Niskanen wins gold for Finland in cross-country 15km classic at Beijing

Finnish skier Iivo Niskanen bagged the gold medal of cross-country men's 15km classic at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games on Friday.

Niskanen finished the race with 37 minutes and 54.8 seconds, 23.2 seconds faster than Alexander Bloshunov of ROC (Russia) who took 38 minutes and 18.0. Hoesflot Johannes Klaebo of Norway took the bronze by 38.32.3.

"Actually I felt so strong today and it was under control the whole race. This victory means a lot to me," three-time Olympian Niskanen told Xinhua.

"I was fourth, 0.2 seconds behind the medal in Sochi at this distance, and it's been a long eight years to wait for this race again in the Olympic program. I have been focusing on it all the time. This is a really big victory for me."

"After skiathlon, the Russians were so strong that I have to say that Bolshunov (winner in skiathlon) lived in my head five days after that, but now he's moved away. I was so worried about the speed (in the skiathlon), but classic 15km has been a perfect distance for me," Niskanen added.

This is the third Olympic gold medal for Niskanen, who also won men's 50km mass start at PyeongChang 2018 and team sprint at Sochi 2014.

With this, Finland won total four medals- one gold, one silver and two bronzes- in Beijing Olympics so far.

Earlier, on Thursday Finnish skiers Kerttu Niskanen and Krista Pärmäkoski won silver and bronze medals respectively in the women's 10km classic of cross-country skiing at Beijing 2022.

On February 6, Iivo Niskanen brought first medal for Finland in the Beijing Winter Olympics after he won in the 15km + 15km Skiathlon.