December 06, 2015 (Lillehammer, Norway) – Norway I dominated the 4×7.5km Men’s Relay on Sunday in Lillehammer winning gold as expected with a podium sweep, but Team USA strutted its stuff as well sparked by Erik Bjornsen’s bullet-proof Classic race which catapulted the US team from 15th place to 5th on the second heat of four.

Andy Newell, who was up front during the first Classic heat with Norway and Italy, but fell back and ended up tagging Bjornsen in 15th, two spots behind Canada’s Devon Kershaw. Canada’s Alex Harvey and Bjornsen were neck and neck as the four leaders advanced with Russia joining the party at the front.

“We were definitely inspired by our ladies to go out and put the hammer down,” said Newell. “The courses here are really tough and today was no exception. For me the pace felt fast but controlled and when the hammer dropped on the last lap I started slipping a bit – just a little more kick would have been nice as we were strung out at about 30 seconds back.”

Bjornsen dropped Harvey as the Canadians missed the wax and soon the young American was gaining more ground putting in the fastest time of his leg at 19:07.9 – the fifth fastest overall. His stellar run catapulted the US team from 15th place to 5th as he tagged Noah Hoffman and it was game on for the American squad.

“I’m really excited about my performance today. I’ve been feeling really strong classic skiing this year and today everything came together. Conditions were very tricky but I think I made the right call with skis and wax. I have to give some credit to Andrew Morehouse, my wax technician.

“The “big” Lillehammer hill is one of my favorite hills to classic ski on the World Cup tour. It has three or four steep pitches with some mellow sections in between. Even though the relay is a little shorter then most distance races(7.5km) I knew I was going to have to pace it because of that burly climb. When I’m feeling good that hill plays to my strengths, I’m a taller guy so when I can get the opportunity to bust out my long stride I’m a happy racer. The conditions were very icy, I did fall on one of the icy corners so I was even more surprised to find out I had the fastest split today,” said Bjornsen.

Hoffman kept pace with the chase group as Italy battled against the Norwegian machine ahead while Martin Johnrud Sundby would soon put the hammer down again. Behind Canada’s Ivan Babikov was in 12th with lots of ground to make up. The relentless pace took its toll on Hoffman as Russia’s Alexander Legkov and Norway’s Sjur Roethe attacked on the climb, but the Aspen skier could not respond. He found himself in 6th but regrouped to hand off to anchor, Simi Hamilton, in 5th as Petter Northug (NOR) danced away for Norway I with a commanding lead.

“Yes, I’m super psyched for the women and equally psyched for Erik, with the fastest time of his leg. He absolutely crushed it today,” said Hoffman. “I had some really good guys to ski with, Sjur [Roethe) and [Alexander] Legkov. I was able to stay with them for a while, but unfortunately I couldn’t hang onto them up the big hill on the final lap. I’m a little disappointed that I wasn’t, but overall I felt that my energy took a step in the right direction today.

“My skis were great today. Our wax team did really good work. Conditions were fast and icy after yesterday’s rain, but the skiing was quite good, especially for our race when it started to break down a little bit,” he concluded.

Hamilton was unable to bridge to the leaders as a storm of skiers, including Canada’s Graeme Killick, gathered behind him and swallowed him up on the second lap. In the end Norway’s III and II battled for silver and bronze as Russia, the previous winners in Lillehammer back in 2013, settled for fourth and fifth with Italy 6th. Hamilton crossed the line in 12th with Killick 13th.

“I had a tough race out there. Andy [Newell], Erik [Bjornsen], and Noah [Hoffman] all skied great legs, especially Erik and Noah, and their incredible performances set me up really high in the placing. It was a really mentally tough for the first 5 km because I was just skiing in no-man’s land with 3rd and 4th about 10 seconds ahead and a huge chase pack about 10 seconds behind.

“I knew that when Noah tagged me I had to try to bridge the gap up in case I was going to have a great day. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling my best and the wheels kind of came off at 5km when the chase pack caught me. I hung tough though and just focused on trying not to lose too much time on the last lap. Our place on the results sheet wasn’t really what any of us had really wanted, but I think all of us guys are generally happy with our improvement in this event we know that we can be fighting for a top 5 or a top 3 on a day when we are all on our game 100% and we are on a course that really suits our strengths.

“We had a great skis today. It was a very tough course in really icy conditions. It was rock hard and fast and our service team did a great job with getting boards ready that had good kick and were fast for the classic legs and really fast for the skate legs.

“I’ll head to Davos (SUI) tomorrow with the rest of the team and prepare for the skate sprint coming up this weekend. Next Wednesday we’ll travel to Toblach (ITA) for the final weekend of racing before the Christmas break. We have a skate sprint on the schedule there, too, so I’m definitely looking forward to the next couple weeks,” he added.

Full results here.