| Lahti World Cup Team Relay |
- By: Nordic Xplained
It was another beautiful day of racing in Lahti as we saw Norway win both races in very exciting sprint finishes. First it was the women’s race which saw a sprint finish between three teams while four teams sprinted it out in the men’s race. With the wins, it means that Norway wins this years Nations Cup. The course was extremely quick with the winning time clocking in at 52 minutes and the mens took 1:27:44 for 40km which works out of an average of just under 22 minutes per lap. There were no clear breakaways
Women
The race started out in a familiar fashion with Norway I in the form of Marthe Kristoffersen leading for the first leg. Nothing of interest happened in the first leg and all 12 teams were together coming into the exchange. It wasn’t until half-way through the second leg that teams started to drop off as Johaug, Khazova, and Østberg dictated the pace. Khazova had a very strong last half of her leg and was able ski away from the other athletes and had a 10 second lead coming into the second exchange.
Savialova was able to increase the lead in the first kilometer of the third leg but was slowly being reeled in by the chase pack of Norway I, Norway II, Italy and Germany. The chasers worked very well together and was able to catch Savialova before the final exchange.
Five teams were in the hunt for the win in the final five kilometers but Norway I had the trump card in Bjørgen. With only two kilometers left Bjørgen made her move and was able to drop Korosteleva and Skorterud but Sachenbacher-Stehle and Follis were able to hold on. Unlike the relay at the Olympics, Bjørgen wasn’t able to shake the others the final straight saw a thrilling sprint between Norway I, Germany and Italy. Bjørgen was able to edge out the others for the win as Sachenbacher-Stehle was able to do enough to out-duel Follis at the line.
1. Norway I
2. Germany
3. Italy
I was very surprised that Norway I didn’t win by a sizeable margin but that is to the credit to the other teams and their good skiing. Even without Nystad, Germany did extremely well to be runners-up today and I was impressed with Khazova and her ability to ski away from the pack on her leg.
Men
The classic legs were extremely fast as the top athletes were clocking in their 10km leg in just over 21 minutes. For the first two laps of the first leg (the athletes were doing 3×3.3km for the leg) all the teams were together. However, the weaker skiers were finally dropped and even some of the stronger skiers were dropped too. Some great skiing from Østensen, Zhmurko, and Rønning saw only three teams in the lead coming into the first exchange.
Finland II had a very strong second leg from Anssi Pentsinen and he was able to catch the lead group but it cost him as he began to fade hard and lost 1:14 in the last half of the leg. The pace did slow in the second leg and the lead group grew from three teams to seven teams by the end of the first lap but as soon as the others caught up there was an increase in the pace and which saw Norway I, Russia I and Germany break away from the others.
They skied very impressively and was able to put 30 seconds in between them and the chasers. Norway II, Italy and Russia II worked really hard in the first half of the third leg mainly due to the grunt work of Sjur Røthe to regain contact with the lead group and make it six strong.
The six teams were together until two kilometers left when Norway II put in a huge speed burst and was able to shake off Russia I and Russia II while Germany was barely hanging on. The pace slowed after the exchange and they were able to make the lead six teams strong again.
The teams skied together for most of the final leg of the race saw Italy and Russia II dropped in the last two kilometers which meant a four-way sprint for the three podium spots. Tscharnke led the way into the finishing straight but didn’t have that final gear as Rennemo handily overtook him while Gjerdalen barely edged out Tscharnke for the silver medal. Russian I was left with the wooden medal.
1. Norway II
2. Norway I
3. Germany
I found the race extremely entertaining because you didn’t know who was going to win the sprint finish. Four teams with no extensive history of being an anchor skier. After Tscharnke’s strong performance in the team sprint at the Olympics, I thought that he would’ve been the first across the line today.
For Norway II to win was very surprising but perhaps good news for the Norwegian ski federation in that it shows that perhaps some changes will come to the national team for next year. I was very impressed by the skiing of Sjur Røthe who had the fastest time on the third leg.
The next races are on Wednesday in Drammen which is always a great race and a great atmosphere.
Until Next Time.
This page is maintained by
the