Biathlon GP competitions in Kontiolahti: Nastassia Kinnunen and Olli Hiidensalo to victory

Kontiolahti Urheilijat ry press release 7 November 2021

In the women's shortened 12.5 km normal distance, Kontiolahti Athletes' Nastassia Kinnunen shot excellently. Kinnunen shot only one missed shot at the four shooting locations and won by a wide margin Noora Kaisa Keränen of Åhveniston Ampuhaihtäjien, who came in second and survived with clean shooting.

Joutsan Pommin's Suvi Minkkinen was third with two missed shots, about a minute and a half behind the winner.

─ Really great feeling, because last week there was a bit of stress with ski problems. Now let's continue to one more camp. It was wonderful to be at home competitions, said Kinnunen, who represents the organizing club.

At the end of Hiidensalo, past Harjula

In the men's shortened normal distance, Tuomas Harjula of Tuusula Voima-Veikkoin progressed to third place without missing shots. The three huts of the last shooting positions brought Harjula second place, 53.9 seconds behind Olli Hiidensalo of Lahti Ski Club. In third place was Otto Ruusunen of Ahvenisto Ampuhiihtätä, who had only one penalty.

─Yesterday there were quite a lot of difficulties at the shooting site. It was much smoother now. Yes, this was a relief, Hiidensalo said.

Hiidensalo said that he set off calmly and controlled the pace compared to Harjula, who started a little earlier.

─I took the first four rounds pretty easy. Even though the race was already over, I tried in the last lap to see if there was anything left from the man. It went really well even for the last lap, Hiidensalo said.

The Kontiolahti GP competitions started a new biathlon Exel-cup, consisting of five competition weekends, in the series M/N19, M/N22 and M/N. The Cup continues in Kontiolahti on the 29th-30th. January.

More information:  

• Video interviews on the organizer's Facebook wall  
• Kontiolahti Athletes: Jarno Lautamatti 043 218 0573