Almost to the day ten years ago, 24 February 2013, Pål Golberg experienced one of his worst days as a skier. He then went on a team sprint with Petter Northug, but the seemingly unstoppable duo never reached the final after Golberg met the wall. On Sunday, Golberg seems enormously strong, and delivered the prologue’s second-best time, best time. His plan is to go hard in the final. – I am among the better distance runners. So I should show my strengths on such a stage, says Golberg to news. IN FORM: Pål Golberg. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB – The most important thing is to avoid trouble. What I fear most is accidents. There are 15 teams. It’s something new. There is a lot that can happen in a team sprint, so it is primarily that, he continues, knowing that there was a lot of banging and falling in the sprint earlier in the championship. Sprint coach Arild Monsen also fears that a jam may arise when so many teams are going to go close together at lightning speed. – I cross my fingers. Last Thursday there was only one thing I was nervous about and wanted to avoid, and that was accidents. It didn’t work out that way, he says. That is why he supports Norway’s plan to go hard. – It peels off a little along the way. I don’t think so many people come in exactly the same. We will take as few chances as possible and go on, says Monsen. In a prologue, no one can cause accidents to others, and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo impressed in familiar style with the prologue’s best time. Almost three seconds ahead of teammate Golberg. Norway is the reigning champion at the distance from 2021, that time with Erik Valnes as Klæbo’s partner. Kalvå quickly beat Sweden’s Anne Kjersti Kalvå impressed during the women’s prologue. The 30-year-old has never done a team sprint earlier in his career, but was selected to represent Norway together with Tiril Udnes Weng. There, Kalvå ran a faster prologue than the Swedish sprint star Emma Ribom. – It’s good on a fast lap like this. The fact that there are several rounds in a final is only an advantage for the enduring Kalvå, commented news’s Torgeir Bjørn. news’s cross-country expert Therese Johaug speculates whether Ribom may have taken it a bit easy and checked in to a usable time. IMPRESSED: Anne Kjersti Kalvå. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB – I’m a little surprised that Emma Ribom is so far behind the finish line. So I’m a little unsure whether they might be running some tactics here that they want to save some energy for a final. Maybe she doesn’t go all she has. Who knows? says Johaug. Udnes Weng followed up with an even stronger time than her teammate and the fifth fastest overall. – I think it was a good prologue by both me and Tiril today. We are on the chopping block today and want to join in and fight all the way up there. What meets us afterwards now, I think, will suit us even better. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the day brings, says Kalvå about the team’s prospects. Jonna Sundling nailed it with the best prologue of the day, and at the same time ensured that Sweden was the best overall. The USA also crept in ahead of Norway on the results lists, but the third best prologue time gave hope of a Norwegian medal. Sweden has won the team sprint at the last two World Championships. In 2021, Norway was not even on the podium.
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Norway continued to play in the team sprint
