Russian Cross-Country Skier Loses It, Whips Opponent With Ski Pole, Gets DQed
You know the cross-country skiing content I'm blogging right here is good stuff when it's being posted while the second half of the AFC Championship is on the television. Let's go to Lahti, Finland where a World Cup cross-country skiing event was being held Sunday. Aleksander Bolshunov, the No. 1 ranked cross-country skier in the world, was trailing as he approached the finish line of today's event when he suddenly unloaded a ski pole on opponent Joni Mäki from Finland, ranked No. 33 in the world.
According to Olympic Talk, "Mäki shifted to his right, closer to Bolshunov along the advertising boards, and the two athletes’ skis made contact. The Russian was knocked off balance. Obstruction is illegal, but Mäki and his Finnish were not disqualified or relegated."
As you can see in the video, Bolshunov wasn't very happy with the ending. We have a major XC skiing beef here, folks.
The real shame here is that Mäki's teammates didn't start swinging ski poles at the Russian bully who'd just bodied their boy. They just sat there and took it. Nobody even goes over to give Mäki a hand up as he's trying to right himself on his skis. Completely unacceptable.
There's a very easy answer to what's going on here. XC skiing needs enforcers. That's right, goons on skis. Mäki needs a Marty McSorely. He needs a guy who'll drop the ski poles and absolutely unload on the World's No. 1 XC skier after he starts swinging his pole.
You know what Bolshunov won't do the next time after an enforcer unloads on his wrecked melon? He won't take a swing at Mäki or any other guy ever again. World Cup XC skiing could easily find a spot in the Peacock rotation if XC tough guys are dropping poles and swinging on each other.