From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
Norway’s Marit Bjørgen celebrates her overall win in the last race of 2018 World Cup Finals, the 10 k freestyle pursuit, on March 18 in Falun, Sweden. Bjørgen officially announced her retirement from skiing last Friday, April 6. (Photo: Svenska Skidspelen/Instagram)
You’ve probably heard the news by now: Marit Bjørgen, the Norwegian queen of cross-country skiing, has decided to retire. The 38 year old made the announcement a week ago after winning the first race of Norwegian nationals, the 5-kilometer classic, on April 6.
“In reality it has been a long process,” she told NRK that day, according to a translation. “I had almost decided before the competitive season started. I feel that I lack the motivation and desire required to be right there in the top. I also have a little boy at at home, who is beginning to understand more and more, that I’d like to spend time with. That time I can never have again. It’s also a little frightening. This is been half of my life. This is emotional.”
The most decorated Winter Olympian of all time across all sports with 15 medals, five of which came at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang (two golds, a silver, and two bronze), Bjørgen closed her season on Saturday, April 7 with a second-place finish behind teammate Ragnhild Haga in the national 30 k freestyle in Alta, Norway.
“I’m proud of what I’ve achieved in my career, but I’ve also been privileged to have been able to win top-level sports,” Bjørgen said in Norwegian team press release. “I am very much thankful to amazing team friends, teammates, coaches, medical team, service team, managers and the whole support crew that have been around me. You have a great deal of credit for my results.”
Teammates Marit Bjørgen (r) and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg after placing first and second, respectively, in the women’s 5 k classic at Norwegian nationals in Alta on April 6. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
Norway’s head coach Vidar Løfshus described Bjørgen as a “team captain” who was “always there for the girls,” according to an interview with NRK.
He added that she was also a valuable coaching consult.
“For me, she’s been a good sparring partner; when tough things happening internally, I often call Marit,” Løfshus said, according to a translation. “Now there will be one less coach in my team. There are a lot of good coaches in the association, but … [none that have] won so many medals. She knows more about cross country skiing then I do, Sju, Ole and Roar combined, almost.
“We can’t let a woman like that disappeared through the back door,” he said of his desire to keep Bjørgen involved with the team. “But now we’re gonna let her exhale and enjoy her time with [her son] Marius and [partner] Fred Børre. She has not had enough time for that. And after that I know she will contribute again.”
Bjørgen shared emotional moments with her teammates at nationals.
“She has been a role model to me for many many years,” Ingvild Flugstad Østberg told NRK.
“One day has to be the last,” Heidi Weng said. “We’ve had a lot of fun with Marit. She’s a legend. She has been the security blanket and the mother in the team. It’s frustrating not to have mommy at the starting line, someone to joke around with and calm your nerves. Someone who is supportive.”
Who else is on our list of notable cross-country retirements so far? (For our biathlon list, which should also include the additions of Norway’s Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen, click here.)
Kikkan Randall (l) and Liz Stephen after the last race of their professional careers, the 30 k classic mass start at 2018 U.S. Distance Nationals in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
From the U.S., we have U.S. Ski Team members Kikkan Randall and Liz Stephen, who said ‘so long’ to international racing, while another team veteran Andy Newell told FasterSkier that he plans to continue racing, but apart from the national team and likely outside of the World Cup circuit.
Former national-team members Noah Hoffman and Kris Freeman have also announced their retirements from professional skiing. On the domestic side, Annie Hart has stated this was the last season of her ski career as she plans to begin law school.
There has been talk of a few of Canada’s World Cup Team members retiring, but the only one FasterSkier has confirmed so far is Graeme Killick.
Zina Kocher, a 2006, 2010 and 2014 Olympic biathlete who came out of retirement to make a bid for the 2018 Olympics in cross-country skiing, has stated that it’s really over this time after her comeback season.
“As I reflect on the last 16 years that I trained full-time and competed at an international level I’m flooded with a lot of memories,” Kocher, 35, wrote in a blog post last week. “If someone had told me when I started biathlon in ’98 that I would be a ‘lifer’ (aka someone who does the sport & can’t give it up till they’re an old veteran in their 30’s), I would have laughed and said ‘yea right’. But here I am, finally saying goodbye!”
Michael Somppi, of the Alberta World Cup Academy, is also retiring after 16 years of competitive skiing. Somppi, 29, a former member of Canada’s senior development team, won three national titles and World Cup start rights as Canada’s NorAm overall leader at the end of the 2014/2015 season.
“I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to in my ski career, but I am really proud of all that I did accomplish,” Somppi wrote in a blog post on Sunday. “I feel I got all I could out of myself given the circumstances I faced and the system I worked in. Thinking back to when I started out ski racing in high school, I am amazed how far I’ve come. ‘Started at the bottom, now we here!’ I picked up racing late and was never the most talented. I worked hard with extreme motivation and focus to become one of the top skiers in Canada.”
“One of the highlights of my career was certainly the team sprint with my brother Dario at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi,” Gianluca wrote in a Facebook post announcing his retirement, according to a translation. “We reached the 5th place and could take home an [Olympic] diploma. It was not only a highlight because of the 5th rank, but also because our parents were there to witness it live. I never dreamed of anything like that when I was a little boy.”
Sweden’s Emil Jönsson celebrates a 2013 World Cup victory in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
The Swedish team is seeing the exit of Anna Haag, Emil Jönsson and Martin Johansson. Haag, 31, won gold with the Swedish women’s relay at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and has four medals from the last three Olympics. Jönsson, 32, Haag’s longtime partner and an internationally renowned sprinter, earned two Olympic bronze medals in 2014.
From Finland, four-time World Championships gold medalist Aino-Kaisa Saarinen is stepping away from competitive skiing at age 39.
“I have done this 20 years, what I really wanted, and I have raced my goals and even more,” Saarinen told FasterSkier after the last race of World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. “This skiing family is the thing what I’m going to miss the most, and of course, I love the competitions. I don’t know any other job where you can feel so high and so low, so, maybe those are the feelings right now, what I’m going to really miss the most.”
Poland’s 35-year-old Justyna Kowalczyk, a two-time Olympic champion and two-time World Champion, has announced her retirement as well.
Then there’s Aurore Jean, 32, who became the second French woman to reach the cross-country World Cup podium with a second-place skate-sprint finish in 2013.
And last but not least (for now), we have heard news of Russia’s Alexander Legkov — the controversial 2014 Olympic champion who was not allowed to compete at this year’s Games because of Russia’s systematic doping in Sochi — officially retiring.
“You have all been with me in the course of many years of my professional career and I truly love you all,” the 35-year-old Legkov said at a sports tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on April 6, according to the Russian News Agency. “… I will see all of you later, not at international tournaments, but perhaps at domestic tournaments or marathon. I am announcing the end of my international sports career.”
At the Sochi Games, Legkov won the 50 k freestyle mass start and took bronze with his teammates his the men’s 4 x 10 k relay. He ended his ski-racing career on March 3 in Rybinsk, Russia, where he placed fourth in the 50 k freestyle Demino Skimarathon.
Stay tuned for more retirement announcements as they are made public.
Norway’s Ragnhild Haga leads Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal during the 4 x 5-kilometer team sprint on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Three days before the 4 x 5-kilometer women’s relay event, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen sat in the PyeongChang Olympic press-conference room. A table and a black mic served as the only separation between the five-time Olympian, and a group of reporters eagerly awaiting to pick her brain.
She had just tied for third in the women’s 10 k freestyle and had been fielding questions about her bronze-medal performance when the conversation took a momentary turn.
The inquiry on the table prodded Bjørgen for her thoughts about the upcoming team relay. The Norwegian’s response seemed simple, yet seasoned with wisdom: “The relay is the relay,” she said with a laugh.
Going into Saturday’s team competition, many may have assumed that the relay was Norway’s race to lose. But Bjørgen’s remark hinted at the broader felicitousness of predictability on the stage of events like the Winter Games. In the last five Olympic cycles, Norway has taken first only once. That gold came at the Vancouver Games in 2010.
All but two of those Olympic relay teams have featured Bjørgen. Her comment in the PyeongChang press conference may be a tacit reminder that a relay podium, even for a powerhouse cross-country nation like Norway, is never secure until every racer crosses the line.
On Saturday it seemed she and her team would relive their more frequent results of the past. Racing the first leg, Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg kept the team in the mix. She chased down Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva throughout the blistering first-classic leg pace and the two came into the exchange together along with Slovenia’s Anamarija Lampic.
Almost 20 seconds behind the lead group was Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and another 5 seconds behind the Finn was Sweden’s Anna Haag. In the lead group’s exchange, Østberg tagged off to Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Nepryaeva to Yulia Belorukova, and Lampic to Katja Visnar for the second classic leg.
As the those three began striding the initial climb, Saarinen came into the exchange to tag off to Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen, while Haag handed off to Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla.
