Norway’s cross-country skiing star Johannes Hösflot Kläbo successfully defended his overall lead in the Tour de Ski, but had bad experiences with the new “Heat Mass Start” mode. Meanwhile, two underdogs became the big winners of the day.
Because Kläbo’s competitors largely left the speed work to the top favorite in the third of four runs, the race was relatively slow – and Kläbo, despite confidently crossing the finish line first, only ended up in twelfth place in the daily rankings.
“We were just too slow, it’s that simple,” said Kläbo on “ZDF”: “I worked hard with my Norwegian teammate – but the others didn’t.”
Schumacher and Moser cheer
Gus Schumacher from the USA surprisingly won the day’s ranking ahead of the Austrian Benjamin Moser – both were ahead in the fastest of the four runs. The best German was Janosch Brugger in 27th place – he was in Kläbo’s race. “It was a lottery,” said Brugger, who was “very happy” with his performance.
In the new format of the “partial mass start” the approximately 100 starters were distributed over four runs, and the best runners in the overall ranking were put into different races. This is intended to prevent runners like Kläbo, who was quick at the end, from hiding in the field for long stretches, as is often the case in a regular mass start, and then just focusing on the final sprint.
“The majority sees it critically”
When comparing different races, a Kläbo now has to ensure high speed if he doesn’t just want to win his own race. “If he wants to win, he has to do it himself,” said Brugger. The problem: This time almost only Kläbo was working.
The mode was not met with enthusiasm. “The majority sees it critically,” said national coach Peter Schlickenrieder on “ZDF”: “I would like to put it positively: they are at least trying something new. But I think there are better ideas.”