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It’s rumored that World Cup Sprint (and Overall) leader, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo will return to action next week in Falun, Sweden, leaving room at the top for a host of contenders to battle for the top of the podium.
Reportedly, Harald Oestberg Amundsen has already surrendered his spot on the Norwegian Sprint team for the upcoming World Championships (choosing, instead, to concentrate on Distance events); nonetheless, he lined up for the Sprint in Cogne, moving on into the quarterfinals with a 27th place qualifying run. He would finish third in his quarterfinal heat, 15th on the day.
JC Schoonmaker led American qualifiers in fourth place. Schoonmaker would finish the day ninth. Ben Ogden (USA) would join Schoonmaker in the quarterfinals, qualifying 11th. Ogden would finish the day in 12th. Among other Americans, Zak Ketterson qualified 17th (ultimately finishing the day in 22nd), Zanden McMulen 45th, Luke Jager 63rd. Gus Schumacher elected not to start today’s race.
Canadian qualifiers included Pierre Grall-Johnson narrowly missing a qualifying spot in 31st, Antoine cyr 43rd, Graham Ritchie 51st, Julian Smith 66th, and Remi Drolet 69th.

Men’s Sprint
Ogden qualified 11th, and lined up in the second quarterfinal (alongside countryman, Ketterson). Ogden appeared to be racing with only minimal kick wax (slipping more than once in the mandatory striding sections), leaving with too big a gap to close in the finishing straightaway. He would finish his quarterfinal in third, with his well-timed lunge earning a lucky loser spot.
Having shown great speed in qualifying, Schoonmaker was a contender at the front of his quarterfinal heat, ultimately advancing to the semifinals by bumping Ogden out of the lucky loser spot.
Classic Sprint Semifinals
Erik Valnes (NOR), Even Northug, Ansgar Evensen (NOR), and Mats Skoglund (SWE) are pretty big guys, but they appeared adolescent when lined up alongside the towering, lumberjack-shouldered Anger in Semifinal 1. Valnes would drop off the back of the field (a strategy he has employed with success in numerous Sprints this season), but would return to the front to claim the win and advance to the final just ahead of his countryman, Evensen. Anger and Northug would sit in lucky loser spots to nervously watch the results of Semifinal 2.

Schoonmaker had also drawn Semifinal 1, holding his position alongside Anger but finding needing to check his speed to keep from running up on Anger’s tails. That tiny loss of momentum might have proven crucial as Schoonmaker lost momentum when the pace quickened. He would cross the line fifth, good for ninth on the day.
“The qualifier felt really good today and the heats were ok,” said Schoonmaker. “It’s nice to be in the top 10, but definitely feel that I can ski better than that in the quarter and semi. It’s a tough field, and those guys are super strong so I just feel like I have some work to do.”
The second semifinal featured a French trio—Lucas Chanavat, Richard Jouve, and Jules Chappaz—lined up alongside Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), and the Swedish upstart Anton Grahn. Showing the field their speed, Jouve and Chanavat advanced handily to the Sprint Final.
Classic Sprint Final
Ansgar Evensen is known for his dynamic and powerful double pole, and he unleashed at the front of the Final, setting a blistering pace. Valnes and Northug chased as best they could, but it took the better part of the lap for them to make up the gap to Evensen. The French duo—Chanavat and Jouve—appeared to have been caught flat-footed by Evensen’s opening speed; they quickly faded from contention, along with Anger (who had advanced to the Final due to the semifinal disqualification of Chappaz). But it was the cagey veteran, Valnes, who saved his best speed for the closing meters, pulling away from Evensen for the win. Northug held on for third to complete the Norwegian sweep.
Valnes described the dynamics of the Sprint Final in his post-race interviews: “Ansgar! He has a bad habit: he makes all his heats so hard!” grinned Valnes. “He was really tough, but I managed to save some energy for the last sprint. So, I’m happy with that.”
Men’s Classic Sprint RESULTS
Men’s Classic Sprint QUALIFYING


John Teaford
John Teaford—the Managing Editor of FasterSkier — has been the coach of Olympians, World Champions, and World Record Holders in six sports: Nordic skiing, speedskating, road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, triathlon. In his long career as a writer/filmmaker, he spent many seasons as Director of Warren Miller’s annual feature film, and Producer of adventure documentary films for Discovery, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, and NBC Sports.