On Friday, there was complete Norwegian dominance on the start along with ski changing. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won silver, behind Simen Hegstad Krüger, who won gold, and ahead of Sjur Røthe.
Revealing drama: – Worried
The medal means Klæbo can now feature a total of nine WC medals. In doing so, he has moved past his fierce rival Aleksandr Bolshunov, who is currently banned from international sport. Bolshunov has eight WC medals.
Russia reacted with compliments and punches.
– Klæbo is a great skier, says sports commentator Dmitrij Guberniev Championship.
RIVALS: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Aleksandr Bolsjunov have long been equal competitors. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters / NTB
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– Too bad
It must be said that Bolsjunov has not yet had time to embellish the WC statistics in Planica. Russian athletes are banned from all international sports in 2022 because of the war in Ukraine.
But Guberniev will take nothing away from Klæbo’s achievements.
– The fact that Bolshunov couldn’t answer was of course a shame for us, but Klæbo is an excellent player. I don’t want to say that he was more or less great just because of Bolshunov’s departure. He just kept winning.
However, Russian cross-country coach Yuri Borodavko believes the achievement comes with the footnote, but doesn’t think people will care.
– Klæbo has passed Boljunov. That’s how it is, you can’t deny it. This is the World Cup, even if our athletes don’t participate. Still, no one wants to talk about the world champion. No one would say that Klæbo was world champion, and wrote “without Russian athletes” in small print, he told Championship.
But Borodavko believes it is possible to catch up with the trønder.
– Everyone still has a chance to bring him in. Let’s hope they let us in. Then we will give them another good game, said Borodavko Express Sports.
Satisfied
Despite the fact that Friday turned no gold, Klæbo is very pleased with his own effort, but admits he messed it up changing skis.
– I did a good ski race. There are tough conditions, which are the least suitable for me. It’s boring, but I can’t untie it. That’s where the smoke is. It was annoying, Klæbo told Dagbladet.
– Is there a gold slip today?
– It’s hard to say, but then I’ll let the jerk go. I didn’t want to be safe on bronze so I thought it would crack or wear out. Unfortunately, it’s a bit too far for Simen.
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