February 27, 2015 (Falun, Sweden) – Norway won a thrilling 4x10km Men’s Relay at Falun 2015 by a mere 0.6 seconds over Sweden as it all came down to the wire when Petter Northug beat Calle Halfvarsson in the final stretch to the line. France made a strong big for the victory and in the end took home the bronze. It was Norway’s eighth straight World Championships relay title.

Behind the Canadian and US teams were locked in their own battle as Len Valjas prevailed over Simi Hamilton putting the Canucks 10th on the final scoreboard with the Americans settling for 11th.

On the first CL leg Canada’s Alex Harvey showed that his shape is still good as he won the first leg followed by Finland, Kazhakstan and Norway as Sweden’s Daniel Richardson had a tough day with his wax finishing in seventh. The USA’s Erik Bjornson also struggled with the pace tagging off to Noah Hoffman in 10th another twelve seconds behind Richardson.

”I felt really good today. This race was important as a lead up to the 50km on Sunday. It was kind of a test race for me,” said Harvey. ”The skis were great today. Now I’m really looking forward to Sunday. Our wax team is working so hard and always giving us fast skis.”

Harvey handed off to Graeme Killick who stayed with the lead group for as long as he could. Behind Sweden’s Johan Olsson was leading the charge with France’s Maurice Manificat to pull back a 20-second deficit and soon their small group caught Killick and by the 5K mark they reached the leaders.

Olsson attacked after a short rest putting pressure on Norway’s Didrik Tønseth but could not escape. As the transition approached he tried again and this time he gapped the field tagging off with a 6-second advantage over Manificat with Tønseth at 20s.

”I am very pleased with my race and happy for the medal. But of course when it’s the relay, you want gold,” Olsson said at the press conference.

The USA’s Hoffman had a strong leg as well also passing Killick as he tagged Kyle Bratrud in ninth. The Canadians were now eleventh as Ivan Babikov took over for Killick on the first of two skating legs.

Sweden’s Marcus Hellner and France’s Robin Duvillard were leading but marked by Norway’s Anders Gløersen who made steady gains and finally passed them putting Norway back in the driver’s seat. Gløersen finished strong giving Petter Northug a nice lead ahead of France’s Adrien Backscheider as Hellner handed over to Calle Halfvarsson at 20 seconds behind Norway.

”I started at my own pace on the first lap. On the second, I sped it up. Then I rested a bit before I attacked at the end,” explained Gløersen.

Babikov and the USA’s Bratrud were in their own battle during the third leg as Babikov could see him in front throughout the leg and finally passed him at the end.

Up ahead Halfvarsson bridged to Northug as Backscheider attacked and established a gap of 5-6 sec. But at the 7.5km mark they reeled him in and and then the fireworks began between Sweden and Norway.

Coming into the stadium Halfvarsson was ahead of Northug but up on the last small hill in the stadium Northug exploded and got past him on the inside lane before the last little downhill into the home stretch and it was game over.

”I’m made a mistake today and Petter was able to get better speed from behind and pass me. He knew what was he was going to do while I had difficultly keeping track of him,” said Halfvarsson.”It was great with all the people cheering. This was my first international medal and it means a lot to me.”

For Northug it was his fifth time anchoring the Norwegian team to gold. “I was prepared for many different scenarios. It was fun that is was a fight with two other teams. After Sochi we had pressure on us to succeed. Only gold is good enough for the fans,” said Northug.”

Valjas and Hamilton worked together on the last leg trying to catch up with Germany and Finland as they had them in sight but they didn’t succeed and in the end Valjas was the stronger at the finish claiming 10th the Canada with the USA 11th.

Grame Killick (Can)

”It was not the best race for me. I tried to stay with the leaders but the pace was a little bit high so I faded and then I was just trying to maintain and not lose more ground – but four times up Mordarbacken is really tough.”

On his skis: ”I have to judge them by the first couple of laps ’cause they got quite tired towards the end but they where quite good for sure.”

Are you going to do the 50km? ”Yeah I will. Hopefully it’ll be a little more relaxed off the start than this race was.”

Noah Hoffman (USA)

”This was the best race of the season for me. Nothing totally spectacular but a step in the right direction and better feeling. Moved up in the field a little bit, and was able to ski with some fast guys… I am much happier with today.”

”The skis were excellent, really good and fast too.”

