With tears in her eyes, cross-country skier Karoline Simpson-Larsen spoke for the first time about her last conversation with the recently deceased biathlete Sivert Guttorm Bakken. “The day before Christmas Eve was very hard,” she told Viaplay. “It’s strange. The last thing Sivert told me the day before was that he believed in us and that he should be here to watch. He and Johan, because actually they should be in Lavazè.”
Simpson-Larsen won the final stage of the Tour de Ski on Sunday. Her friend, Bakken’s teammate Johan-Olav Botn, found the biathlete dead in his hotel room in Lavazè, Italy, on December 23rd. The 27-year-old Bakken was in Italy for training. He was wearing an altitude training mask when he was found. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
“Sivert was someone who wouldn’t give up”
Taking on the job after the death of her colleague friend was more difficult than she thought, Simpson-Larsen said. She absolutely didn’t expect a win. “I hope this shows that I am strong and you just have to keep fighting no matter what happens,” said the Norwegian. “Sivert was someone who wouldn’t give up, and that thought motivated me.”
Now she is just sad and looking forward to the journey home with her boyfriend Johan-Olav Botn, who will not be taking part in the upcoming Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof due to flu.
Meanwhile, US cross-country skier Jessie Diggins secured overall victory in the Tour de Ski for the third time. The 34-year-old took second place at the end of the “mountain stage” on Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme. In the final tally she was a whopping 2:17.7 minutes ahead of the Austrian Teresa Stadlober.
However, Diggins will not achieve the record set by the Polish Justyna Kowalczyk and the Norwegian Therese Johaug, who each won the Tour de Ski four times – she will end her career at the end of the season.
The German U-23 world champion Helen Hoffmann, who came tenth in the daily ranking and came 13th in the overall ranking as the best DSV athlete, ran strongly at the end. During the Tour de Ski, Olympic champion Katharina Hennig Dotzler, among others, dropped out.
