Suvi Minkkinen was out of 15 in the Kontiolahti World Cup, her mouth dropped open at the finish line

Suvi Minkkinen was 27th in Saturday’s sprint race. In Sunday’s pursuit, he climbed as many as 12 places. Kimmo Brandt / EPA / AOP

Biathlon skier Summer in Minkkinen, 27, went smoothly in the Kontiolahti World Cup 10 km pursuit, but after the finish line there was a bloody accident. The Finn’s mouth fell open as he ran into his own stick.

– I tried to brake. When you’re on acid and your coordination is a bit bad, the stick hit right there, Minkkinen said and pointed to his right upper lip.

He apparently survived with only superficial scratches.

– Finally, at that stage there was a taste of blood in the mouth – if there was no such thing in the competition, the athlete from Joutsa laughed.

Figuratively speaking, the taste in my mouth was sweeter than ever before after the biathlon world cup competition, because 2,000 euros in prize money was added to the account. Fifteenth place is a career best.

Horrible scalp

After the fourth shooting, Minkkinen was seventeenth and the same position was still 800 meters before the finish line.

In the end, he overtook the Germans by Denise Herrmann and Anna Weidel. Herrmann’s scalp, in particular, was a huge surprise.

– I’m still a mother, Minkkinen commented.

– I caught Denise on top of the wall climb from a short distance. With a small risk on the concrete bridge, I passed. I knew that he could catch him on the descent, but I pressed everything that came out of my legs.

His previous career best finish was eighteenth.

– The direct conclusion of the improved speed is health. October last season was difficult. I was in good shape, but I had heart problems during the alpine section. Had to check to make sure it’s not myocarditis. This kind of thing could have been expected last season.

Even though the ski times of the pursuit are not as directly comparable to the athletes’ progress as in the intermediate start races, Minkkinen’s best ski time of 24 and a loss of about a minute to the fastest show an accelerated ride.

– I feel that the new national team coaching is very much in line with the personal coach Mikko Viitanen in line.

Minkkinen has a double celebration, because he left his economics degree at the University of Joensuu earlier this week.

– Yes, I value fifteenth place more, because it has required so many more years. I started my degree at the beginning of summer. I’m surprised how painless the process was.

Minkkinen’s party will continue next week, as he turns 28 on Thursday.

Eder rattled

Mari Eder rattled the plate six times and was 24th.

– A very determined thing to do. Was more performance-wise in possession than last season’s chases. The last vertical shooting wasn’t bad either. There is hope in that, said Eder, who had a bomb balance of 1+1+1+3.

He was second in Saturday’s 7.5 km cross-country skiing and fifth on Sunday.

– The skiing has gone very well. I’ve been about 30 seconds from the front, now it’s about 20 seconds. It mostly settles on the bench, but I’m a little more on top of my neck there than before.

Amateur mistake

Nastassia Kinnunen was 48, Erika Jänkä 54’s and Venla Lehtonen 58:s.

– Sähläis would be a descriptive word for today’s race. I’ve never left a magazine in the magazine opening when targeting. Now that happened. It was a super amateur mistake. Zero still came from that opening position. So the slathering didn’t mix up the messes, but it was a good lesson, Jänkä stated.

Biathlon World Cup continues next week in Hochfilzen, Austria.

The teams will travel from Joensuu on Monday on a charter flight to the alpine country.