Jenssen comes back from three-year World Cup absence to claim career-first win

Jan Thomas Jenssen had not done a Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup race in three years when he was called-in to the Norway team for the 20km mass start free on Sunday, replacing Sjur Roethe, who was out due to an illness.

There, the 27-year-old shocked the stars of the tour with a perfect race to claim the first World Cup victory of his career, finishing 0.7 second before Czech runner-up Michal Novak as teammate Harald Oestberg Amundsen grabbed the last podium position.

Jenssen, who is known for his ability to completely empty himself in the tracks, often to the point of vomiting after crossing the finish line, was also fairly empty for words after the race.

"It was amazing. I can't describe it. My skis were so fast," he said with a big smile.

Before Sunday, Jenssen's best World Cup result had been a seventh-place in the sprint in Val di Fiemme, Italy, in January 2020. His latest performance on the tour had been on 8 March the same year, when he finished 22nd in the 50km mass start classic in Oslo, Norway.

He said "so many things" went through his mind when he crossed the finish line to complete the upset milestone win in his favourite distance.

"When I was first around the corner (coming into the final stretch) I was oh, so relieved. Oh my God."

Novak had also been chasing a career-first World Cup win. Coming into the last kilometre of the race, 12 skiers were within 4.2 seconds of each other and the Czech 27-year-old was in seventh place.

He kept it cool in more than one way, as temperatures in northern Finland were down at -17 degrees on Sunday afternoon.

"It was first of all freezing, very cold. Especially in the downhills, it was crazy," Novak said.

"The pace of the race was very good and I felt that I could ski relaxed. I still wasn't that tired at the end of the race and could just enjoy the finish."

In the last uphill climb, Novak pushed past the whole crowd but Jenssen and looked like he was going head-to-head with the Norwegian in the final stretch. The strong sprinter did however not manage to get the inner track in the last turn into the home run and could never catch Jenssen.

"I made a mistake," Novak said.

"Jenssen could make it on the inside in the last turn before the finish line, and that was the breaking point.

"I think I would've been able to win it (otherwise). But anyway, congrats to Jan Thomas and I must learn from it."

There was still plenty for Novak to be happy about, having reached the first World Cup podium of his career with a field of world- and Olympic champions behind him.

"It's really big and perhaps I still cannot realise it," he said.

"But it is only one stage of the World Cup and so many races ahead of us, and the level of competition is very high, it can be that way one day and another way another day."

Novak was happy to place the Czech flag on the podium – a sight not seen to often in the Cross-Country World Cup.

"It feels really good and I hope that people back in Czech Republic are happy for that," he said, sending thoughts to his team back home.

"It's not only me but we have a great team back in Czech and everybody is working hard. It's all about teamwork."

Amundsen, who had kept a low profile throughout the race, was in tenth position at the 18.6km mark but snuck up to grab the third place 2.1 seconds behind Jenssen. It was the 25-year-old's eight World Cup podium but the first coming in a 20km race.

In a day of career-best results, Austria's Mika Vermeulen stayed in the front of the pack for the whole race and grabbed the fourth place before fifth-placed Simen Hegstad Krueger from Norway. It was 24-year-old Vermeulen's first top-five finish in the World Cup, having never previously finished higher than 20th in an individual race.

Last season's distance crystal globe winner Paal Golberg from Norway finished sixth, before teammate Didrik Toenseth in seventh, as No.9 Iver Tildheim Andersen made it six Norwegians among the nine best skiers. Their compatriot Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo finished 21st.

Great Britain's Andrew Musgrave made a strong race and grabbed the eight place less than five seconds behind the winner, as Beda Klee from Switzerland finished tenth to claim his first individual World Cup top-ten finish.

As this season's first weekend of World Cup action concludes, Amundsen tops the overall rankings, with Golberg in second place and Novak in third.

Click here for full results from the men's 20km mass start free.

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