Closely-fought Sprint races in sunny Finland ended with victory for Magdalena Olsson, Sweden and home athlete Niklas Ekstrӧm. This was Olsson’s second gold medal in two days, whilst Ekstrӧm enjoyed his first win in this World Cup season.
In the women’s race, Sweden’s Frida Sandberg was fastest through to control 2 but then made a big mistake, losing more than 40 seconds on the leading time. She eventually pulled back to finish eighth. Sweden’s women were skiing strongly today, and it was U-23 athlete Ella Turesson, eventual silver medalist, who held the lead between controls 4 and 9 on the 14-control course. She never managed a lead of more than 6 seconds, however, and the consistently strong Olsson took over the lead from control 11 onwards, but with a final lead of only 4 seconds.
Top 3 women: Ella Turesson, Magdalena Olsson, Amanda Yli Futka Photos: Timo Mikkola
U-23 athletes took second, third and fourth places; bronze medalist was Finland’s Amanda Yli Futka, only 8 seconds down on Olsson’s time at the finish and who led the race at controls 9 and 10. Sweden and Finland took two podium places each, the other two going to Estonia and Norway.
Men’s top 3: Andrei Lamov, Niklas Ekstrom, Jonatan Ståhl
The very experienced Andrei Lamov, 39 years old and now skiing for Sweden, demonstrated today that he has lost none of his agility and energy. He led the men’s race between controls 3 and 13 (there were 18 controls in all) and early on was 13 seconds ahead of U-23 athlete Niklas Ekstrӧm (cover picture). Jonatan Ståhl, Sweden, fresh from a gold medal yesterday, again skied consistently throughout, never below 3rd place. Lamov took the silver medal, 9 seconds down on Ekstrӧm, and Ståhl was a further 9 seconds down in taking the bronze. Sweden had 3 athletes and Finland 2 in the top six; the other podium place was Norway’s, the strong skier Styrk Kamsvaag in 4th place.
Evergreen Andrei Lamov in action today
Olsson leads the women’s World Cup standings by 116 points – and will for sure win overall, barring a catastrophe. With Baklid injured, Jonatan Ståhl is heading for the men’s title, with Kamsvaag in next position having 144 points fewer.
Tomorrow, the Middle Distance races start from 11.00 EET (UTC +2). Estimated winning times are 40 minutes both for the women’s race (8.2 km) and the men’s (10.7 km).
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Leading results, ESOC Sprint
Women
- Magdalena Olsson SWE 14:32
- Ella Turesson SWE 14:36 (U-23)
- Amanda Yli Futka FIN 14:40 (U-23)
- Maria Hoskari FIN 15:05 (U-23)
- Daisy Kudre Schnyder EST 15:20
- Anna Ulvensøen NOR 15:30
Men
- Niklas Ekstrӧm FIN 16:04 (U-23)
- Andrei Lamov SWE 16:13
- Jonatan Ståhl SWE 16:22
- Styrk Kamsvaag NOR 16:38
- Isak Lundhom SWE (U-23) & Aapo Viippola FIN 16:42
Junior World SkiO Championships – Sprint
Women’s gold: Nelly Mårtensson SWE by 44 seconds
Men’s gold: Matthias Larsson SWE by 35 seconds
European Youth SkiO Championships – Sprint
Women’s gold: Iris Bergkvist SWE by 43 seconds
Men’s gold: Marek Lesak CZE by 18 seconds