Leo Johansson, 22, from Skillingaryd got one successful start to the season when he won both 15-kilometer races in last weekend’s national ski premiere in Gällivare. For that, he was awarded a place in the national ski team and was selected for the season’s first World Cup competition in Ruka.
In the biting cold, almost 20 degrees cold, Johansson showed that he was worthy of the place among the world’s foremost skiers and completed a controlled race from start to finish.
With a time of 34.31.2 he was the best Swede and finished 22nd in 15 kilometers classic style – just over 26 seconds ahead of Calle Halfvarsson who after a brisk start got tired as he went and fell down to 35th place.
– I’m happy anyway. I was a bit stressed on the steep slopes compared to Gällivare but think I kept it pretty good. I am pleased considering that it is the first World Cup in white national team uniform, says Leo Johansson who has completed two competitions in the World Cup from last winter before.
None of the Swedes was in the vicinity of any close battle. Best of all was the Finnish star skier Iivo Niskanen who last season did not take a single World Cup victory but who now immediately got an end to the drought. The home rider was 8.3 seconds faster than the Russian runner-up Alexei Shervotkin.
– It can not get better, a wonderful feeling. It was a beautiful day with nice conditions even though it was quite cold. I am very happy to get a start like this on the season, says Niskanen in the victory interview in Viaplay’s broadcast.
Third in Ruka was last season’s ski king Alexander Bolshunov, just over 14 seconds behind Niskanen and one second ahead of today’s best Norwegian Erik Valnes. The Russian is probably happy with his effort because he had a tangled pre-season that was marked by toothache and mouth surgery.
For the rest of Sweden, Fredrik Andersson was 36th, two tenths behind Halfvarsson. Further down the scoreboard, Gustaf Berglund ended up in 47th place, Eric Rosjö finished 52nd and Fredrik Jonsson 78th.
In this weekend’s world cup premiere, Sweden is missing two of its leading distance skiers in William Poromaa (ill) and Jens Burman (back injured).
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