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Einar Hedegart (NOR) dreamed of being Norway’s next big star in the sport of biathlon. He’ll have to settle for stardom in Nordic skiing, instead. We hope he’s not too disappointed, then, to emerge as a World Cup race winner, and one of Norway’s brightest medal hopes at the upcoming Winter Olympics. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
He doesn’t even call himself a skier. After two World Cup podium performances in as many weeks—and a victory in today’s 10 k Freestyle Interval Start—Einar Hedegart (NOR) continues to refer to himself as a Biathlete. Well, Hedegart’s time in Norway’s biathlon development program may be coming to an end. We hope he’s happy with the way things are turning out. We hope he’s not too disappointed at failing to achieve his biathlon dreams. Perhaps he can manage to take solace from the success he’s achieving on the FIS World Cup circuit, and the spot that likely awaits him on Norway’s Olympic Team.
Norwegian Team mainstay skiers may be forgiven for under-performing at this time of year. Amundsen, Simen Hegstad Krueger, Erik Valnes, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget probably already have places earmarked for them on Norway’s Olympic Team. And everyone knows that Klaebo will be starting every event in Milano-Cortina. The rest of the skier’s on Norway’s roster of contenders still need to fight for every fraction of a second and every crucial placing at this time of year, tapering for these early-season World Cup events in an effort to attract the attention of those who will choose skiers to carry the Norwegian flag into events at Milano-Cortina. The sharpened fitness of these brilliant—though lesser known—skiers definitely stirs up the results and adds more storylines to races that otherwise would only be described as Norwegian sweeps.
Before yesterday, Emil Iverson’s (NOR) last major podium appearance was on the top step of the 2021 World Championship 50 k (which he was awarded after the disqualification of his Norwegian teammate, Klaebo). More than four years later, he had never been back to that glorious level—or even anywhere near it. Subsequently, he’d been unceremoniously dumped by the Norwegian Ski Team, and spent lonely seasons laboring in obscurity in the sport-wilderness trying to claw his way back to international relevance. Many reporters—including this one—wrote him off. After all, how could a guy training alone hope to compete with the Goliath that is the Norwegian Ski Federation (NSF)? Nevertheless, Iverson persisted. Then this autumn, he joined Klaebo for a training camp in Park City, Utah, perhaps signaling that he was ready to be back. Yesterday’s third place finish in the 20 k Skiathlon was confirmation and vindication, both. Today, Iversen would’ve been hoping for another result to assert his claim on an Olympic berth. It’s a big ask . . . nine Norwegians finished in the top ten of yesterday’s World Cup Skiathlon, and half of them probably won’t be named to Norway’s Olympic Team. Even with his place on yesterday’s podium, Iverson may still be one of them. I mean, if your country has nine guys who can pretty much wallop the best from every other country, then does it really mater which of them the team picks? If it truly doesn’t matter, then Iverson’s recent, public, hi-volume criticisms of the NSF (for denying him a start position in last week’s World Cups in Ruka) may yet render him persona non grata.
Fortunately for Iverson, the other loud and recent criticizer of the NSF has been Klaebo, himself. He, too, spoke publicly about the mistake of leaving Iverson off the roster. If the NSF feels chastised by the criticisms of its brightest star, imagine how much worse it could be if they diss Iverson when the Olympics come around! Maybe what Iverson needs is one more really good race to make his point, to stake his claim, to punch his ticket. Trondheim’s World Cup 10 k Freestyle Interval Start provided just such an opportunity.
Never imagining that his finishing time would hold up, Einar Hedegart (NOR) spent his time in the finishing area videoing other racers, and catching up with friends and rivals for amateur-interviews like this one with Zak Ketterson (USA). Ketterson continued his recent run of good results with a 23rd place finish. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
On this final day of racing in ski-crazy Trondheim, Iversen would finish a brilliant fourth, another loud statement in his quest to return into Norway’s good graces. But it was Hedegart who exited the world of biathlon and stepped boldly to the top of the World Cup skiing podium. He was followed onto the podium by his Norwegian teammates, Andreas Fjorden Ree, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget. In the scramble for Norwegian Olympic spots, even the great Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was left as an also-ran, finishing the day in seventh.
In post-race interviews, Hedegart seemed as surprised as everyone else. “I really didn’t feel like this race was gonna be a first place,” Hedegart said of his race effort. “It felt like a mid-race. I was a little bit disappointed when I crossed the finish line; then this turns out to be my best race ever. I can’t believe it!”
With his first World Cup victory—his second podium performance in as many weeks, and his third World Cup podium in only four World Cup starts—Einar Hedegart may have just added his name to the roster for Norway’s Olympic Team.
