Erik Valnes bests Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo as Linn Svahn picks up where she left off in Ruka
BySportsbeat
Updated 27/11/2020 at 21:15 GMT
Valnes had historically struggled against his illustrious team-mate. It was desperately close at the finish, with Valnes taking the lead heading into the final uphill section and crossing the line 0.61 seconds to the good. World Cup sprint champion Linn Svahn won the women's event ahead of Maja Dahlqvist and Jonna Sundling.
Erik Valnes celebrates ahead of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Men's Sprint Classic, FIS World Cup Ruka Nordic, Kuusamo, Finland, November 27, 2020
Image credit: Getty Images
Erik Valnes beat three-time Olympic champion Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo to claim his first World Cup triumph in the Cross-Country Sprint Classic in Ruka.
Sweden's defending World Cup sprint champion Linn Svahn picked up where she left off to win the women's event.
Valnes, despite being behind Klaebo approaching the final uphill section, claimed the men's event by a margin of 0.61 seconds thanks to a surging finish on the climb.
In the ten previous World Cup sprint events in which both Valnes and his more esteemed compatriot Klaebo had both contested, Valnes had never before finished ahead.
Emil Iversen ensured a Norwegian clean sweep of the men's podium with Russia's reigning overall World Cup winner and four-time Olympic medallist Alexander Bolshunov in fourth in the opening Cross-Country World Cup event of the season.
In the women's event, 20-year-old sprint specialist Svahn was a comfortable winner ahead of Maja Dahlqvist and Jonna Sundling.
Norway's Lotta Udnes Weng had led approaching the final climb but was overhauled by the Swedes in the end as she finished fourth.
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