- I had a very good day even though there was great pressure from the Finnish media and it has been tough about the wall team, yes quite chaos, but there are no fights between us. This win is dedicated to the whaling team. I had perfect skiing, says Niskanen after the victory with ten seconds to SVT Sport.

He has longed for this day since the World Cup premiere in Ruka three months ago.

- Finnish skiing public needed this, says SVT's expert Johanna Ojala.

The niskan gave everything and threw himself in the goal trap and was then able to wave to the audience and make bone-in greetings from his leader's chair. He has taken all his five World Cup victories in the 15 km classic, four of which are on Finnish soil.

Niskanen was the only one outside of Norway and Russia to be among the eleven best.

When Bolshunov passed 6.5 km, he was a second after the crowd favorite Iivo Niskanen, it was between these two, and the Finn, who started a lap earlier, had 50 meters in front of him in the track which was surrounded by barren land.

Three Swedes took World Cup points despite the broken team

It was a tough Swedish team that started. Only four Swedish riders lined up.

Viktor Brännmark stretched the arch and was seventh in the first interim after 1.1 km but then fell back to be 27th but got a nice scalp in four-time Olympic champion Dario Cologna who was a second behind as 28th. Björn Sandström was 25th.

Daniel Rickardsson became best Swedish as 13th after a good race.

- It was all right. One of the better races so far (during the season), Rickardsson tells SVT Sport.

Thus, three Swedes were in the top 30 and received world cup points, which may be seen as sensational considering the conditions.