Cross-country skiing: Pellegrino second in the Sprint in Lillehammer

Federico Pellegrino gets back on the podium in his Sprint. The double Olympic silver medalist and former world champion is second in Lillehammer, venue of the 1994 Games: Johannes Klaebo, who has been unbeaten since the beginning of the season, beat the Valle d’Aosta by force: 4 wins out of 4. Third is his brother in art Even Northug, another Norwegian. Chicco had obtained a third place last weekend in Ruka, Finland, a third place in the 20 km skating. This place of honor in the free technique Sprint is also an important confirmation in terms of the general classification led by Klaebo, who won for the 52nd time in his career. The blue policeman, who will become a father by Christmas (his wife is the blue Greta Laurent), is the author of an intelligent test and forced to give his best since the semifinal when, surrounded by the home army (with no less than four Norwegians in battery ), found the decisive cue to grab third place in splits, equivalent to the repechage first time. In the final Federico had the intelligence to stay in the top positions along the track which wasn’t particularly wide, and when Klaebo engaged the turbo, he put the competition behind him. Under the podium the Swede Edvin Anger and two other Norwegians, Paal Golberg and Ansgar Evensen.

PODIUM NUMBER 36

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For Pellegrino it is the podium number 36 in an individual race of the maximum circuit, which earns him important points in the general classification, where he consolidates the third position behind Klaebo and Golberg. In the morning Davide Graz had not passed the qualifiers. In the women’s race, a new Swedish triumph with Emma Ribom (encore after the sprint in Ruka) by nothing ahead of her compatriot Maja Dahlqvist, third was the Norwegian Tiril Udnes Weng. Out in the quarterfinals Caterina Ganz, the only Italian present. Tomorrow is the third and final day of competition with the dispute of the 20 km classic technique: women at 10.45, men at 13.