In the first split time after 1.2 kilometers everything looked after a close race between Therese Johaug and her possible successor Frida Karlsson (SWE, Fischer ***). But the 20-year-old Swede, who yesterday was so angry and disappointed with the team's bad skis, still reveals weaknesses in the race management. She approached the race too offensively and lost much time later. Three kilometers from the finish, Johaug passed Krista Pärmäkoski, who had been in front of her for a long time. "I am very happy, my skis have been very good. I am very strong and I am very happy to be back on top of the podium, but tomorrow the others behind me will be also very strong. I like the tracks here, it always goes up and down", said Johaug about her successful start, after she had made it to the quarter-finals yesterday. Third place went to Natalia Nepryaeva, who has to give up a total of five team mates because of pregnancy. Although the Russian continuously lost time on Johaug, she made up two places in the last few kilometers and made it onto the podium. Sadie Maubet Bjornsen (USA, Fischer ***) missed the second podium in 24 hours by just 1.3 seconds.
Katerina Razymova (CZE, Fischer ***) ended the race in top five and was the biggest surprise of the day. The 28-year-old Czech had an eighteenth place in the World Cup as the best, but already set an exclamation mark with a win in the test race in Finland ahead of Teresa Stadlober (AUT, Fischer ***). Heidi Weng (NOR, Fischer ***) finished seventh, one minute behind Johaug. Kerttu Niskanen (FIN, Fischer ***) completed the top ten ahead of Frida Karlsson and sprinter Jonna Sundling (SWE, Fischer **).
=> Ruka Triple
Once again, Iivo Niskanen picked out a race from the calendar, prepared himself specially and finally won the competition with a relatively good lead. When he started with race number 66, he already had company with Johannes Høsflot Klæbo from the stadium, who had chosen his starting number tactically perfect and now had the strong Finn as his driving horse. For a few kilometers, both were on the track as a duo, until Niskanen pulled on the pace of his second lap and broke away from the Norwegian. Both were divided by 13 seconds in the finish, but nevertheless Johannes Høsflot Klæbo clearly benefited from the speed of Niskanen. There will be 18 seconds between them in tomorrow's free style handicap race, but both feel much better in the classic style. "It was not my best day, but the skis were extremely good. It was not easy to run with Klæbo, in my second lap I probably hit a too hard pace and in the end I was very tired and lost time to him", says Niskanen. "But it was nice, the whole stadium cheered me on, that's one of my favorite places." Emil Iversen was happy about reaching the podium and will be among the favorites tomorrow. Didrik Tønseth (NOR, Fischer ***) missed the hoped victory in fourth. Andrey Larkov (RUS, Fischer ***) finished sixth. Sergey Ustiugov (RUS, Fischer ***) lost almost a minute to the winner in ninth, Ivan Yakimushkin (RUS, Fischer ***) finished tenth.
=> Ruka Triple
* = Fischer skis
** = Fischer skis and bindings
*** = Fischer skis, bindings and boots
