Grand showdown at mens Relay in Oberstdorf
Mar 05, 2021·Cross-Country
The course set of Oberstdorf was back wintery mood for todays Relay competition. A mix between snow and rain got the service men into challenging positions to prepare the best possible material for the legs in Classic and Free technique. The teams awaited 4x10km including the characteristic hill of “Burgstall” in every lap. Todays conditions were surely a game changer but after all, all the teams awaited the same conditions.
Pål Golberg headed into the first leg for the defending World Champion Team Norway. As he struggled with his material, he fell back in the field and saw Alexey Chervotkin, RSF take off from the chasing group. As no athlete took a clear lead to stay on the heels of Chervotkin, he managed to ski out a margin of 44 seconds when he passed on to Ivan Yakimushkin. All energy had to be pulled out in order to not loose connection to the front as the ongoing snowfall kept making the conditions harder.
With the right choice of skis and full of energy, the second racers took over and soon the cards on the top-spots had to be re-arranged. Iivo Niskanen (FIN), Emil Iversen (NOR), Dario Cologna (SUI), Maurice Manificat (FRA) and Oskar Svensson (SWE) caught up the 40 second gap to Yakimushkin. After the impressive catch-up, it was time to pass on to the skiers in Free technique.
As Emil Iversen passed on to Hans Christer Holund, he knew that the latest World Champion in 15km F would do what he could to ski out an advantage for Norway. Indeed, Holund set out and at first, only Perttu Hyvärinen from Team Finland kept up with a small gap to Artem Maltsev, RSF. Also Team Sweden with Jens Burman and Switzerland with Jason Rüesch kept within eye sight of the leaders, as well as Clement Parisse for France. After the second lap on top of Burgstall, Parisse had caught up with the chasing group and led the successors back into the stadium for the final exchange.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo awaited Holund and took a comfortable margin of 25 seconds into his race. Parisse passed on to Jules Lapierre (FRA), Jens Burman to William Poromaa (SWE), Hyvärinen to Joni Mäki (FIN) and Artem Maltsev to Alexander Bolshunov (RSF). As expected, Alexander Bolshunov went all in to catch the departed Norwegian in the fight for gold. Half way into the race, Bolshunov had caught up with Klæbo and the duo led the head of the race until the decisive point of attack – once more on the final “Egli” hill before heading back into the stadium. Klæbo unexpectedly speed up and left Bolshunov no chance to stay on his heels. With the advantage after this move, Klæbo secured Team Norway the 11th successive title of World Champion in the Mens Relay before Team RSF.
In the fight for the remaining podium spot, it was Jules Lapierre who caught the right moment to leave his successors behind, securing Team France the bronze medal in the Team Relay.
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