Biathlon: the Finns on fire in the relay
On Sunday afternoon, while the French achieved a historic performance by winning the biathlon World Cup relay in Kontiolahti (Finland), another result made a lasting impression. It was the home performance of Finns Jaakko Ranta, Olli Hiidensalo, Tero Seppälä and Otto Invenius.
With just four balls to spare, the public favourites finished the race in fifth place, buoyed by the runs of the last two relay runners. This top 5 finish is quite simply Finland’s best ever result in a World Cup relay since… 16 March 2002.
That day – also on home soil, but in Lahti (Finland) – Ville Räikkönen, Paavo Puurunen, Timo Antila and Vesa Hietalahti, leading at the halfway stage, finished fourth.
“As a team, this is an important result for us,” Otto Invenius told Nordic Magazine. Erik Kulstad, the Norwegian coach of the Finnish national team, was ecstatic: “We’ve managed to build a team that works well together. The fact that several of them have managed to finish in the top 10 in recent years has created the conviction that we can push each other to the top.”
Tero Seppälä wants more
“To see all the boys doing top-level work at the same time, and getting this result at home, together, was very moving, he continued. I expected us to improve, but I was very impressed with this performance. It should boost their confidence in the work they do and the team they form.”
There’s no doubt that Finland’s performances will be closely watched over the coming weeks. “The gap to the podium is small, so we’ll see what we can achieve over the course of the season,” concludes an ambitious Tero Seppälä.
