World Cup in Ruka

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Mika Vermeulen(Bild: GEPA)

The Styrian Mika Vermeulen has made a big impression with third place in the opening race of the cross-country World Cup season. The 26-year-old finished just 4.2 seconds behind the victorious Norwegian Martin Nyenget and 2.1 seconds behind his Norwegian compatriot Johannes Hösflot Kläbo in the 10 km classic race in Ruka on Friday. Prior to that, Teresa Stadlober from Salzburg had also impressed in the women's 10 km competition with individual start in seventh place. On Sunday, both will compete in the 20 km mass start.

Vermeulen, who is usually critical of himself, was almost completely satisfied this time: "It wasn't perfect, otherwise I would have won. But it was really good, we had great material." The previous season's Tour de Ski runner-up spoke of "incredibly difficult conditions". He was previously a little stronger in the skating technique, so he was all the more pleased with his current performance. "I'm on the podium in the most difficult classic stronghold," he said in the ORF interview, almost amazed at himself.

The former combined skier had taken things rather slowly, was not in the top 30 after 1.1 km and not in the top ten after 3.1 km. At the halfway point of the race, however, Vermeulen was already in fifth place, 1.1 km later in fourth place and 1.9 km before the finish in fifth place 4.9 seconds behind leader Nyenget. While Nyenget and Kläbo - both of whom started after Vermeulen - managed to maintain their positions to the finish, the ÖSV ace overtook the Finnish local hero Iivo Niskanen and the Norwegian Andreas Fjorden Ree. 

Vermeulen: "Kläbo had a fat one"
 "In the last two kilometers I thought I was running for my life. I left everything out there and beat Niskanen by eight seconds," said Vermeulen, celebrating his third podium finish in an individual race. He also had a message for the current six-time world champion, who was just 2.1 seconds ahead of him: "Kläbo had a fat one." The work in the summer had paid off. He's looking forward to the skating challenge, where he's even better.

Stadlober was 40.6 seconds behind the victorious Frida Karlsson. Norway's Heidi Weng, who came second ahead of Moa Ilar and Ebba Andersson, prevented a Swedish one-two-three. "It worked much better than I expected and I'm really pleased that I was able to start the season so well," said Stadlober, the 2021 Olympic bronze medallist. She also highlighted the good equipment. "The gap to Frida Karlsson shows that I was able to take another step forward compared to last year. Now I'm already looking forward to the next races." Both Vermeulen and Stadlober will take a break in the sprint scheduled for Saturday.