Muehlegg Finally Makes One Interesting
By Cory Smith

February 22, 2002

Johann Muehlegg

The Men's Olympic Cross Country events at Soldier Hollow wrapped up today with the same result as they started with: a win by Johan Muehlegg. But today's 50 kilometer individual start race, unlike his previous two wins in the 30K freestyle and Pursuit, went right down to the wire. But before the race even started, there was a question about whether Muehlegg could start. His first blood test this morning recorded a hemoglobin level above the legal limit, but his second test was just under the limit, allowing him to race. Though the test raised a few eyebrows, it is important to remember that having an illegal hemoglobin level is not necessarily proof of doping.

For the first two 16.7 kilometer laps, Mikhail Ivanov of Russia was in control of the race, building his lead up to 45 seconds near the 30 kilometer point. It appeared that Ivanov only had to survive the final lap to bring home the gold medal. But surviving is easier said than done in a 50K race on the punishing Soldier Hollow courses. As Ivanov began to tire, Muehlegg used his sheer strength to muscle back towards the lead. Muehlegg had spent the first 35K lurking in second spot, but he was looking surprisingly mortal and no one was sure if he had the energy to make a move in the last lap. But did he ever. At 35K, the lead was 40 seconds. At 40K, the lead was 20 seconds. My split time at 45K had him only two seconds behind. At this point I sprinted down the hill to the stadium to watch

Mikhail Ivanov

the final few kilometers on the big screen Jumbotron. Ivanov finished soon after I arrived there, knocking German Andreas Schluetter out of the top spot by over two minutes. Ivanov had put up a very impressive time of 2:06:20, but would it be enough? But while all the focus was now on Muehlegg and his charge for the finish, in the meantime Andrus Veerpalu was storming back into contention. Mikhail Botvinov, who had held the third spot for most of the race, was fading very quickly. This opened the door for Veerpalu and he seized the chance with a blistering final lap. As fast as Muehlegg was on his final lap, Veerpalu was even faster. In fact, Veerpalu made up 30 seconds on Muehlegg in the last 10K, and a minute on Ivanov. But Veerpalu ran out of track before he could catch those two men. He came across the line 24 seconds behind Ivanov, and then they all waited for Muehlegg.

Andrus Veerpalu

Muehlegg was clearly suffering as he climbed Hermann's Hill for the last time. As he came into the stadium, he looked exhausted and a bit shaky, but he was still hammering and it looked like he had just enough left to take the victory. He crossed the line in 2:06:05 to win by fifteen seconds. Much like Bjorn Daehlie in the Nagano 50K, Muehlegg did not look invincible today, but he fought hard and came from behind to win his third gold medal of the games.

The Americans had nothing but bad luck today. In the first 5K, Justin Wadsworth's binding pulled out of his ski. He continued to kick-double-pole on one leg for the next 5K before getting a new ski. But he had lost so much time that his race was over. John Bauer started out pretty well, but he broke a pole and also had to stop to rewax his skis at one point, losing a couple of minutes between those two mishaps and finished 35th. Andrew Johnson also had to stop and rewax and ended up in 53rd. Patrick Weaver did not start due to illness.

Jevne, Hasler, Botvinov, and Eloffson

The bonk of the day clearly went to Markus Hasler of Liechtenstein. For most of the race he was fighting for a top ten spot. After 30K, he was within two and a half minutes of the lead, but by the finish he was in 38th place, 14:26 behind the winner. This bonk was largely due to the fact that he tried to stay with a train of skiers that included Erling Jevne, Ivan Batory, and Per Eloffson for a good part of the race. Batory also had a bonk after being dropped from the train.