With starting number 2, Alvar was the first to finish and his time was never threatened by anyone. He basically increased throughout the race and with 23.05.9 he was totally superior.
At the same time, he also got a great revenge from the mass start in freestyle where he had bad skis and hooked at the end. The superior winner from there, the Norwegian Jørgen Nordhagen was now a minute behind Alvar and just off the podium.
The silver went to the Swiss Isai Naeff, but with 52.4 seconds up to the Swedish prodigy, he was also in another class. Norway took the bronze through Mons Melbye, who just beat teammate Nordhagen.
Alvar Myhlback is hardened in a senior context through the long-distance effort in Lager 157. He has been top-10 in both the Vasaloppet and Marcialonga at the age of 17. He has ridden in the World Cup and in Norwegian Toppidrettsveka he fought in the pursuit start on roller skis against Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Simen Hegstad Krüger, last season’s two triple world champions.
When the weather suddenly got worse in Planica, the Swedish results suddenly got much better…
Anton Grahn opened the race as second and fought for a long time for a medal. But the second from the sprint dropped towards the end and was 7th. However, it was only half a minute up to the podium.
Elias Danielsson was 9th and has not been able to perform as he had hoped at the very top in this year’s JVM. He had 11 seconds up on Anton Grahn. The other mora skater, Jonatan Lindberg finished in 14th place and thus got his worst placement in three competitions in Planica.
But it’s Sweden’s day in Slovenia: Gold for both Evelina Crüsell and Alvar Myhlback!
You will find the results here.