Infinite. There are no words to describe it sprint free cross-country skiing technique Of Federico Pellegrino which, in Davos, Switzerland, repeats second place after yesterday’s result in the team sprint.
Bitter second place, given the ending at photo finish for the Nus policeman who gives in only to the last millimeter to the Frenchman Lucas Charavat. Maybe less, given that the stopwatch scores 3 cents difference between the Aosta Valley and the Transalpine, 3 hundredths that distance Pellegrino from his 18th victory in the World Cup.
Golden opportunity for “Chicco”, and he knows it: Johannes Klæbo the Swede was incredibly eliminated in the quarterfinals Edwin Anger falls at the start. In front, the twenty-year-old Oskar Opstad Vikedesignated heir of Klæbo, e Charavat.
Pellegrino is third, but it has gas. And he recovers until he overtakes the Norwegian on the climb and heads straight for the Transalpine. To whom, however, the tip of the boot is enough to win the race. The policeman from Nus is disappointed, also because he has always achieved important results in Davos: four individual successes (in 2014, 2015, 2020 and 2022) and ten podiums.
The race
Fifth time in qualifying, Pellegrino the second heat wins of the quarter-finals, and is second, in control, in the semifinals. The final, with Anger’s fall after ten metres, sees the young Norwegian Vike setting the – high – pace. But in the climb of the second lap, it is Chanavat who raises the revs.
Pellegrino follows immediately, on the tails of the transalpine at the exit of the last bend. The Valle d’Aosta’s comeback was not entirely successful and he lost the victory by just three cents. The scoreboard reads: 2’17”650 for Chanavat, 2’17”03 for Pellegrino.
