The Swedish first team of Thobias Fredriksson and Bjorn Lind was second in the sprint World Cup relay in Düsseldorf on Sunday. They skied a good race tactically and Bjorn Lind tried to crush the competition by skiing all out the entire last lap.
Source: Skidsport.com
— I would have liked to have him (Kjolstad) in front of me on the backside of the course where the headwind was strongest, but I was in front and decided to ski as fast as I could, says Lind.
On the final stretch he had Johan Kjolstad of Norway’s second team and Tor Arne Hetland from Norway’s first team right behind him.
– I chose the inside finish line since that felt the best. With the answer in hand I should maybe have chosen the second, but then Hetland would have been able to attack me on the inside, says a despite second place, happy Lind that had to see that Kjolstad edged him at the end.
The second team with Jorgen Brink and Michael Ostberg also skied well, but Brink fell at the start of the second lap of his last leg when the team was in fifth place. Ostberg still skied a good last leg and finished sixth.
The women’s relay started bad for Sweden when Lina Andersson fell on the first leg.
— It was very tight and I wasn’t going to give up my track and it was unfortunately me that fell when I got tangled with another skier, says Lina Andersson about the incident.
The gap was pretty big for the Swedish team since the women only skied one loop and the pace was fast the whole time.
— It was hard to close the gap to the pack because of the headwind, since the Norwegians were pushing so hard in the front, says Anna Dahlberg.
Dahlberg had a good weekend with sixth place in yesterday’s individual sprint.
Overall it was a good weekend for the Swedish team. First and third in yesterday’s individual men’s sprint race and second place today is a good start for the new head coach Inge Braten.
— It was good to get started and nice that we did so well. That means that what we are doing is working well and our ideas are holding up, says Braten about all the days at altitude.
— Now we have to continue to work hard and try to become even better. It’s tough competition out there, concludes Braten
Results, Sprint relay women, Düsseldorf
1) Norge I (Hilde G Pedersen-Marit Björgen)
2) Norge II (Ella Gjömle-Guro Ström Solli)
3) Ryssland I (Natalia Matveeva-Alena Sidko)
4) Italien I (Gabriella Paruzzi-Arianna Follis)
5) Finland I (Aino-Kaisa Saarinen-Virpi Kuitunen)
6) Sverige I (Lina Andersson-Anna Dahlberg)
13) Sverige II (Ida Ingemarsdotter-Anna-Karin Strömstedt)
Men
1) Norge II (Trond Iversen-Johan Kjölstad)
2) Sverige I (Thobias Fredriksson-Björn Lind)
3) Norge I (Eldar Rönning-Tor Arne Hetland)
4) Tyskland I (Jens Filbrich-Tobias Angerer)
5) Tyskland II (Rene Sommerfeldt-Toni Lang)
6) Sverige II (Jörgen Brink-Mikael Östberg)