Gus Schumacher (USA) provided a glimpse of his greater potential in Trondheim’s 10 k. He would finish 11th, helping break up the Norwegian dominance at the top of World Cup results. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
American skiers also staged a bit of a comeback in today’s race. After two weekends of largely uninspired World Cup results, Gus Schumacher put together a solid race to finish 11th on the day. Only 35 seconds behind race winner Hedegart, and ahead of many notable Norwegian starters, Schumacher should be pleased with a result that begins to erase this season’s earlier disappointments. Behind Schumacher, his American teammates also began inching their way up the results. Zak Ketterson continued his solid performances in this young World Cup season: he was 23rd, followed by Zanden McMullen 43rd, John Steel Hagenbuch 44th, Ben Ogden 49th, Luke Jager 61st.
Schumacher has hit a few road bumps in World Cup races so far this season. In post-race comments to FasterSkier he clarified that today’s performance was probably more indicative of his current form. “Today went smoother,” he offered. “Skis were good, no people crashing into me. I think that (the form I displayed today) is where I’ve been the last week or two; it’s nice to have ar esult that shows that to the outside. ”
Schumacher also commented on the marked difference between his 10 k second half to yesterday’s Skiathlon and today’s 10 k Freestyle. “I think it’s just my skis were better today,” he said matter-of-factly. “Yesterday, my skate skis were not skiing well up the sugary hills. When I pushed on them, they were digging into the snow pretty bad. There were a few other people on the same-construction skis who had similar issues.”
Andreas Fjorden Ree (NOR), Einar Hedegart (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) made up yet another all-Norwegian podium in the World Cup 10 k Freestyle in Trondheim. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
10 k Freestyle
As the host-nation of Trondheim’s World Cup events, Norway is entitled to 12 (!) entrants in each of this weekend’s events. It’s pretty much the Norwegian Olympic Trials, a chance for the nation’s best to race head to head. If you beat all the rest of the Norwegians, then you’re the real deal. The struggle for places on the Norwegian Olympic Team involved numerous skiers who find themselves on the bubble (even though they’re among the best skiers in the world). Hedegart and Iverson are joined in this category by the likes of Iver Tildheim Andersen, Jan Thomas Jenssen, Mattis Stenshagen, and Andreas Fjorden Ree. What’s ironic is that any of these skiers—a number of whom already have delivered World Cup podium performances—could find themselves with Olympic medals around their necks if only the NSF will send them to Italy in February.
Iversen started 25th; he would set the pace for others to follow, and hope that he could deliver another race that would make him worthy of Olympic consideration. Starting only 90 seconds behind Iversen, Hedegart had earned his second Word Cup podium last week in Ruka’s 20 k Freestyle Mass Start. He would be marking Iversen’s split times, intent on securing his own spot on Norway’s Olympic roster. Hedegart came through the first time check (at two kilometers) already three seconds ahead of Iversen. By the 6.9 kilometer check point, Hedegart led Iversen by a whopping 14 seconds. At the finish line, Hedegart edged Iversen out of the leader’s chair by 11.4 seconds. They would both sit and wait to see what the rest of Team Norway would do.
In the meantime, a funny thing was happening in Trondheim . . . Klaebo was becoming an afterthought. His result, today, mattered a lot less, though it was kind of expected that his would be one of the names at the top of results. In a way, it was an unreasonable expectation for Klaebo. After yesterday—Klaebo’s second race victory of a long and exhausting three-day World Cup weekend—many fans (myself among them) wished that Klaebo would take a day off. In past seasons, he’s often gotten sick at this time of year. And many of Klaebo’s fans hope that he’ll eschew any chase for the World Cup overall title in this season when his everlasting immortality will be linked more to his Olympic results than anything else. If today was a lesser effort—or an “off” day—who could blame him?
Like his teammates Einar Hedegart 9NOR) and Emil Iversen (NOR), Andreas Fjorden Ree (NOR) made his Olympic intentions loud and clear. His third place in Trondheim’s 10 k Freestyle places him solidly among Norway’s Olympic contenders. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Thinking that his race effort could not possibly be fast enough for the win, Hedegart was forced to spend many agonizing minutes in the leader’s chair watching Ree skiing virtually even with him at every time check. But Ree’s charge to the line fell a mere .4 seconds short. Hedegart would keep his seat in the leaders chair as none of the remaining Norwegian contenders were able to displace him. Put away your rifle, Einar. Your skiing doesn’t need to be interrupted by target practice, anymore.
And Iversen? He started so long ago that his race been all but overlooked. His fourth place finish on the day—ahead of Amundsen, ahead of Andersson, ahead of Krueger, ahead of Klaebo—would be the accomplishment of a lifetime for any non-Norwegian skier. With a third place yesterday, and fourth place today, Iversen is definitely making his case to be included in Norway’s Olympic roster. Ironically, it still remains to be seen whether or not Iversen’s big weekend will be enough to impress those officials deciding which Norwegian’s will toe the starting line at the Olympic Winter Games.
Men’s 10 k Freestyle Interval Start RESULTS
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