“I did what I could to keep up with them, just trying to not lose that [many] seconds,” Haag said during a press conference. “I really did what I could, but then I was so tired on the top of the last uphill that I could barely ski downhill.”
Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla racing the second leg of the 4 x 5-kilometer team sprint on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
If Kalla wanted to put Sweden in the mix for a medal, she would need to make up 25.5 seconds over the course of 5 k.
It didn’t take long for the Swede to silence any doubt as to whether she could. She raced the fastest second classic leg, catching not only Niskanen in her first 2.5 k lap, but later swallowing Jacobsen and Visnar during her second lap. The Swede found even more seconds in the final climb and Team Sweden was in second by the time Kalla rounded the course’s final turn back toward the stadium.
“It was a very inspiring position to go out hunting,” Kalla said at Saturday’s post-race press conference. “And I know that it’s important for me to take some time to get in the right mode and not stress too much. I had really good skis, so it was just to relax in my shoulders and try to have a good position in the double poling. I knew that every second that I could catch up for Ebba and Stina would be important.”
Team Russia was number one through the second exchange, with Belorukova tagging off to Anastasia Sedova for the first freestyle leg. Hot on the Russian’s heels was Sweden’s Ebba Andersson, spurred by Kalla’s strong classic leg.
Yulia Belorukova (5) skiing the second leg for the Olympic Athletes from Russia in the women’s 4 x 5-kilometer team sprint on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Niskanen was the next skier through in third, skiing just 8.4 seconds away from the silver medal. She tagged off to Riitta-Liisa Roponen for Finland’s first skate leg.
After having bled even more time, Jacobsen came through the exchange in fourth. Almost 30 seconds now separated Norway from the win and even a shot at the bronze was 19.7 seconds away.
Jacobsen tagged off to Norwegian Ragnhild Haga, a good pick if Norway wanted to return to the top three. Haga earned her first Olympic gold medal in Thursday’s 10 k freestyle, and on Saturday she appeared to be searching to add one more.
Within the first 2.5 k, Haga reeled Roponen in and left her in the dust as she headed out for her second lap. She continued to push the pace and by the end of her 5 k leg, Haga put her team back into contention for gold. As Team Norway came through the exchange, their time back from Sweden and Russia was no longer 30 seconds, but down to three.
Andersson tagged off to Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, while Sedova handed off to Russia’s Anna Nechaevskaya. Taking the anchor leg for Norway was Bjørgen.
The Norwegian quickly chased down the three second gap to Nilsson. Their red and white Scandinavian suits soon broke free of Russia in maroon.
At this point, the safest way for Bjørgen to secure gold would be to avoid a sprint between herself and the Swede. However, the two raced in tandem throughout the first 2.5 k, Nilsson shadowing the Norwegian’s every move. As they started their second lap, Bjørgen still couldn’t shake her from the back of her skis. Heading into the final climb it was Norway and Sweden together, Bjørgen leading by just half an inch.
The Norwegian women’s celebrates after taking gold in the 4 x 5-kilometer relay on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
Halfway through, Bjørgen put in a surge. The gap was not much, but perhaps just enough. She crested the hill ahead of the Swede and led the final descent. The two cornered to the final 100 meters, Bjørgen barely poling ahead. The Norwegian managed to hold off any attack from the Swede and crossed first with a team time of 51:24.3 for gold.
“Stina looked really strong. We all know how strong she is in the last 100 meters,” Østberg said during a press conference. “But Marit, she is one hell of a skier … I was so nervous and extremely happy when she managed to beat [Nilsson] in the last 100 meters.”
Nilsson crossed 2 seconds later bring Sweden silver, and Nechaevskaya crossed third (+43.3) to earn Russia bronze.
“First of all I am extremely happy I must say, that’s number one. And secondly it’s true that we are going exactly in the right direction,” Belorukova said at the press conference. “We are getting stronger year on year and more powerful, and I should say given the current situation maybe we are also getting more [tough] as we fight our way along. And this is not going to be the last medal.”
Just outside the medals, Finland placed fourth (+1:02.6) and the U.S. finished fifth (+1:20.5) for its best Olympic result. Germany was sixth (+1:49.4), Switzerland seventh (+1:51.5), Slovenia eighth (+2:31.4), Italy ninth (+2:57.7), and Poland 10th (+3:06.6). Canada finished 13th (+4:50.3) of 14 teams.
— Jason Albert, Harald Zimmer and Alex Kochon contributed
The Norwegian women’s celebrates after taking gold in the 4 x 5-kilometer relay on Saturday at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)
It wasn’t the wire-to-wire triumph that Norway sometimes achieves, but the pre-race favorites got the job done despite a scare midway through, thanks to dominant skiing by Ragnhild Haga and smooth strength from anchor Marit Bjørgen.
Norway took gold in the 4 x 5 k relay by two seconds over Sweden in 51:24.3 minutes. Olympic Athletes from Russia took bronze (+43.3), Finland fourth (+1:02.6), and the United States fifth (+1:20.5).
The first leg went out with Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia setting a blistering pace, fracturing the field almost immediately. A number of racers tried to stay with her only to get shot off the back of the pack. Taking a different pacing strategy, Slovenia’s Anamarija Lampic made up ground in the final section of the first leg to tag off in second, with Norways’ Ingvild Flugstad Østeberg third, all within a few seconds of each other.
Part of Nepryaeva’s fracturing of the field led to U.S. lead skier Sophie Caldwell getting dropped, to tag off 1:01.5 minutes back in 11th place.
In the second leg, Charlotte Kalla of Sweden and Kerttu Niskanen of Finland clocked the fastest times, making up 24.4 and 9.9 seconds that had been lost to Russia and Norway by their teammates Anna Haag and Aino Kaisa Saarinen, respectively. In the meantime, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen of Norway had a disastrous relay leg and notched just the eighth-fastest split time, falling to fourth.
Yulia Belorukova of Russia continued to lead the race on that second leg, but Kalla tagged off at the end of the classic portion just 1.4 seconds back, and Niskanen in third (+10.1). Sadie Bjornsen made up three places to tag off in eighth (+1:05.2).
Jacobsen tagged Haga 29.8 seconds out of first. From that point, Haga gradually reeled in the leaders over the course of the 5 k skate leg. It was an absolutely dominant performance, with the fastest split time by 24.7 seconds in a less than 12-minute race.
Sweden’s Ebba Andersson led Russia’s Anastasia Sedova for the whole leg and stayed clear of the field, but Haga — the gold medalist in the 10 k skate — made up enough ground to finish her effort in third, 3.4 seconds back.
That was more than enough for Bjørgen to work with, and she and Swedish anchor Stina Nilsson quickly dropped Anna Nechaevskaya of Russia and set off on their personal duel for gold. Bjørgen led the whole way, but could not make any decisive move to drop the Swede. Instead, over the top of the climb she had about a second, which Nilsson could not close on the downhill or the final flats into the finishing straight: gradually, Bjørgen just added a meter and another to her lead and crossed the line with gold.
Nechaevskaya continued to lose time on the leaders, but still held on to bronze. Krista Pärmäkoski skied an aggressive effort for Finland to pass the team from Switzerland, which had been in fourth after strong legs from Laurien van der Graaff, Nadine Fähndrich, and Nathalie von Siebenthal. But 21-year-old Lydia Hiernickel was unable to keep the pace and Switzerland dropped to seventh by the finish, getting passed by not only Parmakoski and Jessie Diggins, but also Sandra Ringwald of Germany. The Germans finished sixth (+1:49.4) and Switzerland seventh (+1:51.5).
Kikkan Randall had skied the third-fastest split of the field (behind Haga and Andersson) in the third leg to bring the U.S. into sixth, and Diggins also skied the third-fastest split (behind Bjørgen and Nilsson) for her leg to bring the team up to fifth at the finish.
The Canadian team of Dahria Beatty, Emily Nishikawa, Cendrine Browne, and Anne-Marie Comeau placed 13th (+4:50.3) of 14 teams.
The women’s biathlon 12.5 k mass start medalists at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, with Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina (c) in first, Belarus’s Darya Domracheva (l) in second, and Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff (r) in third. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
Not even a miss in the final stage could keep Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina from her third medal of the 2018 Olympics, this time gold, in the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start on Saturday at the Alpensia Biathlon Center.
Kuzmina took charge early in the five-loop race, leading Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier into the range for the first prone shooting stage. There, Kuzmina cleaned all five targets quickly to get back out on course in first, while Dahlmeier missed one to slip out of the top 20, while several other athletes cleaned.
Kuzmina went on to hit every target over the next two shooting stages to distance herself from second place, and even with a miss on the last standing stage, she left the range 24.7 seconds clear of Darya Domracheva of Belarus in second.
Domracheva had put herself in second with clean shooting in the first two stages, then dropped to fifth with a miss on the third stage. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer was up to second by the fourth shooting after three clean stages, then fell back to seventh with a miss on the last standing.
