It is a great prestige to win the Finnmarksløpet, but this year the prestige is even greater than normal. For this year, the winner can be crowned world champion when the first team crosses the finish line. news expert Hans Petter Dalby and Finnmarksløpet press manager Trond Anton Andersen have selected the dog drivers who they believe can win the Finnmarksløpet classes of 1200 km, 600 km, the junior class and the purebred class. It is mainly Norwegian drivers who have received the favorite stamp for the world championship title. – The level of Norwegian long-distance dog sledding is very high. We saw that when Thomas Wærner crushed the Americans in the Iditarod a few years ago, but Thomas had a dog team that was beaten in the Femund race this year. So it shows that it is not only him who is good at driving dogs in Norway, says news expert Hans Petter Dalby. Wærner vs. Halvorsen Those who drive the longest distance of 1200 km start from Alta on Friday 10 March at 12.00. Here are two dog walkers who get a clear favorite stamp from the experts. Thomas Wærner and Kristoffer Halvorsen were number 1 and 2 respectively in last year’s Finnmark race. Photo: Alf Harald Martinsen / news This year, Halvorsen’s partner, Birgitte Næss, won the Femundløpet, while Thomas Wærner came second. – The victory is between them. It will be a local settlement, says Dalby about the two dog handlers who both come from Torpa in Nordre Land municipality in Innlandet county. – It will take a lot for someone to catch up with them. Trond Anton Andersen is also in no doubt that it will be the two drivers that will matter this year. – They are the big favourites. All others are “runner ups”, says Andersen. Finnmarksløpet’s press officer, Trond Anton Andersen, believes there are several who can win the various distances in this year’s edition of Finnmarksløpet. Photo: Emilie Dahlman / Finnmarksløpet The challengers in FL1200 Hanna Lyrek from Alta came third in the Femundløpet, and could have been a good contender. But she will not run the Finnmarksløpet. It is her mother, Trine, who will run this year’s race. Thus, she will be fighting for a WC title in the dog racing family. – I think Trine can assert herself with the team that Hanna drove into 3rd place in the Femundløpet. She has long-distance experience and has run the Iditarod and Finnmarksløpet several times, says Hans Petter Dalby, who is supported by Trond Anton Andersen. – She has a competitive team. Another Finnmark driver can also challenge the two favourites, believes Andersen. Last year, Steinar Kristensen had to sit out the race due to injury, and Annbjørg Bakken stepped in as a reserve with his team. She drove in to a 5th place. This gives Kristensen good conditions for this year’s competition. – He is the biggest local hope, Andersen says of the all-rounder. Steinar Kristensen won the Gold Rush Run in Finland this year. Altaværingen is one of the outsiders to take a podium place at Finnmarksløpet’s longest distance this year. Photo: Jonas Løken Estenstad / news Swedish Petter Karlsson is a driver who is mentioned by the experts as a challenger. He has won the Finnmark Race twice before, the last time in 2018. Niklas Rogne and Daniel Haagensen are also drivers who Dalby and Andersen believe can assert themselves at the top. – They will be there, says Trond Anton Andersen. Roger Dahl (71) is a super veteran in dog sledding. He will be the oldest driver ever to complete the Finnmark race if he does it this year. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / news Roger Dahl (71) is a super veteran in the Finnmark race. The press manager in Finnmarksløpet believes that there is a driver who can be in the fight for a top position. – I hope people pay a little extra attention to him. I think it’s amazing what he does. He competed for the first time in 1983. That’s 40 years ago. If he finishes, he will be the oldest person to have ever completed the Finnmark race. Veteran dog driver Harald Tunheim is one of the most experienced drivers who will take part in the FL600. He won the distance in 2018, and is a driver who will probably fight for the WC title in this class in 2023. Photo: Erlend Hykkerud – More vulnerable On the slightly shorter distance of 600 kilometers, Hans Petter Dalby explains that the driver is the ninth the “dog” on the team. That’s because the race is shorter, but at the same time very long. The teams consist of eight dogs, versus 14 that they have at the longest distance. – The driver has to work much more physically, even behind the sled, than those driving the FL1200. There is less room for error, says Dalby. – The fact that they have eight dogs makes them more vulnerable if, for example, two, a maximum of three dogs have to leave the pack along the way, because the runners must reach the finish line with a minimum of five dogs. news’s dog sledding expert, Hans Petter Dalby, believes that it will be exciting at all distances during this year’s WC in long-distance dog sledding. