Last weekend was busy on the long-distance skiing scene, with Finnish skiers on the podium at the Ski Classics Pro Tour, Tartu Marathon, and GsieserTal Lauf.

According to Maastohiihto.com, there were podium places for Finnish skiers in Sweden, Estonia, and Italy. The Ski Classics Pro Tour continued Saturday with the 60km Grönklitt Classic, where Kati Roivas was again on the podium. On Sunday, Roivas finished eighth in the 13-kilometer Grönklitt ITT. In Estonia, the 63km Tartu Marathon was held, and Lauri Lepistö fought hard for the win to the finish line, finishing third. In GsieserTal Lauf, Italy, Heli Heiskanen won the 42km traditional race.

You can read more about the Grönklitt Classic HERE and Grönklitt ITT HERE.

On Saturday, Kati Roivas was third, Siiri Kaijansinkko 16th, Amanda Nyfors 32nd and Vilma Kanerva 39th. On the men’s field, Miro Karppanen was 24th, Juuso Mäkelä 40th, Isac Holmström 43rd, Viktor Mäenpää 50th and Olli Tyrväinen 64th.

On Sunday, Kati Roivas was 8th, Amanda Nyfors was 22nd, and Vilma Kanerva was 31st. In the men’s race, Juuso Mäkelä was 25th, Miro Karppanen 35th, Viktor Mäenpää 47th, Olli Tyrväinen 69th and Hannes Mäenpää 70th.

Team Edux Olli Tyrväinen says the team is ready for next week’s Vasaloppet. The team also includes Swedish skier Sofia Lindberg, 18th in Saturday’s race and 14th on Sunday.

“The shape of the athletes in our team seems to be improving nicely. Now we are heading towards our main goal, Vasaloppet,” says Olli.

Team Mäenpää’s Viktor Mäenpää was not satisfied with his weekend skiing in Sweden.

“It was a pretty bad weekend, but I had a feeling about it before the race. I trained quite a lot before those races, and immediately after the races, I went to Bruksvallarna, where I will be until Vasaloppet. This week, I will probably train quite a bit more. Next week, I’ll rest and take it easy, and hopefully, that will bring out the right vibe for Vasaloppet. The race is my main goal for the season, so hopefully it will go well,” says Viktor.

Kati Roivas took her fifth consecutive podium finish on Saturday. Kati also has her eyes on Vasaloppet, and the skier is hunting for historic podium finishes in the race. A Finnish skier has yet to be seen on the podium in Vasaloppet since Pauli Siitonen won in 1973.

“Saturday turned out to be a good day. I thought beforehand there was so much flat in that race, which is not my strength, so I didn’t think I would do so well. After the first hill, I felt strong and could get away. Luckily, Anniken Gjerde Alnæs came along, and we worked well together. When I was having a drink at the service point, she got away unexpectedly, and I couldn’t catch her on the flat. I felt tired on Sunday, and the race didn’t go as well. When I got to the climb, I felt I could up the pace a bit. The last climb was good, and I managed to move up a few places. I didn’t get a top performance on the second day, but it was ok. Next up is Tjejvasan on Saturday and then Vasaloppet,” Kati tells us about Grönklitt, where she stayed to train after the weekend’s events.

Kati was not the only skier fighting for podium finishes this weekend. Lauri Lepistö finished third in the Tartu Marathon after Henri Roos and Marko Kilp. Seven Finnish male skiers were among the top 40.

If Kati and Lauri had to settle for third place, Heli Heiskanen was victorious in the Italian GsieserTal Lauf on Saturday. Heli won the women’s sprint and was the fastest in the uphill segment (Queen of the Mountain). A unique feature of the ski race is that skiers can decide whether to race 30 km or 42 km during the race. However, the first sprint is the same for everyone, regardless of the distance. According to the organizers, it is the second biggest race in Italy after Marcialonga.

However, Sunday was a more fateful day for Heli when a male skier fell, and Heli fell over on her left arm and was taken to hospital for an MRI scan. The skier believes that the injury is not severe and that she can resume training soon.