February 24, 2010 (Whistler, BC) – What a difference a snowstorm can make during a race – followed by fog, and then followed by sun. In other words a typical day at Whistler Olympic Park where skier after skier said they face terrible conditions during the men’s relay.
The course changed from relatively fast with somewhat deep corners during the first two-thirds of the competition, to a super soft course with heavy large snow flakes falling, to fog that made it difficult to make out figures on the jumbrotron – then to hints of a sunny day.
The skies certainly cleared for the Swedes as anchor man Marcus Hellner crossed the line for a total time of 1:45:05.4 to complete the 40km men’s team event. It was his second gold of the Games as he won the 30km pursuit the week prior.
“I knew that if I was doing this right, I’d get the gold. My thoughts during the last lap were to push very hard to get loose [breakaway] and I succeeded.” But Hellner admitted his team didn’t know if victory would be theirs. “We were not certain. We knew this is the hardest race to win. You need to have good skis and everyone needs to have a good day.” He added though, that once he had a lead of 35 seconds and was in the final few kilometres, eventhough other skiers may start to close, he was confident that they would not be able to catch him.
Team mate Richardsson praised their wax technicians. “We’ve got really good waxers and they have worked so hard and no doubt we would not be here without them, so we are very happy with them.” Olsson said the importance of the win has yet to sink in. “It’s a dream for all of us and I don’t think we will really realize how amazing this is until we are back in Sweden.” It’s the fifth gold medal Sweden has won in this event at the Olympics, which is a record. The last time was at the Calgary Olympics in 1988.
Norway’s Petter Northug skied a leg that will be remembered forever as the Norwegians were as far back as 51 seconds during the second leg and handed off to Northug at 37.5 seconds back on the final leg. He took the team from 6th to 2nd, finishing 15.9 seconds behind Hellner in the skate portion of the relay. “I was pretty tired at the top of the hill near the end. I tried to stay back and keep the team [pack] slowed down and then use my power at the end. That was my tactic.” He stated the obvious – that they were out of the medals until his lap when he started the last 10km. “[When] we started we were out of a podium chance. I knew if I had one of my best races we had a chance for the podium.” His team mates joked at the press conference that he had another secret weapon as they kept hearing “noise from his bedroom.”
The Czech Republic came into the race ranked 11th and turned in a stunning and aggressive performance as anchor skier Martin Koukal took the bronze at 16.5 seconds behind the winners. “It’s a great feeling and experience. In team sport it really means a lot to us because it’s not an individual result – it’s always up to four team members,” said Jiri Magal. We are very happy to bring this medal back to Czech Republic, especially after 22 years since our last time we brought home a team medal from Calgary.” Lead off skier Martin Jaks paid tribute to [Luka] Bauer as the skier who pulled them into real contention, so the rest could work to maintain his position. He added that the “service men are already celebrating. We still have another race, but for sure we are going to toast.”
France once again just missed a medal as they took 4th, 20:9 seconds back. Emmanuel Jonnier came across the line with his race number over his face in an act of disappointment. Later teammate Maurice Manificat said, “We deserve a medal, We’ve searched a long time for a medal. I hope that Petter Northug will collapse,” referring to the amazing final leg Northug had that put the Norwegians on to the pdoium for the silver medal. Finland moved up from 7th in the second leg and nearly a minute back to take 5th place, 24:9 seconds behind. These were the early break-away teams. Germany was in 6th spot, 1:57:8 minutes back in the chase group.
Canada’s George Grey had a brilliant ski as the team’s anchor winning the final chase group sprint over Russia and Italy. He finished 1:57:8 minutes back of the Swedes in seventh position. “We knew that were were knocking on the door of the podium because we were fifth at last year’s worlds,” said Grey after the race. “I gave everything I had and gave everything I could. I tried to bridge the gap to the guys ahead, but just couldn’t do it.”
Despite having the fourth fastest leg of all the skaters, Ivan Babikov walked right past all reporters, refusing to stop. The American team seemed to suffer once again from not having the best wax situation, or not being prepared and placed 13th out of 14 teams, ahead of Estonia.
Kershaw said his lead off leg was terrible and took the blame for Canada’s bad start on his shoulders. “Conditions were terrible, but they were terrible for everybody. I just didn’t execute as well as the others. When Jean Marc Gaillard from France attacked, the cable that connects the engine to the gas pedal snapped. Today was one of the worst races of my life. These were really, really tough conditions to battle through.”
Harvey said he “felt strong and I tried to bridge the gap, but I went too hard at the beginning.” He was referring to his effort in the first three kilometres of his leg when he closed an 18-second gap. Unfortunately the effort caused him to “blow up” he said, and he did not race to his potential for the remaining seven kilometres.
For the first 5km the 14 teams stuck together, but as conditions and waxes that did not pull through took their toll, the race broke up by the first hand off after 10km as Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi came through in 27:55:6 followed by France, 1.1 seconds back, Sweden’s Daniel Richardson at 2:3 seconds back, Germany’ Jens Filbrich at 2:7 seconds, Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby at 4:3, and Switzerland’s Toni Livers at 25.1. Canada’s Devon Kershaw came through at 28:2 back, in 10th place while Andy Newell of the USA came in at 13th place, at 42:3 seconds back.
By the end of the second lap this group had dropped Finland’s Matti Heikkinen, and the field had strung out. The Swedes were still in the lead with a time of 55:53:1 after 20km of classic skiing as Johan Olsson, who had already won a bronze in the 30km pursuit, put more distance between him and the second-placed Czech Republic skier Lukas Bauer, also a bronze medalist at these Games in the 15km freestyle, who was 5.7 seconds back. French skier Vincent Vittoz handed off to Maurice Manificat at 7.2 back. Germany’ Axel Teichmann led the chase group at 27 seconds, with Kazakhstan’ Alexev Poltaranin 28:2 seconds behind – yet still ahead of Norway’s Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset. Norway was ranked as the top team in this event. Canada’s Alex Harvey was in 9th place at 52:0 seconds back while US skier Torin Koos was 2:46:3 seconds back.
As the skiers changed to skating, the snow stopped and fog arrived. But the Swedes skied like it was their trail. How smart of them to compete at the Canadian championships here two years ago when there was no end of new snow. Anders Soedergren skied the third leg, finishing 3:5 seconds behind France and 2:3 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic, allowing anchor Marcus Hellner to make his move in the last lap. He jumped and never looked back.
Full results here.
Results (brief)
- Sweden (Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson, Anders Soedergren, Marcus Hellner), 1:45:05.4
- Norway (Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, Lars Berger, Petter Northug) +15.9
- Czech Republic (Martin Jaks, Lukas Bauer, Jiri Magal, Martin Koukal) +16.5
7. Canada (Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov, George Grey), +1:57.8
13. United States (Andrew Newell, Torin Koos, Garrott Kuzzy, Simeon Hamilton), +6:22.3