Johannes Klaebo increasingly in history, 100 World Cup victories

Johannes Klaebo also wins the classic technique sprint in Trondheim and celebrates 100 World Cup victories. There could not have been a better location than the home garden in “his” Trondheim to celebrate this historic milestone for the Norwegian star who won in the final ahead of his very young compatriot Oskar Vike (class of 2004) and the even younger Swede Alvar Myhlback, class of 2006. They were followed in a final with strong Norwegian colors by Lars Heggen (2005), Erik Valnes and Ansgar Evensen. Federico Pellegrino was 12th and had to surrender in the semifinals to the Nordic overpower.

Andrea Gussoni

Twenty-first in the morning qualifying round (best time for Ben Ogden on Klaebo), the Valdostan policeman was combative in the quarters and snatched passage to the round through repechage. In the semifinals, he is thus forced to cross the path of Klaebo, Valnes and co. Pellegrino tries, but cannot get beyond sixth place in the first of the two semis. Unlucky race for Simone Mocellini, who in turn qualified with the 23rd time: a contact in the battery and subsequent fall forced him to close his race in this way, with the 24th final place. Davide Graz, Giacomo Gabrielli, Giovanni Ticcò and Michael Hellweger had not qualified.

Swedish poker in the women’s final: in a nonlinear challenge with some contacts, it was Johanna Hagström who took the victory, with a margin over compatriots Emma Ribom, Linn Svahn and Jonna Sundling. The path of the three Italians qualified for the main draw unfortunately ended in the quarters, accomplices of honestly complicated batteries to face. Twenty-one-year-old Iris De Martin Pinter was fifth in the third quarterfinal won by Maja Dahlqvist on her debut day in a World Cup final, Federica Cassol was fourth in the fourth heat signed by Ribom while Nicole Monsorno was sixth in the fifth, with Norway’s Stenseth ahead of all. In the morning, however, Caterina Ganz had been left out of the main draw, 31st with five hundredths of a second too many; Nadine Laurent was also out. The final ranking assigned 19th place to Cassol, 22nd to De Martin Pinter, 27th to Monsorno.

The World Cup rankings see Klaebo leading with 275 points ahead of Amundsen (254) and Anger (221) while in the women’s division Jessica Diggins (252) remains the leader with Ilar (227) and Sundling (213) behind her. Saturday’s Trondheim stage continues with the two skiathlons over the 20-kilometer distance: the men’s race will start at 11:10 a.m., the women’s at 1 p.m.