Golden Finnish! Niskanen grabs first win for Finns
Gold medallists Finland's Iivo Niskanen celebrates on the podium during the victory ceremony in the men's 50km cross country mass start classic at the Alpensia cross country ski centre during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games on February 24, 2018 in Pyeongchang. PHOTO | JONATHAN NACKSTRAND |
What you need to know:
- Iivo Niskanen won Finland's first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the men's 50km cross country skiing race on Saturday.
- While neighbours Norway sit top of the table with a day to go, it hasn't been such a successful Games for the Finns, who started Saturday with a haul of four bronze medals.
PYEONGCHANG
Iivo Niskanen won Finland's first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the men's 50km cross country skiing race on Saturday.
While neighbours Norway sit top of the table with a day to go, it hasn't been such a successful Games for the Finns, who started Saturday with a haul of four bronze medals.
But Niskanen attacked early — less than 20km into the race — and held off the competition to win by 18.7sec from Russians Alexander Bolshunov and Andrey Larkov.
"I wanted to win a gold medal over this distance and it has been a long four years," said the Sochi 2014 team sprint gold medallist.
"But I handled the pressure and everything went perfectly today so that's the result now."
Finland's Krista Parmakoski already has two bronze medals at this Games, while Enni Rukajarvi was third in the women's slopestyle and the Finnish women were bronze-medallists in the ice hockey.
