Gripping fight for the podium spots at Mens Relay
Dec 08, 2019·Cross-Country
The road to the podium was a long way in todays men Relay. The first leg did not give much space for tactic turns so the game had to be re-set from the first exchange.
Iivo Niskanen (FIN), Hans Christer Holund (NOR I), Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) and Evgeniy Belov (RUS II) gave it a try to pull away from the leading group but did not manage to step away from Finland, Norway II and Germany. Going into the 3rd leg, the teams of Norway (I and II), Russia (I and II), Finland and Germany remained together with only a gap of 3.9 seconds.
The pace picked up as teams were represented by Freestyle experts like Team Norway I Sjur Roethe, Denis Spitsov (RUS II) and Simen Hegstad Kruger (NOR II). A very strong Ilia Poroshkin from the Russian Team II challenged the contenders and kept up with fellow Russian Team colleague Denis Spitsov. A fantastic performance was also shown by Team Sweden with Jens Burman and Team Germany, now represented by Lucas Boegl.
The final results remained undefined until the final uphill where Sergey Ustiugov for Team Russia II started the break away. Andrey Melnichenko (RUS I) reacted promptly but could not catch up before the finish line. The mens Relay ends with a double Russian victory and Team Norway I in the 3rd place.
