Iivo Niskanen reveals back pain to Viaplay after weak skiathlon; Norway sweeps top eight in Trondheim

Norway swept the men’s World Cup skiathlon (10 km classic + 10 km free) in Trondheim, occupying all of the top eight positions. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo took the win ahead of Harald Østberg Amundsen, with Emil Iversen third. Iversen, who has struggled in recent seasons, celebrated his podium enthusiastically at the finish.

Finland’s best was Arsi Ruuskanen in 14th, 11.4 seconds behind Klæbo. Iivo Niskanen placed 25th, 1:16.7 down. The result is Niskanen’s weakest on a distance race in nearly two years; he was 24th in the Trondheim skiathlon in December 2023.

Niskanen started aggressively on the classic section, leading after the first 3.3 km lap and remaining with the front group through two laps. However, by the end of the classic portion he had slipped to a 10‑second deficit and entered the ski change in 22nd place.

Yle expert Kalle Lassila observed that Niskanen’s strong surge on lap two appeared to cost him later: when the freestyle began, he could not sustain the international top pace. Lassila concluded the race was not good by Niskanen’s standards.

Speaking to Viaplay, Niskanen said his ski change “didn’t work at all” and took too long. After the exchange he felt unusually heavy, likely from expending too much on the second classic lap. He also revealed some back pain during the race, saying he may have compensated with the wrong muscles, though the final lap felt slightly better in skating.

Lassila called Ruuskanen’s performance “excellent,” noting that only four Norwegians can start per Olympic race, which would put Ruuskanen comfortably inside a potential Olympic top ten on a day like this. He even joked that Norway’s dominance created a Finnish language dilemma over how to describe an eight‑place sweep.

Looking toward the 2026 Olympics, Lassila believes Ruuskanen strengthened his case for selection, while he described Finland’s overall men’s selection picture as complicated. Markus Vuorela (31st) and Niko Anttola (34th) were, in his view, too far back in Trondheim. He sympathized with head coach Teemu Pasanen, who faces difficult choices.