Men’s Ruka Triple: Chalk Up Another One For Northug

Well in certain ways, the races went as expected, Northug won the mini-tour while those athletes behind him fought tooth and nail for every position and that resulted in some unexpected results in terms of the athletes who had the fastest times on the day.

The gap from Northug to Cologna was 12 seconds and a distance which Cologna was very capable of closing. Further back, Legkov was the start of the big group and was 42 seconds behind at the start.

At 1.4km, Cologna had closed five seconds on Northug’s lead and Legkov had already taken nine seconds out. It was pretty clear that Northug had a rather conservative start compared to the others. The biggest mover early on was the Russian Belov who had reduced his deficit by an impressive 12 seconds.

After the first 2.5km, Cologna had caught Northug and the Norwegian immediately moved to the side and insisted on Cologna to take the lead. The stadium also allowed the chasers including Legkov to have a visual aid of how far behind they were of the lead two. A group of five including Manificat, Olsson, Belov, Hellner and Clara had formed and were 40 seconds behind the leaders. The five-some chasing down Legkov dropped Clara and cut the deficit a further six seconds at 3.9km as Hellner continued to keep the pace strong.

Out in the lead, Northug took the lead for a bit and let Cologna draft for a bit and it appeared that they were getting word that the chasers were gaining on them. As they came into the stadium for 5km, the chaser’s times began to stabilize as Legkov continued to ski in no-man’s land ahead of Hellner, Olsson, Manificat and Belov. Further back, Vylegzhanin and Harvey were doing well and moving up the field and had taken out almost 30 seconds out of the lead after 5km.

At 6.4km, the top 20 athletes had splintered into four group. The first, Cologna and Northug in the lead, the second was Legkov who was 24 seconds down, the third was Manificat, Belov, Olsson, Vylegzhanin and Hellner 37 seconds back, then a big group consisting of Rønning, Sedov, Poltoranin, Chebotko, Bauer, Harvey, Angerer and Halfvarsson who were 49 seconds down.

All of Vylegzhanin’s hard work had be nullified as he fell on one of the downhill and went from 5^th to 17^th. However, the two big chase group has bridged the gap and became one big group of 13-15 athletes at the halfway point of the race.

Northug and Cologna were working well and trading off the lead to maintain the gap on Legkov and the others. Olsson was the athlete to take the lead of the chasers and keep the push on to catch Legkov and his attack was breaking the athletes behind him and a slight gap began to open up.

With 5km left, Legkov started to go backwards and sat 32 seconds behind the lead. Olsson was only six seconds down on the Russian with the other chasers (Belov, Poltoranin, Rønning, Manificat, Sedov and Hellner) a further three seconds behind.

Olsson’s pace was nothing short of impressive and just before 11.4km caught Legkov and took a further six seconds from the lead and was 32 seconds behind, just as Legkov was at 10km. The athletes that were trying to follow Olsson were losing contact with the Swede the longer the race went on. However, coming up the big-hill into the stadium, Rønning’s skis were skiing extremely well and was able to bridge the gap with Poltoranin and Hellner to Olsson and Legkov to make fight for third up to five athletes.

On the final 2.5km lap, Cologna was leading Northug, but the Norwegian wasn’t going anywhere while the fight for third was becoming a test of willpower as Olsson was relentless with the pace as all those athletes continued to race.

The games for Northug began earlier than expected as Northug moved up alongside Cologna at around 13.5km and put in a few powerful double-poles to move ahead of the Swiss man, only to stop poling, basically slow down until Cologna skied past him until and then hoped in behind him and let Cologna continue to lead.

At 13.9km, the pace that Olsson was injecting was apparent as the chasers closed the gap to 24 seconds.

Coming up the final hill, Northug made his move and quickly opened a gap on Cologna to take the Ruka Triple. The battle for third had Rønning make a decisive move and move in front of Olsson as did Poltoranin as the Norwegian and Kazakh athletes came across the line in third and fourth as Olsson and Hellner finished 5^th and 6^th.

