Iivo Niskanen Achieves Historic Victory – Mocked Yle Experts

Iivo Niskanen Achieves Historic Victory – Mocked Yle Experts

Iivo Niskanen's first-place finish was his first win in a 10-kilometer individual start race in the World Cup.

Iivo Niskanen has now won at Ruka for the fifth time. The Finnish skier previously won the 15-kilometer classical individual start on four occasions: in 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

This time, he triumphed in the 10-kilometer race at Ruka for the first time. Niskanen last secured a World Cup victory in 2022 in Lahti.

This marked the first time in Niskanen's career that he won a World Cup race in the 10-kilometer format, which has been implemented for both men and women since the 2022-2023 season, replacing the 15-kilometer events.

Niskanen set a strong pace at the 3.1-kilometer checkpoint, showing a five-second lead over Norwegian Erik Valnes. By the six-kilometer mark, he had extended his lead to almost ten seconds.

The second place went to Norway's Harald Östberg Amundsen, while his fellow countryman, Martin Löwström Nyenget, took third place. The Norwegian competitors performed strongly as they filled positions two to six behind Niskanen.

Niskanen’s celebration after the finish was exuberant.

In addition to Niskanen, only Finnish competitors Arsi Ruuskanen (19th) and Ville Ahonen (28th) managed to earn points.

Despite having faced recent health issues, Niskanen reported otherwise good condition.

"It has been challenging, but I knew that I had a solid training season behind me," Niskanen shared. "Today, a 20-kilometer race might have been better. The weather slowed me down a bit. I knew where I had to push myself."

In a post-race interview, Niskanen also took a jab at Yle's experts, who had not anticipated his ranking among the top competitors.

“I listened to Yle's ‘experts’ when they didn’t believe I would make it into the top three. Even Ville Nousiainen was only predicting a top 10 finish. They probably haven’t seen my preparatory training at all,” Niskanen quipped.

Men's 10 km Results:

1. Iivo Niskanen (FIN) 23:00.6
2. Harald Ö. Amundsen (NOR) +12.5
3. Martin L. Nyenget (NOR) +14.1
4. Johannes H. Kläbo (NOR) +28.2
5. Erik Valnes (NOR) +31.3
6. Simen Hegstad Krüger (NOR) +32.8
7. Jens Burman (SWE) +37.2
8. Thomas Maloney Westg (IRE) +37.9
9. Mika Vermeulen (AUT) +38.6

10. Hugo Lapalus (FRA) +40.0

11. Arsi Ruuskanen (FIN) +1:05.7

12. Ville Ahonen (FIN) +1:21.8
13. Lauri Vuorinen (FIN) +1:25.6
14. Ristomatti Hakola (FIN) +1:37.0
15. Markus Vuorela (FIN) +1:42.4
16. Remi Lindholm (FIN) +1:43.5

Updated at 15:13: Clarified that Niskanen referred to Yle’s experts as ‘aasiantuntijoita’ (donkeys in Finnish).