From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
Norway’s Therese Johaug skates to the 2019 Lysebotn Opp Hill Climb win. (Photo: Blink Festival FB page)
Norway’s Blink ski festival began July 31 with a 60-kilometer mass start classic rollerski race in Ålgård city in the Southwest of the country.
The point to point race presented rolling terrain, with a major 5 k climb beginning at 30 k. The course then trended downhill to the finish.
The men’s elite race was a pack-skiing affair. Britain’s Andrew Musgrave took the win in 2:17:11.7 hours. He out-lunged Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger who placed second (+0.3). Also from Norway, Morten Eide Pedersen was third (+0.6). Eighty-nine rollerskiers finished the men’s elite race.
The women’s elite field included 15 athletes with Norway’s Astrid Øyre Slind winning in a time of 2:23:15.7. Thea Krokan Murad (+1:16.3) and Hedda Østberg Amundsen (+5:17.8), both of Norway, placed second and third respectively.
Map of the winding uphill for the 2019 Lysebotn Opp Hill Climb.
On Thursday, Aug. 1, the Blink Festival’s marquee event shook out. That event was the 7.5 k Lysebotn Opp (uphill) skate rollerski race that snakes up and up at the head of the Lysefjord.
The women’s elite 7.5 k climb was won by Norwegian Therese Johaug in 31:18.4 minutes. In second was Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (+2:48.7). Finnish Biathlete Kaisa Makarainen was third (+4:12.3).
Krüger won the men’s elite climb in 28:33.7 minutes. Norwegian Hans Christer Holund was second (+2.9), with France’s Maurice Manificat placing third (+1:00.8).
Blink organizers also kept those with an idea of a massive double pole effort happy. The racing included a 7.5 k uphill double-pole only race.
Musgrave won the men’s double pole climb in 30:52.9 minutes. In second was Pedersen (+27.8), with Norwegian Sjur Røthe in third (+29.4).
Slind won the women’s uphill double pole race in 38:10.6 minutes. Emile Fleten of Norway placed second (+1:23.8), and Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk was third (+1:46.3).
The 7.5-kilometer race course for the Lysebotn Opp, an annual hill climb at the Blink Ski Festival in Lysebotn, Norway. (Photo: Blink Ski Festival/Facebook)
The Blink Ski Festival’s famed Lysebotn Opp hill climb returned on Thursday, and with it, a familiar name landed at the top of the results.
After serving an 18-month ban from ski racing and subsequently missing the 2018 Winter Olympics, Norway’s Therese Johaug is back.
Norway’s Therese Johaug winning the 2018 Lysebotn Opp hill climb, part of the Blink rollerski festival, on Thursday. She finished in a record-setting 31:46.3 minutes, topping her previous course record of 32:36 from 2012. American Liz Stephen, who retired from skiing this past spring, holds the third-fastest time of 32:53.9. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
The 30-year-old Johaug won Thursday’s rollerski hill climb in a record time of 31 minutes, 46.3 seconds, while Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla finished 1:47.5 minutes back in second.
Kalla, 31, won last year’s Lysebotn Opp in 33:18.3, telling NRK at the time that “it’s been long since I’ve been in this good a shape in July.” Kalla’s 2017/2018 season went on to be one of her best. She racked up 10 individual wins, including a gold medal in the Olympic skiathlon.
If Kalla is using her the past year and half as a springboard for the upcoming season, Johaug might be considered the antithesis to the Swede. The year and half competition bar behind her, Johaug appears ready to move forward.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this, it’s that you should never rely on anyone, period,” Johaug told Newsinenglish.no. “It’s terrible, but that’s the way it is.”
Following Johaug and Kalla on Thursday, Sweden’s Ebba Andersson claimed the third spot on the podium, finishing 3.9 seconds behind her compatriot Kalla and 1:51.4 behind Johaug.
Norway’s Haga Ragnhild placed fourth (+2:21.6) and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg was fifth (+2:48.9), Austria’s Teresa Stadlober finished sixth (+3:05.7), Russia’s Yulia Belorukova seventh (+3:52.4), Norway’s Kari Øyre Slind eighth (+4:05.0), and Russia’s Elena Soboleva ninth (+4:14.1) and Yana Kirpichenko 10th (+4:26.2). Finland’s Krista Parmakoski finished exactly ten seconds outside the top ten in 11th (+4:36.2). Forty-seven women finished the senior women’s race.
Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger winning the 2018 Lysebotn Opp hill climb, part of the Blink rollerski festival, on Thursday. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
In the senior men’s Lysebotn Opp that followed, two Norwegians battled up front, with reigning Olympic skiathlon champ Simen Hegstad Krüger ultimately winning the race for the first time in 27:53.2. Another national team member and 2018 Olympian (and last year’s Lysebotn Opp winner), Hans Christer Holund finished 3.9 seconds back for second place, and Norway swept the podium with Simen Andreas Sveen in third (+16.0).
Rounding out the top 10 were Norwegians Vebjørn Turtveit in fourth (+51.7), Martin Johnsrud Sundby in fifth (+52.6), France’s Clement Parisse in sixth (+1:12.4), Norway’s Henrik L’Abée-Lund in seventh (+1:21.1), France’s Adrien Backscheider in eighth (+1:24.7), Russia’s Artem Maltsev in ninth (+1:31.4) and Canada’s Alex Harvey in 10th (+2:02.1).
Past winners of the Lysebotn Opp rollerski hill climb in Lysebotn, Norway. Simen Hegstad Krüger’s winning time on Thursday was third fastest on record at 27:53.2. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
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