There, Domracheva cleaned to get back into silver-medal contention, 9.3 seconds ahead of Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff in third.
Heading into the final downhill into the stadium, Kuzmina had enough time to grab a flag from one of her team’s staff members running alongside the trail. She crossed the finish line first in 35:23.0 minutes without anyone close for her third-career Olympic gold (after winning the sprint at the 2010 and 2014 Games).
Domracheva skied on her own to second, 18.8 seconds behind, for her first medal of the 2018 Games (and fifth of her career after winning three races at the 2014 Olympics).
Eckhoff, who had skied two penalty laps, took third, 27.7 seconds behind Kuzmina, while Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi held off Sweden’s Hanna Öberg, Wierer and Belarus’s Nadezhda Skardino for fourth place (+45.6). Öberg placed fifth (+46.5), Wierer was sixth (+47.3), and Skardino seventh (+47.9), ahead of Norway’s Marte Olsbu in eighth (+51.6), France’s Marie Dorin Habert in ninth (+57.9) and Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen in 10th (+1:00.9). Dahlmeier, who had won two races and placed third in another at these Olympics, finished 16th (+1:47.1) with two penalties (1+1+0+0).
The women’s 10 k classic podium at Stage 2 of the 2018 Tour de Ski, with Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (c) in first and Heidi Weng (l) in second, and American Sadie Bjornsen (r) in third in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)
By the time Sadie Bjornsen sat down in the fur-lined leader’s chair on Sunday, the sunlight that had been shining brightly over sections of the women’s 10-kilometer classic course — blocked by trees and creating shade and temperature drops in some spots — was fading. Just an hour remained before sunset in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, and as she unclipped her bindings and walked out of the finishing pen, the current leader seat belonged to her.
With racers starting in 30-second interval increments and the final starter, Anastasia Kirillova of Belarus, having pushed past the start wand as Bjornsen strode past the halfway point, the 28-year-old American’s time of 27:41.6 would have to withstand 25 skiers — 23 to stay on the podium — if she were to retain her chilly, yet coveted chair.
That would mean staving off the likes of Norwegian powerhouses, Heidi Weng and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski, as well as Saturday’s skate-sprint winner, Laurien van der Graaff of Switzerland, all of whom started behind Bjornsen.
The U.S. Ski Team (USST) seven-year veteran had already held off Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen and Laura Mononen, Norwegians Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen and Kathrine Rolsted Harsem, Sweden’s Anna Haag, well as her own USST teammate, Jessie Diggins, who sat in fifth at the time off Bjornsen’s finish.
“I had no doubt that Sadie would crush it – she’s such a classic skiing machine and I couldn’t be prouder of her! She’s on fire!” Diggins, who started six bibs ahead of Bjornsen, wrote in an email.
As each racer finished, Bjornsen remained in the lead, the fog of her breath a reminder of the days falling temps and approaching hours of solar siesta.
Sadie Bjornsen sitting in the leader’s chair while waiting for the women’s 10 k classic Stage 2 of the 2018 Tour de Ski to finish. Bjornsen went on to finish third behind Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in first and Heidi Weng in second (Screenshot: ZDF broadcast)
Live footage of skiers still on course, broadcasted on the large screen at the stadium’s epicenter kept her on guard. Two in particular were posing a challenge. Weng, who had started 14 bibs behind Bjornsen, was pacing on par with the American by the 3.5 k mark. Østberg, who departed the starting gate two bibs behind Weng, had put 14.7 seconds into Bjornsen by the time she was one-fifth of the way through the race.
By the halfway point, Weng had upped her tempo, and created a 13-second gap on Bjornsen’s time; at the same mark, Østberg had close to 22 seconds on the American.
When Bjornsen finished, Weng’s lead was still cushioned by close to eight seconds.
“I did not feel I was skiing fast but when I got the split times I heard I was gaining time on the other girls,” Weng said, according to an International Ski Federation (FIS) press release.
By the time Weng finished she had a 16.5-second lead over Bjornsen, moving the American into second place. However, Weng’s time in the chair was no more insular than Bjornsen’s. With two-thirds of the race complete, Østberg had 23 seconds on Weng and almost 40 seconds on Bjornsen.
With that kind of a lead, the final 2 k were Østberg’s to win and it appeared only a self-induced mistake would prevent her from taking it all. Perfection ruled the Norwegian’s skis. Østberg covered the final fifth of the race with precise certitude; as if she and the Lenzerheide course were confiding old friends (In fact, they were. In 2016 she won her first non-sprint distance World Cup in Lenzerheide during that season’s Tour de Ski (TdS)).
By the time Østberg finished, she had 25.7 seconds on Weng and 42.2 seconds on Bjornsen, claiming the win in a time of 26:59.4. Her first-place finish in Sunday’s 10 k, combined with her ninth place in Saturday’s sprint, puts her first in the overall TdS standings as racers head into Monday’s Stage 3 freestyle pursuit.
“I knew it was going to be a tough race in these conditions. My goal this season has been to get better each weekend. My shape is very good right now,” Østberg said, according to FIS. “Tomorrow I will be chased and it is going to be a tough race.”
American Sadie Bjornsen finishing the 2018 Tour de Ski Stage 2 women’s 10 k classic in first in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. She ultimately placed third behind two Norwegians, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Heidi Weng. (Screenshot: ZDF broadcast)
“Wow. What a dream day.” Bjornsen wrote in an email to media outlets. “A distance classic podium has been a dream of mine since I first started racing World Cup, so it was so fun to achieve that dream goal of mine today.”
“I had an awesome talk with my wax tech, JP, right before the start of the race, where he told me the most important thing that day was to trust what I do well, and never give up.. so I went with it,” Bjornsen continued. “I thought I was having a really tough race, and then I got my first split at 7.5k when Matt told me I was in second place and could win the race today. Suddenly, I had a fire lit under my butt, and I just gave every last bit for the last 2.5k. It was kinda fun not knowing what was happening, because it felt like a true surprise!”
Bjornsen finished yesterday’s sprint in 14th and with Sunday’s finish is now ranked fourth in the overall, just one place behind her teammate Diggins, who finished Sunday’s 10 k classic in seventh place (+1:04.4).
American Jessie Diggins during the women’s 10 k classic Stage 2 of the 2018 Tour de Ski in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. (Screenshot: ZDF broadcast)
“For me, I was really proud of how I held it together out there,” Diggins wrote in an email. “This is not my kind of condition and it was really hard to find kick out there – I felt like I was running, herringboning and bounding up the hills! But just a few years ago a day like today would have wrecked my overall tour time and now I’m able to hold my technique together and keep it flexible as conditions change, so I’m really happy about that!”
“Looking forward to tomorrow skate distance!” she added. “I’m starting in a little bit of no-mans land…but I love the chase and I’ll just put my head down and hammer!”
Rounding out the top 10 on Sunday was Niskanen in fourth (+48.9), Haag in fifth (+52.6), Germany’s Nicole Fessel in sixth (+58.2), Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal in eighth (+1:08.3), Germany’s Stefanie Böhler in ninth (+1:08.8) and Slovenia’s Anamarija Lampic in 10th (+1:10.9).
Also scoring in the points for the U.S. on Sunday was Sophie Caldwell in 21st (+1:40.6), Liz Stephen in 28th (+2:04.8) and Ida Sargent in 30th (+2:06.7).
Caldwell placed third in Saturday’s sprint and is now ranked seventh in the overall tour standings heading into Monday’s pursuit.
“My body felt surprisingly good after yesterday! When I woke up I was definitely a little tired, but my body felt good racing.” Caldwell wrote in an email. “The conditions were extremely tricky today, and our service team did an awesome job of making us the best skis possible.”
Though many sections on course were glazed over and the downhills iced over, Caldwell indicated the challenge was one she embraced.
“I enjoy tricky conditions like this where you really have to work to make the kick work because I think making skis kick is one of my strengths,” Caldwell wrote. “The downhills were icy and sketchy, so wax would inevitably wear off some, but I tried to really pace the first lap and be in control so I felt like I still had something to give on the second lap. I was really excited to see I ended up in the points! And of course seeing Sadie on the podium again put a huge smile on my face.
“Being in seventh in the tour right now is beyond any expectations I had,” she added. “10 km skates are generally the toughest discipline for me, but I will do my best and be running for dear life from everyone chasing me!”
After two stages out of seven in the TdS, Sargent ranks 30th and Stephen 37th.
Despite battling illness prior to the tour and feeling it worsen during Saturday’s sprint, Sargent started Sunday’s 10 k and was pleasantly surprised to see that her finish was within the points.
“I actually wasn’t sure if I was even going to race today but warmed up and decided to go for it. It felt really hard and I felt like I was struggling a lot so I have to admit I was very happily surprised to hear I was 30th,” Sargent wrote in an email. “I think this is the first time I have scored distance points at altitude. I’m looking forward to another race here tomorrow and then a day off and I have my fingers crossed that my body continues to come back around.”
