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OBERSTDORF / OSLO (Dagbladet): Defending champion Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the sprint prologue in Oberstdorf excellently, 3.48 seconds ahead of Erik Valnes, today’s second-biggest gold seed.
Federico Pellegrino, Pål Golberg, Gleb Retivykh and Håvard Solås Taugbøl followed in the following places in the prologue of the sprint.
Strong medal candidates such as Aleksandr Bolshunov and Emil Iversen were defeated by eight and nine seconds respectively by Klæbo in the prologue.
– How was it here? Dagbladet asked Emil Iversen after the prologue.
– Warm, the Meråker boy answered briefly.
Another candidate for the medal, Swede Oskar Svensson, who won the sprint at Val di Fiemme during the Tour de Ski and at Ulricehamn two weeks ago, was beaten by a full 11.34 seconds by Klæbo in the prologue. He has a preliminary 27th spot, which seems to hold up just to keep going.
Sebastian Eisenlauer first took second place in the sprint prologue, but the timing was not right, and the German is now down to 34th.
– He immediately realized that something was wrong and that it could not be true. He felt the race was not so good. So he knew himself better than the timekeepers, says Stefan Schwarzbach in the German team to Dagbladet.
– What happened?
– We do not know yet. But something was wrong.
Photograph: Bjørn Langsem / Dagbladet
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The quarterfinals start at 11.30 am.
Klæbo forced rivals to change
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is the defending champion. At the age of 24, Klæbo can already call himself the greatest long-distance sprinter of all time. He is the only man on the men’s side to have won the speed cup a total of four times. The Trøndelag resident has even done it four times in a row. In addition, Klæbo is a world champion and an Olympic sprint champion.
Eirik Brandsdal, who retired after last season, believes that Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has changed cross-country skiing.
– Especially when Johannes pushed his way too far, the speed accelerated violently from the start. There are fewer tricks and matches and fewer people who can win when it goes that way, Eirik Brandsdal tells Dagbladet.
– What changes did you have to make after Klæbo entered the manege?
– For my part, I had to chase down even more details and gather even more margins in my favor, such as air resistance and sitting position in downhill racing. I think it’s great when there is a change and a new level.
Read more about this and Klæbo’s answer here:
