Hattestad wins men’s sprint at Nordic worlds

LIBEREC, Czech Republic — Ola Vigen Hattestad confirmed his supremacy this season by winning the men’s cross-country sprint Tuesday at the Nordic skiing world championships.

Ola Vigen Hattestad. Photo: swix.no

Hattestad led for much of the race and held off Norwegian teammate Johan Kjoelstad in the sprint to the finish. Hattestad won in 3 minutes, 0.8 seconds on the 1.6-kilometer course to beat Kjoelstad by 0.4 seconds. Nikolay Morilov of Russia took bronze, 1.0 seconds back.

“I felt terribly strong in all the heats, but I have to admit I feared Johan in the final,” Hattestad said. “I noticed he was on my back, and I felt pretty tired with just a few hundred meters from the finish. But I held up.”

Hattestad has dominated the World Cup sprint events this season and was heavily favored to take the gold. It was his first world title, after being dropped from the team in Sapporo, Japan two years ago.

“I wanted revenge today,” Hattestad said. “I prepared for this sprint by listening to music from Sapporo to bring back some of the memories from that time.”

Source: USAtoday.