Another USST member, Rosie Brennan skied to 38th (+2:20.5) on Sunday, putting her in 33rd overall.
The seventh USST member, Kikkan Randall did not start and withdrew from the Tour after experiencing pain in her left foot following the races in Davos three weeks ago,
“[I] have been trying to rehab the foot since with alternative training. Yesterday showed me I am making some progress with my foot and I didn’t want to set myself back with a classic race today. Classic seems to aggravate the injury more.,” Randall wrote in an email. “It was a tough decision but the Olympics are my big goal and I still have time to get my foot healthy if I am smart over the next couple weeks. I am looking forward to sharpening for the sprints in Dresden in two weeks.”
“Awesome to see the team take another podium today!” Randall added. “I’m so proud of our girls!”
In both Stage 1 and Stage 2, the U.S. has had five women in the top 30 and one on the podium. Four of the U.S.’s six starters for Monday’s skate pursuit will start in the top 30.
“It’s really motivating to have had two really strong days as a team,” Caldwell wrote. “I think the fact that we have a handful of people who could be on the podium or in the top ten on any given day says a lot about how strong our team is right now. I think we do a really good job of lifting each other up and pushing each other and it’s cool that there are so many people leading the team in so many ways.”
The women’s 10 k classic podium at Stage 2 of the 2018 Tour de Ski, with Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (c) in first and Heidi Weng (l) in second, and American Sadie Bjornsen (r) in third in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)
Tour de Ski Stage 2 (Lenzerheide, Switzerland): 10/15 classic
For the second-straight day of the Tour de Ski, an American landed on the podium, with Sadie Bjornsen placing third in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start on Sunday in Lenzerheide.
For Bjornsen, it was her third individual podium of the season and first in a race longer than 5 k. She finished behind two Norwegians, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, who took the win in 26:59.4 minutes, and Heidi Weng, who was 25.7 seconds back in second.
Bjornsen was 42.2 seconds out of first and 6.7 seconds clear of Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen in fourth (+48.9). Sweden’s Anna Haag placed fifth (+52.6), Germany’s Nicole Fessel finished sixth (+58.2), and the second American in the top 10, Jessie Diggins in seventh (+1:04.4).
Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal placed eighth (+1:08.3) on home soil, just ahead of Germany’s Stefanie Böhler in ninth (+1:08.8), and Slovenian U23 skier Anamarija Lampič placed 10th (+1:08.9).
For Østberg, the win came two seasons after she won her very first distance World Cup race in Lenzerheide. With the win she leads the Tour standings by 32.8 seconds over Weng in second. Diggins is up to third overall (+1:04.9) and will start Monday’s 10 k freestyle pursuit accordingly, 1:05 seconds after Østberg, who will head out of the gate first.
Bjornsen is fourth overall (+1:15.4), just ahead of Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva in fifth (+1:17.3) while Niskanen is another 15 seconds back in sixth (+1:32.0), and will start the pursuit with American Sophie Caldwell, who was second in Saturday’s Stage 1 skate sprint and ranks seventh overall (+1:32.0). Caldwell placed 21st on Sunday, 1:40.6 behind Østberg.
“It’s has been a huge goal of mine to be on the distance podium,” Bjornsen said, according to a FIS press release. “It felt really crazy out there today. At the 6.0 km I got the information I was in 2nd place. I had to ski a lot out of the track. I had to give everything I had in the last 2.5 km. I was little bit disappointed yesterday, I was hoping for more so today feels really great.”
The U.S. had five in the top 30 with Liz Stephen in 28th (+2:04.8) and Ida Sargent in 30th (+2:06.7). For Stephen, it was her first time in the points (top 30) this season. Rosie Brennan placed 38th (+2:20.5). Kikkan Randall did not start and thus withdrew from the Tour.
Dario Cologna rose to the challenge on Sunday, winning the second stage of the 2018 Tour de Ski for his first World Cup victory in three years.
The 31-year-old Swiss skier completed the men’s 15-kilometer classic individual start in 35:29.5 minutes, besting the time of Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin by 0.6 seconds to win in front of a home crowd in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Cologna started 62nd and sped up as the race progressed, clocking the fastest times from 6 k on. Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov started behind him in bib 68 and topped Cologna’s time at every checkpoint, skiing 7.4 seconds faster than him at 10 k. But over the final 5 k loop, Cologna prevailed and Bolshunov faded, with the Russian U23 skier finishing fourth, 14 seconds off Cologna’s winning time.
“It’s amazing, the first victory in Switzerland,” Cologna told Swiss broadcaster SRF. “I think it’s my 22nd [World Cup win], but the first one at home, which is very beautiful. And after a two-year break it really is a great satisfaction.”
Poltoranin started 27th and claimed his second podium of the season and first one of the tour, while Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby scored his first podium since early December. Sundby placed third, 13.1 seconds out of first. Russia had two in the top five with another U23 skier, Alexey Chervotkin in fifth (+16.2). Norway’s Hans Christer Holund was sixth (+21.2), Finland’s Iivo Niskanen seventh (+22.9), Italy’s Francesco De Fabiani eighth (+27.2), Norway’s Didrik Tønseth ninth (+37.1), and Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov 10th (+37.1).
Canada’s Alex Harvey placed 20th (+57.9) and slipped two places in the overall standings to ninth. Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov, who won yesterday’s Stage 1 skate sprint, still leads the standings while Cologna is up to second, just 1.6 seconds back heading into Monday’s freestyle pursuit in Lenzerheide. Bolshunov is third, 12.7 seconds back, Poltoranin fourth (+22.0), Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola fifth (+27.7), Sundby sixth (+39.1), Niskanen seventh (+46.4), Chervotkin eighth (+49.8), Harvey ninth (+53.8), and Holund 19th (+54.5).
In Saturday’s 15 k classic, Erik Bjornsen led the U.S. men in 27th (+1:22.4), Simi Hamilton finished 58th (+2:41.8), Andy Newell was 71st (+3:11.5), and Paddy Caldwell 75th (+3:36.2).
Eighty-five men finished the second stage of the Tour de Ski; Canada’s second man, Devon Kershaw, did not race on Sunday and withdrew from the tour due to illness.
The women’s podium for the first race of the 2017/2018 World Cup season, the Ruka classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland, with (from right to left) American Sadie Bjornsen in second, Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in first, and Russia’s Yulia Belorukova in third. (Photo: U.S. Ski Team/Twitter)
FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): Classic sprints
In the first race of the 2017/2018 cross-country World Cup season, U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Sadie Bjornsen, who turned 28 on Tuesday, raced to the best result of her career, placing second to Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in Friday’s classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland.
Last season, Bjornsen notched her first World Cup podium in third place in the 5-kilometer freestyle in Toblach, Italy, and teamed up with USST teammate Jessie Diggins to take third in the 2017World Championships classic team sprint. Friday’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint — the first race of the Ruka Triple mini tour to kick of the 2017/2018 World Cup season — was Bjornsen’s first race of the season. She did not participate in any preseason International Ski Federation (FIS) races.
Bjornsen started out the day by clocking the fifth-fastest time in the qualifier, 1.98 seconds behind Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter, who won the qualifier in 3:11.69 minutes. Bjornsen’s USST teammate Sophie Caldwell qualified third (+0.59) after another Swede, Hanna Falk in second (+0.19), and a total of four American women finished in the top 30 to qualify for the heats. Ida Sargent finished 22nd (+8.70) and Rosie Brennan was 26th (+9.51) to reach the quarterfinals.
There, Bjornsen won her quarterfinal by 0.39 seconds over Russia’s Yulia Belorukova. Caldwell also advanced to the semifinals by placing second in her quarterfinal, 0.7 seconds behind Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in first.
Sargent finished third in her quarterfinal, 0.65 seconds behind the winner of that heat, Sweden’s Anna Haag. Brennan placed sixth in her quarterfinal, 4.3 seconds behind Sweden’s Nilsson in first. Neither Sargent nor Brennan advanced to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Bjornsen again raced to first, and once again held off Belorukova — this time by just one-hundredth of a second. Caldwell followed in fourth in that semifinal, 0.5 seconds behind Bjornsen in first and 0.11 seconds behind Russia’s Evgenia Shapovalova in third (+0.39). Neither Caldwell nor Shapovalova advanced to the final.
In the final, Nilsson took the overall win in 3:17.62 and Bjornsen captured a career best in second place, 0.24 seconds out of first. Belorukova rounded out the podium in third (+0.91), while Ingemarsdotter placed fourth (+2.72), Norway’s Kathrine Rolsted Harsem was fifth (+3.54), and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski sixth (+18.62).
Overall, Caldwell placed eighth, Sargent 15th and Brennan 29th for the U.S. Diggins and Kikkan Randall missed out on qualifying in 34th and 36th, respectively. Julia Kern placed 57th, Liz Stephen 70th, and Chelsea Holmes 86th.
None of the Canadian women qualified, with Dahria Beatty in 64th, Emily Nishikawa in 74th and Cendrine Browne in 87th.
