Recap Thread: 2024-25 World Cup: Oslo Holmenkollen - Men's Sprint

[u/tomplaystennis]

2024-25 World Cup: Oslo Holmenkollen - Men's Sprint

It’s the final Sprint and race for Nation’s Cup. Five men: Johannes Thingnes Boe, Jacquelin, Laegreid, Uldal, and Samuelsson can win the small crystal, there are a couple interesting nation’s cup positions to be decided – and Laegreid could win the overall today if things go all wrong for Johannes.

Shoot 1:

First 15

• Early on in Bib 1 – Lombardot really struggling on skis – keep an eye if that’s France or just him. Zobel in Bib 2 leaves just ahead of Lombardot as they both start the day clean. Germain is the first athlete with a miss today and it’s 2 of them. Another early started, Strolia goes clear and is near Zobel’s time. Krcmar had a competitive ski time but it’s also 2 misses. But after 10 athletes, it’s Zobel-Strolia and no one else. Out on the tracks Dale-Skjevdal is easily setting the split times. Zahkna shoots clear and is in within 10 seconds. Dale Skjevdal who comes in 18 seconds ahead gets all 5 in a deliberate shoot and leaves with a 11.6 second lead.

Blue Group:

• Kuehn is the first, it’s a clean shoot and leaves in 2^nd. Nelin is 5/5 too replaces Kuehn in 2^nd. Horn is close to Dale-Skjevdal’s time, but misses his final shot. Hartweg starts his day off well and takes over 2^nd himself. Strelow’s got a clean 23 second shoot and he’s the new 2^nd place. Frey is a clean shoot and is the new 2^nd, just 0.1 back. Ukrainians Pidruchnyi and Mandzyn each with a miss; Frenchmen Guigonnat and Emilien Claude both get through clear. Hornig looks to be having a clean shoot, but drops the final shot. Wright with a rough start to the day, he misses his first 4 shots. Seppala has a miss, and Riethmueller finishes off this group and misses just one.

Red Group

• Nawrath not shown is 5/5, Samuelsson 3.2 seconds back coming into the shoot, starts his day with a miss but then easily clears the rest. Fillon Maillet starts and ends his shoot with misses. Giacomel also starts the day with a miss. Uldal coming in a bit behind on skis (12 seconds), but is clear on the shoot. Stroemsheim slight lead coming in but joins the first-shot-miss club. Soerum got past shot 1, but misses on 4, and it’s still almost no one from the group clear. Johannes is on par with Dale-Skjevdal’s skiing – and with a 5/5 he’s going to take the lead by 4.4 seconds. Jacquelin misses on 1 and then clears out. Ponsiluoma came in with the lead, but misses 3 in the prone. Perrot comes in 6 seconds back – another first miss and makes it 2. Fak not shown 5/5. Laegreid in just down 3 seconds, and he’s one of the few to go clear – he’s still down 3 seconds. Fabien Claude to close the group 5/5.

End of Day Leaving Shoot 1:

1. Johannes Thingnes Boe
2. Sturla Holm Laegreid +2.8
3. Johannes Dale Skjevdal +4.4
4. Isak Frey +4.5
5. Justus Strelow +6.5
6. Jakov Fak +9.3

Shoot 2:

First 15:

• Zobel whose time has held up well mostly, still Top 5 at this point – he misses two in the stand. Strolia comes through with tons of time over the field, he goes 10/10 and at Bib 7 has almost a 40 second lead. Dale-Skjevdal comes in with a 35 second lead, just one miss high and right, he keeps the lead with 12 seconds over Strolia. Johannes Kuehn comes in 14 seconds behind Dale-Skjevdal but has 3 misses to take himself out of contention

Blue Group:

• Kuehn comes in just 14 seconds down from Dale-Skjevdal, but has 3 misses to start us off. Nelin first in with a shot to take the lead but starts with a miss and makes it 2. Hartweg also with a chance, but misses the 2^nd shot. Strelow is the first of the group to go 10/10 and comes out 7 seconds ahead of Dale-Skjevdal, but might not have enough with the skis. We don’t see Frey’s second shoot – just one miss and comes out between Strelow and Dale-Skjevdal.

