Norway dominate Men’s 4x7.5km Relay as Switzerland secure surprise silver

After heavy winds caused the start of the cross-country skiing Men’s 4x7.5km Relay to be delayed at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Trondheim on Thursday, it was Norway who – as expected – blew the opposition away.

Erik Valnes (NOR) gave the home nation a 6.6-second lead after the first Classic leg. “It was an easy pace from the beginning, and I wanted to make it hard,” he said. “But the Czech, Michal Novak, picked up the pace, which was actually perfect for me. It was nice to give Martin [Loewstroem Nyenget] a little gap at least.

The race for gold was all but over by the halfway point after Nyenget took Norway’s lead out to 29.2s. Meanwhile, Finland – the favourites to take silver – saw their medal hopes dashed on the first leg after Niko Anttola compounded a fall by getting tangled up in the netting on the side of the track.

“I don’t know what happened, it all happened so fast,” a clearly dejected Anttola said afterwards. “I don’t know what to say. I’m not feeling so good, a bit disappointed.”

Sweden also suffered a fall when Truls Gisselman went down on lap two of the first leg, the deep snow on the final corner that had proved so tricky all week costing them around 20 seconds. But they would rally back into medal contention on the first Freestyle leg, with William Poromaa making ground on the downhill sections.

This created an exciting fight for silver and bronze with as many as seven teams in contention at various points. Italy headed into the final changeover ahead of Switzerland, France, Canada and Sweden.

After Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) handed over to Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) 36s in front, the great man was able to preserve energy on his leg ahead of the 50km on Saturday, when he has a chance to make it six gold medals from six events. While he milked the applause to cross the line carrying a Norwegian flag 21.6s clear in first, behind him at the final split (28.7km) there was barely a second to separate the chasing pack of five.

Then it was all about the power of young sprint stars Valerio Grond (SUI) and Edvin Anger (SWE), who have both appeared on a World Cup podium over the shorter distance this season.

While the 22-year-old Swede had the form, his giant frame might count against him in the deep snow coming out of the final corner. And so it proved. Grond attacked the final bend, overcoming a slight stumble to take silver by 0.2s – Switzerland’s first ever men’s relay gold at the world championships. No wonder the Swiss celebrated as if they had won gold.

The final word has to go to the victorious Norwegians, though.

“This was amazing,” said Valnes (NOR). The crowd was so loud again today, so this was huge.”

Nyenget agreed: “This was the greatest time skiing in my life, the atmosphere was incredible.”

Amundsen said: “I had so much adrenaline. It was quite tough conditions but the last minutes I tried to enjoy it, and it was a pleasure to hand over to Johannes [Hoesflot Klaebo].”

Klaebo, who could barely contain his smile as he entered the stadium, added: “I just tried to enjoy every single second out there. I feel like this is the most important race during the world championship. In Norway, there is one thing that’s good enough and that’s winning. This is the 13^th time in a row winning the men’s relay so you also don’t want to destroy that. I think all of us felt the pressure today.”

The cross-country skiing at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships continues on Friday with the Women’s 4x7.5km Relay.

For the full results from Trondheim, click here.