WSOC: Finland to the fore in Middle Distance

WSOC: Finland to the fore in Middle Distance

Gold medallists are Finnish athletes Amanda Yli Futka and Niklas Ekstrӧm, Futka winning by 1.23, and Ekstrӧm by just 0.06 ahead of his compatriot Pyry Riissanen. Andrei Lamov, Sweden was bronze medalist in the men’s race, and it was joint silver in the women’s for Eliane Deininger SUI and Anna Magdalena Olsson SWE.

The courses were very challenging, with long route-choice legs through the mountains and shorter technical legs in flatter terrain, and plenty of mistakes were made. One of the most critical was made by Olsson on leg 13-14, where she lost a whole 2 minutes after being a bit off the pace on the previous 2 legs. This error may well have cost her the gold medal in her last championship run before retiring, as she otherwise was skiing well and was fastest on 7 of the 16 legs on the course.

Anna Magdalena Olsson – 2-minute error cost her the gold              Photos: WSOC

Futka in full control

Futka lost 36 seconds to control 1, but then gained full control of her race and ended with 8 of the fastest laps. Deininger was also in a position to challenge for gold at one stage, but she tired and slowed down towards the end. Finland finished with 3 athletes in the top 6, with Sari Vaaranen having her best world-level result to date. Anna Ulvensøen, Norway finished 5^th, having secured her World Cup overall victory before today.

Close result in men’s race

After control 1, Ekstrӧm was fastest throughout in the men’s race except for controls 14-16 of the 21-control course – but he was fastest on only 3 of the legs. By contrast, Riissanen had 11 legs where he was fastest, but had a slow start and made other small errors – just missing out on gold, but a fine result for the 20-year-old.

Pyry Riissanen, Niklas Ekstrom, Andrei Lamov

Lamov, 40-years-old next week, enjoyed a typically steady race with 2 fastest legs, but lost 52 seconds on leg 17-18 – yet still winning a medal, 17 years after he won 2 golds, the last time the World SkiO Championships were held in Japan! World Cup winner Jørgen Baklid, Norway was fastest to control 1 but lost 3 minutes on the next leg and was below his best thereafter, finishing 14^th.

Andrei Lamov – bronze medal today

The championships end tomorrow with the Sprint Relay.

Leading Results, Middle Distance

Women

1. Amanda Yli Futka FIN 55:18

2=  Eliane Deininger SUI & Anna Magdalena Olsson SWE  56:51

4. Sari Vaaranen FIN 57:40
5. Anna Ulvensøen NOR 58:37
6. Nina Karna FIN 58:48

Men

1. Niklas Ekstrӧm FIN 55:54
2. Pyry Riissanen FIN 56:00
3. Andrei Lamov SWE 57:12
4. Nicola Müller SUI 57:24
5. Stanimir Belomazhev BUL 59:50
6. Teodor Mo Hjelseth NOR 60:25