We’ll go ahead and dispel any suspense from our last post about the championship: the professionals were a lot faster. The world championships (in Norwegian, verdenmesterskap, usually shortened to VM) began this week. On Wednesday night, there was an opening ceremony in downtown Trondheim. Annalise was asleep so we didn’t go, but we could hear it and smell the fireworks from our apartment.
We noticed a lot of furtive picture taking, and we were interviewed three times by various reporters, so I think we achieved whatever goals we had with our fashion choices.
We were not dressed unusually (well, ok, the eagle hat was unusual). Flag-based clothes or bibs with a particular athlete’s face on them were common. Also common was the official VM sweater, which could be either purchased or knitted using an official pattern, and then enjoyed in the woods, or pensively on a lake, with ridiculously attractive people:
Knitting the sweater by hand is apparently very difficult and unpleasant, and the many knitters of Norway are a little ruffled about it.
Transportation, for those not walking or skiing to the arena, was handled by direct shuttle busses from downtown. The park included a stage, musicians, a Swix store, merch, and a temporary building with food available for purchase, organized by region of Norway.
Should you wonder whether you could buy a waffle, the answer is yes.
We were sitting in the section sponsored by Coop grocery stores. Getting there required walking through a tunnel under the track, emerging into an island within the course loop. Coop is advertising their sponsorship in various ways, including a free station for waxing skis downtown, free sweet rolls in the Coop section, and unlimited coffee from people with coffee dispensing backpacks for those who bought a commemorative mug (we did).
We started greeting the other American fans, who were easy to spot and not that numerous. What this meant is that we immediately ran into some delightful people who turned out to be Jessie Diggins’ family and friends. They became our buddies for the qualifiers, and eventually gifted us a Jessie-on-a-stick.
Sprint races last 2-3 minutes per run. The format is that each racer first races the course alone for time (the “qualifiers”). The 30 fastest racers are then entered into five heats of six racers each. The top two from each heat move on, along with the two fastest who didn’t automatically qualify (known as the “lucky losers”). This gives you two semifinals of six racers each. Again the top two from each semifinal and two lucky losers advance and make up the six-racer final, who get to race for all the marbles. So, while it’s a “sprint,” a winner has to race the course four times, and be fast every time – there’s a lot of endurance required, too. And, it’s not enough to just be fast; each heat has a lot of elbowing, positioning, and tactics.
Our time with Team Diggins got a little awkward when her qualifier was pretty bad, and it was actually a little touch-and-go as to whether she’d make the heats. We gave her parents space to stare at live results with parental concern. She ultimately did, but it was clear something was wrong – as it turned out, the American/Solomon ski waxers had done a pretty poor job and her equipment had her skiing at a big disadvantage all day. She ultimately just missed advancing from her first heat.
While it was a bummer of a day for Jessie, it was pretty fun for the American fans overall – all four American women and all four men qualified, and an American girl Julia Kern made the final in what’s got to be a career highlight.
Being in the crowd was awesome. We got a spot right along the big important last hill – if a racer wanted to win, they needed to be near the front at the top, so this long steep uphill was one of the best places to be to see real effort.
There were 20,000 people there including the Norwegian and Swedish royalty, and it was incredibly joyous. Everyone was happy, having a great time and talking to their neighbors. We had a lot of fun with the random older Norwegian women next to us and, as is international tradition, helped them work their phones to get the live timing results.
The women’s final was a great race, and came down to a Norway-Sweden shootout to the top of our hill. The Norwegian wanted to go over the top in a close second and then use the draft to pass by the bottom of the hill; the Swede just wanted to ski away from everybody. And that’s just what she did — Swedish skier Jonna Sundling won handily.
The men’s final came down to Johannes Høsflot Klæbo vs. history – he’s the best sprinter who’s ever lived, in a world championship sprint, fifteen minutes from where he grew up. If he hadn’t won, it would have been a humongous disappointment. Fortunately he took care of business, and the crowd exploded.
A great celebration of skiing and Norwegianness. The races continue for another week.
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