This was the first time that Portugal entered a team race with two top athletes in the cross-country competitions.
Portugal finished last today in the qualifying race for the Team Classic Sprint at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia.
José Cabeça, 26 years old, from Éborense, was the first of the Portuguese team to start, with badge 34, and finished in 67th place, penultimate, while the other Portuguese, Filipe Cabrita, 43 years old, from the Algarve, finished in last place, 68th.
It was the first time that Portugal participated in a team race, with two athletes who were better in cross-country competitions, but who managed to improve their marks in the qualification for the classic sprint on Thursday, compared to the last World Cup.
In today’s team qualifying, Norway lived up to expectations, with champion Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo crossing the line in 2:39.2, followed by his teammate Pall Goldberg, who was 2.9 seconds faster, and Czech Michal Novak, who was 3.8 seconds faster.
In the final, Klaebo could become the first man to win three world team sprint titles.
Italy’s Frederico Pellegrino, with three World Championship medals in the team sprint, one silver and two bronze, qualified for the final with the fourth-best time, 4.1 seconds behind Klaebo.
In a race for which the president of the Portuguese Winter Sports Federation (FDIP), Pedro Flávio, warned that he could not “aspire to results” because it was the first participation and the two Portuguese athletes are geared to distances, José Cabeça completed the course in 3.44.6 minutes, 1.05.4 of the first, and Filipe Cabrita in 4.03.1, 1.23.9 more than the Norwegian.
The 15 teams with the best times go to the final, according to the sum of the results of the two athletes, and Portugal ended its participation in Planica today, after José Cabeça and Filipe Cabrita also competed in the 10 km freestyle and in the classic sprint, races in which they improved their results compared to Oberstdorf2021.
The Nordic World Ski Championships will be held in Planica, Slovenia, until March 5.