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It was a rare day on the World Cup, but patterns, established and emerging, were apparent too. The rare part: Friday in Oberhof marked the first time in six years that Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) was eliminated before the Finals in a World Cup Sprint race. In the first semifinal, Ansgar Evensen (NOR) carried out a defiant move on the steep Oberhof climb that gave way to a long final sprint, a pack of three including Klaebo, World Cup Sprint Leader, Erik Valnes (NOR), and Tour de Ski points champion Lucas Chanavat (FRA) vied for the second spot into the Final. Valnes would end up taking it. Klaebo pulled up in third in the heat, momentarily in a lucky loser spot until the second semifinal bested his time. With Klaebo’s day having ended, so too did a streak of 39 straight sprint podium finishes. There were notable circumstances in the post-mortem on that streak. Klaebo was back in the start list following a bout of flu over the holiday break, but also just barely arrived in Germany ahead of Oberhof, as most of the Norwegian national team was delayed in travels late into Germany last night. During the first semifinal, the resulting conditions got translated to a notable result.
That precedent meant the possibility for something new in the Sprint Final. Even there, deviation from the usual World cup script was minimal; Norwegians dominated the field at the start line, and the race at the finish. Four Norwegians—Valnes, Evensen, Even Northug, and Harlad Oestberg Amundsen—were joined by Ben Ogden (USA), and Swiss skier, Valerio Grond. As he had in the semifinal with Klaebo, Evensen waited through the twists and turns of the first kilometer on the Oberhof course, and then pushed a final, steep, climb to create a lead pack that included all his countrymen into the final sprint. At that point, Valnes had a plan. “I saw Ansgar [Evensen]’s climb in the quarterfinal and semifinal,” he said to FIS media post-race. “So I was aiming for the back of his ski on the final climb.” Valnes would shoot off with Evensen, with Valnes getting the win in a closely-contended double-pole finish. Evensen took second, while Northug sprinted to round out the podium in a Norwegian sweep.
The final result put irony at the heart of the day; in the first race in six years where the most dominant individual Norwegian skier missed the Final, the Norwegians had their most dominant sprint day as a team, sweeping the podium for the first time this season.
Amid the established precedent of Norwegians topping the men’s results, there was a more auspicious, emerging one too, to note for the Americans. Ogden made it through to the Finals for the third time this season, making it the fourth time in six World Cup sprints that an American has stood on the line in the Finals. Ogden confidently controlled his quarterfinal, then completed a resilient final punch over the last climb in his semi-final to take second in the heat ahead of World Cup Overall leader, Amundsen, and French sprinter Richard Jouve. In the Final, the definitive surge of speed from Evensen and Valnes proved to break the pack and leave Ogden near the back, where he would finish sixth. “During the Finals, Valnes was definitely looking at that [final] hill too,” said Ogden after the race. “And that’s where it felt like the pace lifted until all the way over the finish line.”
Like Klaebo’s individual result, Ogden’s sixth place finish was put into context by how his countrymen did on the day. All four American men made the heats in Oberhof: an upward trend for the Team USA. Kevin Bolger skied into the semifinals to take 12th place, while JC Schoonmaker took 24th. Zak Ketterson, meanwhile, overcame being caught up in the Norwegian team travel woes out of Olso to make his first sprint heats of the season, and finish 16th.
Ogden saw the day as a steady progression of his ability in sprint races. “I’m psyched to get a few [sprint] final opportunities this season,” he said. “I am starting to feel more comfortable moving through the quarterfinals and semi-finals, but it’s still a challenge, and I have to be careful with heat selection. A goal going forward is going to be figuring out how to conserve energy in those so I reach the Final ready to push.”
Americans Show Poise, Confidence, in Heats
Of the four Americans that qualified for the heats, Ketterson was the first to take to the line, skiing out of a first heat that included Klaebo and Valnes. Ketterson showed confidence throughout the heat, accelerating along with the field as German skier, Jan Stoelben, launched an attack on the final climb. Into the final run-in, the two Norwegians formed a line in front of the pack to take first and second, but Ketterson had pulled into the ensuing sprint for third and fourth. As Klaebo eased up crossing the line in first, Ketterson’s skis crossed the tails of his skis, sending the Minnesotan falling in the finish pen, but falling into third place in the heat. Ketterson would hold onto the lucky loser spot through the next heat, but faster times throughout the quarterfinals eventually left him in 16th place.
