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In the weeks closely following the conclusion of each year’s Tour de France (the world’s preeminent bicycle stage race), the winners and contenders undertake a tour of “criterium” events, races staged in those European locations where fans are mad for cycling, but where the stages of the Tour were not held. The fans get a chance to see their heroes, to witness firsthand the shape and form and fitness of those who triumphed under such challenging circumstances. By that time, the finishers of the Tour de France are totally exhausted, absolutely spent, emotionally and athletically drained. But while the three grueling weeks of the Tour may have sapped their energy, it also instills in them a level of fitness and capability that enables them to race on auto-pilot, and at levels of otherworldly excellence.
Usually, Holmenkollen, Norway would play host to the most eagerly anticipated ski races of any World Cup season. But the World Championships were just last week—those were the races that the athletes circled on their calendars, those were the races that Norway lined up to see. For perhaps the first time, it was possible that Holmenkollen would become an afterthought. This year, Holmenkollen would be a criterium rather than a national celebration. The brightest stars of the cross country firmament were scheduled to be be on the starting line, but it remained to be seen just how much sparkle and and spirit those stars would have left.
Therese Johaug (NOR) had overturned her life—re-prioritized skiing over family and business and normal life—so that she could win again at Trondheim. Holmenkollen was to have been her criterium event, her victory lap. Things hadn’t play out as scripted.
Jessie Diggins (USA) so under-performed at the World Championships that she could barely bring herself to address the media. Of all the skiers in the Holmenkollen field, Diggins was the one still with something to win as she continued in her quest to capture the World Cup Overall and World Cup Distance Crystal Globes. Would she have been able to recover from the exhaustion and disappointment of Trondheim?
Ebba Andersson (SWE) had crashed, tragically, while in position to possibly win Trondheim’s 50 k. Would she find herself drained on Holmenkollen’s 20 k course? Or would she be on fire?
And Frida Karlsson—she who endured and dominated the historic 50 k in Trondheim—she elected to skip Holmenkollen’s 20 k Classic. All through the World Cup season, Karlsson had been mostly absent. Injury had kept her off the race course, and her ambitions at Trondheim had narrowed the focus of her training. With her World Championship victory having been achieved—and with little else for Karlsson to accomplish in the overall World Cup standings—it appeared that she might have called it a season.
20 k Classic
The course at Holmenkollen offered a distance that was actually somewhat shorter than 20 kilometers—three 6.2 kilometer laps on a sunny day with temperatures hovering just above freezing. Waxing would be fairly straightforward, but all skiers would find themselves slipping wherever deep shadows alternated with bright sunshine on the course. And all of them would be racing in Holmenkollen with the weight of Trondheim’s historically significant and athletically draining 50 k Freestyle still throbbing in their exhausted legs.