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / news Was a teacher for one of the WC favourites. The points that Dalby highlights help to make FL600 more open than the longest distance in the Finnmarksløpet. – Drivers may appear here that we pundits had not seen coming, but based on previous merits and participation in other races earlier this year, especially the Femundløpet, we can pick out a few names that we should keep an extra eye on during this year’s FL600. On Dalby and Trond Anton Andersen’s favorite list are the Norwegian drivers Ivar Johan Sørlie, Elisabeth Edland, Brage Nilsen Jæger and Harald Tunheim. – Ivar Johan Sørlie from Geilo came third in this year’s Women’s Run. It has been a bit of a struggle in Finnmark in recent years for him, but maybe this is the year he will succeed, says Hans Petter Dalby, who also highlights a former student. – I also cheer a little extra for Brage since I was his teacher at the primary school in Øvre-Alta 20 years ago, says Hans Petter Dalby with a twinkle in his eye, about the dog handler who finished fifth in his debut in the Finnmarksløpet in 2022. Brage Nilsen Jæger finished fifth in Femundløpet’s longest distance this year. That result, the experts believe, makes him one of the favorites to win the WC in FL600. Photo: STEINAR VIK In addition, the experts expect that Finns Alexander Schwarz, Tinja Myllykangas and Ole Wingren will fight for the WC title in this class. – Ole Wingren will be dangerous if he gets to the goal. He has several victories in this race, says Dalby about the father of Ronny Wingren, who won the distance last year. Both Andersen and Dalby believe there are several drivers who can fight for top positions. On that list are Vidar Uglebakken, Jan Kåre Heiberg, Ingvild Østli Johansen and outdoor life profile Jens Kvernmo. – They can help fight for a top-five position, says news’s dog racing expert, Hans Petter Dalby. Ole Wingren (71) has won the second longest distance in the Finnmark race several times before. He is a veteran who is mentioned as a winning candidate by the experts. Photo: Mari Trulsen French favorite When Finnmarksløpet organizes the WC, they adhere to the rules from the International Sled Dog Federation (IFSS). There it is required that the WC organizer must have a separate class for purebred teams, and this class is called RNB (Registered Nordic Breed). The purebred polar dogs are Samoyed, Greenland dog, Siberian husky and Alaskan malamute. The teams travel the 600 kilometer long distance. Press manager in Finnmarksløpet, Trond Anton Andersen, believes it will be between three races in this class. They are French Julie Travadon Coutelier, Finnish Matti Salmi and Bente Sofie Alhaug from Norway. Eline Andrea Andersen won the junior class in the Femund race. This means that she also gets a favorite stamp in the junior class in the Finnmark race. Photo: Femundløpet Femundløpet won the Nittedal Dog Racing Club driver Eline Andrea Andersen (15) became Norwegian champion in the junior class in the Femundløpet in February. Magnus Bekkos (16), who represents Femund Trekkhundklubb, came third. Both are on the starting line in the Finnmarksløpet. – They are favourites, says Trond Anton Andersen, who also adds that Alta driver Elisabeth Kristensen (15) can fight for a podium place. The 15-year-old is the daughter of Steinar Kristensen, who is one of the contenders to win the FL1200 this year. – It depends on which dogs she gets, but it could be that she becomes world champion, says Andersen. Although there are three dog handlers who receive a favorite stamp, Andersen emphasizes that there is often little that separates the drivers at the finish line. – What characterizes the junior class is that it can be very close. There are small margins in this class, says Andersen. The juniors start from the center of Alta together with the FL600 drivers on Saturday. Magnus Bekkos was third in the junior class in the Femundløpet. It is expected that Bekkos will also fight for a podium place in the junior class in the Finnmark race. Photo: Femundløpet
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Norwegian racers are the WC favorites in Finnmarksløpet – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
