By Adele Haeg
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Not too much fanfare for another Klæbo victory today — it’s routine by now.
Besides, he only won the 20-kilometer mass start in Goms by five seconds, and it was only his 107th individual World Cup win. Really, it’s easy to forget how much Klæbo trains for this. It’s starting to seem like this is how men’s skiing was forever.
Behind Klæbo’s speedy first-place finish (48:29.0) in second and third were his Norwegian teammates Emil Iversen (+5.6) and Harald Østberg Amundsen (+7.0). Every race is a Klæbo clinic — he is so efficient.
When Klæbo enters a World Cup race, said Andrew Kastning on the live broadcast, there’s more than a 50% chance that he’ll win it. If you drill down on the math a little it’s around a 56-percent chance, which is staggering.
The course, with its extended working sections and steep hills requiring slippery herring-bone technique, tested athletes and caused chase groups to form early in the race, with Klæbo, Iversen, and Østberg Amundsen leading.
Before halfway through the race, the top three broke off from the main group, skiing very fast, drafting off of each other, all red Norwegian glory and speed. They stuck together until the finish, mostly. About a kilometer and a half from the finish, Klæbo took off, at one point gaining more than 16 seconds on second and third. He lost about 10 seconds doing his slouchy finish line wave and smile for the crowd, but we love it.
While watching before Klæbo made his move, I imagined the three podium finishers were chatting while they raced. They probably don’t get much time to catch up, what with the busy World Cup circuit.
Actually, they were chatting, but not about the weather or their coffee habits or anything comparably trivial. Norwegian outlet NRK reports that the three were discussing tactics during the race. “He thought it was going too fast,” Klæbo told NRK. “He asked if I could go more slowly. So then I realized that I have him where I want him.”
Throughout much of the race, the three leaders were pursued by a chase pack of yet more Norwegians and one athlete racing under a neutral FIS flag, Savelii Korostelev of Russia. That pack finished about 50 seconds off of Klæbo’s time, with another squad about a minute back from the podium.
Today’s 20km in Goms was the final race on the World Cup before the national teams head to Italy for the Winter Olympics, starting with the women’s skiathlon on February 6. The men have their first race a day later. USSS has announced their nominations for the American team, as have most if not all other teams.
Out of the top seven finishers today, all Norwegian — Klæbo, Iversen, Østberg Amundsen, Håvard Moseby, Andreas Fjorden Ree, Erik Valnes, and Mattis Stenshagen, from first to seventh place — only five have spots on Norway’s Olympic team. That’s depth.
Enough about the Norwegians! The American men had quite a showing today.
The star of their team was Zak Ketterson, racing for Minnesota. He finished in 18th, one of his best results of the season so far in distance or sprint. He also made the Olympic team. Ketterson has been having success this season, finally, he might say, after moving to Norway last year to train full-time (if you’re curious, listen to a Devon Kershaw podcast episode entitled: Zak Ketterson moved to Norway. Now he’s having a breakout season.)
Ketterson wrote in an email to Nordic Insights, answering the question of what’s clicking for the U.S. Ski Team right now: “I think generally with the U.S. guys, it’s pretty typical for our results to get better and better throughout the season. A lot of the guys are only just getting on snow in Ruka, but by now have all had a lot of time to dial in some really good shape. I also think good results lead to more good results, because we see it and believe it can happen for us too.”
Ketterson was disqualified from the sprint yesterday, which he said was the most challenging part of the weekend in Goms. “It is really tough to have a solid result struck off the board, and also just felt pretty dumb for making such a big tactical error,” he wrote. Today’s performance could be considered a comeback.
Gus Schumacher, who had a stellar weekend in Goms with two podiums, started in 13th place and finished in 22nd. Schumacher told Nordic Insights about the team momentum: “Having the rest and coming back to racing, especially Ben and me, is powerful… we are pretty excited just to race. Also, you know, when one person does well, it’s easy to keep that momentum going.”
As for other American finishers, Hunter Wonders finished 36th, Zanden McMullen 38th, University of Utah’s Zachary Jayne 52nd, John Steel Hagenbuch 55th, and Luke Jager 59th. Jayne and Jager are the two American starters today who do not have Olympic spots.
Speaking of which: Next, we’re off to Italy. “Priorities will definitely shift a bit now as the team heads into a training block,” Ketterson wrote, “where we will try to put the finishing touches on our form before the games.”
I’ll repeat USSS program director Chris Grover’s statement, because I totally agree: “I’m very excited to see what this team can do in Val di Fiemme.”
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