Cross-country skiing : Einar Hedegart takes over from Ronny André Hafsaas
This Sunday in Trondheim (Norway), Einar Hedegart put in a resounding performance. The former Norwegian biathlete, now fully focused on cross-country skiing this season, won the individual World Cup skate race, becoming the first biathlete to win on the circuit since… 2009.
At just 24 years of age, Einar Hedegart, the exclusive skating specialist, has had a remarkable start to the winter: two races, two podium finishes and now a victory for the man who has only made four starts at the highest level in the world and has already claimed three podiums.
“This is a very fine performance by Einar Hedegart,” Fredrik Aukland told NRK as the Norwegian crossed the finish line. ” Just give this man a ticket to the Olympics,” he added, impressed. Jann Post, commentator on the Norwegian channel, recalled the magnitude of the feat: “The last time a biathlete won a cross-country skiing World Cup race was in 2009.
At the time, it was another Norwegian, Ronny André Hafsaas, who won. In only his second cross-country skiing World Cup start, he beat Vincent Vittoz by two tenths in the 15km skate in Beitostølen (Norway). Before him, biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen had also triumphed in an individual skate race in Gällivare (Sweden) in 2006.
Another emblematic figure in Norwegian Nordic skiing, Lars Berger became world champion in the individual skate event in Sapporo (Japan) in 2007. However, he had never managed to win an individual cross-country skiing world cup.
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