The 35-year-old from Graubünden is leaving his last Tour de Ski prematurely. Officially because of irritable cough, but it’s the overall picture of his performance that isn’t true.
Dario Cologna after the 15 km race in Lenzerheide: only 20th after a broken stick.
On Monday something historical happened at the Tour de Ski. The Norwegian Johannes Klaebo ran unleashed over 15 km in the classic technique to his 46th World Cup victory. In doing so, he equalized the record level set by his compatriot Björn Dählie – and that at the age of 25. Klaebo will probably overtake Dählie very soon, because the overall victory at the Tour de Ski shouldn’t be taken away from him; Tuesday is the final stage up to Alpe Cermis.
“It does not hurt”
Dario Cologna will then no longer be there, and that also has historical significance. He, who first started the Tour 14 years ago and then won it four times, cannot finish the last stage race of his career, cannot say goodbye to the mythical ascent in Val di Fiemme. “It doesn’t hurt,” said Cologna bravely in an interview with SRF. But the circumstances surrounding his early exit will worry him: his dry cough grew stronger every day; he could no longer recover from the exertion on the trail.
On Monday morning, the 35-year-old decided, together with the doctor and the coaching staff, that it made no sense to start another section of the tour. He left for Davos.
The dry cough has been a limiting factor at Cologna for years. The problem arose beforehand at the Tour de Ski, where there are races to be mastered almost every day and the diaphragm cramps especially after the extreme loads in the sprint tests. “I have to suffer more after the race than during the race,” said Cologna, with a touch of gallows humor. Different approaches to medication did not result in any significant improvement.
That could also make you skeptical about the Olympic Games in Beijing, because the competition area is very cold in February. But Cologna says no: Even at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, temperatures down to minus 20 degrees would have prevailed; but since there was enough time between races, the lungs did not overreact. In its final games, Cologna will concentrate on the relay competition and the final 50 km race, so the negative effect of daily use should not be felt.
In Val di Fiemme, Cologna only spoke of dry coughs to justify his withdrawal from the tour. But the cross-country director at Swiss Ski, Christian Flury, says: “That wasn’t the main reason. We studied the overall picture of Cologna’s accomplishments, and this showed us that we are not where we should be. ” In plain language: The Bündner is not on course for the Olympics. In his remarks, Flury avoids speaking of being “too late” on the way. But it is obvious that Cologna is in a tough race against time.
A best-of video by Dario Cologna.
Even before the Tour de Ski, he had confirmed that he wanted to win a medal at his fourth Olympic Games. This goal has moved further into the distance as Cologna would have needed races to improve his form. Now, according to Flury, it is conceivable that Cologna will not contest any more races before Beijing; it will be decided on Wednesday. The missing competitions would then be tried to be simulated on the cross-country belt.
The current situation is the result of unfortunate fatalities beyond advanced age: first Cologna suffered injuries in his knee in a roller-ski fall in October, then he tried to compensate for the delay in building up with more training hours – and in December got into a kind of overtraining. He, of all people, who was once able to control his shape so perfectly.
An X-factor athlete
The corrections were made immediately, but the Tour de Ski showed that the model athlete is not up to the requirements. In the first endurance race in Lenzerheide, he classified himself in 20th place after breaking a stick and still spoke of “a small step forward”. In the 15 km skating-style race in Oberstdorf, he took a risk, got stuck in the small leading group until the final lap, overwhelmed himself and was washed back to 15th place. “I would have been better off slowing down a bit,” he said afterwards. It was not the Cologna of the good days that spoke.
There remains only the faint hope that the miracle of Sochi will repeat itself in 2014, when Cologna won two Olympic golds after an injury. His trainer Kein Einaste says: “Dario is an X-factor athlete. He can be in top form on the crucial day. “