In the men’s 1.4 k classic sprint, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won out the day after winning the qualifier, quarterfinal and semifinal en route to another dominant performance in the final.
Klæbo started off by winning the qualifying round by 2.26 seconds in 2:46.53. Finland’s Anssi Pentsinen qualified second and another Finn, Ristomatti Hakola, qualified third (+2.35), ahead of Italy’s Federico Pellegrino in fourth (+2.66).
Cross Country Canada’s Alex Harvey was the top North American man in the qualifier, finishing 13th (+6.13), while Erik Bjornsen of the USST qualified in 26th (+8.71).
Both Harvey and Bjornsen finished fifth in their quarterfinals and did not reach the semifinals. Harvey ended up 21st on the day, after finishing 2.16 behind the winner of his heat, Finland’s Lauri Vuorinen. Bjornsen was 24th overall after finishing 5.12 seconds behind Klæbo, who won the first men’s quarterfinal.
Klæbo used the extra recovery time he had from racing an early quarterfinal to prime himself for another win in the semifinals, where he beat Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson by 0.29 seconds. Another Norwegian, Pål Golberg, followed in third (+0.49), and Hakola placed fourth in that semi (+1.72). Both Golberg and Hakola had fast enough times to advance to the final, where they met Pellegrino — the winner of the second semifinal — and Norway’s Sondre Turvoll Fossli, who was second in the second semifinal (+0.1).
In the final, Klæbo once again won convincingly, this time by 1.35 seconds with a finishing time of 2:48.19. Golberg took second place and Halfvarsson reached the podium in third (+4.03), while Hakola placed fourth (+5.65), Pellegrino fifth (+8.87), and Fossli sixth (+17.31).
For the U.S., Andy Newell missed qualifying by 0.38 seconds in 34th and Simi Hamilton finished 60th. Scott Patterson was 84th, Paddy Caldwell was 103rd, and Noah Hoffman was 105th.
For Canada, Julien Locke, of the national U25 Team, finished 59th, Len Valjas was 63rd, Knute Johnsgaard 73rd, Devon Kershaw 74th, Graeme Killick 85th, and Jesse Cockney 95th. Last year’s NorAm winner Russell Kennedy did not start.
In the men’s classic sprint on Day 1 of the three-day 2017 Toppidrettsveka mini tour, Norway’s Aune Pål Trøan (1) crosses the line ahead of his countrymen Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (7) and Eirik Brandsdal (10) while Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson (r) placed fourth. Halfvarsson went on to win the tour, ahead of Klaebo in second. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
This past weekend was once again the time of the year for the Toppidrettsveka ski festival, a three-day rollerski mini tour held annually since 2005 in the region of Trondheim, Norway. In addition to the individual stages, points for the top-30 finishers were awarded to compile an overall ranking similar to the Tour de Ski.
The elite field of athletes was mostly comprised of Norwegian and other Scandinavian skiers active on the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup and European Continental Cup level, as well as a handful of international starters, including two Americans: U.S. Ski Team member Andy Newell, who raced at last month’s Blink Ski Festival in Norway, and Kevin Bolger, who is coming off his senior season at the University of Utah.
Day 1: Aure Sprint
American Andy Newell (U.S. Ski Team) at the start of the men’s sprint in Aure, Norway, on Day 1 of the 2017 Toppidrettsveka rollerski mini tour. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
The festival started last Thursday with a classic sprint in the small town of Aure, on a fairly long course with a steep downhill and a roundabout at the bottom, after which the athletes had to ski up the same hill toward the finish.
In the men’s race, Norway’s Aune Pål Trøan took the win in the final with a time of 2:46.46, narrowly edging Norwegian World Cup skiers Johannes Høsflot Klæbo by 0.41 seconds and Eirik Brandsdal by 0.43 seconds. Just another tenth of a second back, Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson placed fourth (+0.44).
Newell’s run ended in the quarterfinals, where he finished sixth in his heat, just half a second from advancing. His heat was a tight race that featured the eventual winner Trøan, who along with World Cup regular Emil Iversen, advanced as a lucky loser behind Brandsdal and his teammate Aleksander Ek. Bolger did not reach the quarterfinals.
In the women’s final, Sweden’s Linn Sömskar prevailed with a time of 3:03.94, edging out five Norwegians, including Kathrine Rolsted Harsem in second and 2016 Toppidrettsveka title-defender Heidi Weng in third. Earlier in the day, Sömskar also won her quarterfinal and semifinal heats decisively.
Two weeks ago, Sömskar won three races at the 2017 rollerski world championships in Solleftea, Sweden — the 18-kilometer freestyle, 16 k classic, and team sprint with Maja Dahlqvist.
Day 2: Brekka Mass Start and Trondheim Sprint
On Friday, athletes competed in two events: a mass start followed by a sprint later in the evening.
Switzerland’s Dario Cologna topped the men’s 24 k mass start, a point-to-point race from Aure to Brekka, finishing in 59:11.3 after breaking away on the long final climb. Halfvarsson claimed second (+10.8), followed by Finland’s Iivo Niskanen in third (+17.2) ahead of Norway’s Niklas Dyrhaug in fourth (+27.4).
“Great to win here,” Cologna told Norwegian broadcaster NRK in an interview in the finish. “Many good skiers, the best in the world, so it’s a good feeling. Good to see that everything is working well [in preparation] for this important season.”
Bolger finished 51st (+4:48.6) and Newell crossed 15 seconds later in 54th (+5:03.9) in the large field of 124 finishers.
In the women’s mass start over the same 24 k course, the race was even closer and came down to a finishing sprint. Weng took the win in 1:07.30.3, just 3.5 seconds ahead of her teammate Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, while Sweden’s Anna Haag finished 7.8 seconds back in third. Another Swede, Ebba Anderson placed fourth (+22.0), while the rest of the field crossed the line more than four minutes later. Haag and Anderson are just coming off a training camp in Sweden, where they were joined by U.S. Ski Team members Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randall.
For Stage 3 on the same day, athletes raced a 1 k sprint in the center of Trondheim, Norway’s third-largest city. There, Klæbo won the men’s final after a decisive attack on the finishing stretch in a time of 2:19.56 minutes, ahead of fellow Norwegian Ragnar-Kristoffer Braqvin Andresen in second (+0.23) and Even Northug in third (+2.85), the younger brother of 2016 Toppidrettsveka winner Petter Northug Jr. Halfvarsson finished fourth (+2.94), thereby taking the lead in the intermediate tour standings on Day 2, ahead of Klæbo, Cologna and Trøan.
Both Newell and Bolger missed qualifying for the sprint heats and did not score additional points.
In a true photo finish (left to right) Norway’s Barbro Kvaale won the women’s sprint on Day 2 of the 2017 Toppidrettsveka rollerski mini tour in Trondheim, Norway, ahead of Sweden’s Linn Sömskar in second, Norway’s Heidi Weng in third, Norway’s Kathrine Rolsted Harsem in fourth, and Switzerland’s Laurien Van Der Graaff in fifth. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
The women’s sprint final went to Norway’s Barbro Kvåle in a time of 2:46.04, who placed sixth in the final the day before. She edged Sömskar by just 0.08 seconds and Weng was another hundredth of a second back in third (+0.09). Harsem placed fourth (+0.25), and Switzerland’s Laurien Van Der Graaff, who led until the final meters of the race, finished fifth (+0.37). In the overall standings, Weng spent the night in the lead, ahead of Sömskar, Jacobsen and Harsem.
Day 3: Trondheim Pursuit/Mass Start
The mini tour concluded Saturday with classic races in Trondheim. However, with a smaller field of 37 athletes for the last women’s race, the points collected in the prior three events were not converted into time gaps before the final stage. Instead, athletes started together for a 12-kilometer mass start and the overall results and time back from the winner were computed after the race.
In rainy weather (with many of the spectators sporting ponchos), the short-sleeved athletes persistently circled their laps around the city course. The top group got smaller and smaller, and after 7.5 k, only 10 women remained within three seconds of the lead. That group dwindled to six by the finishing stretch, where Haag outlunged Jacobsen by 0.2 seconds for the win and Sömskar crossed another 0.4 seconds back in third (+0.6). Three Norwegians followed, with Harsem in fourth (+1.2), Weng in fifth (+1.5) and Lovise Hemdal in sixth (+2.0). Fifteen seconds later, Kvåle in seventh (+16.7) led the next four finishers across the line.
After computing the overall Toppidrettsveka standings, Weng was deemed the winner for the second-straight year. Sömskar placed second, 34.1 seconds back (she only had one weaker stage in the long mass start where she finished 11th, almost six minutes behind Weng), and Jacobsen was just another 1.6 seconds back in third (+35.7). Harsem finished the tour in fourth (+46.7), and Haag placed fifth (+59.5).
