Kerttu Niskanen threw up in the middle of the race – This could be what it was all about

For the first time, the women’s 50 km co-start competition was held at the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup.

Norway’s Ragnhild Haga won the race in Holmenkollen. The best of the Finns was Kerttu Niskanen, who crossed the finish line in eighth place.

Niskanen said after the race that he had to throw up in the middle of skiing.

– I had to throw up before the penultimate round and the fifth round was really difficult because of that. I thought at that point, how is this going to go if it feels like this, Niskanen said.

Iltalehti’s skiing expert Reijo Jylhä according to it, it sounds like the fluid was not absorbed properly at the end of the race.

– Vomiting comes from drinking a lot of liquid, but the liquid has not been absorbed anymore. It looked a bit like Kertu ran out of energy.

– The liquid has remained in the stomach, then there is a feeling of unwellness and vomiting. Energy has not been absorbed in the final stage, Jylhä continues.

Balancing the drinks during the race is a challenge of its own, and similar fluid absorption problems are familiar from the athletics side of race walking competitions.

– If there is a lot of energy in the drink, the liquid is absorbed worse, and if there is less energy, the liquid is absorbed, but it does not become energy, Jylhä says and continues:

– You cannot always know the state of the body in advance, how it will work on any given day. No matter how accustomed or practiced it is, it still doesn’t always work the same way. It has been made on the basis of the know-how and knowledge that has existed in relation to drinking and beverages, but it is always a little unpredictable how the body works.

History

Holmenkollen’s 50 km race was historic, because before Sunday, women have mostly competed in 30 km races in the World Cup.

Jylhä liked what he saw.

– Without further ado. After all, the differences between women and men decrease the longer the trip goes. I think women handled that well, almost better than many men. In the bow end, there were almost less major wear and tear.

The competition was exciting all the way, as skiers fell away from the main group at a steady pace.

On the final straight, Haga, Astrid Slind and Jessie Diggins had another wild fight.

– It indicates a certain kind of evenness, which is greater in women. The effects of the trip were already visible in Diggins. He is such a fast, efficient guy and you could clearly see from him that his kiri ability had already been skied away.

Norway’s Slind, on the other hand, is another country. Slind, 35, competed a week ago on Saturday at the World Championships in 30 kilometers and the next day in a 90 kilometer race.

And was now second at 50 kilometers.

– The Slindi is a really tough endurance machine. Good thing he didn’t win. He’s a typical endurance type who also recovers because he’s been training a lot.

The story continues after the picture.

Tuesday again

Eveliina Piippo on the other hand, skied the best ranking of his career in the World Cup Games, when the Finn was tenth.

He said after the race that 40km was still good, but the last 10km was a battle.

– In that case, I was just trying to get to the finish line. You must be quite satisfied, Piippo thought.

According to Jylhä, both Niskanen and Piippo succeeded well.

– Kerttu was definitely looking for the front positions and you could imagine that if there were no fluid problems, he would definitely have been able to fight for the good positions. The skiing was so lively up to 30 kilometers and a little over.

– Kirimaali certainly ate some of the final result. We had to collect as many of them (points) as possible, Niskanen himself said.

Niskanen continues his season already on Tuesday, when he competes in the traditional sprint in Drammen.

Jylhä estimates that Niskanen is thinking about the overall situation of the World Cup, where the Finn is third.

– When it is possible to ski, then we ski the race. It’s not dangerous.

The recovery time is just extremely short.

– No one who has skied (today) comes back. When you look at Diggins and (Tiril) Weng, Kertu’s worst opponents are not in any better shape than Kerttu.