Norway won both senior titles on the opening day of the Roller Ski World Championships in Madona, Latvia. On Thursday, 3 September, Andreas Bergsland (NOR) won the men's 10km classic individual start in 23:11.4. Ragnhild Aarekol (NOR) won the women's race. Germany's Thomas Bing took men's bronze, giving his team a medal on the first day.
Norwegian one-two in the men's race
Fondoitalia reported that Bergsland and his teammate Amund August Korsaeth (NOR) were level for the first four kilometres. Bergsland then raised the pace and claimed the title. Korsaeth took silver, 45.7 seconds back.
Bing finished third, 53.3 seconds behind the winner. According to the German site xc-ski.de, he was less than eight seconds behind Korsaeth. The same site describes local hero Raimo Vigants (LAT), who finished fourth, as the "Lokalmatador". Simon Karlsson (SWE) placed fifth, ahead of Oleksander Lisohor (UKR). Bing's German teammates Frans Daubitz and Jurij Propp finished 30th and 32nd.
Tommaso Dellagiacoma (ITA) was ninth, 1:39.1 behind Bergsland. Fondoitalia said the 29-year-old from Predazzo gained places, especially over the last three kilometres. Giovanni Lorenzetti (ITA) finished 13th, 1:51.5 behind the winner, and Riccardo Lorenzo Masiero (ITA) was 20th, 2:26.8 back.
Aarekol wins the women's race
Aarekol won in 27:27.9, three seconds ahead of Poland's Aleksandra Kolodziej. Estonia's Keidy Kaasiku took bronze, but the sources disagree on the margin for third place. The German site xc-ski.de puts Kaasiku a further seven seconds behind Kolodziej, which is ten seconds off the winner. ProXCskiing lists third place at 11.0 seconds back, but also names Aleksandra Kolodziej as the third-placed finisher.
Cross-CountryItaly names 14 cross-country skiers for Grand Prix Sportful in FeltreGermany had three women in the race: Lena Mettang finished 21st, Klara Ohngemach 23rd and Melina Schöttes 27th.
Junior titles for Slovenia and Ukraine
Tine Sporn (SLO) won the junior men's title by 1.4 seconds over Stefan Kivil (EST), and Ville Jutterdal (SWE) took bronze. In the junior women's race, Sofiia Shkatula (UKR) beat Matilda Grahn (SWE) by 2.1 seconds, with Gerda Kivil (EST) in third. Katelynn Kober finished 34th for Germany.
What comes next
The 200m freestyle sprints for all categories, with qualification and finals, are on Saturday, 5 September. On Sunday, 6 September, the senior women race a 20km freestyle mass start and the junior women race a 15km freestyle mass start.
