Nordic Skiingworld championships 2021
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Norway has filed a formal appeal to the FIS after the disqualification of the new 50km world champion. Right now the gold belongs to Emil Iversen, but it is not over here after the sensational final of a race that will be debated for a long time.
Sunday 7 March 2021 3 minutes reading time
Another case that hurts cross-country skiing, precisely in the final race of Oberstdorf 2021 and with the two great protagonists of the movement and of these world championships, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Alexander Bolshunov, involved in that contact that risks costing a lot to both.
Klaebo had signed a real masterpiece, with his fourth title in this world championship at the end of a 50 km in classic resolved to the sprint with his formidable cue, but the Russian protest immediately after the race led the jury to disqualify the Norwegian champion, effectively delivering the gold to compatriot Emil Iversen, who had overtaken Bolshunov in the last meters, with a broken stick after trying to close Klaebo (this is the clear impression he had). Yet, the FIS has decided to punish only the new world champion, announcing his disqualification at 16.05 (which brings Bolshunov to silver and Krueger to bronze).
At that point, Norway filed a first appeal, rejected some twenty minutes later, but as Scandinavian team manager Espen Bjervig confirmed, it was decided to proceed with a formal appeal which will be discussed within 48 hours. “Klaebo tried to pass where there was no space”, was the first explanation of the FIS race director, Pierre Mignerey. Bjervig's thought to VG is quite different, “according to the jury Johannes hindered Bolshunov, but we believe that he did not commit any irregularities and had no alternative to that trajectory”.
And Klaebo himself, speaking to NRK, explained that he “had no other space to go, while Bolshunov had all the space on the other side”. In the end, he still loses the bottom, as happened in Lahti when the same Russian champion collided with Joni Maki at the end of the relay. This story, however, is not over yet.
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