Swedish Speed Legends Defeat Expectations at Oslo Marathon!
Norway's Einar Hedegart (R) and Norway's Kasper Andersson Herland (L) react after the Men's Mass Start 50km Free Race of the FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Holmenkollen. Terje Pedersen/NTB/dpa Einar Hedegart led a 1-8 for hosts Norway while rivals Sweden responded with a women's podium sweep led by Frida Karlsson in the prestigious 50 kilometres cross country ski World Cup races in Oslo on Saturday. Former biathlete Hedegart triumphed for a third season and career win in the injury-related absence of superstar Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.
Hedegart won four-tenths of a second ahead of Harald Østberg Amundsen and 1. 1 seconds ahead of Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget on a foggy day at the iconic Holmenkollen venue. Victor Lovera of France was the best non-Norwegian in ninth place, almost 50 seconds back.
The leader group of eight Norwegians formed in the closing stages after another Norwegian, Iver Tildheim Andersen, had made a breakaway at around 33km because he had changed skis earlier than others. Hedegart won team sprint and relay gold plus 10km bronze at last month's Milan/Cortina Olympics where Klæbo famously swept all six golds. Klæbo was missing on Saturday due to concussion he sustained in a fall in the Drammen sprint on Thursday.
It is unclear whether he will be fit to return for next week's World Cup finals in the United States. Klæbo has already clinched the overall and sprint World Cup titles. The women started 45 minutes after the men on the same course which added excitement for the spectators, but twice Olympic champion Karlsson decided the race by skiing away shortly before the 35km mark.
She won for the third time in Oslo with a huge margin of 1:48 minutes ahead of Olympic sprint champion Linn Svahn. Jonna Sundling completed the sweep which left no place on the podium for Norway's Heidi Weng. Olympic 50km champion Ebba Andersson of Sweden was almost seven minutes behind in 27th place.