Women’s 30km: Another Gold to Norway in the Form of Johaug

The weather couldn’t have been better for the women’s final race. The fog that had plagued the Championships all week had finally gave way to sun and blues skies; the tracks were hard packed and fast, and the temperature was hovering around -3°C. It also had the potential of being a historic day for Norway. If Bjørgen won she would tie Valbe for five gold medals in one Championship. Would it happen? Of course it would, it’s Marit Bjørgen we’re talking about. At least that’s what everyone thought including myself before the race got underway today.

THE RACE

Kowalczyk, Roponen and Stormer-Steira led the race from the gun, but coming in for the end of the first 2km loop, the team tactics that were talked about in the pre-race press conference were starting to form as it was Bjørgen, Størmer-Steira, and Johaug in the first three positions followed by Kowalczyk. Going up the long continuous hill to 2.7km, Kowalczyk thought otherwise and came up slotted herself in front of her arch-rival.

The pace was rather pedestrian for the first 3.5km or so as the main pack was still about 25 with over 10 minutes of racing gone. Coming around the back of the stadium Størmer-Steira and Kowalczyk got tangled but no real damage was done as they only lost a couple of positions.

At 5km, it was possible for the first Ski exchange and the top skiers to go in were Fessel and Saarinen who went in and hoped for skis with better glide. Going out of the stadium, it was Johaug to take up the pacing followed closely by her teammates Størmer-Steira and Bjørgen as well as Kalla. Johaug’s pacing was doing damage on the field and quickly the lead pack was down to five (Johaug, Størmer-Steira, Bjørgen, Kalla and Kowalczyk) with Haag desperately trying to keep contact. At 7.2km, a seven athlete chase pack (Skofterud, Sachenbacher-Stehle, Zeller, Roponen, Fessel, Longa and Confortola-Wyatt) led by Skofterud was forming and now sat 14 seconds behind the lead.

After the hard work of Johaug from the stadium to 7.2km, it was Bjørgen to take up the lead and continue to turn the screw. Even though the pace was still fast, the top five remained together and Haag remained an agonizing 20 meters behind the lead in no-mans land. Behind Haag, the seven strong chase pack was now 17 seconds behind the lead at 8km.

Coming into the stadium for the end of the second 5km loop, Bjørgen and Johaug had separated from the other three slightly and had a 10 meter lead on them; however, the lead was short-lived as they were reeled in just outside the stadium. At the same point of the course, Haag was now caught by the chase group as their deficit on the lead increased.

The first athlete to break under the Johaug-Bjørgen pace setting was their teammate Størmer-Steira as she was 9 seconds behind the leaders at 10.9km. The chase pack was now stringing out at the same part, but were now 35 seconds behind. The pace up front was break-neck and was illustrated only 900 meters down the course at 11.8km as Størmer-Steira had lost an addition 12 seconds and the chaser eight seconds which meant the top 10 were now separated by a whopping 46 seconds with just over a third of the race gone.

Going up the sprint hill at 12.6km, it was Kowalczyk who was detached, but most likely because of the downhill that preceded the steep hill. In the stadium, it was the lead four all alone and it was interesting to see that everyone except Kowalczyk went for a feed while she skied on the other side of the track. At 13.3km, all the lead four went into the ski exchange to switch boards and it was the Norwegians who did it fastest and came out in front with a four and five second lead on Kalla and Kowalczyk respectively. Further back it was Haag who had been overtaken by the chasers and find life difficult while Roponen had been dropped by them all together. A great race was being had by Liz Stephen at 13.3km as she sat alone in 16th place.

With the gap created by the ski exchange, Johaug and Bjørgen capitalized and put in a massive injection of pace so it would make life very hard for Kowalczyk and Kalla to catch them. The next time we saw them on TV, Kowalczyk was fighting tooth and nail to get back into the fight while Kalla was well off the back with about 60 meters to make up and it wasn’t looking good for the Swede.

In the lead it was Johaug and her persistence who was starting to pay dividends as she was able to open up a gap between her and Bjørgen and Kowalczyk. Kalla was now in no-mans land and no longer had visual contact on the leaders and the main chase pack was getting closer and to Størmer-Steira with every ski stride.

At 16.3km, Johaug now had an 21 second lead and was almost out of visual contact for Kowalczyk and Bjørgen. Kalla was now 56 seconds back and was skiing for fourth place now.

Coming through the stadium at 18.3km, the race was getting even more suspenseful as Bjørgen’s deficit to Johaug was now down to 14 seconds and the Norwegian had successfully separated herself from Kowalczyk who now sat five seconds behind Bjørgen. Was this the start of a comeback for Bjørgen?

Going through 19.2km, it appeared that Bjørgen’s increase in speed had been from the downhill to the stadium as both her and Kowalzcyk were now skiing together again and 20 seconds behind Johaug. In the chase pack, they were within biting distance of Størmer-Steira. In addition, Haag had recovered nicely and was skiing much more comfortably in the chase pack than we had seen before. The chase pack had also dropped their first athlete in Zeller.

Finally, Kowalcyzk downhill technique (or lack there of) had caught up to her and going down the sustained downhill before the sprint hill, Bjørgen had opened up a sizable gap on the Pole which stood at about 40 meters.

