Johannes Høsflot Klæbo launches season with Ruka Triple victory
Nov 29, 2020·Cross-Country
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Alexander Bolshunov and Emil Iversen were the leading trio during todays 15km F pursuit. Klæbo set off and finished the 15km F as the first skier but had to pass over the leading work mid-race to Alexander Bolshunov.
After yesterdays rather surprising victory of Klæbo during the 15km C interval start, his margin for todays start was at 26 seconds to last years Distance and Overall World Cup winner Alexander Bolshunov from Russia. Emil Iversen was the only athlete who had his eyes set on the podium, starting off for the chase just 5 seconds behind Bolshunov.
6km into the race, the chasing duo caught up with Klæbo and Bolshunov took over the lead. The trio remained in a comfortable lead with well over 20 seconds to the second chasing group with Alexey Chervotkin (RUS), Andrew Musgrave (GBR), Iivo Niskanen (FIN) and Evgeniy Belov (RUS).
Approaching the final hill into the stadium, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo set out for the final sprint and his chance for victory. Alexander Bolshunov, anticipating the attack reacted immediately but could not catch up his rival. Bolshunov finishes second, only 0.7 seconds away from victory. Emil Iversen concluded the podium.
In the meantime, the successor group was tackled by Hans Christer Holund who had his eyes set out for the "Winner of the day" ranking. Heading into the race in 16th position, 1:32 minutes behind Klæbo, Holund finishes on an impressive fourth rank, 19.5 seconds behind the winner, earning the well deserved title with the fastest time of the day.
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Top-10 check
Andrew Musgrave (GBR)
By qualifying into the heats and ranking 25th in the Sprint C, Andrew Musgrave surprised himself with a smashing season start. The distance skier underlined his performance on Saturdays 15km C, finishing 6th and thus ensuring a top start position for todays pursuit. Starting 1:07 minutes behind the leader, Musgrave kept his pace throughout the race and finishes the Ruka Mini Tour in 6th position.
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