Lahti World Championships

We drove to Lahti to see World Ski Championships , we were especially interested to see team sprint finals. 

The men team sprint final was very dramatic, my blip photo today captures the moment when Finland’s team (Sami Jauhojärvi & Iivo Niskanen) lost their changes to win the race. Norway took the early lead and dominated the whole competition until the last lap. The gold medal seemed to be secured for Norway. The chasing group consisting of Finland, Italy and Russia could however close the gap to Norway at the stadium. Niskanen ja Iversen fought for the gold medal but crashed in the second to last corner in the stadium - right in front of us! Their crash was a huge disappointment both Finland and Norway. The gold then went to Russia with Italy taking the silver medal. The bronze went to Finland with Norway finishing fourth.

Ladies competition had an even start and it was tight with seven teams together until the second to last lap. The turning point was Yulia Belorukova from Russia breaking away in the fifth lap. Only Heidi Weng from Norway could follow Belorukova. In the last lap Norway sprinted away from Russia and secured the gold medal with the team. Russia then followed and took the silver medal. The bronze medal went to United States of America after an exciting fight against Sweden in the finish line. Team Finland (Aino-Kaisa Saarinen & Kerttu Niskanen) was fifth.

Before the team sprint we watched ski jumping of nordic combined team competition for some time.

After we left the stadium we drove to Hennala to see the Apulandia. It’s a museum and cafeteria of a Finnish rock band called Apulanta. A place well worth visiting! Mr. Virtanen and his family was also present. 

After a two hour drive we were back home at 7 p.m. What a great trip! Couple of more shots in extras.


-2°C, light snowfall