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France takes surprise win in men’s XC relay

Tom Mancini of France competes during the Men's 4 x 7.5km relay at the World University Games on Friday in Lake Placid. (Provided photo — Isaiah Vazquez, FISU Games)

LAKE PLACID — France’s Tom Mancini came to the World University Games wanting to win a medal in cross-country skiing — especially gold. But then the former world junior sprint champion earned a bronze in his best event, the men’s sprint. Mancini finally prevailed in the Men’s 4 x 7.5 Kilometer Relay on a snowy day at Mount Van Hoevenberg, gaining on runner-up Norway throughout his 7.5km leg.

Waving the French flag, Mancini crossed the finish line first in one hour, 17 minutes, and 1.5 seconds, winning France’s (and his) first gold medal in cross-country skiing at these games. Mancini was almost a half-minute ahead of Andreas Kirkeng, Norway’s relay anchor.

“It was super-hard to have a good, clean ski (today),” said Mancini. “You have to be super-focused on the technique. That was the key today, being focused on the technique and trying to be relaxed.”

“The French team was just too strong in the end, and there was nothing we could do to keep up with them,” added Kirkeng. “It was a great team effort, and everyone did what they could today and was just good enough to get a silver.”

On the strength of 2022 Olympian Ryo Hirose, Japan moved from fourth to third on the final relay leg. Hirose skied the fastest anchor leg, closed the gap on the Czech Republic, and secured bronze for Japan in one hour, 17 minutes, 56.7 seconds.

To date, Hirose has won three medals at these games: gold in the 10km individual and pursuit, and bronze in the 4 x 7.5km relay. If he competes on Sunday, he will be a favorite to win a third gold medal in the 30km mass start.

France was a dark horse in the men’s relay today. Ranked 11th, their first skier, Gianni Giachino, started the race in the fourth row. But he quickly gained on the teams ahead, and a pack of four — France’s Giachino, Norway’s Fredrik Lutcherath Nilsen, the Czech Republic’s Krystof Zatloukal, and the U.S.’s Garrett Butts — took the lead in the first classic leg.

On the second classic leg, Czech skier Tomas Dufek, Norway’s Magnus Be, and France’s Matteo Correia dropped the American Finn Sweet.

“I think the second relay leg is one of the hardest because everyone tries to break away,” explained Mancini. “Matteo did an awesome job; he stayed with the leading group, and he gave the relay to Simon in the best condition.”

Meanwhile, disaster befell the Czech team when Dufek skied into the lap lane rather than the tag lane. He had to retrace his tracks to get into the correct lane and lost time on France and Norway.

Out front, Simon Chappaz tried to drop Norway’s third skier, Oeyvind Haugan, but could only gain ground on the final climb.

“The Norwegian was very strong, so it was difficult to push,” said Chappaz, who tagged Mancini with a 4.5-second gap on Norway.

Known as a strong sprinter, Mancini would have to hold off Kirkeng in the final 7.5km leg, and smart money was on Kirkeng to win. The Norwegian had already won bronze in the 10km classic and silver in the 10km pursuit at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games, and earlier this month, he won the U.S. national 10km classic race.

Mancini not only held off Kirkeng, he gained on him, crossing the finish line 28.3 seconds ahead.

“The snow conditions are tricky, hard to ski, hard to ski relaxed,” said Mancini. “I tried to find a good line and push harder, and be relaxed.”

“We laid out a plan as a team going into the race,” added Haugan. “But there’s so many factors coming into play–when there’s so many skiers, different waxing conditions and different shapes, so it’s hard to predict how it’s going to go.”

The entire Norwegian relay squad attends American universities: Kirkeng at Denver University and Nilsen, Be, and Haugen up the road at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The four men will likely return to race at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in March for the 2023 NCAA ski championships.

To date at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter Games, the Norwegians have earned more medals than any other country in cross-country skiing (six). But they have yet to win gold. They will have one more chance on Sunday, when the FISU Games conclude on Sunday with the mass start races–15km freestyle for the women, 30km freestyle for the men.

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