By Angie Kell
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If you’re looking for excitement from Davos, Switzerland, to kick off the third weekend of men’s World Cup racing, the Team Sprint Freestyle event is not necessarily where you’ll find it. The nighttime race, featuring its famous awestriking blowtorches nestled aside the final hairpin turn to the finish, could be seen as a morale booster as the grind of World Cup racing pushes ever onwards, as the two-person event demands not only individual performance but also partnership and country pride.
But. In practice, it’s both the event itself and the time of the year that infamously brand the Davos team sprint as less than noteworthy. Despite this being one of only two team sprints we will see on the World Cup this year — both today in Davos and next month in Goms will be a team skate sprint, fine practice for the same event in the same format at the Olympics on February 18 — the rather cursory start list suggested that athletes weren’t keen on a chance to get in some reps.
Athletes wanting to conserve valuable energy at altitude (Davos sits at 5,120 feet of elevation) for the two other skate races of the weekend, which award highly sought-after overall World Cup points, opted out (Nations Cup points be damned).
[read more: Matt Whitcomb on Why No American Women Started the Team Sprint Today]
Illness is also starting to creep into teams, as the Swiss men are rumored to have fallen victim. Indeed, blowtorches and cowbells weren’t compelling enough to keep the USST’s Gus Schumacher perfectly primed and healthy for a race start with planned partner Ben Ogden. JC Schoonmaker was then moved up from USA II, where he had been slated to race with APU teammate Luke Jager, to team with Ogden on USA I. Schoonmaker and Ogden made up the only American team today, in either race.
But first they had to qualify. Team USA I fell victim to the course when Ogden crashed and broke a pole, losing valuable seconds. This ultimately landed the team 18th in the qualifier, just outside the top 15, and thus not moving onto the final. Notably, two American teams had an impressive showing at this same race and venue last year: after a second-place qualification, Team USA I had a 7th-place finish, and the USA II had an 8th-place finish overall. What a difference a year makes.
[Read more: Norwegian Men Win Team Sprint; Water is Wet; U.S. 7th and 8th in Davos (from 2024)]
Predictably, Team Norway I had the top spot in the qualifier, with Erik Valnes and returning Davos team sprint champion Johannes Høsflot Klæbo setting the pace. Team Norway II, featuring Harald Østberg Amundsen and Oskar Opstad Vike, took second, while Italy I, with 22-year-old Elia Barp and elder statesman Federico Pellegrino, took third.
On to the heats: The format was such that each leg of the two-man team completed two laps on the course three times, for a total of six laps per athlete. As nighttime and temperatures fell, the notable hairpin turn to the finish appeared to ice over, and anything less than a perfect line became teams’ downfall more than once. With the top fifteen teams from the qualifier competing in the final, it was a crowded course, and safe positioning became the ultimate strategy. This, of course, ultimately inured to Norway’s benefit.
As the nerve-wracking sounds of the start echoed throughout the venue, Valnes had a great start to lead the pack and set the pace for the first of two laps. Rounding the final turn in the first lap, Barp, following immediately behind Valnes, slipped on the terrain and rebounded quickly to rejoin the back of the group. Thankfully for Team Italy I (who, notably, would be exchanging to legendary sprinter Pellegrino), Valnes appeared to ease up on the second lap but kept his presence at the front of the pack for a clean first exchange to Klæbo.
Klæbo’s first lap looked to be calm, mixing amongst the pack, but it was clear that his fourth position in the tight group didn’t allow for Klaebo’s optimal line on the final, dicey turn, and he bobbed ever so slightly to maintain his footing — a rarity for the superstar. Swedish sprinter Edvin Anger would also find trouble with the inside line on the turn and fell as he went through. From here on out, Klæbo would maintain the outside line at this spot, and soon Valnes would do the same.
Klæbo then took control on his second lap to lead the field and circumvent any further drama for the day. It was at this point that Norway I would not cede control of the race, as both Valnes and Klæbo used the hill on the final second lap to separate themselves from the field to claim ultimate victory in a time of 14:00.95. Italy I, with the finishing sprint prowess of Pellegrino, claimed second in a photo finish with Sweden I’s Johan Häggström and Edvin Anger, who would finish third, with times of 14:02.99 and 14:03.04, respectively. Not bad for the 35-year-old Pellegrino.
Racing resumes tomorrow in Davos with the men’s sprint freestyle race. The start list can be found here, and includes Americans Jack Young, Ben Ogden, JC Schoonmaker, Zak Ketterson, and Kevin Bolger. Saveliy Korostelev of Russia, racing here as an AIN, also makes his World Cup debut.
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