Cross-country skiing : Harald Oestberg Amundsen at the end of the suspense
The final day of the cross-country skiing world cup in Ruka (Finland) featured a 20km mass-start in skating on Sunday, and it was the cross-country skiers who were first to compete on the demanding Kuusamo track.
The cross-country skiers put on a great show throughout the five 4km laps. Shortly before the halfway point, Sweden’s Edvin Anger accelerated, immediately followed by Austria’s Mika Vermeulen and Cluse’s Hugo Lapalus. However, Lapalus gave up at the thirteenth kilometre and rejoined the peloton.
Behind the two frontrunners, the battle was intense. A Norwegian trio comprising Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Einar Hedegart and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget finally managed to catch up with the duo just over a kilometre before the finish.
On the final climb, Harald Oestberg Amundsen accelerated decisively to take his eleventh World Cup victory. Just behind, at 1 sec 9, former biathlete Einar Hedegart took second place, securing the second podium of his career on the circuit – after the individual skate in Oslo last March – in just three starts at the highest level. The podium was completed by a combative Edvin Anger, who managed to hold on to third place, 2 sec 3 behind, at the end of his long breakaway.
Norway’s Martin Loewstroem Nyenget confirmed his excellent start to the season by taking fourth place, 4.5 seconds behind his compatriot. Just behind him, Austrian Mika Vermeulen, who had a long breakaway at the front of the race, took a solid fifth place, which also confirms his excellent start to the winter season.
Best World Cup result for Mathis Desloges
Wearing number 13, Mathis Desloges delivered a top-class race. Always well placed at the front of the pack, the Tricolore played his card to the full. Behind the Norwegian trio who went off on the counter-attack, the Villardien tried everything to catch up. But by just a few centimetres, he was unable to catch the Scandinavians’ skis before the long descent leading to the final climb.
Despite everything, he managed to take a very fine sixth place, synonymous with his best ever World Cup result after an eighth-place finish in Toblach (Italy) last winter.
Next in the top 10 was Norway’s Mattis Stenshagen, in seventh place, followed by 22-year-old Italian Martino Carollo, who put in the best World Cup performance of his career. American Zak Ketterson also posted his best result, taking ninth place. The top 10 was completed by another young Transalpine, Elia Barp.
Victor Lovera, who was sheltered in the middle of the pack for a long time, finished a very fine thirteenth. Hugo Lapalus, who tried to follow the breakaway ofEdvin Anger and Mika Vermeulen, finally finished nineteenth. Chartrousin JulesLapierre came in twenty-second, Clément Parisse was thirty-seventh and Jules Chappaz – fourth in the sprint the day before – finished in fifty-second place.
Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo finished a disappointing fifteenth.
The full rankings
2026CC2210RLThe overall distance ranking
2026CC2210WCDIThe overall World Cup standings
2026CC2210WCOVRead also
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