King of Cogne Valnes wins second Sprint in two days: 'I really enjoy it here'

Erik Valnes (NOR) claimed the sixth individual Coop FIS World Cup victory of his career as he finished first in the Men's Sprint Classic in Cogne, Italy on Saturday, topping an all-Norwegian podium.

The 28-year-old, who had won the Men's Team Sprint Classic with Even Northug (NOR) on Friday, made a second strong performance in two days as he beat runner-up Ansgar Evensen (NOR) in the final by 0.72 of a second. Northug completed the Norwegian clean sweep.

The three Norwegians, who all qualified with Edvin Anger (SWE) from the same speedy semifinal, had been in front from the final's start to finish but it had been 24-year-old Evensen, chasing his first World Cup victory, who had held onto the first position for most of the race.

With only a few hundred meters left to ski, Evensen still had the lead, with Valnes right after him. With a stronger finish however, Valnes pushed past his teammate to take the victory as Evensen had to settle for a second place for the second time this season, having been runner-up behind Anger in the Sprint Classic in Les Rousses, France, two weeks ago.

"Ansgar has a bad habit of making all these heats so hard so he was really tough," Valnes said.

"But I managed to save some energy for the last sprint so I am very happy with that."

French duo Richard Jouve and Lucas Chanavat led the chase of the Norwegians but had to settle for a fourth and fifth place respectively, finishing more than four seconds after the winner. According to Valnes, the Norwegians had not set up a game plan before the final.

"We don't speak that much before the final actually, but we try to be good teammates out there," he said.

Valnes has been unbeatable as the World Cup has returned to Cogne for the first time since 2019, winning the two Team Sprints on Friday as well as Saturday's qualification, quarterfinal, semifinal and final. He said that the northwestern-Italian ski town's tracks "absolutely" had turned into some of his favourites on the World Cup circuit.

"I really enjoyed it here. Amazing crowd and nice tracks," Valnes said.

He will however not try to retain his 100% win rate in Sunday's 10km Interval Start Free.

"I'm not racing tomorrow. I am quite far away from the Norwegian skating team," said Valnes, who got soaked in bubbly drinks by his teammates on the podium.

Overall World Cup No.2, Anger, who had the second fastest qualifying time after Valnes, finished last in the final but came a little bit closer to absent Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) at the top of the overall standings.

In the sprint standings, however, Valnes took over No.2 from Anger. The Swede has 546 points, Valnes 552 and the leader, Klaebo, 587.

Click here for full results from the Men's Sprint Classic and here to follow FIS Cross-Country on Youtube.