Anssi Koivuranta pairs up with Manninen for first World Cup victory

Virpi Kuitunen 3rd in Oberstdorf, but hopes of Tour de Ski victory fading

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Finland's Nordic Combined relay duo of Anssi Koivuranta and Hannu Manninen turned in a good performance on the ski track to win Wednesday's team event in Ruhpolding, Germany.
      The competition, which involved a 2 x 7.5 skiing race and a truncated jumping component with just one jump on the HS128 hill, marked Koivuranta's first victory in FIS World Cup events. For Manninen, the experience was rather more familiar: he has won the overall World Cup for the past three seasons.
      The Finns were lying in third place after the jumping, following leaps of 121.5 metres from Manninen and an even better 127.5 metres from Koivuranta.
     
On the short ski circuit, the plan was clear: Koivuranta was to try to hang on to the leaders during his six stints of 1.25 kilometres each, and allow Manninen - one of the best skiers on the circuit - the chance to break clear.
      The pair were the fastest on the course, and eventually Manninen pulled away on the anchor leg to bring the Finnish pairing home a comfortable 8.2 seconds ahead of Germany's Sebastian Haseney and Ronny Ackermann. Mario Stecher and Christoph Biehler of Austria were third, more than half a minute adrift.
     
At Oberstdorf, Virpi Kuitunen managed to take 3rd place in the women's classic style 10km cross-country race.
      Kuitunen had been expected on recent form (including three impressive World Cup victories) to dominate the ongoing Tour de Ski event, but it has not gone quite according to plan. She has struggled with a back ailment, and whilst this latest podium placing has pulled her up into 4th spot overall at the halfway stage of the Tour, the three remaining events do not promise very rich pickings.
      As it happens, the best-placed Finn overall is Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, who finished 5th yesterday. The Tour de Ski is led by Kristin Steira of Norway, who was runner-up on Wednesday to Slovenia's Petra Majdic. Majdic's win elevated her to 2nd place on the six-race mini-tour, which moves on Friday to Asiago and ends in Val di Fiemme on Sunday.


Links:
  FIS: Nordic Combined, results from Ruhpolding
  Tour de Ski (part of the FIS cross-country World Cup)

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