Fund: Belorukova and Bolshunov, Ruka Sprint speaks Russian

Russian double in the Sprint in classical technique that opened the Cross-Country World Cup. Pellegrino and Scardoni stop in the semifinals.

Saturday 24 November 2018 6 minutes reading time

The first round of the Russian-Norwegian battle between Johannes HÃ¸sflot KlÃ¦bo and Alexander Bolshunov who promises to be one of the leit-motiv of the season ends in favor of the Russian. The Norwegian, the Olympic champion in charge in the format, dominates the qualifications and the quarter-final and requires only one cent in the semifinals in the first close encounter with the Russian, both class 1996 separated by just over two months, which in qualification had scored the third time. It is the same semifinal to which Federico Pellegrino landed after a quiet qualification with the eleventh time. According to a step from Bolshunov in the quarterfinals, the Aosta Valley is caught by surprise in the first part of the race, the starting point square that allows him to approach the very first positions on the tear that Ruka makes the difference but remains intertwined in the topical moment closing in fifth position, a placement that places him in the ninth place of the classification. In the final where we speak only Russian and Norwegian - the two tenors are flanked by Brandsdal, Iversen, Fossli on one side and Retivykh on the other - Johannes HÃ¸sflot KlÃ¦bo called the law as his standard conquering a detachment that seems decisive at the top of the tear but the surprise arrives on the final straight where the Norwegian enters, in the rightmost track with an advantage that appears unbridgeable. Eirik Brandsdal is on his left while Bolshunov chooses not to use the track and launches in a desperate pursuit to the right of the Olympic champion who has a fatal hesitation ten meters from the finish line. He interrupts the action to turn around to check the tracks on his left while Bolshunov arrives like a hawk from the opposite side, when KlÃ¦bo senses his presence, the Russian is already at his side fully launched while the Noscegese must revive the action. Aleksandr Bolshunov is imposed, according to a disappointed Johannes HÃ¸sflot KlÃ¦bo, third Eirik Brandsdal. Emil Iversen is fourth, Gleb Retivykh fifth, Sondre Tuvoll Fossli sixth. They remained off the grid after qualifying Maicol Rastelli with the thirty-sixth time and Francesco De Fabiani, thirty-ninth. In the women's field, she missed very shortly her first career final, however, Lucia Scardoni after having imposed a comeback in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, the Venetian tries to attack the climb but at the decisive moment fails to overtake the Finnish Krista Parmakoski and the Swedish Maja Dahlqvist. The third place, in the slower semi-final, does not allow her access to the final as a lucky loser, but places her in seventh place in the final classification, the best result in her career. She was released in the quarterfinals Greta Laurent that is jumped in the final by the Swedes Moa Lundgren and passed to the fotofinish by the other Swedish Anna Dyvik. Fourteenth place for her. In the final comes the first victory in the World Cup of the Russian Yulia Belorukova that twelve months, always in Ruka, went up for the first time on the podium and then put on the podium at PyeongChang the Bronze medal. The twenty-three of Sosnogorsk makes the difference on the climb and precedes the finish line the Swedish Maja Dahlqvist. Fight to the last centimeter for the third place that ends in the photo finish where Ida Ingemarsdotter has the best that burns the holder of the specialty Cup, the Norwegian Maiken Caspersen Falla. Fifth place for the Finnish Krista Parmakoski while it is the sixth Stina Nilsson, which completes the Swedish trio in the final, which falls at the entrance to the final straight.