Cross-country skiing: after winning the junior title in 2023, Mathias Holbæk goes for gold in the U23 mass-start classic
Just a few minutes after Maerta Rosenberg‘s superb victory in the women’s 20km mass-start classic, the young cross-country skiers under the age of 23 took to the track on Thursday lunchtime in the same format at the World Junior and U23 Cross-Country Skiing Championships in Schilpario (Italy).
Just a year ago, in this same event, which took place in skating, Frenchman Mathis Desloges triumphed at the end of a race run to perfection. This year, Mathias Holbæk also put in a fine performance throughout the competition.
The Norwegian was the strongest of the leading group that formed midway through the race, and then put in a fatal effort on his breakaway companions. Gradually extending his lead, the 21-year-old cross-country skier secured the world title, his third after winning the junior title in Whistler (Canada) in 2023 and the individual 10-kilometre classic in Planica (Slovenia) last season.
Behind the new world champion, Niko Anttola fought hard to prevent a Norwegian double. Stronger than Thomas Linnebo Mollestad in the final sprint, the great hope of Finnish cross-country skiing pocketed his sixth world medal since his junior debut.
Three Blues in the top 20
Just one minute behind the leader, Luc Primet was the first Frenchman to reach the finish. Fighting right to the end, the Doubiste rider managed to make his way into the top ten in this event.
Ninth on the day, the 22-year-old rode for a long time alongside his compatriots Victor Cullet Calderini and Mathieu Blanc, who finished fourteenth and seventeenth respectively.
It was more difficult for the fourth Blue rider. Ranked thirty-ninth, nearly 4 minutes behind the winner, Milhan Laissus was unable to compete for a place at the top of the rankings.
Full results
Read also
- Schilpario: after the classic sprint, Maerta Rosenberg again takes gold in the classic mass-start, with Julie Pierrel in the top 10
- “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
