The World Cup money hunt was destroyed by Kerttu Niskanen and the World Cup

The cross -country skiing World Cup ended on Sunday in a very strange way. The Cup celebrates different women than the World Championships. To the top quartet For Jessie Diggins, For Victoria Carl, Kerttu Niskanen and To Astrid Slind Went to the Trondheim World Championships.

None of them achieved a personal medal.

The number of MC competitions, a total of 31 starts, became unbearable for the success of the World Cup.

– It has always been the case that you have to choose either in the value races or the success of the World Cup. In the past years, it has been the way of Finns, especially to focus more on the value races, says Iltalehti’s ski expert Reijo Jylhä.

Before the start of the season, Iltalehti analyzes that the Women’s World Cup wins the Swedish Jonna Sundling, Linn Svahn or Frida Karlsson.

The Swedes chose the old Finnish tactics: all the bangs for the value races.

“Both Sundling and Karlsson even missed the home world in Falun before the World Cup,” Jylhä recalls.

Now the Swedes are world champions both in personal competitions and messages.

– It was a profitable investment for both. It may be that Frida won 50 kilometers of World Cup gold.

Too many races

There were as many as 31 personal competitions in the cross -country skiing World Cup.

There were 21 in the Biathlon World Cup.

Biathlon skiing does not see the same race as skiing because the competition program is looser.

– The International Ski Association (FIS) thinks there are not too many races. On weekends, we are struggling for global visibility. If weekends are left out, it can take euros, Jylhä says.

– Biathlon has been able to develop the sport so interesting that fewer races do not affect overall interest, the expert adds.

Crazy score system

The World Cup score system was changed to the 2022-23 season. Previously, the top 30 points were scored, now 50.

– In men, it works much better than in women. Women have had races that everyone who came to the finish will get points. It’s not a good thing.

The importance of the victory (100 World Cup points) in relation to other top positions decreased significantly, as the scores fell very slightly after the rule change. For example, in second place, the athlete receives only five points less (95), 10 points less (90) in third place and only 20 points (80) instead of the fifth place.

In the past, for example, the top five points were awarded as follows: 1.) 100, 2.) 80, 3.) 60, 4.) 50 and 5.) 45 points.

Jasmmi Joensuu This season won the Sprint Cup in one second place. Kerttu Niskanen of five prize balls was third in the Cup overall and the fourth of the thirteen balls Astrid Slind.

– After all, it is a bit wrong that with such investments I am eighth in the World Cup sprint overall, commented one of the ball seats Lauri Vuorinen – And hit the heart of the matter.

The species is spreading

The men’s World Cup went smoothly John Klæbon Behind a bit unpredictable, because the Norwegians went to a lot of energy for the mutual competition.

For example Simen Krüger and Harald Amundsen Went up the World Cup’s success potential when they had to twist the World Championships in certain testing races.

– Norwegians can afford it, Jylhä recalls.

On Sunday in Lahti, the men’s 50 kilometers race were among the top 20 athletes.

– The men’s series has become extremely international. The competition would be very steady if the Norwegian superiority was not so huge.

Olympic spots

At the same time, the World Cup has competed in their own point competition for next winter’s Olympic places.

Finland was fourth in both men and women. This means that a total of eight men and eight women can be named for the Italian Games. Men get two seats more than the Chinese Games in 2022.

– The situation in Finland is good, but in Norway, mutual competition can turn into a bad thing. They also have eight seats in Italy.