Falun, Sweden – Dario Cologna (SUI) had no problem maintaining his lead in the final World Cup race of the season, winning bot the the four event World Cup Final and the overall World Cup title. Vincent Vittoz (FRA)finished second, and Alex Harvey (CAN) skied up from 11th to 6th in the 15km freestlye handicap start.
Cologna started the day with a 58 second lead on Alexander Legkov (RUS), and a 1:20 lead on Petter Northug (NOR). Northug took over the World Cup leader’s bib with a strong perfromance in the 50km in Trondheim. But Cologna beat Northug in each of the first three events in the World Cup final, meaning the Norwegian needed to overtake Cologna to win the overall title.
After Friday’s prologue, the ever-confident Northug said he was “99.1% certain” he would defeat Cologna for the overall title.
Cologna started relaxed and controlled, skiing into his race. Legkov and Vittoz, starting just seconds apart, set out on the hunt, but as the kilometers ticked by they were only able to take several seconds from Cologna.
Meanwhile Northug started in a large group, also containing Harvey, and immediately pushed to the front. But his attack was short-lived and he clearly looked tired. He quickly dropped to the back of the pack. By 7.5km this group had lost 10 seconds to Cologna, and Northug has no chance for the victory, and the question was whether he would fall off the back.
Cologna continued his steady pace, smooth and strong, holding steady 50 seconds up on Legkov and Vittoz. The two alternated leads, and eventually backed off the pace when it became clear Cologna was not reachable. On the big climb with just 3.5km to go, Vittoz attacked hard, immediately putting 10 meters on the Russian. Legkov tried to respond, but by the top of the clmib, he was broken, and second secured for Vittoz.