Italy turned Finn into a protest. It went through, so Kerttu Niskanen’s quarterfinal skiing in the traditional sprint of the Drammen World Cup was rejected. Finland had no bangs for a counter-protest.
Kerttu Niskanen’s quarter-final skiing was rejected on Tuesday in the traditional sprint of the Drammen World Cup. Stock photo. Jussi Saarinen
The jury of the World Cup competition in Drammen apparently did not make an order on Tuesday Kerttu Niskanen punishment, until a protest made by Italy changed the plot of the couplet.
In sprint races, a protest may only be made after the race.
– After that protest, the referee’s council made a decision, says Finland’s head coach Teemu Pasanen.
Together with Niskanen, he went to the judges’ council room to watch the situation on video. Finland did not make a counter-protest.
– It was filmed from one angle. From that point of view, it was certainly the right decision. It was looked at in the video, but you can’t see it completely accurately. However, he was unable to respond to the Council of Judges.
The Finn changed the track of the traditional sprint in the quarter round 4/5 at the finish line, apparently Nicole Monsornon on skis and the Italian went upside down.
At the finish line, the booted woman hissed at the Finn and, judging by her sign language, was angry.
– Kerttu himself checked during the competition that it could fit. But it was probably too small a gap.
Pasanen could not say why Italy made the protest.
– It could very well be that Monsorno would not have been able to continue even if nothing had happened.
Loss of points
Nicole Monsorno’s Italy made Kerttu Niskas a protest. PDO
Niskanen’s quarter-final performance was disqualified and he was dropped from 13th to 30th place.
A yellow card and “RAL” were marked on the neck. The abbreviation comes from the words “ranked as last”.
A yellow card means that during the rest of the season, Niskas can’t afford fouls – for example, a stolen start, for which a yellow card is awarded. The next yellow card would mean disqualification.
Because of Tuesday’s foul, the Finn loses 34 World Cup points.
Norwegian Tiril Weng leads the World Cup with 1,733 points. of the USA Jessie Diggins (1,588) is second, Niskanen (1,492) is third and USA Rosie Brennan (1,363) in fourth.
– The verdict was a bad thing, because it could have an impact on the overall cup. Now Tiril got a good score and Jessie got a bit better too.
In previous years, Niskanen has not participated very often in individual sprint competitions, but now the woman must participate due to the World Cup points situation.
– The new point calculation system for this season means that everyone who is fighting for the top spots could not miss any races, Pasanen states.
– Kertu’s skiing was just fine. He skied 50 kilometers on Sunday in Oslo, and he certainly hadn’t recovered from it yet. In that way, a very good performance on Tuesday, the head coach continued.
Traction problems
Jonna Sundling (left), Kristine Skistad and Tiril Weng got on the podium on Tuesday in Drammen. EPA / AOP
A so-called city sprint was held in Drammen, near Oslo. On Sunday, a nearly one-and-a-half-kilometer cannon snow slope was spread in the center of the village. On the night before Tuesday, 15–20 centimeters of natural snow fell on the track.
This caused challenges in ski maintenance, as the maintenance team only got to test the equipment for 20 minutes before Tuesday’s time trial. Also, the athletes only had a 20-minute test time, and it was at a different time from the maintenance.
– The men had pretty big grip problems in the time trial. In the heats everyone had good skis. Kerttu had good equipment throughout Tuesday.
Out of the six Finnish men, only two made it through the time trial.
The Drammen race track was dismantled with bucket loaders after Tuesday’s event. The street area is released for normal use.