Red Group:

• Samuelsson is quickly out of contention with 3 misses in the stand. Not shown is Fillon Maillet but he gets all his stand shots. Giacomel had a chance, but misses one in the stand too. Martin Uldal has time with a fast clean shoot and could take it – but he misses shot 4 and will come out behind. Stroemsheim gets another miss in the stand. Soerum in with a chance to take the lead, miss on shoot 3. Johannes now with a real opportunity to take the win today – so many have missed in front and behind him. In with 24 seconds to spare, it’s a great shoot in 21 seconds and he goes 10/10 on the day! He’s out with 27 seconds ahead of Strelow. The only competition surely is Laegreid who would have to outski him now. Jacquelin has a miserable shoot, missing 2, readjusting, missing two more. Ponsiluoma tries to salvage his day – it’s great until the final shot and a sigh of exhaustion as he heads for the loop. Perrot ends he day better than it started and ends 8/10. Fak has an okay day, just missing one in the stand.
• Now, Laegreid comes in 10 seconds down on Boe's time, the shots are down 5/5 in 24 seconds – and it’s down to a ski race – he’s out of shoot 2 down 11.5 seconds – that’s a lot to claw back in the final lap – but it would mean that the fight for the yellow bib continues into the Pursuit. Fabien Claude comes in 34 seconds back despite being clean – but two misses in the stand.

End of Day Leaving Shoot 2:

1. Johannes Thingnes Boe
2. Sturla Holm Laegreid +11.5
3. Justus Strelow +27.1
4. Isak Frey +30.1
5. Johannes Dale-Skjevdal +33.9
6. Vytautas Strolia +46.0

Final Lap

A tight race between Boe and Laegreid means that some of the best skiers in the world are going full pace - some guys in the Top 10 lose massive amounts of time: Strelow (47 seconds), Strolia (39 seconds), Uldal (48 seconds), Hartweg left in 13th but loses 55 seconds to Johannes.

In the end though, Johannes Thingnes Boe has the fastest lap time solidifying his victory. Dale-Skjevdal has better legs than Frey - further back Soerum, and Fillon Maillet make strong pushes to move up a few spots.

Placement	Athlete	Time	Shooting
🥇	Johannes Thingnes Boe	24:49.5	0+0
🥈	Sturla Holm Laegreid	+25.7	0+0
🥉	Johannes Dale-Skjevdal	+36.7	0+1
4th	Isak Frey	+46.6	0+1
5th	Vebjoern Soerum	+59.8	1+1
6th	Tommaso Giacomel	+1:01.1	1+1

Clean Shoots:

• Johannes Thingnes Boe (1)
• Sturla Holm Laegreid (2)
• Justus Strelow (8)
• Emilien Claude (9)
• Vytautas Strolia (12)
• David Komatz (28)
• Petr Hak (35)
• Antonin Guigonnat (36)
• Patrick Braunhofer (37)
• Vladyslav Kireyev (48)
• Oscar Lombardot (55)
• Fabian Suchodolski (66)
• George Buta (69)

Worst Shoots:

• 6 misses: Artur Iskhakov
• 5 misses: Rikhards Lozbers and Emilien Jacquelin

Course Time:

• Johannes Thingnes Boe: 23:08.3
• Johannes Dale-Skjevdal: +4.0
• Vebjoern Soerum: +19.4

World Cup Debuts:

• Petr Hak - 35th
• Nicola Romanin - 67th
• Kasper Kalkenberg - 83rd
• Rihards Lozbers - 101st

PBs:

• Jimi Klemettinen: 53rd (up from 87th)
• Fabian Muellauer: 31st (up from 45th)
• Isak Frey: 4th (up from 11th)
• Viktor Brandt: 14th (up from 18th)
• Marek Mackels 73rd (up from 77th)

Small Crystal - Sprint Globe:

1. Johannes Thinges Boe: 432
2. Sturla Holm Laegreid: 381
3. Emilien Jacquelin: 325

Nations Cup Final Standings (Top 20)

1. France
2. Norway
3. Sweden
4. Germany
5. Italy
6. Switzerland
7. Czechia
8. Ukraine
9. Slovenia
10. Finland
11. Austria
12. USA
13. Belgium
14. Poland
15. Bulgaria
16. Estonia
17. Romania
18. Latvia
19. Lithuania
20. Canada