Federico Pellegrino third in the Rovaniemi sprint, Russian double with Retivykh-Ustiugov

Sprint in classic technique in Rovaniemi: after having imposed himself in qualifying Federico Pellegrino climbed to the third step of the podium, while the success went to Bleb Retivykh; to the Russian female hat-trick captained by Alisa Zhambalova. In the skating distance of Muonio Iivo Niskanen and Natalia Nepryaeva were confirmed.

Sunday 17 November 2019 7 minutes reading time

The first weekend of preparatory races to the opening of the Ruka World Cup ended with the classic sprints in Rovaniemi and the 10-15 km of skating in that of Muonio. As in the past few days Russia has done without good results, more generally interesting values have emerged in the coming weeks. MEN'S SECTOR In what has been a real starter of the inaugural competition of the maximum circuit, the expected protagonists have not disappointed expectations: since the qualifications emerged overbearingly the champion of the Aosta Valley Federico Pellegrino, the Russians Gleb Retivykh, Artem Maltsev and Sergey Ustiugov, besides to the Czech Michal Nowak, strictly listed in the order of the morning. The elimination stages saw these men prevail along with the other Czech Ludek Seller, who played the day's success in the final: the winner of the Rovaniemi finish was the twenty-seven bronze medalist in this format at the last world championships, stubborn in anticipating team-mate Ustiugov. On the third step of the podium was the leader of the blue movement, having preceded Maltsev and the Novak-Seller duo. The impression aroused by Pellegrino was in any case good, both for the result obtained in qualification and for the final one as cross-country skiers of the caliber of Retivykh and Ustiugov are hard bones to beat alternately. The other Italian athletes who took part in today's competition have disengaged according to their current standards - far exceeding the qualification - it is clear that for a context such as the World Cup we will have to raise the bar to obtain weight results: Stefan Zelger (14th) and Giandomenico Salvadori (19th) went out during the heats, while Maicol Rastelli (10th) gave up in the semifinals. Compared to yesterday, the Muonio men's competition offered less interesting insights as Alexander Bolshunov did not race in the 15 km skating: with the absence of the Russian rival the host Iivo Niskanen had a clear road to the second success in two days , even if the technique less congenial to him did not allow him to spread as in the trial held 24 hours before. Interesting signals from the Russians Denis Spitsov - second at 20 'from success - and Andrey Melnichenko - fifth - who thus redeemed the previous opaque releases, while still pitch-black for Andrey Larkov who did not go beyond the 24th place. ROVANIEMI - SPRINT TC 1. RETIVYKH Gleb (RUS) 2. USTIUGOV Sergey (RUS) 3. PELLEGRINO Federico (ITA) Click here for complete results. MUONIO - 15 KM TL 1. NISKANEN Iivo (FIN) 35'01â€™â€™8 2. SPITSOV Denis (RUS) to 20â€™â€™4 3. HYVÃ„RINEN Perttu (FIN) to 38â€™6 Click here for complete results. FEMALE SECTOR In women's tests, other victories for Russia. In the Rovaniemi sprint the former Soviet domain was even dominated, the entire top-three having been monopolized: after not having stolen the eye in a qualification from the rather low level, Alisa Zhambalova together with Yana Kirpichenko and Olga Tsareva defeated the Austro-Czech competition in the final. Fourth coin for Teresa Stadlober, not much accustomed to competitions in the short distance, which managed to precede in the decisive moment the young Katerina Janatova and the compatriot Lisa Unterweger. Moving to Muonio we have to record the third success in 72 hours for Natalia Nepryaeva. As for the male Iivo Niskanen did not have to deal with Bolshunov, in this case even the talented Russian had an easier life thanks to the absence of the darling of the house Krista PÃ¤rmÃ¤koski. On the 10 km to go in free technique Nepryaeva trimmed 15 'of detachment to a good Kerttu Niskanen, while the German Victoria Carl completed the podium. The Latvian Patricija Eiduca (5th) and the Polish Izabala Marcisz (6th), girls still in the junior age, missed the first three positions. ROVANIEMI - SPRINT TC 1. ZHAMBALOVA Alisa (RUS) 2. KIRPICHENKO Yana (RUS) 3. TSAREVA Olga (RUS) Click here for complete results. MUONIO - 10 KM TL 1. NEPRYAEVA Natalia (RUS) 26'35''2 2. NISKANEN Kerttu (FIN) at 15'0 3. CARL Victoria (GER) at 28''5 Click here for complete results.

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