Joni Mäki laments broken pole as Norway wins Davos team sprint; Sweden’s women triumph — Yle live blog recap

Yle Sports ran a live text on Friday, 12 December, following multiple winter sports events, with the main focus on the Cross‑Country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland.

Men’s team sprint (free), Davos: - Norway’s first team, Erik Valnes and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, won in 14:00.95. - Italy finished second (+2.04) and Sweden third (+2.09). - Finland’s top pair, Lauri Vuorinen and Joni Mäki, placed fifth (+3.21).

Joni Mäki explained he broke a pole during the anchor’s second leg when it struck Austria’s Benjamin Moser’s ski; Moser and Sweden’s second team skier Anton Grahn crashed. Mäki tried to continue briefly on the broken pole before getting a spare, after which he managed to out-sprint Norway 2’s Oskar Opstad Vike to secure fifth. Both Mäki and Vuorinen said their overall skiing felt good despite a few sub‑optimal exchanges and viewed the race as valuable practice for the Olympic team sprint, noting differences in altitude and course profile (Davos ~1,500 m; Val di Fiemme ~900 m).

Women’s team sprint (free), Davos: - Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist and Jonna Sundling won. - Finland’s Jasmin Kähärä and Jasmi Joensuu were sixth. They said the high‑altitude conditions made it hard to produce their best, but they felt better in the final than in qualifying and saw the race as useful preparation for the Olympics, especially for positioning and exchange timing.

Other highlights noted in the live blog: - Biathlon sprints: Lou Jeanmonnot won the women’s sprint; Finland’s Venla Lehtonen was 27th and Suvi Minkkinen 48th. Tommaso Giacomel won the men’s sprint; Finland’s Tuomas Harjula was 27th and the only Finn to reach the pursuit. - Ski jumping World Cup, Klingenthal qualifying (HS140): Philipp Raimund topped qualification ahead of Domen Prevc and Ryoyu Kobayashi. Finns: Niko Kytösaho 25th, Antti Aalto 31st, Vilho Palosaari 44th. - Alpine skiing: In St. Moritz downhill, Lindsey Vonn, 41, took a dominant victory, her first since spring 2018; Finland’s Rosa Pohjolainen was 51st in her World Cup downhill debut. - Nordic combined World Cup had a rest weekend.

The blog included clips and interviews with Joni Mäki and Lauri Vuorinen discussing the pole break incident and their takeaways for the next day’s individual races.