FASTEST TIMES OF THE DAY 

1. Alexey Poltoranin
2. Eldar Rønning
3. Daniel Rickardsson

RUKA TRIPLE

1. Petter Northug
2. Dario Cologna
3. Eldar Rønning

ANALYSIS

To be honest, I was impressed with how much of the work Northug did today. I’d say the split was 60/40 Cologna/Northug. Even though Northug moved to the front mainly because he had faster skis than Cologna, but he also led up the big hill coming into the stadium too. It was another good result for Northug and he’s the male equivalent of Bjørgen at this point.

I was interested to see what Cologna would do to try to shake Northug off, but it became apparent that Northug was going nowhere. It’ll be very interesting to see if this pattern of racing continues when the Tour de Ski starts. I really hope to see the other big all-rounders like Hellner and Harvey get into the mix too. Unfortunately, those two were a little too far off the pace when the final race started today.

The real story of the day for me was the action behind the leaders. We got to an amazing performance from Olsson who led the charge for the chasers for much of the second half of the race but just didn’t have enough mustard at the last portion of the race.

A great finish from Rønning who continues his great run of form in classic distance races. I think it’s been over a year now since the last time Rønning finished outside the top 10 in a distance classic race.

Poltoranin also had a great race today and posted the top time. He looked super fluid today compared to the other athletes; it was actually impressive how well he kept his technique together throughout the race. It looked like he was out for a Sunday ski with his long glide and smooth poling. At this time last year, Poltoranin had a great run of form and he won the Davos 15km classic. It’ll be interesting to see if he can continue this form through to the Tour de Ski.

I feel bad for Vylegzhanin today as he was having such a good race until he fell at 6km and it completely took the wind out of his sails. After that he just moved backwards and was unable to regain great form that saw him move up from 23^rd to 5^th in the first 5km.

Also, Legkov was stuck in between a rock and hard place today. He was probably the only athlete on course today that had no one to ski with for the first 10km. He was doing quite well for the first bit, but it turned out to be a little too much as he started to fade in the final 5km and finished off the podium today in 7^th place. I believe that if he had at least one athlete to help him try and close the gap to the lead, he would’ve finished a little higher in the Ruka Triple standings.

Finally, the big movers of the day were Poltoranin who started the day in 25^th and finished 4^th, whil Hofer tumbled down the standing and went from 10^th to 39^th.

I’ll be back in a couple days with some random thoughts on mini-tours.

Til then.

Kuusamo Men’s 10km: The Completion of Northug

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch today’s race due to an insanely busy schedule on this end, so here’s what I gathered from scanning the results from today’s race…

Today could be a real insight into the rest of the World Cup season. We witnessed Northug win his first individual start World Cup race which was the only title missing from his resume. Now that Northug has done this, critics can no longer make the point that he only gets it done in the mass starts. This also means that the Norwegian no longer has any holes in his game. The win was a substantial margin too as he was 23.8 seconds ahead of Clara. With this current form, I think it can be safe to start comparing Bjørgen’s domination in the women’s field to that of Northug’s in the men’s field. It’s a great time to be a Norwegian ski fan.

RESULTS

1. Petter Northug
2. Roland Clara
3. Maurice Manificat

Going into tomorrow’s race, only Cologna has a realistic chance of catching him as the Swiss man starts 12 seconds behind. After Cologna is Legkov a further 30 seconds back. I believe the real battles to watch tomorrow will be Cologna trying to catch Northug or Legkov trying to hold off the likes of Clara, Manificat, Olsson and Hellner who start 6-12 seconds behind the  Russian.

On today’s race, I’m really happy to see Clara skiing as well as he is since his decorated Italian teammates like di Centa and Piller-Cottrer are having awful starts to the season. Piller-Cottrer was 70^th today and for someone of his quality, it’s a little worrying. I have to also mention Hofer, who like Clara is having a phenomenal start to the season.

Other highlights on the day was Jespersen in 5^th and is making a strong case to be on the team for future World Cups and Babikov who was 16^th and had one of his best races in recent memory that isn’t the final leg of the Tour de Ski up the Alpe Cermis.

Again, sorry about the extremely short review, but this is all I could get out before the races tomorrow.

