Cross-country skiing : the Norwegian surprise
On Saturday, in the Tesero stadium (Italy), the women cross-country skiers met for the 4×7.5km relay of the Milan/Cortina Olympic Games. In Dantesque conditions, on a very brittle track, the race offered an enormous spectacle.
Although the Swedes were expected to be the big favourites and were predicted to be unbeatable, it was Norway’s Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs, Astrid Oeyre Slind, Karoline Simpson-Larsen and Heidi Weng who came out on top. This is the fifth time that Norway has won this event, after Grenoble (France) in 1968, Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) in 1984, Vancouver (Canada) in 2010 and Pyeongchang (South Korea) in 2018.
However, everything had started perfectly for the Swedes: Linn Svahn started the first stint alone in the lead, and sent Ebba Andersson off in perfect position. It looked like we were heading for another Swedish success.
But the second stint turned into a nightmare for Ebba Andersson. After an initial fall on an uphill section, Astrid Oeyre Slind caught up with her and took first place. Then relegated to third place, the Swede crashed again on a descent, doing a front somersault and breaking a ski. She lost precious seconds while waiting for a technician to bring her a new ski.
Norway’s Astrid Oeyre Slind handed over the baton in first place, with a margin of over twenty seconds over Finland, while Sweden’s Frida Karlsson took off in eighth place, nearly a minute and twenty seconds behind.
The third Norwegian runner-up, Karoline Simpson-Larsen, continued to extend her lead, while Frida Karlsson moved up to fourth place, but still more than a minute behind Norway.
In the final relay, Heidi Weng managed her effort perfectly to win solo. Behind her, Jonna Sundling caught up with Finland’s Jasmi Joensuu to give Sweden the silver medal, while Finland took the bronze.
“Everyone did a great job. I had to keep this position and stay on my skis. I felt great. It was great to arrive like that and share it”, Heidi Weng, who won her first Olympic title, told Eurosport.
Germany took fourth place, ahead of the American team in fifth, Italy in sixth, Switzerland in seventh and Canada in eighth.
The French team in the top 10
The French team, made up of Julie Pierrel, Cloé Pagnier, Léonie Perry and Delphine Claudel, took ninth place in the relay at Tesero (Italy), after a Dantesque race.
In the first stint, Julie Pierrel suffered a small crash that cost her time. She then passed the baton to Cloé Pagnier in eleventh place. The cross-country skier from the Jura massif held on to this position before handing over to Léonie Perry from Bresse.
Tenth in the individual skate, the Vosgienne confirmed her good form by setting the fourth fastest time in all the skating relays. She handed over to Delphine Claudel in ninth place. Delphine Claudel quickly pulled away to take eighth place before suffering a fall that cost her a lot of time and forced her to finish in ninth place. The Austrian team completed the top 10.
Full results
CCSW4X7.5KM-FNL-000100-__C73C_1.0Read also
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