Two Niskanens take the victories of Tour de Ski stage
Apr 20, 2022·Cross-Country
The changing weather in the Swiss Alps added some challenges for todays second race day of the COOP FIS Tour de Ski performance by Le Gruyère. An individual start of 10km and 15km in Classic technique was on schedule. Cross-Country World Cup history was made by Kerttu and Iivo Niskanen as the siblings bring home the victory of their race each.
Kerttu Niskanen takes the leader bib of Tour de Ski
Seven years after her first World Cup victory and two years after her last victory, Kerttu Niskanen reports back to the top of the podium. The 33 year-old Finn takes her third career World Cup win at todays 10km C race at Lenzerheide with a margin of 18 seconds. With a remarkable final push, Niskanen made the most of the conditions. With her strong performance, Kerttu takes over the Tour de Ski lead and states: “This is the first time in my career that I have the yellow bib and I am the leader and I am happy that this year the Tour is not so long.”
Ebba Andersson, who headed into the race 10 minutes before the start of Niskanen, had to fight hard through the strong snow fall. “It was snowing a lot but I tried to stay focused and had in mind that it was the same conditions for everyone and all were struggling out there and that motivated me to keep going. I had Frida 30 seconds behind me chasing but I could keep the focus on my skiing and to give it all until the finish line,” concluded Ebba her race.
With a clear margin, the 24 year-old Swede had taken the seat in the leaders chair and her result remained untouched until Kerttu Niskanen crossed the finish line.
Natalia Nepryaeva from Russia had chosen a later start position and chased the best times from behind. Neither the time of Niskanen nor Andersson could be challenged but by 3.5 seconds, Nepryaeva managed to squeeze onto the podium before Krista Pärmäkoski.
Iivo Niskanen already watched the winning run of his sister during his warm-up session. “I got a little nervous when I saw Kerttu winning the women’s race but I kept the focus on my own task,” stated the Finn after crossing the finish line.
Indeed, today’s 15km needed a lot of attention and endurance as conditions made the course profile even more difficult. With a clean run, Iivo claimed the victory with a 19.3 second margin.
The run for the victory was not in reach anymore but Alexander Bolshunov fought for the best possible result. After a slight backfall in the first round, he could not catch up with the times paced by Niskanen and had to keep the fight on for the second place.
With Paal Golberg, the Men’s podium get’s completed. “It was just the result that I needed. 6 out of the 8 spots of the Olympics are already taken. This day was maybe the most important, so I am very happy with the result,” said Paal after the race. The 31 year-old Norwegian took the place off Johannes Høslot Klæbo who finishes 9.1 seconds off the podium. Nevertheless, with a strong performance, Klæbo keeps the Tour lead as well as the Tour de Ski Point standing lead.
Overall Tour de Ski leader (yellow bib**): Kerttu Niskanen & Johannes Høsflot Klæbo**
Tour de Ski point standing leader (red bib): Jessie Diggins & Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
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