On the 50km on Sunday: ”I feel much better about that race after today.”

Kyle Bratrud (USA)

””It was hard. My legs definitely weren’t fully recovered from the 15km. That slush took a toll on my legs, as I am sure it did on everyone elses. But this in my second race here and only my third race at this level so it’s all pretty new to me, it’s just nice to mix it up with the top guys in the world.

”It’s very exiting, most of these guys I have only seen on TV. To come to Sweden and to ski with these kind of crowds is something I’ve never done before either so it makes me appreciate skiing on a whole new level.”

On US vs. Canada: ”Oh I mean Babikov is a strong guy  so when I saw him come by  I just knew I had to try and hang on to him but he got away from me a little bit at the end. It was sweet to see him out there. It’s good whenever North Americans succeed. We are happy for Alex and we hope that we can help raise each other’s game so it was good to come with Ivan to the finish for sure.”

On the 50km: ”No, I’m actually flying home tonight. I’m still in college so I’m going to ski my last NCAA’s and then I’ll graduate college and hopefully come back here soon.”

Ivan Babikov (Can)

”Way too fast for me. The course is a really fast, lots of one-skate and not much off set so it doesn’t really suit me. The first two laps those guys were going way to fast for my speed but then in the end I picked up a bit, but not great.”

It was a fight between Can and the USA… with two sprinters on the last leg. ”Yeah we are joking about that. Hopefully they’ll stick together until the end, there is a gap now I can see but hopefully Len can stay in there and sprint against Simeon.”

Will you do the 50km? ”We’ll see… I don’t know. I’m not feeling great but maybe I’ll try. We’ll see how it is and see how I feel tomorrow.”

Alex seems to be in very good shape: ”Oh Alex is in top shape for sure. He is so strong these day, he has a good chance for a medal for sure.”

Len Valjas (Can)

How did it feel to beat Hamilton at the finish? ”It was fun. There is always two races – the main one against all the countries and then the North American battle. We worked together the whole race and it came down to the final sprint. This time we got them, last time they beat us so I’m happy, I think we all are all happy.”

On how did it feel out there: ”I felt good, especially for a distance skate race. The tracks stayed firm enough, you really had to move around to find the good hard snow. I don’t ski well in the soft snow so I was moving a lot. It was really fun, I’m glad America was there to make a fun race…otherwise I’d have been there alone.”

What’s next for you now? ”Lahti and Drammen, and then my season is over.”

How has it been here in Falun? “Amazing, even with this weather it’s been really good. Epecially we have a good housing situation and I don’t want to leave. Our wax-techs have done an incredible job. Every day I have been passing people on the downhills and the courses here are awesome – it’s a world class venue, one of the best for sure.”

Simi Hamilton (USA)

You had a good fight with Len: ”Yeah for sure. You know we are fighting but we are great friends. I think it’s a good kind of competition. We had Finland and Germany right ahead of us and I think we both really wanted to catch those guys so we put in some turns seeing if we could eat some time away but unfortunately we where unable to catch them.”

”Right before our teammates tagged off to us we looked at each other and said ‘Let’s see if we can get those guys’. Len is such an awesome guy and such a great skier so it’s fun to have a race like that with a good friend. He got me this time but I’m sure there will be times in the future when I cross the line first.”

What’s next for you? “I’ll go to Lahti, I won’t ski the 50k this weekend for sure so I’ll prepare for the skate sprint in Lahti. I’m really exited to skate sprint again and I think the last one was in Rybinsk so we’ve had a pretty big chunk of time between skate sprints. It should be fun to hopeful finish off the world cup season well and look toward next season.”

On Falun: ”It’s been awesome. Sweden is a super country and such a great place and with all the support not only for the Swedish skiers but for everyone so it’s been great. The crowds have been huge and yell not only for their skiers but for all the skiers. We love coming here and the people are just wonderful… skiing in Falun is awesome. All the volunteers and all of the course workers have been doing an amazing job this week making sure the snow stays good. Mother nature hasn’t been super nice to us, but they have been doing a great job and we really appreciate it.”

The American team seems to have had great skis every day: ”Yeah our coaches and wax-techs haw been wiring their buts off every day and they love what they do and it really shows because we always get great skis, fast skis and with good kick so it’s good to be a part of that bigger team as well.”

Full results here.