Men's 15 km classic race turned out to be an exciting battle of seconds. Russia's Maxim Vylegzhanin led the competition from the start, but Norway's Petter Northug's pace in the last two kilometers was too much for the Russian. Northug beat Vylegzhanin by 1,2 seconds. Alexander Legkov reinforced Russia's strong performance by finishing third.

“I wasn't expecting a win today so I'm pretty surprised of the result. My race went well and I'm really happy of the victory”, Northug said.

He has previously been considered as more of a mass start specialist, but proved with today's performance that he's also a very strong competitor in other distance races. Northug already has clear plans for the rest of the season.

“I won't compete in Düsseldorf, so the next time I will be skiing in Davos. I've never done too well there, so I'm not looking forward to it. But it's a high altitude race, so it's good preparation for the olympics, which are main goal this season.”

STRONG DAY FOR RUSSIA

Russia and Norway dominated the race. There were six Norwegians and five Russians in the top 20. The second-placed Vylegzhanin controlled the whole race, but wasn't too disappointed of finishing second.

“I skied before Petter, so I didn't know how fast he was coming behind me. He showed that he's really strong in the end. I just tried to my best. I hope I will as successful in the coming races.”

The third-placed Legkov had a clear opinion why the Russians were so good today.

“Our service team did a fantastic job. The track was hard and icy, so it was pretty slippery. I had a good start to the race, but the last kilometers didn't go well.”

Text: Oskari Vilkama / Laajasalon opisto
Photo: Polat Taskin
 
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