Men’s 4X10 Relay:
Marcus Hellner “the man with the hand stretched boots” skis decisive anchor leg to Swedish Gold.
Leg 1 – Gaillard Puts France in Lead Pack
The pack heads off in a controlled start, all the usual suspects skiing together - until the start of the 2nd lap where France’s Jean-Marc Gaillard puts the pressure on. He skied away from the field, leaving GER, SWE, FIN, NOR behind – a small gap to Canada’s Kershaw, Czech and Switzerland. In the final km to the 1st exchange, JM Gaillard crashed in the turn, losing his gap, letting a charging Jauhojaervi of Finland catch up and make it to the exchange in first place. Sweden, Germany and Norway all followed less than 5 seconds behind. Canada exchanged in the next pack – over 25seconds back. It was snaining (snow raining) and zero, rubbed and hairies skis were used.
Leg 2 – Bauer Climbs Back in the Pack
It didn’t take long for SWE’s Olsson to take the lead and push the pace as he had done so well in the 30km Pursuit. At the start of lap 2, he had a slim cushion over the first chase pack FRA (Vittoz), GER (Teichmann), KAZ (Poltaranin) and NOR (Hjelmeset). But in behind, an early charge by Canada’s Alex Harvey was unknowingly helping sling shot CZE Lukas Bauer back in contention...At the exchange, Olsson held on to slim lead over FRA and CZE – GER, KAZ chased +27sec back...FIN and Norway’s Hjelmeset was the most notable skier dropped, crossing the line almost 35seconds back!
Leg 3 – Babikov Posts 2nd fastest time
SWE (Soedergren), FRA (Magnificat) and CZE (Magal) skied most of leg 3 together, maintaining their lead over the chase pack NOR (Berger), GER (Sommerfelt) and FIN (Kattilakoski). RUS’s Legkov stormed out of the gate, charging hard, catching the trio in front of him, but couldn’t hold his pace, blowing up hard before the last exchange. Canada’s Babikov was the biggest mover and shaker, working with ITA (Cottrer) to gain time on the pack ahead - posting the 2nd fastest time of leg 3, picking off RUS and KAZ to move up into 7th position.
Leg 4 –Hellner escapes to more gold, while Northug chases and then show’s off.
Final showdown...SWE (Hellner), FRA (Jonnier) and CZE (Koukal) cruised out of the start, enjoying a nice 36 second lead over the chase pack of GER (Angerer), FIN (Nousiainen) and NOR (Northug). Canada’s Grey chased at +50sec, with ITA (Zorzi) and RUS (Vylegzhanin) hot on his heels! At the start of the 2nd lap, the infamous Northug decided to put the hammer down...leaving GER and FIN in his dust. In a amazing display of ski racing, Northug worked his way over the next lap and half making up a huge time gap to catch the leaders! But feeling Northug’s breath getting closer, SWE (Hellner) floored the last lap to separate himself from the Koukel and Jonnier before Northtug could bridge. Hellner built up a cushion that would seal the GOLD for Sweden! By now the snow had not only stopped but sun was breaking through the clouds! On the final climb before the stadium, Northug managed to catch Jonnier and Koukal, playing with them like a cat with mice...Once he pushed on the afterburners, it was all over – Koukal (CZE) managed to suck in as much draft as possible, claiming a well earned Bronze, but leaving France to swallow a difficult 4th place.
Leg 2 – Bauer Climbs Back in the Pack
It didn’t take long for SWE’s Olsson to take the lead and push the pace as he had done so well in the 30km Pursuit. At the start of lap 2, he had a slim cushion over the first chase pack FRA (Vittoz), GER (Teichmann), KAZ (Poltaranin) and NOR (Hjelmeset). But in behind, an early charge by Canada’s Alex Harvey was unknowingly helping sling shot CZE Lukas Bauer back in contention...At the exchange, Olsson held on to slim lead over FRA and CZE – GER, KAZ chased +27sec back...FIN and Norway’s Hjelmeset was the most notable skier dropped, crossing the line almost 35seconds back!
Leg 3 – Babikov Posts 2nd fastest time
SWE (Soedergren), FRA (Magnificat) and CZE (Magal) skied most of leg 3 together, maintaining their lead over the chase pack NOR (Berger), GER (Sommerfelt) and FIN (Kattilakoski). RUS’s Legkov stormed out of the gate, charging hard, catching the trio in front of him, but couldn’t hold his pace, blowing up hard before the last exchange. Canada’s Babikov was the biggest mover and shaker, working with ITA (Cottrer) to gain time on the pack ahead - posting the 2nd fastest time of leg 3, picking off RUS and KAZ to move up into 7th position.
Leg 4 –Hellner escapes to more gold, while Northug chases and then show’s off.
Final showdown...SWE (Hellner), FRA (Jonnier) and CZE (Koukal) cruised out of the start, enjoying a nice 36 second lead over the chase pack of GER (Angerer), FIN (Nousiainen) and NOR (Northug). Canada’s Grey chased at +50sec, with ITA (Zorzi) and RUS (Vylegzhanin) hot on his heels! At the start of the 2nd lap, the infamous Northug decided to put the hammer down...leaving GER and FIN in his dust. In a amazing display of ski racing, Northug worked his way over the next lap and half making up a huge time gap to catch the leaders! But feeling Northug’s breath getting closer, SWE (Hellner) floored the last lap to separate himself from the Koukel and Jonnier before Northtug could bridge. Hellner built up a cushion that would seal the GOLD for Sweden! By now the snow had not only stopped but sun was breaking through the clouds! On the final climb before the stadium, Northug managed to catch Jonnier and Koukal, playing with them like a cat with mice...Once he pushed on the afterburners, it was all over – Koukal (CZE) managed to suck in as much draft as possible, claiming a well earned Bronze, but leaving France to swallow a difficult 4th place.
Hellner, ”the man with the hand stretched boots” has distanced his team from rest and was able to parade the Swedish flag down the home stretch as he celebrated his second gold medal of these games.
