(Sportcom) – Katherine Stewart-Jones and Antoine Cyr shared the same schedule ahead of their respective mass starts on Sunday in Lillehammer. They want to keep calm and conserve their strength, which enabled them to achieve personal bests in the World Cup.
Katherine Stewart-Jones had never finished in the top 15 in a single event at the circuit. The 20K classic-style mass start suited her particularly well in Norway, the second stop on the calendar, and she knew she had what it took to shine.
“I’ve always been good at mass starts and that’s helped me in the past. I can ski more relaxed than the people around me and that pays off in the end,” explained 13th place with a time of 54 min 02.1 s (+10.2 s).
PHOTO MARC DESROSIERS/QMI AGENCY
“I’m still stressed that there are things you can’t control, but it’s less stressful because you can’t plan everything. You have to react at the right time and there is no point in predicting what will happen.
Sweden’s Frida Karlsson and Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng battled for victory before Karlsson overtook her rival by six tenths of a second. His compatriot Ebba Andersson was third (+1.2 s).
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, who was classified 32nd in Saturday’s classic sprint, fell in this mass start and is 43rd.
“It feels good”
Antoine Cyr, who was on the sidelines with a cold, looked low and tapped his foot last week as he watched his rivals start the season without him.
The Gatineau resident has regained his strength in recent days and started Sunday in 12th place on the calendar, 5.1 seconds from the winner and 4 seconds from the podium.
“It was a very good race! We knew it was going to be messy and that we would work for any location. With the profile of the race, we wanted to stay together for a long time, maybe even to the finish, and that’s what happened,” said Antoine Cyr, who preferred to skip Saturday’s sprint in preparation for this test.
The Norwegians Paal Golberg, Sjur Roethe (+0.9 s) and Martin Loewstroem (1.1 s) made it onto the podium.
Olivier Léveillé from Sherbrooke crossed the finish line in 27th, 9.9 seconds behind Golberg.
Antoine Cyr’s best finish in the World Cup is an 11th place, signed in Ruka 2021 in the 15K individual classic start. However, his result on Sunday is a highlight in the mass start for him.