Sjusjøen 4x10km Relay: The Northug Factor Shines Through

Sorry about the delayed review everyone, Sunday was an extremely busy day for me and didn’t have time to watch the men’s relay, I have now and I got some strong opinions in the analysis section. I’d love to know if you agree if disagree with my on my points. Anyway, here’s the race recap.

THE RACE

The opening leg was very uneventful with Hellner leading the race for a very pedestrian for first 2.5km; however, Japarov of Russia II increased the pace on second lap and remained at the front for the majority of the leg. Something happened to Kershaw at 7.5km and was 15 seconds off the pace as was

The pace was continually pushed by Japarov and on the final 2.5km the field began to splinter as Russia I, Norway I, France, and Russia II opened a five second gap on the rest.

Coming into the first exchange it was Belov of Russia I, Rønning of Norway and Gaillard of France with a small lead, but like most relays the pace slowed down considerably which allowed the lead three to be caught and the lead pack swell to eight athletes just a few minutes after they started the second leg.

Behind the lead eight, Freeman for USA was leading a foursome of USA, Czech Republic, Norway II and Germany II in an attempt to hunt down the leaders. The combination of the slower pace by the leaders and at 4.3km, Freeman and Jaks of the Czech Republic had regained contact up front and made.

Cologna was going insanely fast and was only 19 seconds down at the half way point, which meant he gained 27 seconds in the first 5km. Only 1.8km, Cologna had closed the gap by a further seven seconds. Ahead of Cologna, Vylegzhanin of Russia I was beginning to turn the screw and the lead 10 immediately began to thin out.

At 7.5km of the final leg, Rickardsson and Vylegzhanin’s good work had Sweden, Russia and France up front and the top 10 now spread out by 12 seconds. Vylegzhanin was relentless and he was able to drop Rickardsson to the drop to the chasers that included Jauhojaervi, Krogh and di Centa.

At the exchange, Manificat and Vylegzhanin’s hard work had paid off and there was a five second gap between them and the other four teams (Finland, Norway I, Sweden and Italy). There was a big 18 second gap to the other four teams (Switzerland, Cazech Republic, Norway III and USA).

Like the second leg, it didn’t take long for the top six to clump together as Fischer for Switzerland was going extremely hard and closed the gap to the leaders by 12 seconds within the first 1.8km.

Olsson continued to lead the top six while the other athletes comfortably sat behind. Further behind, Fischer came back to Earth and was caught by Norway III’s Eilifsen and USA’s Tad Elliot and the threesome began to work together but weren’t closing the gap to the leaders as they were about 30 seconds down.

At 7km, Lars Berger decided it was time to increase the pace and took the lead from Olsson but the Norwegian wasn’t able to do anything meaningful up front as the six remained together. With 700m left, Clara injected some speed and took the lead which was enough to drop Russia I’s Turyschev immediately.

At the final exchange, it was Norway I, Italy, Sweden, France and Finland together with Russia I in Legkov just five seconds behind but was able to close that gap right away. Just a kilometer in, the pace slowed to a crawl as no one wanted to take the lead. How slow was the pace? Well Norway III in Røthe and Switzerland in Perl were 44 seconds down at the exchange and at 1.8km they had closed the gap to 13 seconds. The cat and mouse race was fully on. Interestingly, as soon as Røthe and Perl caught the leaders, Røthe burst to the front and inject speed that the lead was severely lacked which forced the lead pack to follow suit. Unfortunately, the pace slowed down soon after and the lead eight were closely grouped together.

Coming into the 5km mark, Perl lead the group, but saying the pace was comfortable was an understatement.  At 7.5km, Svendsen of Norway II had pulled back an amazing 1:30 and almost bridged the gap, but at the same time Perl put in a brief injection of pace, but slowed right down again. This allowed Svendsen to make contact with the lead group just in time for the last sprint.

At 700m, it was Legkov’s time to put in the final sprint and Northug slotted in right behind him as did Røthe, Halfvarsson and Perrillat. Coming into the stadium, Northug took the lead as Røthe tucked in behind for the sprint finish. Northug put on his after burners and Halfvarsson was unable to overtake Røthe for silver.

