By Gavin Kentch
It was snowing today in Trondheim. Hard. “Nuking” was probably the most common verb used in post-race comments, with “dumping” a close second. Gus Schumacher raced on zeroes. Likely other athletes did as well. It was snowing really hard but was also very moist, is what I am trying to say. Winning times for the women were north of 30 minutes. It was a slog.
Klæbo won, again, continuing a literally perfect championships for the local boy made good. Norway swept a men’s distance podium, again, with Erik Valnes second and Harald Østberg Amundsen third, again. Gus Schumacher was the top American, again; whatever he’s done to prep for these championships, it has worked. Behind him, Zak Ketterson was 27th, Zanden McMullen 40th, and Ben Ogden 47th.
On the women’s side, Ebba Andersson just edged out Therese Johaug for gold, again. This time the margin was 1.3 seconds, a veritable geological epoch compared to the 0.006 seconds that separated the two women at the finish of Sunday’s skiathlon. Frida Karlsson was third. Big day for athletes who raced sporadically this year to peak for world champs.
Rosie Brennan led the U.S. women today in 22nd. Alayna Sonnesyn, the other American in the field, was 33rd. (Why only two distaff starters? Find out here.)
You can find full results for the women here, and for the men here. Articles will be up within the morning Alaska time. Long days for everyone on site at the venue.
Until then, here are some fine pictures to tide you over. All photos: Noah Eckstein for Nordic Insights. A little light on the women, sorry, because Noah spent much of the women’s race running through the woods to get back to the mixed zone in time to talk with folks, because in-person reporting is glamorous like that. Sometimes it is damp and moist and cold as well. Yay skiing.
And, some early women’s starters:
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
