A lot of Russia in the Rovaniemi and Muonio races waiting for Federico Pellegrino's sprint

First weekend of competitions on snow for international cross-country skiing: between Muonio and Rovaniemi positive results have arrived for Russian teams, but it was the host Iivo Niskanen who aroused the best impression so far. Federico Pellegrino was the prelude to tomorrow's classic sprint in the 15km skated race in the Lapland capital.

Saturday 16 November 2019 11 minutes reading time

The winter season has officially begun. In addition to the biathlon stationed in SjusjÃ¸en, this weekend in Finnish Lapland - between Muonio and Rovaniemi - the cross-country skiing is seeing the first test on the snow going on stage preparatory to the World Cup that will start in a couple of weeks in that Ruka. MEN'S SECTOR In northern Italy the most thunderous result so far has been the result of the 10 km classic men's race held today at Muonio: at this juncture the landlord Iivo Niskanen proved to be of another category than Alexander Bolshunov, one of the two greatest contenders for the crystal ball. The final gap between the two was around 40 ", showing a remarkable physical condition for the Finnish Olympic champion, at least compared to the talented rival. However, the Russian managed to close the place of honor, ahead of the Finnish duo composed of Perttu HyvÃ¤rinen and Joni MÃ¤ki more than a minute away from the winner. If the first exit on the distance has not said very well to the leader of the ex-Soviet movement, it has gone better in the sprint in classic held yesterday: Bolshunov, in a competition without fearful rivals, has closed the practice by registering the best time in qualifying , overcoming the preliminary rounds without too many worries and asking in the final a quintet of compatriots captained by the young Alexander Terentev and Sergey Ardashev, surrendered only in the sprint and occupying the second and third place. For now - with the exception of Bolshunov - in Muonio the big guns of the Russian team have highlighted some problems too, but they will still have the 15 km skating tomorrow available to stand out in the eyes of the technicians: all in all Alexander Bessmertnykh himself still defended in today's distance closed to the 7th place, instead sent back Andrey Melnichenko and Denis Spitsov, while rejection on all fronts for Andrey Larkov who has always remained out of the top 30. Moving south a few hundred kilometers to Rovaniemi, other globally comforting news arrives from the rest of the Russian formation. In the 15 km in free technique, disputed in the morning, Sergey Ustiugov came back in vogue, clearly setting himself in front of three team mates: Artem Maltsev, Evgeniy Belov and Ivan Kirillov, delayed by 30 'per minute. Immediately behind the leading quartet were Federico Pellegrino (5th) and Giandomenico Salvadori (6th), authors of comparable performances having accumulated around 1â€™20 â€™â€™ each. Stefan Zelger (12th) missed the third blue finish, while Maicol Rastelli retired early and Francesco De Fabiani did not even start. Tomorrow in the capital of Lapland there will be a sprint in classic technique that promises to be very interesting: in addition to Ustiugov, Pellegrino will surely have to deal with Gleb Retivykh, now already fairly 8th. MUONIO - SPRINT TC 1. BOLSHUNOV Alexander (RUS) 2â€™58â€™â€™72 2. TERENTEV Alexander (RUS) at 0â€™â€™32 3. ARDASHEV Sergey (RUS) at 0â€™â€™35 Click here for complete results. MUONIO - 10 KM TC 1. NISKANEN Iivo (FIN) 24â€™44''4 2. BOLSHUNOV Alexander (RUS) at 39''8 3. HYVÃ„RINEN Perttu (FIN) at 1'06'3 Click here for complete results. ROVANIEMI - 15 KM TL 1. USTIUGOV Sergey (RUS) 35'55''0 2. MALTSEV Artem (RUS) at 28''9 3. BELOV Evgeniy (RUS) at 34''3 ... 5. PELLEGRINO Federico (ITA) at 1'19 ' '2 6. SALVADORI Giandomenico (ITA) at 1'23''4 12. ZELGER Stefan (ITA) at 2'36''7 Click here for complete results. FEMALE SECTOR The female competitions held in Muonio had an absolute protagonist: Natalia Nepryaeva. The cross-country skier in question had no rivals outside of Anne KyllÃ¶nen in the sprint and Krista PÃ¤rmÃ¤koski in the 5 km, both skillfully tamed. In the 24-hour test, the Russian - after setting herself in qualifying, in the batteries and in the semi-finals - faced the last day's hard work openly, gradually detaching all the finalists and arriving at the finish line in solitude. As mentioned, the only one to have tried to counter it was KyllÃ¶nen, finally satisfied with the place of honor. In the final sprint for the third place Tiia Olkkonen got the better of the Polish Izabela Marcisz. Today, Nepryaeva had to deal with a much more highly rated opponent, PÃ¤rmÃ¤koski: the two performed comparable performances on the seconds, but the Russian 24-year-old at the finish line was just 3''6 on the finish line. . Slightly more detached the other athletes of the Finnish team, with Kerttu Niskaen 3 ^ and Johanna Matintalo 4 ^, while the veteran of thousand battles Justyna Kowalczyk had to settle for 11th coin well 45 â€™â€™ from the summit. Clearly the distance traveled (barely 5 km) does not give great indications in view of the maximum circuit races, it remains however another high level test for the talented suitor for the crystal ball and a first clue on the condition of the darling of the house. The challenge for success in the 10 km skating on the snows of Rovaniemi was even tighter: the long-awaited Teresa Stadlober had to bow to the Czech Katerina Razymova for 1â€™4, a genuine surprise today. All the other athletes lingered: Anna Nechaevskaya at about 40 â€™from the best gave Russia another top-three, beating the young Czech Katerina Jenatova by a whisker. Among women, no Italian competed in Finland as they are all engaged in the pre-World Cup retreat in Davos. As for men, the weekend program will end tomorrow with a sprint in classic technique in Rovaniemi and a 10 km distance in free technique in Muonio. MUONIO - SPRINT TC 1. NEPRYAEVA Natalia (RUS) 3â€™26â€™â€™62 2. KYLLÃ–NEN Anne (FIN) at 1â€™72 â€™â€™ 3. OLKKONEN Tiia (FIN) at 7â€™â€™03 Click here for complete results. MUONIO - 5 KM TC 1. NEPRYAEVA Natalia (RUS) 14â€™34â€™â€™7 2. PÃ„RMÃ„KOSKI Krista (FIN) a 3â€™â€™6 3. NISKANEN Kerttu (FIN) at 10â€™â€™9 Click here for complete results. ROVANIEMI - 10 KM TL 1. RAZYMOVA Katerina (CZE) 24â€™25â€™â€™4 2. STADLOBER Teresa (AUT) at 1â€™â€™4 3. NECHAEVSKAYA Anna (RUS) at 37â€™3 Click here for complete results.

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