Schoonmaker featured in the next quarterfinal, alongside Chanavat, Marcus Grate (SWE), and the only Canadian qualifier on the day, Antoine Cyr. The North Americans remained in the fast-moving quarterfinal until the very last climb when Chanavat and Grate both emphasized the control they had showed throughout the first kilometer, and subsequently eased into the semifinals in first and second. Schoonmaker and Cyr would round out an otherwise-tight pack, finishing fifth and sixth in the heat, respectively.
The final quarterfinal heat featured Ogden an Bolger lining up alongside each other, alongside Jouve and Grond. “It’s never a plan to take a heat as a teammate-but the way heats played out it made sense for me,” said Bolger post-race. Ogden and Bolger stuck together through the early part of the course, rounding the twists and turns in Oberhof with stars and stripes leading. “I thought we controlled the heat really well!” added Bolger. “Ben is a seasoned classic heats skier and I’m not, so I was just trying to stay as close to him as I could.” The pace was pronounced, and even as Bolger started to fall into the pack while Ogden shot up the final steep climb to mark Grond, he kept with the pace. Ogden would take control of the heat in the final sprint, advancing to the semifinals in first. Bolger surged to finish in fourth place, and, in the fast heat, move into the semifinals as a lucky loser.
“There is no better feeling than to be able to move onto the semis from a heat with a teammate,” said Kevin Bolger on the quarterfinal performance.
Bolger would run into a pack of Norwegians, with Klaebo, Evensen and Valnes in semifinal 1. Bolger showed similar poise in the early part of the heat, but the surge that came on the final climb turned out to be just one push beyond what the Wisconsinite could manage on the day, and he would finish the semi-final in sixth, earning a 12th place on the day. The result was Bolger’s best ever in a classic sprint on the World Cup, which he is taking both as a great singular performance, and one that he can build off of. “It was a sick day!” he said. “I have confidence in my classic skiing and sprinting, but qualifying had always been the hill to get over for me- I knew if I could break that barrier, I’d be competitive in the heats, and it showed today. [Still,] the ultimate goal [for me] is to get back on the US Ski Team, and it won’t happen unless I get into a sprint final, so that’s the goal moving forward and the only focus I have.”
Ogden took a similar approach to his quarterfinal in his semi-final 2, going out front to control the pack early, and then holding on as Valerio Grond (SUI) and Even Northug (NOR) pushed the middle part of the Oberhof course. Ogden, though, could match the surge that came on the final climb, launching to the outside to go over the top in third place, and then showing his ability to put out a powerful double-pole finish to take second place behind Northug.
When the Final came, Ogden found himself in a similar position to Bolger in his semifinal. The final surge came on the final hill, and Ogden, this time, couldn’t quite match the pace exhibited by his Norwegian rivals. He would finish the heat in sixth place, and sixth place overall on the day.
The Americans follow up today’s classic sprint with tomorrow’s 20 k Classic Mass Start. The marked depth that was present in the sprints today will no doubt be what they are after tomorrow, as the same crew of sprinters—Ogden, Schoonmaker, Ketterson—gets augmented by the distance prowess of Gus Schumacher and Scott Patterson. For a team that is heading home to North America in a month, things are trending up; the depth of the results from Team USA confirm the consistency that the men’s half of the Stifel US Ski Team is starting to gain this season.
Full Oberhof Classic Sprint RESULTS
Ben Theyerl
Ben Theyerl was born into a family now three-generations into nordic ski racing in the US. He grew up skiing for Chippewa Valley Nordic in his native Eau Claire, Wisconsin, before spending four years racing for Colby College in Maine. He currently mixes writing and skiing while based out of Crested Butte, CO, where he coaches the best group of high schoolers one could hope to find.
