Tuž 5th in Sprint Final; Klaebo Wins Second Gold – CT Sport Update

Jiří Tuž made it to the finals after a superb success in the semi-final run. The fourth fastest man in the qualification did not have enough strength in the fight for medals, he finished fifth. Johannes Klaebo, who has the second gold from this year’s Games, is happy about the clear victory. American Ben Ogden and another Norwegian, Oskar Vike, lined up behind him. Sweden’s Linn Svahnová won the women’s race ahead of her two compatriots – Jonna Sundlingová and Maja Dahlqvist.

Tuž took care of the best Czech sprint result in Olympic history. The previous high was Martin Koukal’s tenth place in 2002 in Salt Lake City in the freestyle event. “I had the final in my head in the morning. When I felt in those heats, how I felt, really strong, I could give everything, so it was really a dream come true for me,” he said.

He was not surprised that in the final the field of competitors was divided into two halves right at the beginning. “When I saw how Klaebo rode the skiathlon, in the form he is in, it was clear to me that he would not want to leave it to chance here. That he would ride the saw from the start like an animal. He rode like an animal, and there I didn’t have enough strength for him or the three in front of me. Anyway, I’m happy with how I did in the races before. The fact that the final didn’t work out… I think I have a few more Olympics ahead of me, and maybe I’ll repeat it like this someday and maybe I’ll improve it,” said Tuž.

The finalists ran to the finish line with great distances, there was no drama at the finish line. According to Tuž, it was due to the difficulty of the race. “Even the skis can no longer be adjusted between heats, and it slowed down terribly. It didn’t go terribly well against the qualification and it was a terribly difficult race. When you have such a magus like Klaebo tearing it up like that, it’s no wonder.”

Twenty-nine-year-old Klaebo already has only eight-time Olympic winners and his compatriots cross-country skiers Marit Björgen, Björn Dählie and biathlete Ole Einar Björndalen ahead of him in the medal standings. In Teser, he is currently copying the scenario from last year’s world championship in Trondheim, where he dominated all six races he entered.

Kateřina Janatová and Ondřej Černý narrowly failed in the quarterfinals, losing the fight for second place by just two hundredths of a second. “I was running out of strength, I fought as hard as I could. I believed. I kicked my leg there, but my opponent was faster,” said Černý about the finish.

Janatová improved the nineteenth place from Beijing, where the sprint was run freely. “I’m very happy with the fact that it’s a classic sprint. I knew that if we stayed together after the biggest climb, anything could happen. I took a risk in the last corner because I thought I had nothing to lose. Maybe I could have followed Maja Dahlqvist and not chosen my own trail. Theoretically, it could have been a little bit second place,” said the seventh woman in Saturday’s skiathlon.

Botn reigned supreme among biathletes

Norwegian biathlete Johan-Olav Botn won the 20-kilometer endurance race, the best of the Czechs was Vítězslav Hornig in 26th place in Anterselva. Botn ran for the gold after flawless shooting. World Cup leader Éric Perrot of France finished second, 14.8 seconds behind, adding silver to the gold from Saturday’s mixed relay. Another Norwegian, Sturla Holm Laegreid, also won the bronze with one penalty minute.

Botn was having an amazing season until Christmas, when he found national team colleague Sivert Guttorm Bakken dead in his hotel room and, shaken, took a break from racing. He lost the World Cup leader’s jersey and only returned in Nové Město na Morava at the end of January. He won his first major medal today. “For Sivert”, he wrote to the TV camera at the finish line.

The Czech representatives did not do well today, they also lost on skis. Hornig scored two penalty minutes, with which he was five and a quarter minutes behind the winning Nor. Other Czechs shot even worse. Michal Krčmář finished in 38th place with four penalty minutes, Mikuláš Karlík was 68th and Olympic debutant Petr Hák took 81st place.

Female skiers finished sixteenth in the combined

The Czech expedition had a double participation in the team combination. Barbora Nováková (+4.82) took the twenty-third time in the downhill, Elisa Maria Negriová (+8.63) the twenty-fifth. Martina Dubovská then took the better Czech pair to sixteenth position in the slalom.

Negriová and Alena Labaštová finished in 18th position among the teams that finished the competition. The outage also affected Slovakian slalom star Petra Vlhová, who took to the competition slope after a two-year break caused by a serious knee injury and two operations.

The Austrians Ariane Rädlerová and Katharina Huberová rejoice over the victory. Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin finished fourth, even though they were leading after the downhill. But Shiffrin messed up the slalom and the Americans ended up without a medal.

Kroupa failed in the first qualification

Acrobatic skier Matyáš Kroupa took the 24th place in the first part of the bump riding qualification and did not make it into the ten directly advancing to the finals. He will have a second chance on Thursday, when another ten competitors will ensure their participation in the medal fights in Livigno.

Nineteen-year-old Kroupa received a grade of 68.75 for his performance, seven more were needed for direct advancement. Only Japanese Ikuma Horishima surpassed the 80-point mark. The favored Canadian Mikaël Kingsbury and defending champion Sweden Walter Wallberg also advanced directly.

The Czech representative was pleased with the performance. “The feelings are great. I’m excited that I finished the ride in one piece and that the jumps came out like in training,” he said. “In terms of skiing, I’m not very happy with it, because the visibility dropped and I couldn’t see the shape of the bumps as I would have liked. So it wasn’t the cleanest, it wasn’t the most aggressive. I have some foundation and I’ll build on that foundation,” said Kroupa.

Norwegian Birk Ruud became the champion in slopestyle skiing. He won his second gold medal under the five hoops after dominating the big air four years ago in Beijing. He won in Livigno ahead of defending champion Alex Hall from the USA and New Zealander Luca Harrington.

The first gold medal in the short track was won by the domestic speed skaters in the mixed 2000 meter relay. Elisa Confortola, Arianna Fontana, Thomas Nadalini and Pietro Sighel won the final heat by 239 thousandths of a second ahead of Canada. Belgium finished third. The fourth Chinese in Milan did not defend the gold from Beijing, where this discipline had its Olympic premiere.