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Federico Pellegrino (ITA) has been a longtime rival, but always in silver medal position. Erik Valnes (NOR) has been a consistent challenger, but only found his way to the front once. Alexander Bolshunov (RUS) snatched an opportunistic Sprint win in Ruka a few years ago, but Bolshunov’s career seems to have ended with Russia’s ban from World Cup competition. Edvin Anger (SWE) declared himself the heir apparent, but he’s never been able to prove it. And Lucas Chanavat built a career on latching his ski tips to tails of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR). One time—just two weeks ago in Davos—Chanavat managed to finish in front. But it was more an aberration than a changing of the guard.
If Klaebo needed a wake-up call, he got one in Davos where he failed to advance beyond a World Cup Sprint quarterfinal for only the second time in his unbelievable career. And the only other time he failed to advance? That was in his very first World cup start all those years ago in 2015. Since that inauspicious debut, he’s been all but unbeatable. It’s not exactly been an uninterrupted string of wins, but it has been a long and unprecedented display of dominance that appeared likely to continue through the Olympic Winter Games next month in Val di Fiemme. It appeared likely until two weeks ago in Davos, that is . . .
In Davos, it wasn’t as though any single skier managed to solve, undo, and finally dethrone Klaebo. But Klaebo’s unbelievable string of World Cup Sprint wins ended, nonetheless. He got uncharacteristically boxed in during his quarterfinal, slipped (and nearly fell) in the final turn before the finish, and found himself fourth in the heat and 17th on the day—not exactly Klaebo-like finishing numbers. Just like that, the amazing Klaebo-streak had ended.
In Toblach this morning, it appeared that Klaebo had shaken off the dust of his Davos failure, and was prepared to reassert himself in World Cup Sprinting. He made sure to ski at the front, setting a fast pace in both his quarterfinal and semifinal but in a manner that did not show his true dominance. In the final, he rocketed away from his rivals on the final uphill, and coasted across the line unchallenged by his podium mates, Lars Heggen (NOR) and Oskar Oppstad Vike (NOR). That’s the tactic we recognize; that’s the result we expect.
Sprint Heats
It began as a big day for the Americans with four skiers qualifying for the heats. The day’s second fastest qualifier, Schumacher would advance into the semifinal, ultimately finishing 11th. Ben Ogden would finish the day 13th, Kevin Bolger 15th, Jack Young 19th.
Schumacher advanced into the semifinal by driving the pace in his heat. He was joined at the front by Benjamin Moser (AUT) who added to the pace , and managing to gap perennial challenger, Erik Valnes (NOR) in the process. Schumacher held on for second in the heat, good enough to advance to the semifinal. Valnes would find himself dodging fallen skiers on the final uphill, and would finish behind Schumacher in third (though not fast enough to advance as a lucky loser).
Ogden and Young both chose the third quarterfinal heat, where they would find themselves lined up alongside Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) and Valerio Grond (SUI). The heat was led out quickly by eventual winners Grond and Amundsen. Ogden and Young worked gamely to match the leaders’ pace, ultimately finishing third and fourth in the heat. their times were not fast enough to claim lucky loser positions.
Like his American teammates, Bolger found himself outside the advancing standard, finishing his quarterfinal heat a closely contested fourth.
Klaebo has been beaten in Sprints before—often due to his own carelessness. He was beaten straight-up by Erik Valnes (NOR) in Ruka a couple of years ago, and he was famously pipped at the line by Alexander Bolshunov (RUS). But to see Klaebo flushed out of a quarterfinal, fans will need to flip results pages back through the years all the way to Klaebo’s very first World Cup start. Rarely has the World Cup field seen Klaebo running scared, but in the quarterfinal in Val di Fiemme he appeared to be leaving nothing to chance. Klaebo led from the gun, powering up every uphill, and easily keeping all his rivals at bay.
Sprint Semifinals
Klaebo, Chanavat, Anger, Pellegrino, Valerio Grond (SUI), and Janik Riebli (SUI) lined up in a star-studded semifinal. Klaebo shot forward to control the pace, Pellegrino settled into the middle, Chanavat trailed. Klaebo would lead through the line, but did not show enough speed to definitively drop Grond and Chanavat who followed him across the line.
The second semifinal was defined by the presence of four Norwegian race suits, led out by Ansgar Evenson. Schumacher found himself left behind at the start; he would bide his time at the rear of the pack, looking for an opening that never materialized. From a crowd of Norwegians vying at the front, Vike and Heggen emerged to advance to the final.
Sprint Final
Klaebo, Grond, Heggen, Chanavat, Riebli, and Heggen, and Vike lined up at the start of the Sprint final. Klaebo went straight to the front—perhaps reluctant to let himself fall into contact with lesser mortals in the middle of the pack. Chanavat dropped straight to the rear, seemingly eschewing his follow-Klaebo tactics from so many heats and finals past. Chanavat would drive forward on the uphill, to which Klaebo responded with a strong acceleration that served to keep Vike in his place. On the final uphill, the skiing world returned to normal—Klaebo streaked away, establishing a gap he would hold easily through the finish. His unmatchable effort gapped Vike, and snapped the string to Chanavat who would fade to fifth. Klaebo was back atop the podium again, followed by Heggen and Vike.
Though it’s not very often that Klaebo shows his cards—or his emotions—it was apparent that he raced today harboring unwelcome memories of his recent failure in Davos.
“I’ve been thinking about this race now the whole Christmas,” said Klaebo in post-race interviews. “It’s good to finally be back on the top again.”
Two weeks ago, Klaebo’s defeat in Davos felt more like a blip than a changing of the guard. In Toblach, today, Klaebo proved he still has the speed, and the tactics, and the pedigree to dominate World Cup Sprinting.
Men’s Freestyle Sprint RESULTS
Men’s Freestyle 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.
