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Today, the FIS World Cup moved to Gallivare, Sweden where a rolling course hosted the 10 kilometer interval start races. In the men’s race, the headline story was the absence of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo who raced yesterday’s sprint in the Norwegian Cup series while he shakes off the effects of having contracted Covid. But Klaebo’s absence didn’t mean that team Norway was hurting for fire power. Evidence of Norway’s depth is the fact that Norwegian men have now won the last 21 individual men’s distance World Cup races, a streak going back to February of 2022 when Iivo Niskanen (FIN) was able to pierce the Norwegian armor. Going into Saturday’s race in Gallivare, Andrew Musgrave (GBR) held second place in the distance standings as he looked to continue his early season momentum. For the U.S., the conventional wisdom was that Gus Schumacher was team USA’s best shot at a top 20 finish.
When the racing concluded, it was all Norway (again) with Paal Golberg (NOR) finishing first, Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) second, and Iver Tildheim Andersen(NOR) in third. Norway occupied six of the top seven spots. Only Musgrave—who almost counts as Norwegian as he lives and trains in Norway—was able to break up the Norwegian red wave. He finished the day in fifth.
Gus Schumacher led all American finishers in 16th, followed by Ben Ogden 25th, Scott Patterson 35th, Zanden McMullen 36th, John Steel Hagenbuch 45th, Luke Jager 54th, and Zak Ketterson 58th.
The top Canadian finisher was Antoine Cyr in 47th. Other Canadian finishers included Olivier Leveille 53rd, Graham Ritchie 56th, Xavier McKeever 57th, and Leo Grandbois 63rd.
It was another cold day for racers with a temperature of six degrees Fahrenheit at the start. The competition was tight for the entire race, though Golberg was able to manage the conditions best and did a masterful job pacing. At 3.9 kilometers, he was in seventh place, but gradually and consistently pushed his way into the lead at the 6.3 kilometer mark. Even then, he led by only the narrowest of margins: 0.8 seconds over teammate Didrik Toenseth. But once Golberg grabbed the lead, he kept the pedal down, fighting off a swarm of his teammates who were all only a few seconds behind him. In the final kilometer, he was able to muster a burst of acceleration that gave him a slight cushion. At the finish he was able to gap Amundsen by 4.2 seconds.
After the race Golberg said that he felt good about doing so well in a freestyle race. “Today I felt really good … classic is usually my best technique.”
The win propelled Golberg to the top of the World Cup distance standings, and second in overall ranking. Amundsen was able to keep the overall lead in the race for the Crystal Globe, and is in second place in the distance standings.
When the 33 year old Musgrave crossed the finish line, it looked like he might be able to give his fans a thrill, as he was in third place. But that standing could not be sustained as subsequent Norwegians pushed him off the podium. He would finish the day in fifth. Musgrave has been hovering around the podium this season finishing eighth and fifth last week in Ruka, but just missed breaking through again, this time by 1.3 seconds.
Schumacher lived up to expectations with consistency being the name of the game, earning his second 16th place World Cup finish in a row. He went out fast: 12th at the first time check, only 4.3 seconds off the lead. By the halfway mark, he had dropped down to 14th, but was still only 10 seconds from the top. In the second half of the race, he began to slightly fade; at the 6.3 kilometer mark he had dropped to 19.5 seconds behind the leader. The gap continued to widen; ultimately, he finished 41 seconds from the top of the leader board.
U.S. Coach, Matt Whitcomb, wasn’t concerned about Schumacher’s pace. “He was 9.9 seconds out of the lead after 5K. He bled another 30 seconds on the second lap,” Whitcomb said. “But it’s the start we were looking for. I do not consider it a missed pace race; I just think it was a pretty big swing. I’m always a big fan of aggressive pacing strategies. Some days, you just get through and it ends up being the race of a lifetime. He wasn’t floundering, he was still skiing very well and attacking, just not with the same freshness from lap one.” Whitcomb added that everyone, including Schumacher, is pleased with his progress. “We were really excited to continue to see great performances out of Gus,” said Whitcomb. “This is the Gus Schumacher that we’ve been waiting for the last couple of years. He’s laying down some consistency and it’s great to see such hard work paying off.”
It was a fine performance and established Schumacher as team USA’s most consistent performer in distance events. He sits 14th in the overall distance standings.
Ben Ogden had his season-best distance race, finishing 25th. “He started conservatively, for Ben,” Whitcomb observed. “We all know the standard Ben Ogden pace which is to explode out of a cannon. Today he kept things under wraps, and just kept picking people off. I think 10k freestyle is low hanging fruit for races he can improve in.”
Tomorrow, the men and women move on to 4 x 7.5km relays.
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Paal Golberg (NOR), Iver Tildheim Andersen (NOR), (l-r) swept the podium for Norway. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Men’s 10 k Freestyle Interval Start RESULTS
