Finn Takes Come from Behind Gold
By Tom Kelly
February, 1 2017
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah (Jan. 31, 2017) - Finland’s Arttu Mkiaho skied up from ninth after the jump to take gold in the opening 10k nordic combined event at the USANA FIS Junior Nordic World Championships. Maekiaho scored a strong 21.6 second win over Austria’s Mika Vermeulen who took silver. Germany’s Martin Hahn took bronze.
France’s Laurent Muhlethaler opened up with the jumping lead on the HS100 meter hill with a 95.5 meter ride at the Utah Olympic Park Tuesday morning. He ultimately dropped to finish 17th. Maekiaho, meanwhile, went 90.5 meters to stand ninth, starting 35 seconds back in cross country. But the big story of the day was the push from Vermeulen, who was well back in 29th after the jump a minute, 28 seconds behind the leader. He posted the fastest cross country time to close in on Mkiaho, but was unable to overcome him at the finish.
From the beginning of the cross country race a large group formed led by Mkiaho and Vinzenz Geiger of Germany, who brought a lot of experience in World Cup where he was third in Ramsau last month, along with Austria's Florian Dag, Germany's Luis Lehnert and Ondrej Pazout of the Czech Republic. After one lap, Mkiaho and Geiger were able to get rid of the rest of the pack and they stayed together throughout the race, Mkiaho always in front. At the end of the third lap, Mkiaho dropped, who dropped down to finish seventh. Hahn, who is a much better cross country skier, was able to close the gap to the lead group after two laps and used his cross country strength to finish third. Vermeulen, meanwhile, used his cross country skills to continually move up through the race.
Just off the podium in fifth was 16-year-old Luis Lehnert of Germany who was second in jumping. It was also a good day for the Czech Republic with Lukas Danek fourth and Pazout sixth.
The gold was Mkiaho's first medal after five visits to the Junior World Championships.
The USA was led by 16-year-old Stephen Schumann (Park City, UT) who moved up from 28th after the jump with the fifth fastest cross country time to finish 10th. Ben Loomis (Eau Claire, WI) was 15th in the jump and ended up 18th.
Stephen Schumann skied to a strong top-10 finish. (U.S. Ski Team - Steven Earl)
Nordic combined action continues Thursday with the team event. All of the events are being streamed live at www.nnf.ski/tv.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Finland’s Arttu Maekiaho moved up from ninth after the jump to win gold in the opening 10k nordic combined event at the USANA FIS Junior Nordic World Championships.
- France’s Laurent Muhlethaler led after the jump, but dropped to 17th.
- Maekiaho had to hold off a hard-charging Mika Mermeulen of Austria, who recorded the fastest cross country time moving up from 29th.
MEDALISTS
Nordic Combined 10k
Gold - Arttu Mkiaho, Finland
Silver - Mika Vermeulen, Austria
Browne - Martin Hanh, Germany
AMERICAN FINISHERS
10 - Stephen Schumann
18 - Ben Loomis
37 - Koby Vargas
44 - Grant Andrews
QUOTES
Arttu Mkiaho (gold)
Being Junior World Champion simply feels fantastic. I’ve been dreaming about this for so long. My jump was good and I expected the cross country skiing to be a lot harder than it really was. That’s why it just feels great.
Mika Vermeulen (silver)
I’m absolutely speechless. Everything went good and the way I wanted it to go; so it was roundabout a perfect day for me. The course is so hard and it’s a lot of suffering, but that’s just what I like.
Martin Hahn (bronze)
It was a good race. After a good jump onto 16th place I could close the gap to the guys in front and ended up on a third place, which I’m very happy about.“
RESULTS