In the qualification, Lylynperä was second after Niskanen. In the final, however, Lylynperä was not to be surprised.

“In the final, the idea was that I would first draft Kerttu. I would have liked to have been ahead of Kerttu already before the last downhill, but I didn’t make it. Then, in the end, I gave all I had and knew I had a good chance to overtake her. It was a good day.”

Even though Lylynper had a successful day and the shape looks promising, the summer training hasn’t been without problems.

“My hamstring was torn in July, and most of the training in July was pretty much alternative training, and there have not been any hard sessions for a long time. I was able to do one harder training session before this race,” Lylynperä said.

Niskanen also had a solid day.

“In the final, I knew that Katri was going to be really strong on this track, especially it being a classic sprint,” Niskanen praised.

She has had a good training season and compared to last year, she has also been able to run since the beginning of the training season.

“The body has stayed intact. It’s been a great training season. Last summer, too, I had a good feeling and the desire to do well, and that feeling has been the same this summer. Everything is going according to the plan,” Niskanen said.

Tiia Olkkonen took bronze ahead of Jasmin Kähärä, Johanna Ukkola, and Jasmi Joensuu.

Results