Riitta-Liisa Roponen on her knees – a dark reckoning from the women of Finland

Riitta-Liisa Roponen45, returning to the cross-country skiing world cup after a break of about two years, was disappointed on Saturday in Jällivaara’s 10 km skating style intermediate start.

– It’s really sad that I couldn’t perform at my own level. I went to the race excited and wanted to ski hard. In the race, my front thighs and barbell froze. I was on my knees at one point, finished in 35th place and less than three minutes behind the winner To Jessie Diggins a bowed Roponen said in the recording of the Ski Association.

On Saturday, Ropose became the oldest athlete to participate in the World Cup of Skiing.

– I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in the highest level of a great sport. The biggest thing in my mind is the disappointment that I was not able to perform as I would have liked, commented the man from Haupikuta.

After training with Roponen in the United States at the end of the summer Krista Pärmäkoski the gig in Swedish Lapland ended in equally gloomy moods.

– It was a difficult race. The first three kilometers felt like my legs were really frozen. When the body warmed up, it went fine for a while, but the end was really difficult. My toes froze really bad. They were rock hard. The cold must have hit the lungs a bit, Pärmäkoski stated.

Last Sunday, Pärmäkoski was in 31st place in Ruka’s 20 kilometer free combined start, and in Jällivaara in 25th place on Saturday.

– There are really no such investments that I am satisfied with.

“The clock tells everything”

Having skied to place 32 on Saturday Jasmi to Joensuu the competitive analysis was straightforward.

– Skiing didn’t feel bad at all, but that was an investment. There is no explanation. The clock tells tells everything essential, commented Joensuu, who lost to Diggins by almost two and a half minutes.

Skiing in Sweden was about 15 degrees below zero. Last Sunday in Kuusamo, the temperature was around the same freezing temperatures.

– The musculature does not work as expected. Skiing in sunny weather is not relaxed and breezy, Kerttu Niskanen evaluate.

Possibly, Niskanen would have left his nephew in between Jällivaara Iivo Niskanen way, because the free way of progressing and the Swedish rally track are not suitable for fun. Kerttu Niskanen’s goal is to win the overall World Cup competition, so he wants to collect every available point.

– It’s good to live in hope. Let’s look ahead. Yes, it has to get better at some point.

One happy

The only athlete who spoke positively after Saturday’s competition on the audio tape of the Ski Federation was Vilma Ryytty.

– I am quite satisfied with the race and the fact that I got a good ranking among the Finns, Ryytty said.

He was the third best Finn in the event and ranked 30th in the final results.

– Pretty good skiing on that track. I prefer a straighter track.

Humorous Remi Lindholmwho was 42nd in the men’s freestyle, nicely summed up the Finnish stomach bill.

– The others were better. All of us Finns need to ski a little more, Lindholm announced.