“I was impressed with myself actually,” Weng told NRK in a finish-line interview, according to a translation. “That I managed to keep up so well despite some very stiff arms … I don’t know if I am on a better way than last year, but yes, I feel really quite good.”
On the conditions, which Jacobsen called “dangerous“, Weng was pleased everyone played it safe.
“We took it very easy, and it was good that we all kept it a bit safe, there were some very slippery spots, but it went well,” Weng said.
With more in the men’s field, the men raced a 15 k pursuit, with Halfvarsson starting first, 12 seconds ahead of Klæbo in second, and 50 seconds ahead of Cologna in third. Trøan left the gate 1 minute back and Brandsdal started 2 seconds later.
Despite the heavy rain, which had worsened since the women’s race, Halfvarsson increased his lead on Klæbo. By 5.1 k, the Swede was more than 40 seconds clear of Klæbo, and Cologna came through the checkpoint 1:13 back. Having to ski through puddles of standing water at times, Halfvarsson extended his lead on Klæbo to over a minute by 11.2 k. Another 30 seconds behind Klæbo, Northug led a large chase group of about 20 racers after the pack had caught Cologna.
Halfvarsson held his comfortable lead through the finish, completing the final stage in a time of 34:08.4 for the overall victory. Klæbo had to fight a lot harder to hold onto second place, crossing the line 1:14.7 back and only a few meters ahead of the chase group. Northug outlasted the pack in a finishing sprint for third place (+1:18.5), while Bransdal missed the podium by half a second in fourth (+1:19.0), as did Niskanen in fifth (+1:19.0) and Trøan in sixth (+1:20.0).
“Today, it was pretty easy,” Halfvarsson told NRK, according to a translation. “I had the goal to go out hard, and knew I was going to get it when Johannes had problems to follow.”
“[My] days are over, there is a new kid in town,” 13-time world champion Northug said in English in a finish-line interview with NRK, referencing Klæbo standing next to him.
“He is the one who is absolutely the fastest of all of us,” Halfvarsson agreed in his interview with NRK when asked about the upcoming season. “Petter will be strong if he can find the shape for the winter, but it’s Johannes who I fear the most.”
“He is just saying that,” Klæbo told NRK. “I think there are many Norwegians that are going to go fast this winter.”
The best time of the final stage was posted by Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave in 33:33.8, while Halfvarsson’s time ranked 25th. Musgrave finished eighth overall (+1:20.4).
For the stage, Newell placed 53rd and Bolger 64th. Overall, Newell finished the tour in 56th (+2:28.7) and Bolger placed 67th (+3:01.2).
Norway’s Marit Bjørgen celebrates her ninth-straight win in World Cup distance races (anything longer than a sprint) in the last race of the 2016/2017 season, the women’s 10 k freestyle pursuit on Sunday in Quebec City. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
QUEBEC CITY — Generally speaking, most European-based World Cup skiers wouldn’t have picked Canada as their ideal place to end the season. It’s too far across the pond, too far from the beaches, too far from home.
Québec City organizers, headed by Gestev, had just under two months to prepare. Having hosted two stages of the Ski Tour Canada last season and a World Cup sprint weekend in 2012, they had the experience, but World Cup Finals — complete with three uninterrupted days of racing and season-ending awards — was another animal of its own entity.
Fortunately, the weather cooperated. Three days before World Cup Finals, Québec City and the eastern part of North America got its biggest snowstorm of the season and perhaps the last several winters. With three straight days of racing taking place on the open-aired Plains of Abraham, most familiar with the expansive downtown park expected bone-chilling wind. Yet with above freezing temperatures at race time, that wasn’t much of a factor, especially not on Saturday and Sunday.
Each day, spectators and athletes required fewer layers, and by Sunday, some of the athletes were down to bibs only. The sun was intense, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the athletes were happy.
Norway’s Heidi Weng leads her teammate Marit Bjørgen during the women’s 10 k freestyle pursuit on the last day of World Cup Finals in Quebec City. Bjørgen went on to win while Weng was 1.2 seconds back in second. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“When I saw that we would race here, I thought, ‘Oh no. We’ll have to go so far from home,’ ” Norway’s Heidi Weng told FasterSkier on Sunday. “But when I come here, it’s more like winter, and I like the track here, and I’ve gone very fast here before. So I knew I could go do a very good race here, so now I hope we come here often. It’s very good, and many people, and the atmosphere, and good snow. It was very great to be here.”
Weng spoke to a horde of reporters with a large, silver briefcase by her side. In it was one of the Crystal Globes she had just received for winning the Overall and Distance World Cups (she won one globe for each season-long category). Between Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Weng finished sixth in the freestyle sprint, second in the 10-kilometer classic mass start, and second in the 10 k freestyle pursuit. Her Norwegian teammate and longtime idol, Marit Bjørgen beat her in both the distance races.
In all, Weng racked up about 20 individual World Cup podiums (including her Tour de Ski win, Lillehammer mini tour win, and World Championships silver in the 30 k freestyle mass start). She was the most consistent skier throughout the season, thus earning the Overall World Cup crown by 40 points over Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski, and distance title by 97 points over Bjørgen.
“I’ve had many podiums this year,” Weng said. “In sprint I have taken huge steps, so I am very happy with the season. I have won a sprint race, and that’s the most important to me…
“Maybe I must have a little more confidence that I am good and a good skier, because I always think I am not so good as the others, but now I have a better head,” she added. “Maybe you can say in your head that you are very good and very strong, so next year I do a joke with my head.”
While Weng keeps telling herself that she can win, Bjørgen is fully aware that she’s back to her top form having won every distance race since the new year. That’s nine straight individual wins, including two from this past weekend.
After starting one second behind Weng in Sunday’s 10 k skate pursuit, she outlasted the overall and distance World Cup champion by 1.2 seconds at the finish after leading Weng for most of the three-lap race.
“It has been an incredible season for me after Christmas,” Bjørgen, who had a child in December 2015 and took last season off, told reporters on Sunday. “I won every long distance and four golds in the World Championships so this has been incredible and to win today also.”
On Sunday, Bjørgen caught Weng quickly and with the third starter, Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, heading out 29 seconds back, the two skied off together and away from any threat to their top-two quest.
On the first lap, Østberg tried to close the gap, coming within 23 seconds of them at 1.3 k, but by the time she lapped through the stadium at 3.3 k, she was 33 seconds behind and just seven seconds ahead of a chase pack with her Norwegian teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla, Pärmäkoski, and Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter and Stina Nilsson. Another 20 seconds behind them, American Sadie Bjornsen and Sweden’s Anna Haag were leading a pack of eight.
One lap later, Bjørgen and Weng cruised into and out of the stadium 46 seconds before Østberg, who was still 10 seconds ahead of the four-woman chase pack by the time she came through. The group, which was down to Nilsson, Ingemarsdotter and Parmakoski, eventually caught Østberg less than a kilometer before the finish, and Østberg finished at the back of that group in sixth, 1:06.8 behind Bjørgen. In a race for third, Nilsson took it by 1.9 seconds over Ingemarsdotter in fourth and 5.6 seconds ahead of Pärmäkoski in fifth.
“It was a mental struggle the whole way because they were 15 and 10 seconds behind me all the way, and that’s a difficult gap,” Østberg told FasterSkier. “They were three and four working together, and I was all by myself in front. I really tried to push as hard as I could, and stay in front of them, and I had 10 seconds, and it was less than 1 kilometer left, and I really believed that I could take it, but when they passed me, they had such high speed, I couldn’t keep up with them. So that was not so fun to see them pass me there, but I managed to take the third place overall [in the World Cup], so I have to be satisfied with that, I guess.”
“I think we worked well together,” Nilsson told FasterSkier. “Krista did the hardest work, I think, but I tried to help her as much as I could, and I was very excited that we could catch up to Ingvild. … I knew that when we started to be in the sprint course, I started to feel at home, then I just wanted to go as fast as I could.”
Norway’s Marit Bjørgen after outlasting her teammate Heidi Weng for the win in the women’s 10 k freestyle pursuit on Sunday at World Cup Finals in Quebec City. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
Exactly a minute before Nilsson — a sprint specialist — finished third, Bjørgen had crossed the line first in 22:36.1 minutes after getting slightly ahead of Weng coming out of the downhill with 100 meters remaining. Leading up to that point, Weng had come from behind to attack on the second-to-last climb, a markedly steep one, but Bjørgen responded quickly.
“I thought that Marit was a little bit more tired than me, but when I attacked on the sprint uphill I hoped that I could get some meters to Marit, but she was there, and in the downhill she came from behind and take a better speed,” Weng said. “That sucks, but I was number two, and it’s not many who can be on the podium, so I am very happy.”
“I knew that it would be a sprint in the end with Heidi and to have her behind me is a very good feeling,” Bjørgen said. “I’m 10 years older and to be there is a good feeling to take with me into the Olympic [year next season].”
Bjørgen is 36. Weng will turn 26 in July. Nilsson is 23.
