Cross-country skiing: William Poromaa was afraid of crushing her
He was not on the start list for the mass-start skate in Ruka (Finland) provided by the International Ski Federation. Nor was he nominated by the Norwegians to replace Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo, who withdrew. And yet, at the start of the race, it was he who stole the show from the stars of the caravan.
This is an Arctic hare. Its white fur was barely visible on the television pictures. Yet this Lepus arcticus was ahead of the pack, which was still very dense. “I almost ran over it”, testified Swede William Poromaa in the columns ofAftonbladet. He added on SVT: “He rode with us for nearly a kilometre. He was in the lead.”
His team-mates Jens Burman and Calle Halfvarsson also saw the animal. “Watch out for the hare,” said Burman to Halfvarsson.
“I’ve never seen that before. Poor guy, he was scared. There were 90 skiers behind him. It’s really not an ideal situation,” commented Jann Post on NRK’s radio programme (quoted by Dagbladet).
“The public didn’t laugh much about it, the hare was in really good shape,” joked Iivo Niskanen in the Yle interview.
In athletics, it is common practice to use what is known as a hare, i.e. a runner whose job it is to favour the performance of another competitor by leading the first part of a race. This was not the case here.
The latest news is that the hare has resumed his normal life, away from the cameras and the crowds.
Read also
- Cross-country skiing: slightly ill, Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo will not take part in the Ruka mass-start skate race
- Cross-country skiing | Ruka: Mathis Desloges and Jules Lapierre finish in the top 10 of the mass-start skate won by Harald Oestberg Amundsen
