Kerttu Niskanen’s pace was strong at the Vuokatti Aateli Race, as she took the prologue win by 5.2 seconds from Eveliina Piippo despite a fall. China’s Qinghua Ma was third and Anne Kyllönen fourth.

Niskanen has raced the Vuokatinvaara climb countless times and celebrated successes in the Aateli Race many times, but this time there was a new twist to it: a fall in the uphill.

”I was trying to think the last time I fell on a rollerskis and when even was the last time I fell in uphill. I simply put the pole between my skis and that was that. Elbows open, luckily no worse than that. It could have been worse. I was in a rush, it’s not that long of a distance. When I got up, I had to put everything into play to catch up with Eve (Eveliina Piippo),” Niskanen said.

She returned home from the camp in Italy just before Midsummer. It was a successful camp.

”I’m sure you will not see anything terribly sharp racing from me at Aateli Race, but these races are good for you, especially on top of a hard basic training.”

Niskanen is a strong favourite to win the overall at Aateli Race, as Krista Pärmäkoski is not competing this time.

”I have always said that I’m looking forward to (running, the next stage) with dread. It’s not my forte, but we will see. I know I will not be in the front,” Niskanen said with a laugh.

Eveliina Piippo expected better from herself in terms of time.

”The start of the training season has gone so well, so I expected a much faster time. Typically for me, I started way too fast, so the last 400 meters were absolutely horrible. But until then it was nice. My running shape is a complete mystery, so I’m looking forward to see what it will bring,” Piippo stated.

For Anne Kyllönen, the Vuokatinvaara climb is even more familiar, but Kyllönen was “more afraid” than before.

”(This training season) I have skied Vuokatinvaara once before, and I have skied quite a lot on easy terrain in the early part of the season. I was afraid of how my body would react. I haven’t done maximum intensities except on a  treadmill test,” Kyllönen said.

She skied by listening to her body and felt she had an intact, complete performance.

”It is been a really good training season so far. All the training has gone well. One of the best starts ever. I have had fun all the way through.”

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