Davos sprint: Pellegrino edged by Chanavat in a photo finish

Federico Pellegrino was denied victory by inches in the men’s freestyle sprint in Davos, finishing second to France’s Lucas Chanavat after a photo finish. The Italian starred all day: strong in qualifying, composed while controlling his quarterfinal, and tactically astute in the final. When Chanavat kicked clear, Pellegrino clawed him back for a shoulder‑to‑shoulder lunge, but the Frenchman’s boot was fractionally ahead. Norway’s Oskar Vike completed the podium.

The Davos result marks Pellegrino’s 11th career final on this course. The article highlights that his longtime rival Johannes Høsflot Klæbo exited in the quarters. It also mentions that this is Pellegrino’s second podium of the season, following a team sprint podium with Elia Barp the previous day. Looking ahead, the next sprint comes at the Tour de Ski after Christmas, while the Olympic sprint in Val di Fiemme will be classic technique.

Among other Italian men, Simone Mocellini, Riccardo Bernardi Hellweger, Davide Carollo and Davide Graz reached the quarters, with one eliminated in the semifinals. In the women’s sprint, Sweden’s Jonna Sundling won a tight finish ahead of Norway’s Mathilde Myhrvold, with Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich third. Italian women Caterina De Martin, Nadine Monsorno and Nicole Cassol were out in the quarterfinals.

Pellegrino, newly named one of Italy’s Milan–Cortina Olympic flagbearers, said he was surprised by his level given his form a month ago and drew energy from the flagbearer announcement. He celebrated performing in Davos with his family present, 15 years after his debut there, and vowed to keep enjoying his final season despite the near miss.

The roundup also notes Italian successes in other winter sports that day: Michela Moioli placed second in snowboard cross in Cervinia; in alpine snowboard parallel giant in Cortina, veteran Aaron March won with Mirko Felicetti and Maurizio Bormolini also on the podium; and in luge at Park City the Italian doubles pair Ivan Nagler/Fabian Malleier reached the podium behind Germany’s Toni Eggert/Florian Müller after the Germans overhauled the midway leaders from the USA, Zachary De Gregorio/Sean Hollander.