On Sunday, Bjørgen not only won the pursuit and with it, the World Cup Finals mini tour, but she was also the fastest for time of day in 25:35.1. Weng was second fastest, 2.2 seconds back, and Nilsson third (+11.9) after starting seventh and moving her way up to third.
On her 34th birthday, Germany’s Nicole Fessel was fourth fastest (+15.3), and Bjornsen of the U.S. tied Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla for fifth on the day, 17.8 seconds off Bjørgen’s time.
Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) soaking up her top-10 finish at 2017 World Cup Finals in Quebec City after placing 10th in the 10 k freestyle pursuit and fifth for time of day. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
Overall Bjornsen placed 10th (+1:27.2) after starting 1:10 minutes back in 10th with Kalla in ninth and skiing with her and Fessel (the 13th starter) to the finish.
“Charlotte was going so hard from the start,” Bjornsen said after. “I actually did my warm up behind her, trying to get used to her speed because that was my main goal, to stay with her today. I knew it was going to be rippin’, and at one point some of the girls went in front of me, and I let her get away, and I was like, ‘No! I have to stay with her!’ So I had to do a full sprint in the middle to catch back on, which took a lot to recover from.”
At the finish, just 0.4 seconds separated Kalla, Fessel and Bjornsen, who placed eighth (+1:26.8), ninth (+1:26.9) and 10th, respectively. Ahead of them, Norway’s Falla placed seventh (+1:19.8).
“I really wanted to outsprint those girls in the finish for some redemption from the sprint race the other day,” Bjornsen said, referring to her 13th place in the World Cup Finals opening skate sprint. “I’m super happy with a top 10 in the tour. That’s some of the best general skiing I’ve done this year, and it’s good to end on a high note.”
The U.S. had two in the top 20 both overall and for time of day, with Jessie Diggins in 16th (+2:14.8) after skiing the 14th fastest time of day (+35.0). After placing ninth in the sprint and 27th in the classic mass start, she started Sunday in 20th and moved up four places by the finish.
“This weekend, in particular, was not what I wanted,” Diggins told reporters after. “To be honest, I was in tears before the race, because I was up all night coughing. I don’t know if I was getting sick or what, but I was getting nauseous, and I started to puke a little bit, and I was like, ‘I just want to race, and race in front of my family. I just want to go out there and be able to have a good day.’ ”
Diggins immediately got to work out of the gate and was up to 19th at the end of the first lap with Germany’s Stefanie Böhler. She skied with Böhler to the finish, before edging the German by two seconds for 16th.
“I decided I was going to go for it, and it was really working for me when Stefi came by,” Diggins said. “I was just hanging on in the uphills, and then on the downhills, if I was right in her draft, I could push or pull and help each other that way, and that was really cool. I really like skiing with Stefi, she’s awesome, and we were both working together to get the fastest time we could.”
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) racing to 16th in the women’s 10 k freestyle pursuit (up from 20th at the start) with the 14th fastest course time on Sunday at World Cup Finals in Quebec City. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
At the end of the season, Diggins ranked sixth in the overall World Cup and seventh in the distance standings.
“My biggest goal for today was to only say positive things to myself all day, no matter what anything felt like, no matter what the skis were doing, no matter what my body was doing, no matter how sick I felt, and the only thing was to push really hard and cross the finish line and be proud of pushing,” Diggins said. “You can’t control a lot of things in ski racing, but you can control, how much effort you put into it, and I can honestly say I’ve put 100 percent in this season, and I’m really proud of that.”
While 12 American woman completed the tour, 15 Canadians women did the same, with Emily Nishikawa (Canadian World Cup Team) leading them in 38th (+4:52.7) after starting 39th. Cendrine Browne, of Canada’s national U25 Team and Pierre Harvey Training Centre, finished just two seconds later in 40th (+4:54.7) after starting 41st.
“I was the last person to start before the wave,” Nishikawa explained. “And the wave, they’re working together as a mass start and moving pretty fast, so I got caught by them at the end of the first lap. I tucked in behind Rosie [Brennan of the U.S.] for the second lap and I actually had a big tangle with [Switzerland’s] Laurien van der Graaff on the fast downhill so I lost contact, lost all my speed. … and I did my best to come back.”
Browne started in the wave and described skiing in that group throughout the race.
“Unfortunately, I finished at the back of the group as I was losing energy,” she told FasterSkier. “I still managed to gain 30 seconds on the leader, which I’m happy about. I finished 41st again, behind my goal of moving towards the top 30, but it’s not dramatic. I think it’s a nice way to cap off the season.
“It was really an amazing weekend, the atmosphere, the crowd, the conditions, everything was on point,” Browne added in French. “I couldn’t have hoped for a better way to end the season.”
“We were so lucky to get [the World Cup Finals] here instead of Russia,” Nishikawa said. “We got to start 30 athletes, lots of people starting their very first World Cups, which is so exciting to see. It’s great for development for our country… We’ve got a really exciting group of women coming coming up in Canada now and to see this group of 15 women get starts this weekend is just great.”
Also for Canada, Dahria Beatty finished 50th, Annika Richardson 55th, Frédérique Vézina 57th, Katherine Stewart-Jones 58th, Andrea Dupont 59th, Annika Hicks 62nd, Sophie Carrier-Laforte 63rd, Sadie White 64th, Lisle Compton 65th, Katherine Weaver 66th, Laura Leclair 67th, and Mia Serratore 68th. Alannah MacLean did not finish.
American Sadie Bjornsen (10) racing to the line with Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (9) and Germany’s Nicole Fessel (not shown) during the women’s 10 k freestyle pursuit on Sunday at World Cup Finals. Kalla placed eighth, Fessel ninth and Bjornsen 10th. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
For the U.S., Sophie Caldwell placed 36th (+4:26.1), Rosie Brennan 42nd, Caitlin Patterson 43rd, Chelsea Holmes 45th, Julia Kern 46th, Kaitlynn Miller 52nd, Liz Guiney 53rd, Becca Rorabaugh 54th, Erika Flowers 56th, and Jennie Bender 60th.
“Sadie’s skating has reached a new level this season,” U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover said, according to a team press release. “Jessie also had a measure of redemption leading a train of women and moving up four places in the standings today. Rookie Julia Kern continued to impress, staying in front of the chasing group for the entire race and winning the sprint at the end.
“We are very proud of the American effort this weekend — athletes, club coaches and U.S. Ski Team staff,” he continued. “We had some great races but, of course, were left wanting a bit more.”
The U.S. Ski Team will finish out its season in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the SuperTour Finals next week, March 27-April 2. Most Canadians are traveling to Canmore for Canadian Ski Nationals, which started Sunday and extend through this Saturday.
The men’s 15 k classic mass start podium on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Quebec City, with Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (c) in first and Niklas Dyrhaug (l) in second, and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): 10/15 k classic mass starts
During Saturday’s 15-kilometer classic mass start at World Cup Finals, Canada’s Alex Harvey was in it until the end. But so were Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Niklas Dyrhaug, and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh, to name a few.
Sitting in second with a few hundred meters to go, Harvey was primed to make his move on Dyrhaug, who was leading at the time. But then came 20-year-old Klæbo, the season-long Sprint World Cup champion, who proved to have more left in the tank than anyone else and passed them both to lead into the finishing straight.
Klæbo took the victory — his first in a World Cup distance race — on a bluebird day under a beating sun in 35:23.7 minutes, 0.6 seconds ahead of Dyrhaug. Bessmertnykh followed another 0.2 seconds back in third (+0.8) just ahead of Harvey in fourth (+1.2).
Norway’s Sjur Røthe took fifth (+1.7), Switzerland’s Dario Cologna placed sixth (+1.9), and Norway’s Pål Golberg was seventh (+2.5), half a second ahead of another Norwegian Didrik Tønseth in eighth (+3.0). The top nine were within 3.7 seconds of first, with Russia’s Andrey Larkov in ninth.
Devon Kershaw was the second Canadian in the points on Saturday in 28th (+1:08.4), after breaking a pole and working his way back up from outside the top 60.
Erik Bjornsen led the U.S. men in 31st (+1:16.8), about a second ahead of Canada’s Graeme Killick in 32nd (+1:17.7).
Also for the U.S., Matt Gelso finished 37th, Andy Newell 45th, Scott Patterson 46th, Noah Hoffman 48th, Ben Lustgarten 49th, David Norris 50th, Simi Hamilton 54th, Paddy Caldwell 59th, Jack Hegman 62nd, Cole Morgan 64th, and Brian Gregg 69th.
For Canada, Bob Thompson finished 55th, Knute Johnsgaard 57th, Len Valjas 61st, Russell Kennedy 63rd, Evan Palmer-Charrette 65th, Andy Shields 66th, Jess Cockney 67th, Brian McKeever 68th, Joey Foster 70th, Gareth Williams 72nd, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier 74th, and Julien Locke 75th.
