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This weekend in Oberhof framed the Men’s World Cup’s hierarchy in stark terms. Coming into Sunday’s 4 x 7.5 k Men’s Relay, five different Norwegian skiers had combined to sweep both Friday’s classic sprint, and Saturday’s 20 k Classic mass start. Remarkably, Norway had done so even without some of their most notable names: Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Didrik Toenseth, and Simen Hegstad Krueger had ceded the World Cup spotlight to Erik Valnes and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, among others. This level of dominance created a vision of Sunday’s Team Relay when athletes clad in the colors of Norway would combine forces; a daunting prospect for the rest of the World Cup field. But Norway could only field two teams in the Relay, leaving room for one more team on the podium.
That’s not to say that Norway winning was a foregone conclusion. Tey would still need to pick teams. Out a dense thicket of Norwegian contenders, the first four names pulled were Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Erik Valnes, Paal Golberg, and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. They would make up Norway I.
Individual fortunes on skiing’s World Cup are especially capricious, but the Team Relay has a way of remaining steady over the years. So it came as no surprise when Klaebo surged to the front in a carefully orchestrated finishing straightaway to win for Norway I ahead of his closest contemporary rival, Italy I’s Federico Pellegrino. Moments after that finish, a similar scenario would play out for both country’s second relay teams. Mattis Stenshagen finished in third for Norway II, and Simone Mocellini finished close behind to take fourth for Italy II.
The conclusion to the race, filled with the names of sprint stars like Klaebo, Pellegrino, and Mocellini, was an accurate indication of the tactical nature of how the field raced throughout the day. Each leg featured two laps of a 3.75 k course that concluded with a steep climb before a long, downhill, run-in to the finish. The pace had been relaxed through the early-goings before hard, deliberate pushes through the final half kilometer by the leaders. That created a lead pack of ten teams that expanded and contracted through the course of each leg. Firmly positioned within that pack was Team Canada, skiing to eighth place behind the combined efforts of Xavier McKeever, Antoine Cyr, Sasha Masson, and Olivier Leveille. Meanwhile, the American team skied to a 13th place finish with Zak Ketterson, Ben Ogden, Scott Patterson, and Gus Schumacher. Ketterson, who skied the first leg, was firmly placed in the main peloton until a downhill tangle with Germany II’s Jan-Friedrich Doerks left him fighting to regain contact. Ketterson managed to do so, but right as he skied onto the tails of Canada’s McKeever the pace surged at the front. It proved to be too much for the American who would hand off to Ogden at the first exchange with a one minute gap to the front of the race. Subsequent American skiers found themselves battling in vain to reduce that gap for the remainder of the day.
Men’s 4 x 7.5 k Team Relay
The relay’s first leg—Classic—would set the pattern in the way the course was raced. The field remained relaxed throughout its first run of the 3.75 k lap, nearly coming to a stand-still at the top of the final climb. Then, as the Oberhof course rose out of the stadium, the top skiers would turn the pace up, stretch out the field through the lap, navigate another small contraction on the downhill leading to the final, steep, climb, where they would wait to dive off the top toward the finish-line. In the first leg, that pattern was duly set by Swedish skier Edvin Anger, alongside Norway I’s Nyenget, and Norway II”s Haavard Solaas Taugboel. Nyenget proved to have the hardest pull, and brought Norway I into the first exchange in first place.
In the second leg, also skied Classic, an early move from France I’s Hugo LaPalus established him in position off the front. For their part, Valnes and Finland’s Iivo Niskanen remained steadfast in their approach to the course, and didn’t lift the pace until the second time through the challenging “A”-climb. There, Niskanen strided away in a steady, deliberate move. Valnes followed. It was the furthest the field bent without breaking. Niskanen and Valnes came into the second exchange with a ten second gap over Italy I’s Elia Barp and the rest of the main field.
The beginning of Legs 3 and 4—skied Freestyle—helped reset the field. Norway I’s Golberg and Finland I’s Arsi Ruuskanen came back to the ten team main field. Towards the end of the lap, the pace ticked up just enough to string the field out, with the notable mover being Krueger for Norway II, who would help firmly position both Norwegian team’s at the front. Richard Jouve for France I and Friedrich Moch for Germany I also tried their luck at creating a gap towards the front, but into the final exchange, a group of nine teams remained within ten seconds of each other.
That left an anchor leg comprised of some of the best World Cup sprinters to sort things out. Pellegrino made an early effort to re-join up the front of the field; Sweden I’s William Poromaa joined. When the field surged on the final lap, only Pellegrino proved capable of matching Klaebo’s lift of pace. The pair would stagger briefly on the final climb, allowing their countrymen—Stenshagen for Norway II and Mocellini for Italy II—to re-join the picture. The final sprint saw Klaebo claim victory for Norway I over Pellegrino for Italy I. It was a fitting close to an episodic day like so many seen at World Cup races before.
World Cup Moves to Switzerland Next Weekend
The World Cup gets a quick reprieve before resuming action in the Swiss Alpine village of Goms next week. Friday opens with another Team Relay, this one mixed with the Women’s and Men’s fields together. A Freestyle Sprint and Freeestyle 20 k close out the weekend.
Oberhof Men’s 4 x 7.5 k Team Relay 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.
