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King of cross country pursues and captures 2nd gold medal
By Jesse Hyde
Deseret News Olympic specialist
SOLDIER HOLLOW — The finish line at Soldier Hollow now belongs to Spain.
Johann Muehlegg waved the Spanish flag proudly as he crossed the finish line of the men's 10km pursuit Thursday, winning his second gold medal of these Olympics, and then planted it in the snow, claiming the territory for Spain.
If the Soldier Hollow finish line now belongs to Spain, Muehlegg is its king. He has never lost a race at Soldier Hollow — or anywhere else in the United States — and has dominated the 2002 Olympics field in astonishing fashion.
Muehlegg was so far ahead coming into the stadium Thursday he stopped to take a Spanish flag from a fan and then carried it with him until he finished. It was still another 28 seconds before two Norwegians — Frode Estil and Thomas Alsgaard — crossed together in a photo finish.
Because Estil and Alsgaard finished in the same 1,000th of a second, they share the silver medal — a first for cross country in the Olympics.
The Americans continued their surprising run, with two top-20 finishes. Kris Freeman, a 21-year-old who was diagnosed with diabetes a year and a half ago, finished 18th, and John Bauer finished 19th. Both skiers now have two top-25 finishes in these games.
"This is just a start for us. In 2006 we hope to medal," U.S. head coach Christer Skog said.
Two months ago, Freeman couldn't even train in the skate technique because of his diabetic condition. He now gives himself an insulin shot in the abdomen four times every day, but he says it's not a distraction.
"We were pretty scared when he was diagnosed," Freeman's mother, Barbara, said after the race. "The thought crossed our minds that he would never race again. This is better than anything we had imagined."
Freeman's parents cheered in the stadium and then rushed to the finishing area to hug their son, whom they hadn't seen since Monday.
The pursuit race is one of Freeman's better events because he excels at both the classic and the freestyle techniques. The pursuit begins with a 10km classic leg in the morning, which determines the order the athletes begin the 10km freestyle leg in the afternoon.
Muehlegg had a 13-second head start going into the freestyle leg because of his finish in the morning, which he immediately looked to increase. Despite an early fall, he had already opened up a 44-second lead at the 3.7km mark.
The tall German aggressively pushed himself on the hills, and it quickly became clear this would be a race for second. As in the 15km classic on Saturday, Muehlegg destroyed the field on a course that obviously suits him as well as his adopted country of Spain.
Sweden's Per Elofsson, the world's top ranked skier who was favored to win multiple Olympic medals, finished fourth and is yet to stand on the podium. Elofsson would not blame the altitude, nor his decision to skip a World Cup race here last year for his sub-par performances, but others say both are factors. The Swede says he is not in top form but hopes to medal in Sunday's relay and the 50km race on Feb. 23.
E-mail: jhyde@desnews.com
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February 15, 2002
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