Business as usual in Lahti: Sundling and Klaebo fire favourites to team sprint triumphs

The final meeting of the World Cup season kicked off on Friday with a sense of déjà vu. The event marked the 100th anniversary of ski racing in Lahti, and the oldest sporting event in Finland drew a large, expectant crowd. As Jasmi Joensuu (FIN) said: “We want to fight for the top positions.” But the home fans would be disappointed as sprint stars Jonna Sundling and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo led Sweden and Norway respectively to team victory.

Sundling proves a point for Sweden

First up were the women. With many of the big names – including team sprint Olympic champion Jessie Diggins (USA) and Norway’s Kristine Stavas Skistad, winner of four World Cup sprints this season – sitting out the relay ahead of Saturday’s individual event, the hot favourites were Swedish pair Emma Ribom and Jonna Sundling, who had something to prove having finished second to Skistad in the past three World Cup sprints.

The Norway 1 team of Julie Myhre and Anne Kjersti Kalvaa made most of the running but were unable to break away from the Swedes, despite upping the pace at the beginning of the fifth lap of six. All the while, Sweden looked like they were skiing within themselves, despite Ribom losing a little time having to pass Finland 1 on the penultimate lap as Kalvaa attempted to move clear.

Sundling simply had to bide her time – and she didn’t disappoint. A devastating burst on the final climb put the individual Olympic and world champion five metres clear and the gap had grown to 15 metres by the time she powered round the last big turn – a sharp left – before storming downhill into the stadium to finish 4.57 seconds ahead of the Norwegians.

“I think it was good,” Sundling said. “Today we thought we should do a little bit more of a tactical race so I think it worked out fine.”

And what were those tactics? “To just be calm, ski well and try to save as much energy as possible,” Ribom, who put her team-mate in prime position going into the final lap, said. “I have been sick for a while so it was really fun to be out there racing today.”

The real excitement was happening behind the Swedes, though, where Germany – Olympic champions in this event – denied Finland a home podium thanks to a late burst from Coletta Rydzek, who screamed in delight as she crossed the line.

Klaebo pips Pellegrino – again

There was a similar sense of inevitability about the men’s race, although the all-conquering Klaebo would have been wary before the men's final. The last time he raced Federico Pellegrino in Lahti - albeit the Norwegian was just a teenager at the 2017 world championships – the Italian came out on top.

Since then, the two have treated fans to many a thrilling shootout. But this is a different Klaebo – now established as the sport’s greatest-ever sprinter, with experience and confidence to match. And so it proved, on a course that had increasingly cut up as the day wore on, with temperatures well above freezing.

An already challenging layout claimed several fallers as the race progressed, but Klaebo stayed out of trouble – perhaps even more so than usual.

“My plan was to just to be in the front and if I had good legs to speed up on the last lap,” team-mate Erik Valnes said. “I didn’t have that power today but it was good enough to stay in front.”

This left Klaebo to make his move a little earlier than normal, with Pellegrino (racing with Francesco de Fabiani) the only skier to go with him – as has often been the case. “The plan was to have little bit of control then, for the last 500 metres, it’s just full speed,” Klaebo said. And in truth, he never looked like letting his lead slip, eventually crossing the line 0.68 seconds ahead.

Norway 2 were a further two seconds back in third.

The action continues in Lahti on Saturday with the men’s and women’s sprint classic events.

Click here for the full results from the team sprint.