More than half of last season's World Cup races last season were taken home by Norwegian riders.

The World Cup 2019-20 also started with Norwegian in the top, when yesterday's sprint in Ruka was won by Johannes Hösflot Kläbo before Pål Golberg.

But when today it was time for 15 km of classical style, the Norwegians had to give up. Instead, home favorite Iivo Niskanen, chosen as the athlete of the year in Finland last year, was the strongest. In front of the cheering home crowd, he finally finished in goal 13 seconds before just Kläbo - who went with Niskanen during much of the race.

- He goes classic skiing in a fantastic way. We've seen it before: This is an important competition for him that he really wants to win, says SVT Sports expert Anders Blomquist.

In doing so, he took his first win at home in three years, when he won just 15 km classic in Ruka. The victory was Kläbo's fourth overall in the World Cup. All have been at this particular distance, and all but one (Otepää in January this year) have been in Ruka.

Best Swedish was Calle Halfvarsson, who finished twelve, 1.08.8 seconds behind Niskanen.

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