In the stadium, Johaug’s advantage was once again shrinking and she was 14 seconds ahead of her teammate. Both Johaug and Bjørgen went to change for faster skis while Kowalczyk opted not to which meant that the advantage that Bjørgen had gained over the Pole vanished before her eyes.

Going up the same part of the course where Johaug first broke away, she was continuing to increase her lead as much of the focus began to turn to the fight for silver between Bjørgen and Kowalczyk and the fight for fourth between was now between Kalla and Størmer-Steira as the Norwegian had put in a burst of speed and caught the Swede.

At the top of the long hill, the time difference was shocking as Johaug now had a massive 50 second lead over the silver medal position at 23.8km!

Bjørgen finally broke Kowalczyk on an uphill around 25.5km and was determined to make it a Norwegian double. The gaps going out for the last lap were significant with Johaug 47 seconds in front of Bjørgen and 1:06 ahead of Kowalczyk. Further behind, Kalla and Størmer-Steira were still together but 1:57 behind the lead. The chase pack was also thinning as Skofterud was off the front 2:30 behind the lead while Confortola-Wyatt, Longa, and Fessel were still together 2:39 behind and Haag just behind them 2:42 back to round out the top 10.

With 2.5km left in the race, the lead increase between Johaug and Bjørgen stagnated, but the lead was now 1:16 to the Pole. At this point, it was all downhill to the finish except the sprint hill and unless Johaug broke a bone or a ski, she was going to win the final race of the World Championship. She probably could have even afford to break a pole (no pun intended) a kilometer out and still come across the finish line first.

With 200 meter left, the coaches handed Johaug the Norwegian flag to fly across the finish line. After Johaug it was Bjørgen and Kowalczyk who were all smiles as they came across the finish line to round out the podium. The battle for fourth between Kalla and Størmer-Steira was winding up and just as they were going up the final hill in the stadium, Kalla accidentally stepped on the Norwegians pole which yanked her to the ground. As Kalla went past and I think tried to apologize Størmer-Steira yelled what I can only imagine were choice words for her. But at the finish line, it go to see them embrace and Kalla profusely apologize for the mix up and KSS shrug with a smile and accepting the Swedes apology. The next across was Skofterud which meant all the Norwegian athletes finished top six today.

RESULTS
1. Therese Johaug
2. Marit Bjørgen
3. Justyna Kowalczyk

At first when Johaug broke away at 14km, it was almost surreal. I kept on thinking, oh they will reel her in soon. But then the gap just kept on getting bigger and bigger. Phenomenal race from the 22-year old Norwegian and fair play to her. When she came across the finish line, her face twisted as broke into tears then hit the ground and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was a pretty bone chilling/goosebumps inducing scene. I’ve never seen such raw emotion directly after a race before. I’ve rewound and watched it a couple of times and each time I get the chills. Johaug had a phenomenal World Championships with 2 gold, 2 bronze, and a fourth. Not too shabby for someone who is the second best skier for her nation.

I would really be interested in seeing how this race ranks in Joran’s “Best (Most Extreme) WC Performances” . Even though Johaug slowed down at the end for the flag, I’m sure it’ll be pretty high up the list.

For Bjørgen, she wasn’t able to tie Russia’s Yelena Välbe’s record of five gold medals in a single World Championships, but four golds and a silver, she must still be thrilled about. In addition, she beat her arch-rival Kowalczyk in every race they entered, even though the 10km classic was extremely close.

As for Kowalczyk, her gold coming in was to win every race she entered, but in the form that Bjørgen and Johaug were in, it was an extremely tall order, especially for Kowalczyk who is arguably the toughest athlete on the circuit. But two silver and one bronze is not a bad haul and we know she’ll continue to pursue gold for the rest of the season.

For Kristin Størmer-Steira (AKA Mrs. Fourth Place), she was so close to her seventh 4th place in World Championships or Olympics, before Kalla stepped on her pole. An unfortunate incident, but I don’t think there was anything malicious in it; a genuine accident at the worst part of the course for KSS.

Finally, congrats to Skofterud for her sixth place today. It was only 1.5 years ago when she was not picked for the Norwegian National Team and she had to ski her way back on it last year. So for her to come sixth in front of some extremely stiff competition, well done to her. She’s now an integral part of the team and hopefully the foursome will stick together for a couple of years yet. A tough job seeing the talent that is coming through their system right now, but possible.

For the North American watch it was Liz Stephen who led the way with an incredible 16th place; two place ahead of her team-mate Randall who was 18th and five ahead of Arritola who was 21st. The fourth USA skier was Brooks who finished the day in 25th. Amazing day from the American women who had all four athletes well within World Cup points (if they actually gave them out today).

As for Canada, there was only two athletes entered and it was Crawford (42nd) and Gosling (44th).

So that’s it for the women for the 2011 FIS Ski Nordic World Championship from Holmenkollen, Norway has to be over the hills at how well their women’s team did pulling in an impressive 5 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. Tomorrow is the last race of the Championships in the men’s 50km and it should be a cracker.

Til Then.