Results Day 2: FIS Junior & U23 WSC Lygna (NOR)
Feb 24, 2022·Cross-Country
The Relay Day for the Junior athletes marked the first team event. On the women’s side, the decision for the victory took until the last meter.
Anna Heggen from Noway won the Gold medal for her team ahead of Elizavola Bekisheva from the Russian team. A photo finish evaluation was needed to announce the winners.
Anna Heggen said: “My only focus was to sprint as fast as possible towards the finish line. The fact that we ended up winning the gold was fantastic.” Anna, who grew up only 30 minutes away from the Junior World Champion courses of Lygna, was thrilled to have brought the victory to the home country. “It’s fun to be able to take the gold at my home field with family and friends around,” said the young Norwegian along with her team colleagues Maria Hartz Melling, Emma Kirkeberg Moerk, Tuva Anine Brusveen-Jensen.
With the victories team’s joy, the Silver medal team was disappointed at first over the lost victory. The Russian team of Evgenya Krupitskaya, Dariya Nepryaeva, Anne Kozhinova and Elizayela Bekisheya stated: “It was a very tough relay. We thought we won the gold, so we’re quite upset. That’s why it’s hard to be happy about the silver.”
The Bronze medal is taken by team Germany, consisting of Verena Veit, Gemana Thannheimer, Lar Dellit and the 15km Mst F gold medalist, Helen Hoffmann.
“We are very happy to get a medal today. There are a lot of good teams here, so you have to work hard for it”, said second leg athlete Gemana Thannheimer.
Men's Relay
On the Men’s side, Russia took in the role of favorites. Saveliy Korosteleva, Nikita Rodionov, Alexander Ivskin and Nikita Denisov managed to ski out a gap in the third leg and during the final leg there was no doubt about who was going to take Gold. Russia won 21,8 seconds ahead of host nation Norway with Preben, Johannes Lønnestad Flåten, Nikolai Eide Holmboe and Aleksander Eide Holmboe. “It was the best we could ask for today, so we are happy. Russia was very strong and we couldn’t challenge them today. They have obviously trained very well, so we have a big job ahead of us to be able to catch up some ground,” said Preben after the race.
Team USA was happy about the Bronze medal: “We are super proud and very happy. In advance, we had hoped to be able to fight for a medal, but it was still a challenging task,” first leg finisher Michael Earnhart says. Brian Bushey, Walker Hall and Will Koch were the three other Americans to get a bronze medal in the Men’s Relay.
