Iivo Niskanen unbeatable at 15km C
Feb 11, 2022·Cross-Country
With an extraordinary performance, Iivo Niskanen doubled up his bronze medal of the Skiathlon earlier this Olympic Winter Games with a Gold medal in todays 15km in Classic style.
The 30 year-old Finn thus claimed his third Olympic Gold medal after Sochi 2014 (Teamsprint C) and Pyeongchang (50km C). Niskanen knew how to tackle the track and went into the individual start full on, but always kept his performance just below his limit. Pacing along the way, no one of his contenders could closely scratch on the time of Niskanen.
Alexander Bolshunov, who was handled as the big opponent of Niskanen for todays race in Classic technique, headed into his 15km as the last athlete from the seeded group (top-15). Despite strong efforts, he never touched the times of Niskanen but found his rhythm shortly after the start. The 25 year-old athletes from the Russian Olympic Committee finished +23.2 seconds behind Niskanen and was satisfied with the result: “I wanted to win today but Iivo was stronger, I knew that after starting into the race. Getting a silver medal however is a nice treat as well, especially at the Olympic Winter Games. And there are more races coming where I will fight for Gold again”.
With Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, the Olympic podium gets completed. The 25 year-old Norwegian was satisfied with his first Distance Olympic medal. Despite all expectations, that he would claim the medal in a mass start, Klæbo increased the speed throughout the race, after a very steady start in the first lap.
For all three medalists, it is the second Olympic medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022. The competition schedule continues with Saturdays and Sundays Womens and Mens Relay.
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