March 14, 2015 (Oslo, NOR) – Sjur Roethe claimed a superb victory and fulfilled every Norwegian skier’s dream at the famed Holmenkollen winning the 50km in a photo-finish over Swiss star Dario Cologna. Fellow Norge, Martin Johnsrud Sundby, was third as a group of six broke away in the final 2km.

Sjur Roethe (NOR) © Nordic Focus

Canada’s Alex Harvey, who changed skis at the 33.3km mark was near the front for most of the race until that point, but was not able to make the winning break ending up 13th.

“It was a good, hard race. The conditions were soft, but the pace was still fast the whole way,” said Harvey. “I was feeling really good, but just died a bit on that last half. It was an awesome year for me. The goal all year was to win one medal at World Championships. I won two there so I’m really happy with how things went.”

Harvey heads home to Canada after a stellar post-Olympic season where he reached the podium twice at the World Championships, once on the Tour de Ski and once on the World Cup.

Alex Harvey (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Teamate Ivan Babikov, 34, battled through the warm and soft snow conditions to finish 27th. The top American was Brian Gregg in 35th, a personal best, followed by Noah Hoffman in 44th. Erik Bjornsen did not finish.

“Today was a good race for me.  I raced Holmenkollen in 2010 and finished 39th so today’s 35th is a personal best at the 50k, albeit only my second ever World Cup 50km.  My best World Cup result is 32nd at the 15km Freestyle in Falun in 2010,” wrote Gregg by email.

“My focus for the second half of this season is the 50km at US Nationals on March 26th and helping Caitlin [Gregg] prepare for the 10km at the Falun World Championships.  She writes both of our training plans and coaches us and it is great to both be skiing fast. I caught up to her last year when I made the 2014 Olympic Team but now she has raced the bar for the 2017 World Championships.

Ivan Babikov (CAN) © Nordic Focus

“I was so happy to get the invite from the US Ski Team to start the 50 km earlier this week.  We had a really good pre-worlds training camp in Frisco, CO at the Frisco Nordic Center and I knew that my fitness is strong for the longer events.  The Hollmenkollen course is very good for me with a lot of climbing.  Now I shift roles to supporting Caitlin in tomorrow’s 30km, and then we fly to SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, ID,” he concluded.

The Holmenkollen atmosphere was close to the incredible experience during the 2011 World Championships with thousands of people lining the course and camping overnight.

With the temperature around +10c and clear blue skies it was the perfect day of racing with a dramatic photo finish to decide the victory.  Just 0.5 seconds separated the top three athletes at the finish.

M 50km podium © Nordic Focus

For Roethe it was his first ever individual World Cup victory.  For Cologna it is the second time that he has been second at Holmenkollen and only the second time he has finished on the podium there in 9 starts.  For Sundby it was his 4th podium in a row at the Holmekollen setting a new record.

Cologna became the first ever male athlete to win the Distance Overall crystal globe three times – he won the distance World Cup in 2010/11 and in 2011/12 season. The only other athlete to win it more than once was Tobias Angerer (GER) in 2005/06 and 2006/07.

Dario Cologna (SUI) - Audi and Distance globe winner © Nordic Focus

Sundby becomes the sixth athlete to win consecutive overall World Cup titles. Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) and Gunde Svan (SWE) won three straight World Cup series titles, while Per Elofsson (SWE), Angerer and Cologna have consecutive wins.

“It is a dream for me.  This is a very emotional moment.  I can’t believe I have won this race.  It has been a very difficult season for me but I have been training for this race for the past few weeks and it’s incredible that this happened.  The crowds were so loud cheering me along with my teammates,” said Roethe.

Full 50km FR results here.
Final Distance overall standings here.
Final overall standings here.

With files from FIS XC.

Final overall Men's WCup podium © Nordic Focus