Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is the king of sprints, and has a habit of delivering when it really matters. The Trønder had won the sprint in the last four major championships, and didn’t let himself be stopped this time either. On a day with a lot of clumsiness and clumsy falls, the 26-year-old sailed safely on from each heat. In the final, he turned on the turbo, and secured WC gold and a dream start to the championship in Planica. He was almost alone on the run and took his third straight WC gold in the sprint. Pål Golberg was the only other Norwegian to make it to the final. He was far behind in the field for a long time, but sprinted to an impressive silver. Boiled over for Valnes Erik Valnes distinguished himself as Klæbo’s main competitor in the WC sprint, and actually beat his teammate in the prologue. They opted for the same heat in the quarter-finals, but here things went wrong for Valnes. He trapped himself at the bottom of a hill and broke his skis. Thus the race was over for the Norwegian medal hope. – It is a terrible shame. It is stupid to lie in the snow when he has to fight for this, said national team coach Eirik Myhr Nossum to news after the fall. Valnes threw the broken ski in anger after his WC dream was dashed. – Valnes’s WC gold dream was shattered there. He was physically fit to do it. Then it’s just a matter of peeling that ski away, commented Torgeir Bjørn for news. – Then it boils over even for even sane Valnes, said Jann Post. Valnes felt he was dropped Valnes was very down when he met news shortly after the race. – I’m not feeling well, he says. – What did you think when it happened? – The first thing was to get up, but then there was the skiing. It was off, then it doesn’t work. – What happened? – I don’t know, it went quickly and I don’t have any pictures. I felt like there was a crack in the back of the ski, he says. – How will you look back on this day? That’s a lot of wasted training. It was the biggest chance of my career. It’s a waste. Taugbøl fielded by Swedish Håvard Solås Taugbøl advanced well in the field in the quarter-finals and went for a WC semi-final. However, on the inside, outside the track, in one of the uphills, Swedish Marcus Grate came and spoiled the WC dream. The Swede almost pushed Taugbøl to the ground, which thus left the Norwegian in a hopeless situation for further advancement. – Based on what I can see, the Swede goes somewhere where there is no room and pushes Håvard out of the sport. I mean it’s the clockier disk. It’s a shame, says national team coach Eirik Myhr Nossum. Even Northug progressed to the semi-finals, but finished 4th in his heat and was not among those who progressed in time.
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Dream start at the WC for Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
