Defending Vasaloppet champion John Kristian Dahl (NOR) ended up fifth after fighting his way back from getting snagged in the chaos at the start gate, which left him more than a 1,000 spots behind the elite on the first hill.
“Dahl certainly deserved the award for effort. After getting caught in the start line chaos, he was more than 1,000 spots from the leading pack at the first hill,” said Per Wiik, who was a part of the Madshus Marathon Team race support at the Vasaloppet this weekend.
Not only did Dahl get tied up in the start gate, which caused a significant time handicap in itself, but he also broke a pole in the chaos that followed.
“Despite being more than 1,000 racers behind the leaders, Dahl just kept fighting his way up to bridge the gap, which he managed about 30km into the race,” Wiik said, noting that most racers aiming for the overall podium would have considered quitting the race at that point.
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“What Dahl did is no less than amazing, given the seemingly hopeless starting point. But there’s no doubt that the effort to make up several minutes and catch up with the leading pack came at a steep expense, and probably cost him the shot at the victory this year,” Wiik said, adding that Dahl was only 2 minutes and 39 seconds away from the podium despite the disaster at the start.
And while Dahl was the fighter of the day, several Madshus racers contributed to determine the race. Stanislav Rezac (CZE) snagged the last spot on podium, and Madshus had four racers among the top 10 in the men’s race: Oeystein Pettersen (NOR) was fourth, 2014 champion Dahl was fifth and Tore Berdal was 10 in the wet and slow conditions Sunday.
Top Results 2015
1. Petter Eliassen, NOR, 4:01:48
2. Anders Aukland, NOR, 4:01:53
3. Stanislav Rezac, CZE, 4:02:12
4. Oeystein Pettersen, NOR, 4:04:43
5. John Kristian Dahl, NOR, 4:05:01
10. Tore Bjoerseth Berdal, NOR, 4:09:57