Cross-country skiing: Maerta Rosenberg’s perfect day
It was a golden day for the Swedish delegation at the U23 cross-country skiing world championships in Schilpario (Italy). On Tuesday, in the classic sprints, the Swedes showed their dominance with two titles: Maerta Rosenberg in the women’s event and Anton Grahn in the men’s event.
World Cup regularMaerta Rosenberg was by far the strongest in the women’s event. Winner of the qualifications by more than 7 seconds over her runner-up, she went on to win her quarter-final and semi-final before dominating the final by more than 5 seconds over Andorran Gina del Rio.
“It was a very good day and I felt very rested. I was very worried that I wouldn’t have enough strength left in the final, but it worked out and I’m very happy about that. I’m feeling very good, so I hope that will continue for the rest of the competition,” the 22-year-old cross-country skier told SVT Sport.
It was an even bigger success for the Swedes, with Elin Henriksson taking bronze.
The men’s double
It was a day that ended in the best possible way for the Swedes with the Anton Grahn/Maans Skoglund double. In this final, the former took the lead directly from his compatriot who had won just a few minutes earlier.
“I was feeling a bit tired, but I saw that Maerta [Rosenberg] had led from start to finish, so I tried to do the same thing, and that was good enough. I’m happy,” he enthused to SVT Sport.
A sentiment shared by Maans Skoglund: “It was great fun to do it with Anton [Grahn] and Joergen [Schjoelberg], who are my friends. I didn’t have many tactics, I just gave it my all,” says the silver medallist.
The Swedish team will now try to take advantage of this positive emulation to continue to obtain good results… and why not as early as this Thursday with the classic 20 kilometre mass-starts.
Read also
- Cross-country skiing | Schilpario: Anton Grahn takes the U23 world title in the classic sprint, Ivan Essonnier sixth in the final
- The full programme for the Junior and U23 World Championships in Schilpario from 3 to 9 February
- Schilpario: Iselin Bjervig Drivenes dominates qualifying for the classic sprint at the World Junior Championships, all the French women in the quarter-finals
- Schilpario: Filip Skari qualifies for the classic sprint at the Junior Worlds, Quentin Viguier is the only Frenchman to qualify
- Schilpario: Malin Hoelsveen takes the world title in the junior classic sprint ahead of two other Norwegians, Annette Coupat stops in the semi-finals
- Schilpario: Filip Skari becomes world junior classic sprint champion
- Schilpario U23 World Championships: Julie Pierrel, Justine Gaillard, Léonie Besson and Clémence Didierlaurent pass the classic sprint qualifying round
- Schilpario: Ivan Essonnier and Victor Cullet Calderini qualify for the quarter-finals of the classic sprint at the U23 World Championships
- Schilpario: Maerta Rosenberg becomes U23 world champion in the classic sprint, while France remain stuck in the quarter-finals
