It has been a successful weekend for Norwegian team
veteran Haavard Klemetsen who managed to stand on
the very top of the podium of both, the Supersprint,
which is traditionally held in conjunction with
the training camp in Lillehammer, and at the Norwegian
summer nationals this Saturday and Sunday.
In the roller-ski sprint competition in the pedestrian
precinct of Lillehammer, a finish photo finally
had to decide who was the winner of the 2013 Supersprint.
Klemetsen beat roller-skiing sensation Magnus Moan
by a hair's breadth. In the semifinals, Moan had
beaten clubmate Joergen Graabak. Espen Andersen
claimed a fourth rank.
And Klemetsen continued to win: At the additional
ski jumping for the Supersprint on Sunday morning,
which also acted as PCR for the summer nationals
which followed later on Sunday, Klemetsen once again
took the top position. With a jump of 100 metres,
the Norwegian from Kautokeino accumulated 143,5
points which meant a 6,5 point lead on young talent
Jarl Riiber who once again proved over the whole
weekend that he is an athlete to be reckoned with
in the future. Riiber shared his second rank with
Espen Bjoernstad (both 137 points).
In the total calculation (addition of the points
from jumping and from the sprint) this meant a victory
with 263,5 points for Klemetsen. Sindre Ure Soetvik
ranked second with 248,1 points and the third place
went to Espen Bjoernstad with 237,3 points. Magnus
Moan fell back on a fourth rank (235,5 p.) due to
his seventh rank in the ski jumping part.
The picture was not very much differnt in the summer
national championship later on Sunday. Klemetsen
reigned supreme on the jump hill (97 m; 144,5 p.)
and Espen Bjoernstad and Jarl Riiber followed on
ranks two and three (98 m, 142 p. and 98 m; 140,5
p.) National team members Joergen Graabak, Jan Schmid,
Magnus Krog and Magnus Moan followed on ranks four,
five, six and seven at the intermediate point.
In the roller-ski part in Lillehammer's brand-new
Birkebeiner-stadium, there never was any serious
doubt who the winner of the race would be. Klemetsen
started 10 seconds ahead of Bjoernstad and 16 ahead
of Riiber and only needed the 5th fastest cross-country
time (20:27) for the 10 kilometres to cross the
finish line 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Joergen
Graabak. Magnus Moan set the fastest time on the
track (19:45) and improved from rank seven to rank
three. Jan Schmid and Magnus Krog claimed ranks
four and five and youngster Riiber came in on a
great final sixth position.
"I am really impressed by Haavard", head
coach Kristian Hammer says. "He has done tremendous
work in training and improved a lot in the cross-country
part."
For the final Norges Cup standing after six competitions
(2 in Oslo, 2 in Trondheim and 2 in Lillehammer),
this meant a clear win for Joergen Graabak. With
two wins, three second places and a seventh rank
and a total of 476 points, he topped the result
list ahead of Jan Schmid (321 p.) and Magnus Krog
(291). With Haavard Klemetsen and Magnus Moan claiming
total ranks 4 and five, the whole first five places
went to athletes from Granaasen Ski Team.
