Not many americans have been able to watch the World Chamionships, and those actually at the race might not get to see the entire race since they are out on the course. So I wrote up a summary of what I saw on TV.
Of all the exciting relays of the past decade, the men's 4x10km relay today at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme Italy probably tops them all.
The story of the first leg was once again American Kris Freeman. By 1.6 km, Freeman had moved to the front of the group. At 4 km came a surprisingly bold move by Switzerland resulted in a 12 second lead entering the stadium at the halfway point. However, the main field decided to act, and Freeman led the chase. The group thinned as many nations failed to keep up with the new pace. Freeman eventually opened a gap of over 20 seconds on the main contenders and over 45 seconds on Anders Auklund of Norway, the race favorite. Despite a relatively disappointing result at the end of the race by the US compared to their record 5th place at last year's Olympics, the great results so far at these Championships have definitely sent shockwaves through the ski world.
Second place at the exchange was another surprise, Switzerland, followed by strong contenders Germany and Sweden. Favorite Norway was in a disastrous 10th place, 45 seconds behind the US and over 20 seconds behind Germany and Sweden. With Norway struggling, Mathius Fredricksson of Sweden led an attack to widen the gap between himself and the defending Olympic and World Champions. Switzerland, Germany, Russia, United States and Estonia struggled to keep up. Fredrickson increases his speed with 2 km to go and pulled ahead of the others. However, Switzerland counterattacked and took the lead away on the long downhill to the finish. In the meantime, Frode Estil managed to pull Norway from 10th to 3rd but did not gain any extra time on the accelerating Swedish and Swiss skiers. The gap had in fact increase from 20 to 25 seconds after the first exchange.
Fredrickson tagged off to the World Champion from two days ago, Per Elofson who seems to be in top form despite a rough training year plagued by a three month long viral infection. His goal now is to create as large of a time cushion as possible for their anchor leg Jorgen Brink. As for Norway and Germany, their goal is to make up as much time as possible. Russia makes its big move up the second to last climb, moving to within 10 seconds of Sweden. The gap for Norway and Germany stays at 23 seconds at the 3rd exchange.
Sweden's anchor leg, Jorgen Brink now has a dilemma. With 10 km remaining, the gap is only 10 seconds with Russia and only 20 seconds with Norway and Germany. Should he give a 100% effort to keep this lead and run away with the victory? Or should he conserve some energy in case it comes down to a sprint with Alsgard? Both options seem equally possible. The plan is to ski hard and see what happens.
Through 5km Sweden has kept the 20-second lead; a good sign but not a comfort to Brink with Alsgard and Teichman still in striking range. With three big climbs still remaining,
Brink continues to wait-and-see, looking behind every few minutes to check. At 7km the lead is still 23 seconds. With only 3km remaining, his coaches yell at him to give it everything he's got. Once he makes it over the last hill, it's a downhill to the finish, and Sweden's first major relay gold since the era of Thomas Wassberg, Jan Ottosson, Torgny Mogren, and Gunde Svan. Brink is now looking much more confident, charging the seconds uphill with powerful technique. Literally three seconds later Alsgard lets loose, doubling his pace. With 2km left, the gap is down to 12 seconds, but surely Alsgard has waited too long. Brink is already half way up the final hill when the Norwegian and German reach the base. Once Brink is over the top, there is no way to make up 12 seconds on the downhill into the stadium. But Alsgard is now in an all out sprint with Teichman on his heals.
Then, suddenly, Brink gives up! With 40 meters of uphill left, he has nothing left and slows his pace to a near stop. He suffers to make it to the top as Alsgard and Teichman fly past. The 20 seconds lead was cut to 12 seconds in one kilometer, and the 12 seconds are gone in a matter of moments. Unbelievable!