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“The last uphill is where you really need to be fast,” said Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) in interviews after his victory in today’s Classic Sprint in Ruka. “I felt like we had good skis today, and I felt quite motivated after yesterday.”
Yeah, that’s not what the field hopes for—Klaebo showing up on Sprint day with extra motivation from having finished only second the day before. His fast skis the field knows about. His tremendous speed they all acknowledge. His tactical acumen is glaringly obvious. And on top of that he shows up motivated. Well, that’s just great . .. what the heck is everyone else supposed to do?
On World Cup Sprint days, the entire cross-country skiing world thinks Klaebo is going to win. Even those fans who desperately hope that Klaebo won’t win think he’s going to win. So, when he does, it really comes as no surprise. It looks like Klaebo always has a plan; in a fashion that must infuriate his rivals, Klaebo’s plan regularly varies from heat to heat. It always looks like he’s living out a race plan that he conjured up in his head, then willed into reality. Of course he stays out of trouble, of course he glides to the front, of course he accelerates up the final hill, of course he moves easily while everyone else flails. Of course he has a plan, and of course it works. Everybody else looks like they’re just responding to what happens around them.
And what Klaebo is able to do is not easy, no matter how easy he makes it look. Sometimes, a skier just has more speed than anyone else. But, that fast skier also needs to be able to produce that kind of speed four times: qualifying, quarterfinal, semifinal, and final. So, Sprinting is an endurance event, too. And that’s just one of the many variables that mix the pot when it comes to the results on any World Cup Sprint day.
“Sometimes, you just need a couple of rounds just to get your body ready for this all-out effort,” said on-air commentator, Kikkan Randall. But most skiers don’t get a couple of rounds. For most, qualifying is a mystery, and the heats are just a few short minutes, flashing by in an instant, illustrated by the rapidly disappearing backsides of the true contenders. And that sort of speed is what separates contenders from also-rans.
As expected, Klaebo has that sort of speed. On Saturday in Ruka, it carried him to victory again, ahead of his countrymen Erik Valnes and Ansgar Evensen. Behind them, two Americans qualified into the heats (Ben Ogden 16th and Gus Schumacher 28th), with Ogden advancing into the semifinals where he would finish sixth in the heat, and 12th on the day. Kevin Bolger, JC Schoonmaker, and Jack Young failed to qualify for the heats.
“My big goals for the season are not in Ruka—not even in Period 1, said Ogden. “I wouldn’t say it’s ever too early to be fast—it’s always nice to be fast—but I didn’t come into these races expecting to be the sharpest fastest version of myself. ”
Classic Sprint
When asked about his plan for the sprint heats, Janik Riebli (SUI) raised his eyebrows hopefully. “We’ll make our best, what we can,” Riebli said. “We trained really well this summer, but we have no idea where we stand. So, we will see.” Riebli’s response could have been echoed by almost everyone in the field. No one really haas any idea how things are going to go. No one but Klaebo, that is . . .
37 degrees Fahrenheit, wet snow and high humidity—Randall reminded viewers that qualifying times were considerably slower than a year ago. Those conditions seemed likely to affect the strategies in today’s Classic Sprint, and to favor those skiers who possessed the fastest skis. The preparation of ski bases is crucial, and Norway spends more effort and more money on ski technology than any other nation. And it’s well known that Klaebo’s skis are the fastest in the world. Terrific—the fastest guy gets the advantage of racing on the fastest skis. What is everybody else supposed to do?
Ruka’s Sprint course is brutally simple: a few early rises, a hairpin lefthand turn just prior to the important downhill, and a final uphill that’s crucial. Klaebo has always shown his superiority here. Whether he enters the final hill in front or in the back, it’s likely that he’ll be leading at the top.
Quarterfinals
Schumacher found himself in a stacked heat, facing Klaebo and Valnes. Klaebo delivered a preview of things to come—he started slowly, sitting coyly at the back through the first turn, then simply glided forward on miraculous skis to take up a controlling position at the front. He would run matter-of-factly up the consequential hill with Valnes on his heels. Schumacher looked like his skis were both slow and slippery. His day would end with fifth in the quarterfinal.
Edvin Anger (SWE) won the Classic Sprint that Klaebo skipped last year, though in Ruka’s quarterfinal his skis looked as slow as the skis among his Swedish teammates in the earlier women’s field. Anger would fade on the uphill and finish his day with fifth place in the quarterfinal. Ben Ogden took advantage of the scramble on the uphill, driving over the top in the lead and finishing just behind Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR) to advance to the semifinal round.
Jules Chappaz (FRA) showed some ingenuity in his quarterfinal, veering hard left across the final uphill to find better traction in the less-compacted snow along the edge of the course. His tactic took him into the lead, and into the semifinal.
Emil Liekari (FIN) had been the day’s second-fastest qualifier. He stormed up the final hill—efficiently gapping Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) and gliding easily into the semifinal. Liekari’s speed made it look like he might be able to challenge Klaebo . . . but Liekari’s strategy had been revealed.
Semifinals
Ogden found himself facing four daunting Norwegians: Klaebo, Valnes, Northug, and Vike. The pace was high, and Klaebo’s ability even higher. He glided away from the field on the downhill, and was never really challenged again. Ogden may have had a plan to sit in, to pick his way through the field, to scamper up the hill . . . but he never got the chance. The Norwegians finished the heat 1, 2, 3, 4; all of them ultimately advancing to the Sprint Final.
Semifinal 2 was a tactical affair in which Liekari found himself pushed to the front, but perhaps too late to utilize the sort of speed that had gotten him this far. Liekari’s Finnish teammate, Vuorinen, powered his way to the front and into the final, followed by Ansgar Evensen. Just behind them, Chappaz was producing more zig-zag miracles on the final uphill, tactics that earned him the last lucky loser spot in the final.
Men’s Sprint Final
Klaebo skied the final from the middle of the field, following closely behind Valnes who closed the gap on early leader, Evensen. When he needed it, Klaebo simply stepped out to the left side of the track (which he had not utilized in earlier heats) and drifted forward into the lead. He entered the final uphill with momentum, with skill, with speed, with endurance, with tactical acumen, and with the fastest skis in the world. At this point, everyone else was racing for second . . . and they knew it, too.
Valnes is a sturdy contender—and he did his best to challenge Klaebo on the uphill—but Klaebo has almost never been overtaken once he edges to the front of a finishing straightaway. He would not be challenged at the line, coasting across for what commentators identified as his 99th individual World Cup victory. There’s never been a skier like this.
On any Sprint day, Klaebo’s victory seems a foregone conclusion. Valnes is one of the greatest and most consistent sprinters in the history of the sport. Yet, against Klaebo, it appears that Valnes doesn’t stand a chance. As for the rest of the field, contenders arise from time to time—Anger, Chanavat, Pellegrino—but they often lose their way in the scramble that occurs just behind Klaebo’s tails. No one has figured out a way to undo him . . . no one has even come close.
Ogden was reliably insightful in his post-race interview. “At the end of the day, everybody just does everything they can to do the best that they can, “Ogden said. “Klaebo has won a lot of sprints—he’s just on another level. He put on a bit of a clinic today. I don’t think that anyone is giving up hope that they can ever beat him, but he’s better on the hill, better on the double pole, better on the downhills. What are we gonna do? We can make a plan to beat him, but he’s just better. That’s not to say that things can’t change. There’s plenty of guys out there—I hope, myself included—that can give him a challenge, but today was not that day.”
Men’s Classic Sprint RESULTS
Men’s Classic Sprint QUALIFYING
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John Teaford
John Teaford 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.
