsome rise on Sunday. He made an effort from 28th to 16th.

– You can say that behind Iivo we have one really top-notch normal distance skier.

This season, the farmer has twice been twelfth in the split start of the traditional top ten in World Cup competitions.