RESULTS
1. Norway I (Rønning, Krogh, Berger, Northug)
2. Norway III (Dahl, Ansnes, Eilifsen, Svendsen)
3. Sweden (Hellner, Rickardsson, Olsson, Halfvarsson)

Analysis

These types of races are becoming really frustrating for me as they’re no longer indicative of which nation is truly the best because of all the cat and mousing in the final leg. For me as an avid ski fan, the frustration doesn’t come from Northug winning (I respect him as an athlete and am continually in amazement of his abilities), but from the predictability these races have garnered.

The relay has become a spectacle in which a top nation can show off just how good their sprinter is compared to the rest of the nations (read: Northug). Today was a great example as Perl and Røthe should not have even been in the conversation for a top five place going into the final leg. If the athletes in the top six skied to their full potential like the do in an individual race, Perl and Røthe would not have been able to claw back the 45 second deficit they had at the start of the leg.

The amount of tentativeness is truly amazing and you need to look no further than the biathlete Emil Hegle Svendsen who had the fastest final leg and was 1:45 fastest than Northug, Legkov and the rest of the lead pack. Think back to Legkov’s blow-up during the relay last year at World Champs, he was 1:53 slower than the fastest leg time and that was huge news.

In the same breath, an skier like Legkov is the perfect athlete to break the other athletes in the final leg. We saw an example of this in Kuusamo last year. He’s hard as nails and has a decent sprint. There’s two scenarios for races like this… 1). You successfully break the pack and in doing so drop Northug before the final kilometer or 2). You wait until its too late the concede the victory to Northug. It’s pretty black and white at this point which makes me scratch my head as I watch someone like David Hofer of Italy slow down the pace to which Northug can diagonal skate up some of the hills.

It almost seems like the racers are deflated even before the leg starts if Norway I is within 15-20 seconds of the lead. A mentality of “Well, he’s gonna beat us so we might as well stick together and fight it out for 2^nd place…”

Obviously, it’s much easier for me to sit at my computer and write this, but that’s why I’m a blogger and not a World Cup skier and I’m sure many others share the same sentiments in terms of the “Northug Era” of relay tactics. Simply put, it’s making the relay a fairly boring affair since there is very little predictability. A hint to new ski fans, for the next relay forget watching the first three legs and turn on your TV/computer for the final leg. If Northug is in the lead pack at the final exchange, you can turn off the race as you know who is going to win, if he isn’t in the lead pack, then watch the final leg because you really don’t know who will win the race which makes it exciting again.

Anyway, about the actual race, some unexpected poor performances including Kershaw and Fischer in the first leg that were well off the pace. This has been Kershaw’s third sub-par performance of the early season and it is a little worrying for Canadian ski fans. Hopefully he turns it around sooner than later as the Tour de Ski is just over a month away and many are hoping to see him replicate last year’s stellar performance.

To say Germany had a horrible weekend would be an understatement. Yesterday only had Angerer (14^th) in the top 30. Today, both their relay teams finished last and second last (Canada dropped out). It wasn’t as though a couple athletes had bad races; every single athlete had a bad race. If it was bad skis or just poor fitness is something we’ll find out next weekend in Kuusam.

What a great weekend France had! A 5^th place in the women’s relay and then 4^th place today in the men’s relay. So far it looks like they aren’t missing Vittoz at all. They put their two big guns in the first half of the race, but Duvillard and Perrillat did a great job of keeping them in the race right til the end.

As for Sweden’s plan for Halfvarsson beating Northug, the young Swede’s inexperience of racing the final leg was apparent in the final kilometer. First, he got stuck behind Røthe coming up the hill into the stadium and had him stumble slightly, then coming into the final stretch he had to try to move up from 5^th place. He sprint abilities were impressive and was able to pass Legkov and Perrillat in the final stretch and I’m sure if he had a 50 more meters he would’ve had Røthe. This should be a good learning lesson for Halfvarsson and if given the chance in the next relay, will remember to line-up closer to the front in the final kilometer of the race.

That’s it for me. Talk to you in a few days with a Kuusamo preview.