47th Marcialonga on fire!
The weekend is just over: big celebrations in Val di Fiemme and Val di Fassa (Trentino-Italy) from the 1st to the last arrived
Top weekend in Italy! This time not so much sun shining above the participants, but it was as usual the warm cheering up from the spectators all along the slope to warm up the atmosphere of this 47th edition.
The 3-days of events started on Friday, when the kids up to 6 years skied in te center of Predazzo, a promotional and free event to let people get closer to this sport. Around 170 kids were skiing along the snowed road surrounded by happy parents and funny mascots.
The Saturday’s event…Marcialonga Story, Stars, Mini and Young and the Masters’ welcome party
The 8th Marcialonga story was a real success with many former champions at the start and a lot of people along the course. The 300 bibs for this vintage parade had been sold out well in advance. The 11km Marcialonga Story started from the Cross-Country Stadium in Lago di Tesero and finished in the heart of Predazzo. A large crowd welcomed the athletes who had to equip themselves with skis used before 1976, with bindings of 75mm, shoes, poles and clothing corresponding to that period. Many foreign participants took part in Marcialonga Story, in particular athletes from Russia, from Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, Germany that most likely also competed in the main race.
With sunshine coming up from behind the clouds, Marcialonga Stars (the charity event) and Minimarcialonga started, followed by Marcialonga Young, the event for young skiers that will very soon be protagonist of Marcialonga.
Norwegian dominance at the 47th Marcialonga
“Alt for Norge!” is the royal motto of Norway. The last three kings have adopted this motto, which became one of the main symbols of the Norwegian struggle during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. In today’s Marcialonga of Fiemme and Fassa – 70km from Moena to Cavalese – it has been “all for Norway” with nine Harald V’s subjects in the top ten positions. Tord Asle Gjerdalen, the Norwegian who usually wears Ray-Ban glasses, was chasing his fourth victory at Marcialonga to become the athlete who has won the most Marcialonga editions together with Joergen Aukland. But Bjoerseth Berdal (Team Koteng) took the lead on the Cascata Climb – the decisive point in every edition of Marcialonga – and crossed the finish line in first place. Berdal seems to be very strong in the classics of the Visma Ski Classics. In fact, he has won the last edition of Vasaloppet and finished 2nd in Marcialonga 2018 behind Chernousov. Today one of his dreams came true: “Marcialonga is the most beautiful race of the whole season”. Petter Eliassen, winner of the last edition, had a good strategy but wasn’t able to claim another victory. In the women’s race, Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes, also from Norway, surprisingly won ahead of the other Norwegian Astrid Oeyre Slind and the Swede Lina Korsgren. The two favourites in the women’s race, Britta Johansson Norgren – who won the last two editions of Marcialonga – and Katerina Smutna, finished sixth and seventh respectively.
The World Cup athletes Sjur Roethe (9th) and Dario Cologna (25th) had a good performance after the FIS Cross-Country World Cup stage in Oberstdorf: “This race is very interesting – said Cologna – because you go through the many villages with many supporters. Many people cheered me on, it was awesome. I really like this valley, I’m always happy to come back here. In 2013, I won the World Championships in Val di Fiemme”. They fought until the end but were not able to beat the long-distance pros. Petter Northug finished 99th. On Instagram he showed his difficulties in competing in double pooling with his hands covered with grazes. Gjerdalen was disappointed and admitted that it would have been better to finish 11th or 12th rather than second at Marcialonga, a race he’s been training for for a whole season. The final result was uncertain until the last meter. Even Nikita Kriukov and Dario Cologna were in the leading group until the second half of the race. Sjur Roethe seemed to be the strongest of the FIS Cross-Country World Cup skiers but Tord Asle Gjerdalen is “Mr Marcialonga”, and the others have to follow him. But the Norwegian accelerated too early on the Cascata Climb, even though Eliassen had also ‘worked’ for him, and wasn’t able to beat Berdal. The 45km Marcialonga Light finished in Predazzo and saw the victory of the Czech Tereza Hujerova and the Russian Egor Mitroshin. Marco Melandri, Trentino and Marcialonga Ambassador, took part in the long-distance race and finished 2536th.
It was a tough race, with difficult snow because of the snow that fell on the ground during the night and warmer temperatures already for the morning, but this made the satisfaction of the finish even bigger!
Marcialonga 70 km – Men
1 Berdal Tore Bjoerseth NOR 3:05:52.01; 2 Gjerdalen Tord Asle NOR 3:05:53.57; 3 Eliassen Petter NOR 3:05:54.80; 4 Nygaard Andreas NOR 3:06:02.03; 5 Pedersen Morten Eide NOR 3:06:09.70; 6 Holmberg Andreas SWE 3:06:14.15; 7 Thyli Vetle NOR 3:06:16.55; 8 Hoelgaard Stian NOR 3:06:17.19; 9 Roethe Sjur NOR 3:06:25.08; 10 Jespersen Chris Andre NOR 3:06:25.41
Marcialonga 70 km – Women
1 Gjeitnes Kari Vikhagen NOR 3:21:59.20; 2 Slind Astrid Oeyre NOR 3:22:06.29; 3 Korsgren Lina SWE 3:22:56.66; 4 Dahl Ida SWE 3:25:03.38; 5 Fleten Emilie NOR 3:25:23.86; 6 Norgren Britta SWE 3:26:29.54; 7 Smutna Katerina AUT 3:29:17.86; 8 Elebro Sofie SWE 3:29:29.30; 9 Larsson Jenny SWE 3:31:50.15; 10 Tsareva Olga RUS 3:32:39.12
Marcialonga Light – Men
1 Mitroshin Egor RUS 2:04:42.24; 2 Spirin Sergey RUS 2:08:12.14; 3 Cerutti Lorenzo ITA 2:08:15.62; 4 Maenpaa Robin FIN 2:13:35.64; 5 TORESEN Jens Petter NOR 2:14:53.37; 6 Sandoz Daniel SUI 2:16:41.14; 7 Curti Luca ITA 2:17:00.06; 8 Kravchenko Pavel RUS 2:18:56.74; 9 Szczotka Mateusz POL 2:19:19.45; 10 Costantin Davide ITA 2:23:03.90
Marcialonga Light – Women
1 Hujerova Tereza CZE 2:22:43.27; 2 Norheim Johanne NOR 2:30:19.41; 3 Piller Caterina ITA 2:33:31.65; 4 Bolzan Lisa ITA 2:38:06.43; 5 Astashkina Iulia RUS 2:41:11.96; 6 Gentile Marta ITA 2:42:23.73; 7 Beri Paola ITA 2:42:32.97; 8 Rosa Deborah ITA 2:44:19.72; 9 Invernizzi Aurora ITA 3:12:03.79; 10 Beumler Tanja SUI 3:13:10.04
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