SKI CLASSICS. Sunday, 6th of December, 2015, was a great day for long distance skiing. A lot of smiling faces were enjoying the perfect sunny weather in Livigno, Italy as the second installment of Visma Ski Classics took place in the form of La Sgambeda. The original 35 km course was shortened to 24 km and the elite skiers completed four laps of six kilometers. The course was almost identical to yesterday’s prologue except it had a short extension with a hard climb and a technical downhill.

The tempo in both women’s and men’s races was much higher than in the prologue, and all athletes felt the strain that Livigno’s high altitude put on their shoulders, and in their lungs in particular. In women’s race, a pack of seven skiers kept a fast pace from the beginning, and Seraina Boner, being the only one skiing with kick wax, tried to push hard on the steep climb to gain some distance but the strong double-polers behind her didn’t really give up that easily.

Katerina Smutna seemed to be struggling a bit in some parts of the course, but she was able to close the gap every time and claimed the victory with her strong sprint in the end. Britta Norgren Johansson, once again, showed her incredible power in double-poling by finishing second right behind Katerina. She admitted that the final climb was tough in high altitude, but she counted on her strength in double-poling in the final kilometers.

World Cup skier Justyna Kowalczyk took the third place stating that long distance skiing and Visma Ski Classics circuit are both still new to her, but she is enjoying every minute of it. We will see her again in Marcialonga in Italy in the end of January, 2016.

On the men’s side of things, it was fast tempo right from the bang. The pack of hungry wolves stayed together for about two laps, and the final loop was led by Petter Eliassen, the Champion of 2015, and his double-poling seemed very strong as expected, but he couldn’t keep up with that stamina until end and he found himself barely in the top 10.

Instead, Eugeny Dementiev was really strong in the final kilometer, and for awhile it seemed that he will cross the finish line as the fastest skier of today, but John Kristian Dahl was able to sprint up in the final meters and take home the prestigious victory trophy of the first individual Visma Ski Classics race of the season. He said that he was happy to be back on the podium and it feels good to win again since his last victory is Vasaloppet 2014.

Some familiar faces could be spotted in the top ten list such as Morten Eide Pedersen, 4th, Tord Asle Gjerdalen, 5th, the legend himself Anders Aukland 7th and Ville Nousiainen, 8th, the National Ski Team member of Finland. For sure, these guys crave for some podium places in the remaining Visma Ski Classics races of the season.

Leader of the Visma Ski Classics Sprint competition is Anders Nygaard from Team Santander who dominated in both sprints. The leading bibs of the youth competition are held by Stian Hoelgaard from Leaseplan go on the men's side and Tuva Toftdahl Staver from Team Exspirit on the women's side!

Here are the final results of the top three skiers in both men’s and women’s categories:
 
MEN 24 km
1. John Kristian Dahl                       Team United Bakeries           0:53:15:03
2. Eugeny Dementiev                       Team Futura                         0:53:15:11
3. Johan Kjölstad                            Team United Bakeries           0:53:15:44
 
WOMEN 24 km
1. Katerina Smutna                          Team Santander                   1:01:47:74
2. Britta Norgren Johansson             Lager 157 Ski Team            1:01:48:24
3. Justyna Kowalczyk                      Team Santander                   1:01:48:53

press release
Visma Ski Classics
Sun, December 6, 2015 2:11 pm
Photos by Magnus Östh / Visma Ski Classics

Visma Ski Classics 2015/2016
● December: The Prologue in Livigno, Italy: 15 km
● December: La Sgambeda in Livigno, Italy : 35 km
● January: Jizerska Bedrichov in Czech Republic: 50 km
● January: La Diagonela  in St Moritz, Switzerland: 65 km
● January: Marcialonga in Trention, Italy: 70 km
● February: König Ludwig Lauf in Bayern, Germany: 50 km
● February: Dobbiaco/Toblach-Cortina in Italy: 50 km
● March: Vasaloppet in Dalarna, Sweden: 90 km
● March: Birken in Lillehammer, Norway: 54 km
● April: Årefjällsloppet in Sweden: 65 km

Also, visit www.vismaskiclassics.com