Cross-country skiing: Maerta Rosenberg achieves an incredible double
This Thursday, the U23 mass-start classic continued the junior and U23 cross-country skiing world championships in Schilpario, Italy. Following solid performances by Annette Coupat and Margot Tirloy in the junior category, the French U23 cross-country skiers were also keen to make their mark in Lombardy.
However, the Blues were unable to keep up with a group of five young women who quickly broke away at the front of the race. Maerta Rosenberg, Eva Ingebrigtsen, Liliane Gagnon, Helen Hoffmann and Emma Kirkeberg Moerk set off at a blistering pace and then battled it out for the medals in the second half of the race.
However, despite Eva Ingebrigtsen’ s attacks in the very last hectometres, Maerta Rosenberg never wavered. Already impressive in Tuesday’s classic sprint, the Swede managed her effort to perfection once again to claim a formidable double.
By stepping on the accelerator on the final climb of the Transalpine course, the 22-year-old Scandinavian beat all her rivals to claim her second world title. A remarkable performance for a rider who only finished a distant fifteenth last winter in Planica (Slovenia).
Behind her, Eva Ingebrigtsen rallied to take the silver medal. On the attack a few kilometres before the finish, the Norwegian was nevertheless reeled in after a great effort. But that didn’t stop her from staying in the fight for the podium. She courageously crossed the line in second place to claim her first world medal.
Liliane Gagnon was just as courageous as her rivals in holding her own under successive bursts of speed. A regular on the World Cup circuit, the Canadian confirmed her fine form of recent weeks to climb onto the box at an international event for the first time in her young career as an individual.
Julie Pierrel, Cloé Pagnier and Léonie Perry follow in the top 15
For the French, it was unfortunately difficult to follow the day’s breakaway. However, the French didn’t fall apart. Placed as the kilometres went by, three of them even made it into the day’s top 15. The best of them was Julie Pierrel, who was a very good tenth in the final pack.
After La Bornandine came Cloé Pagnier. The Doubiste rider crossed the line in twelfth place on the day, just a handful of seconds behind her compatriot. Behind them, Léonie Perry from Vosges finished fifteenth, having beaten Italy’s Veronica Silvestri in the closing stages.
Finally, the day was more complicated for the fourth Frenchwoman in contention. Thirtieth at the finish, Justine Gaillard from Isère was unable to keep up with her team-mates on the skis.
Full results
Read also
- “It was my goal for the year and I knew that a medal was within my grasp”: the frustration of Ivan Essonnier, sixth in the classic sprint final at the U23 World Championships in Schilpario.
- “It’s incredible”: Forézienne Annette Coupat’s satisfaction after her fourth place in the mass-start classic at the Junior Worlds
- Schilpario: Lars Heggen Junior World Champion in the Mass Start Classic, Romain Vaxelaire eleventh
- Schilpario Junior Worlds: Milla Grosberghaugen Andreassen takes gold in the mass start classic, Annette Coupat fourth, Margot Tirloy eighth
- Schilpario: Anton Grahn takes the U23 world title in the classic sprint, Ivan Essonnier sixth in the final
- Schilpario: Maerta Rosenberg becomes U23 world champion in the classic sprint, while France remain stuck in the quarter-finals
- Schilpario: Filip Skari becomes world junior classic sprint champion
- Cross-country skiing | Schilpario: Malin Hoelsveen takes the world title in the junior classic sprint ahead of two other Norwegians, Annette Coupat stops in the semi-finals
