After 20 hard kilometres, there was mass sprinting in Canmore. Pål Golberg was strongest there.
Published: 11.02.2024 18:58 | Updated: 11/02/2024 21:49
It was a copy from the five thousand in the Planica WC in 2023. Golberg sprinted past Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who finished in second place.
Just the thought the protagonist himself also after the finish line.
– A little flashback from a year ago. It was very fun. I had a terrible day here on Friday. I wondered if I was done, says Golberg to Viaplay.
Golberg was number 28 when there was 15 kilometers of skating on Friday.
– Pål is a tenacious bastard in such a race. It’s the second time I’ve been beaten like that. Ask if we have to start training for stakes sprints for next year, says Klæbo to Viaplay.
This is how it looked in the WC last year:
Behind Klæbo and Golberg was Mattis Stenshagen.
He took his first podium in the World Cup. Overall leader Harald Østberg Amundsen was fourth.
It was therefore a quadruple Norwegian in Canmore on Sunday evening.
Sweden’s William Poromaa’s fifth place ensured that there was no copy from biathlon boys in Nove Mesto.
It was a unified field for a long time. Jens Burman tried to find his inner Johan Olsson, but he was eventually eaten up by the large field.
No one wanted to speed up the last kilometer, and thus it was a big mass sprint.
At the women’s joint start, it was Swedish Frida Karlsson which was strongest. Heidi Weng came third.
The hard and heavy course in Canada separated the field. Halfway through the race, things broke out when Astrid Øyre Slind and Frida Karlsson accelerated on the uphills.
On the last lap there were six runners at the front, two of them were Astrid Øyre Slind and Heidi Weng.
Then Frida Karlsson accelerated in the toughest uphill, and then the Norwegian women struggled to follow. The only one who managed to keep up with the Swede was Finnish Kerttu Niskanen.
The track in Canada was so brutal that several had to give up. Nadine Fähndrich had it very hard:
Heidi Weng cut a good figure on Friday when she took third place in the 15 kilometer freestyle. On Sunday evening, she kept close behind for a long time, but had to drop on the last lap when Karlsson put in the push.
She still managed to claim another third place on Sunday – in a battle with Øyre Slind, who had to settle for fourth place.
After a calm start to the race, Slind took the lead just before the halfway mark and ensured an increase in speed at the front. Several runners struggled with the pace, and what was a large main field was blown up. Weng was among those who managed to keep up with the hard work.
Lotta Udnes Weng and Anne Kjersti Kalvå held the tail of the main field early on and were unable to climb to the top. Tiril Udnes Weng was also around half a minute behind at ten kilometers and could not find the strength to climb higher on the results list.