Iivo Niskanen Achieves Career-Best Free 15K – Is Remi Lindholm Already Out of Worlds?

Iivo Niskanen’s season is on the upswing as the World Championships approach. In the freestyle 15 km intermediate start race at Cognen, Italy, he finished sixth – 22.1 seconds behind the winner, Harald Östberg Amundsen – marking his best performance in a free technique race. Notably, his previous career-best in this event was a second-place finish in Nove Mesto five years ago.

During the race, Norway’s Iver Tildheim Andersen and Martin Löwström Nyenget ensured a Norwegian podium, while Edvin Anger (Sweden) and Simen Hegstad Krüger (Norway) were among those challenging Niskanen. In a post-race interview with Viaplay, Niskanen expressed mixed feelings; although he was generally satisfied with his performance, he lamented having to ski the race alone instead of sharing the pace with rivals.

Head coach Teemu Pasanen was pleased with Niskanen’s effort, noting that his free skiing was on an upward trend ahead of the World Championships. In other news, Remi Lindholm – a veteran skier now 56 years old – is struggling with his performance. Having started the race with a strong pace only to fall behind early on, Lindholm’s chances of securing a spot for the World Championships are now in question. Pasanen commented that Lindholm’s performance was far below his usual standard and that the situation is being closely monitored.

Additional comments were made about other Finnish skiers, including Markus Vuorela (29), Arsi Ruuskanen (37), and Joni Mäki (59), while Perttu Hyvärinen, returning to the World Cup, showed a promising performance by finishing as the second best among the Finns.

Updated at 12:50 with further comments from Teemu Pasanen.