Norway and Sweden for the win at Lahti team sprint C
Feb 10, 2019·Cross-Country
5 years after the last World Cup team sprint event in classic style Lahti prepared a challenging track for today’s event. The victory goes to Sweden with Ida Ingemarsdotter and Maja Dahlqvist as well as Norway with the revenge of Klæbo and Iversen.
Two years ago, at the FIS World Ski Championships on the same track, Iversen and Klæbo fell in the final turn which cost the success bitterly. Today’s race called out for a revenge. The way to the top however was again a tough one. In the finals, top sprinters like the Italian duo Pellegrino and De Fabiani, Russian power team Maltsev and Retivykh as well as Swedens Halfvarsson and Svensson kept the pace real high. The best tactic and focus to tackle the favourite-duo Klæbo & Iversen had Sindre Bjørnstad Skar and Eirik Brandstal (Team Norway 2). Both stood on the podium in the team sprint event one month earlier in Dresden followed their fellow team colleagues on the 2nd rank, only +0.65 seconds behind.
An absolute highlight was the race of Finland’s athlete of the year, Iivo Niskanen and his team mate Ristomatti Hakola who end up on the 3rd rank. Hakola speeding up even in the last leg, racing to the fastest leg time at 3:16.04 minutes for the 1.6km round and ending up +0.71 seconds behind the winning team.
A good week before the next FIS World Ski Championships in Seefeld, the Swedish power team on the ladies side proved to be in best shape for the Championships. Ida Ingemarsdotter and Maja Dahlqvist (Team Sweden 1) proved once again, that a race is never decided before one crosses the finish line. Both Swedish teams had some troubles and fell during the final legs but manage to regain their position. Hanna Falk and Evelina Settlin (Team Sweden 2) take the 3rd rank +3.55 seconds behind their team colleagues.
For the routined Maiken Caspersen Falla the track of Lahti was well known to bring success, as she took home the victory in the FIS World Ski Championships from the team event 2 years earlier. This time, she paired up with Tiril Udnes Weng (Team Norway 1) and raced to the 3rd rank ++1.84 seconds behind Ingemarsdotter and Dahlqvist.
The ladies team sprint at the 2019 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Seefeld will also be contested in classic style and takes place on Sunday, 24th February.
