February 16, 2014  (Krasnaya Polyana, Russia) – The Swedes sailed into gold showing their dominance in the men’s 4 x 10 relay, with a 27-second lead over the host Russian team adding another Olympic gold to their resume. It was a historic double for Sweden in the relay events, following the women’s dramatic victory over Finland and Germany on Saturday (read more here).

Loyal Russian fans had their day to celebrate as the home country favourite Maxin Vylegzhahin spent every last bit of energy he had to cross the finish line ahead of French skier Ivan Perrillat Boiteux. The up-and-coming French team surprised the crowd and the field winning bronze well ahead of Norway and Italy showing they are a team to be reckoned with.

While the racers started in one large group, a small crash early on formed a gap within the nations. Canadian Len Valjas was caught up in this crash, taking him out of his 7th place position. He was unable to makeup ground but faded to 12th by the end of the leg. After a strong start, US skier Andy Newell maxed out and also struggled in the last 1km of his classic leg tagging off to Erik Bjornsen in 15th spot.

The race took an interesting turn separating into several pockets each with two skiers as a back and forth battle at the front raged between Sweden’s Lars Nelson battling Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi in the first Classic leg and later Daniel Richardsson wrestling with Iivo Niskanen of Finland in the second Classic 10km.

On the 3rd leg the medal moves were starting to be made as Sweden’s Johan Olsson dropped Lari Lehtonen (FIN) while behind Alexander Legkov was tearing up the track as he moved Russia from 5th to 2nd. A strong surge from the French team’s Robin Duvillard put them in the running at only 4s behind Legkov.

Given a 14s-lead by Olsson, anchor Marcus Hellner didn’t let up a bit as he gained another 13 seconds to guarantee a comfortable win for the team. It seemed an effortless event for Sweden to reclaim the gold as Hellner cruised over the finish line with a time of 1:28:42.

Norway, who have lagged in performance at these Games, were well back off the pace in 4th. Overheard in the wax zone were comments that Norway, even with its 25 wax technicians, could also miss the wax as their two Classic skiers struggled in the relay for the first time in years and Team Norge did not win a medal, somewhat of a national disaster in Norway.

Meanwhile the American and Canadian teams were testing each other’s mettle with their own long-standing rivalry. In the first leg Newell was well ahead of Valjas but ran out of steam on the second lap and tagged off to Erik Bjornsen in 15th vs Canada’s 12th place. “I was warming up, and it seemed like he was in the mix and I was expecting to be right with them [the leaders] or a little ways back but it’s a tough competition and I’m sure the pace picked up and he just wasn’t able to go with it,” said Bjornsen.

Bjornsen kept to his game plan and just tried to ski smooth and strong. “I was feeling great, and I was able to pop of some of those hills, but I was trying to be realistic and stay smooth and ski a smart race and I think I did and was able to pick off a few spots.”

The question was being asked if the warm conditions were a factor for the racers today. Noah Hoffman, who ran the third leg for the USA, commented that Newell, “… just had a tough go and we were not that far away from being in it.” The Hoff wasn’t bothered by the heat as he is used to the Colorado weather, explaining, “… we get weather like this all the time.”

Simeon Hamilton raced the final leg of the American relay. “It’s a seemingly hard course that’s for sure. There’s nothing crazy in it, but you’re kinda working the transitions the whole time. There’s not a lot of recovery time. There’s one big downhill… you’re on your feet the whole time It goes by so fast that you don’t really get a breath of air.

“It was fun, it’s always good to get a decent start. I wish I felt a little bit better. I’ve definitely had good distance races on courses like this before, that are rolling and cornery with transitions. Today I didn’t feel awesome but I fought hard,” added Hamilton.

Team USA finished in 11th at 4:37 off the gold ahead of Canada as Jesse Cockney was close on Hamilton’s heels heading into the Stadium for the finish. For Canada it wasn’t the relay team that was expected to race, as Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw took a pass to rest up for the Team Sprint event on Wednesday. Today’s team was not at 100 percent with Valjas suffering from a cold and anchor Cockney just recovering from a cold.

Valjas  shared his comments as he finished his leg and watched his fellow teammates. “It was super tough out there, my lungs still hurt 20 minutes later, and hopefully my teammates can get back some of what was lost.”

When asked about his strategy he commented. “This is my favourite race. It’s not the same team we thought was going to start for the last four years. I’m racing with three of my best friends and we had a pretty good day. There was no stress. Our goal was to go out and ski hard and beat the States. But they dialed it in, made some big changes and worked hard.”

“The skis today were world class, I’d go over the top of the downhills, and move up from 8th to 1st. The grip was perfect and the glide was insane, but for sure coming off a cold… yesterday I wasn’t even going to start when I talked with Justin. We had a meeting, and I’m glad I did start.”

Ivan “The Bulldog” Babikov skied the 2nd leg for Canada moving the team into 11th place. Graeme Killick, who ran the third leg, maintained their 11th place position while Cockney brought Canada across the line in 12th, just behind the the USA.

“I really just wanted to beat the Americans, kind of go back to the Junior Worlds CAN vs USA relay battle, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to hold up my end of the bargain and Simeon got me. I was really happy to be part of the race,” added Cockney.

Full results here.
Results detail here.