Sundling and Klæbo fight to the top at Sprint F in Konnerud

The World Cup that usually takes place at the city of Drammen had to be relocated to the nearby tracks of Konnerud due to lack of snow. In the morning of todays Sprint race day, a mixture of snow and rain fell from the sky, turning the stadium into a wintery site. A rare view this season. However, the additional snow made the tracks rather soft and therefore the heats became tought fights for the best spots.

The fastest time of the qualification was races by Katja Visnar, Jonna Sundling and Anamarija Lampic on the womens side and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo with 3.8 seconds before Haavard Solaas Taugboel and Alexander Bolshunov.

Already in the quarter finals, Swiss Nadine Fähndrich took the lead in her heat and continued that performance all the way to the final. Of course also current sprint World Cup leader from Sweden Linn Svahn had set her eyes on the prize and also took the lead in her competition rounds, in the finish sprint she managed to keep up with the leading Fähndrich but could not quite manage to overtake, what let her take the third spot. Maja Dahlqvist and Jonna Sundling from Sweden made it both into the finals as lucky loosers. Sundling pulled out a powerful final sprint where she overtook the leading Fähndrich and stretched into the finish in first place.

Slovenian Anamarija Lamipc who however had a fall shortly before turning into the finish line. This fall put her back on the 6th rank. The finals were completed with Kristine Stavaas Skistad, local to Konnerud who raced her best result in the World Cup up to date with taking the 4th spot.

Click here to see all the final results of the womens competition.

The pace maker from start to finish remained Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. Some of his top international contenders were unlucky with the rough snow conditions. Federico Pellegrino (ITA) raced a great quarter final against Erik Valnes (NOR) and Teodor Peterson (SWE) but could not qualify with his third rank and slower time into the semi finals.

Semi final 1 with pace makers Klæbo and Valnes again set a fast time and so Eirik Brandsdal and Sindre Bjoernestad Skar, ranked 3rd and 4th qualified into the finals as the second heat with winners Taugboel and Bolshunov. Also Richard Jouve from France so far belonged to the front runners but due to a pole break right at the start, he had no chance to catch up with the lead.

The finals consisted of five Norwegians and Russian contender Alexander Bolshunov. In the curvy course of Konnerud, it was difficult to overtake and attack the front and therefore, Bolshunov had no chance of catching the lead with Klæbo, finishing in first place, Taugboel in second place and Brandsdal in third place.

Click here to see all the final results of the mens competition.