The women’s 10 k classic mass start podium on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Quebec City, with Norway’s Marit Bjørgen (c) in first, Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) in second and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
In the women’s 10 k classic mass start earlier in the day, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen racked up her seventh victory of the season after leading a pack of two other Norwegians and Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski and holding them off to the finish.
Bjørgen put a few meters into the foursome as she entered the finishing stretch and held her lead across the line in 24:23.6 minutes. Norway’s Heidi Weng finished 0.6 seconds back in second to lock up the Distance World Cup title, in addition to the Overall World Cup title she secured on Friday.
Pärmäkoski finished 2.9 seconds after Bjørgen in third, and Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg missed the podium in fourth (+7.8).
Behind them, Germany’s Nicole Fessel outlasted a large chase pack to place fifth (+18.6), just ahead of Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in sixth (+19.9) and Anna Haag in seventh (+19.1).
Sadie Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team led the North American women in 15th (+29.9) after skiing at the back of that chase pack in the final stretches of the race. Also for the U.S., Jessie Diggins placed 27th (+1:06.9) and Sophie Caldwell 38th (+1:56.0).
Canada was led by Emily Nishikawa in 37th (+1:51.7). Behind her, Cendrine Browne finished 41st (+2:28.2), Dahria Beatty was 53rd, Annika Richardson 54th, Katherine Stewart-Jones 56th, Frederique Vezina 59th, Annika Hicks 60th, Sophie Carrier-Laforte 61st, Andrea Dupont 62nd, Katherine Weaver 63rd, Alannah MacLean 64th, Sadie White 66th, Lisle Compton 67th, Mia Serratore 68th, and Laura Leclair 69th.
For the U.S. Caitlin Patterson finished 44th, Liz Guiney 45th, Kaitlynn Miller 47th, Chelsea Holmes 48th, Rosie Brennan 50th, Julia Kern 52nd, Erika Flowers 55th, Becca Rorabaugh 57th, and Jennie Bender 58th.
One day left in the 2016/2017 World Cup season remains, with the women’s and men’s 10/15 k freestyle pursuits on Sunday in Quebec City.
World Cup Finals standings (Day 2 of 3): Men | Women
***
Finland’s Mari Laukkanen pointing to the sky in honor of her late shooting coach, after she won the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Saturday at the 2017 IBU World Cup in Oslo, Norway. (Photo: IBU)
IBU World Cup (Oslo, Norway): Women’s and men’s pursuits
Less than 24 hours after winning her first IBU World Cup on Friday in the women’s 7.5 k sprint, Finland’s Mari Laukkanen immediately capitalized on her ideal position with a start-to-finish victory in Saturday’s 10 k pursuit that was never in doubt, cleaning the first three shooting stages before incurring one penalty in her final standing shooting (0+0+0+1) to cross the line in a time of 29:33.3 minutes.
In addition to experiencing the most successful weekend of her biathlon career by far, it was an emotional day for the 29-year-old Finn due to a personal reason. Laukkanen spread her arms like wings skiing down the homestretch with a commanding lead, pointing repeatedly to the sky and a black ribbon she wore around her right upper arm, before kneeling in the snow in the finish for a few seconds. With those gestures, she reportedly wanted to commemorate her shooting coach Asko Nuutinen, who passed away Friday after suffering a heart attack during the World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, a week ago. He was 60 years old.
“It’s been a really emotional day for me. We have heard really really sad news that last night we lost our longtime shooting coach,” Laukkanen told reporters with a trembling voice in the press conference. “After this it was more or less only about working for him. Working as he has asked me to do for years and years. So I wasn’t thinking about losing or winning today, I was only thinking about him. And I feel really big pleasure that I was able to come to the finish like this, that I can own the victory for him.”
“I knew it will be difficult after the first victory in my career took me so long,” she added. “And to do it again immediately with good shooting. But as I said I didn’t think about winning or losing today, just doing my work.”
Finishing 26.5 seconds after her, the Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová reached the finish, moving up from her fourth place starting position with a clean shooting performance (0+0+0+0).
“I wanted to miss all targets yesterday because I was so tired I didn’t even want to race,” Koukalová confided in the press conference. “It’s difficult to concentrate, three World Cups after the main goal of the season [the World Championships] is too much. Last year it was many times easier… I tried to catch her, but about one kilometer before the finish I saw her far away so I was happy I didn’t have to fight with anyone and was just enjoying the last meters.”
Despite four penalties (1+1+0+2), France’s Justine Braisaz defended the third place on the podium against a three-person chase group on the last loop (+1:01.4), falling back only one position after having finished the sprint in second.
“I did not expect such a good place today during the race,” Braisaz commented in the press conference. “Because in the last shooting I completely [failed]. I really wanted to have a clean shooting today, and I did not succeed. So I am happy and surprised, too.”
Her teammate Anais Bescond who had started the pursuit in third place fell back to 22nd position (+2:53.5) with seven penalties.
Slovenia’s Teja Gregorin finished fourth with one penalty (+1:08.2), Austria’s Lisa Theresa Hauser shot clean as the only athlete aside from Koukalova on her way to move up from 22nd to fifth place (+1:12.5), while Norway’s Marte Olsbu finished sixth like in the sprint despite three penalties (+1:15.9).
Unlike in Friday’s sprint race where Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier had still given up a seemingly commanding lead in the sprint World Cup discipline standings to Koukalova, she held onto her lead in the pursuit standings on Saturday, moving up from the 31st starting position to ninth place with a penalty in each of her standing shootings (0+0+1+1, +1:53.8). A 22nd place would have been sufficient to win the “small crystal globe” award in the pursuit. Laukkanen’s teammate Kaisa Mäkäräinen finished 8th with two penalties in the standing stages (+1:51.2), and thereby claimed the third place in the World Cup pursuit ranking.
“I knew that I didn’t need to have a perfect race today, just a good one, but that’s always easier said than done,” Dahlmeier told broadcaster ARD after the race. “I am incredibly happy that it worked out and that I could secure myself another small globe… It’s a bit of a weird feeling, standing at the start gate in the middle of the field and the clock ticks and ticks as one athlete after another skis out on the course. And you can only observe how far they have gone and have to wait and be patient, and not make a false start. But then the snow burns, then the chase begins!”
US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee experienced an uncharacteristically problematic day on the shooting range and fell back to 37th place (+4:00.2), after starting seventh and less than a minute behind Laukkanen. Dunklee had three misses between two prone stages and seven more in her standing shootings (2+1+4+3) therefore having to ski more than an additional kilometer in the penalty lap.
“It is a testament to her fighting spirit that she notched the fourth-fastest ski time — one of her best ranks of the season — and never gave up despite suffering a biathlon blowout on the range,” teammate Clare Egan said of Dunklee, according to a US Biathlon press release. “Bad races happen to the best and Susan is no exception, but not everyone fights through till the end no matter what.”
Egan herself started the pursuit in 34th position and initally was able to make up ground, but then fell back slightly to 41st place (+4:13.9) with four penalties (0+2+0+2).
“I am satisfied with my race even though the result was not what I was hoping for, and that’s how I would summarize my entire season as well,” Egan said after the final race of her season. “I’ve made a good step forward but my competitors also work hard all summer and we seem to improve at a similar rate.”
Canada Biathlon’s Julia Ransom moved up to 47th place (+5:04.8) with three penalties (1+0+1+1), after starting in 52nd position.
[UPDATED] Later on Saturday in the last men’s 12.5 k pursuit of the season, the three best athletes of the season fought throughout the race exchanging in the lead, before they stood next to each other on the range for the final shooting to decide the winner.
Russia’s Anton Shipulin managed to shoot clean with his elaborate rifle stock in the design of a red dragon, proudly waving to the cameras as he left the arena while his two competitors had to ski into the penalty lap. France’s Martin Fourcade – who had already secured himself the overall World Cup Total Score title as well as the award for the pursuit discipline – was left to duke it out against Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø, the winner of Friday’s sprint.
On the last big climb before the Holmenkollen arena, Fourcade accelerated with a series of explosive jump-skate steps to decisively gap Bø. He even got fairly close to Shipulin on the finish stretch, who had slowed down a bit to grab a Russian flag before skiing over the line in a time of 32:11.9 minutes with one penalty (0+0+1+0), 5.7 seconds ahead of Fourcade who had incurred two penalties (1+0+0+1). While Fourcade shook hands with Shipulin, Bø came into the finish in third place, 21.6 seconds back and also with two penalties (1+0+0+1).
“It was a crazy race, but I am happy that I managed to finish first,” Shipulin said in the press conference through a translator. “Tough conditions on the shooting range, I had to really work to concentrate on my shooting. On the last loop I was all alone until I saw Martin chasing me, then I got a little bit scared but I managed to [keep him behind].”
It was Shipulin’s second win of the season, for which he credited his recently improved shooting performance.
“It was a really exciting competition with Johannes and Anton,” Fourcade agreed with his rival. “I expected to fight with them for the victory on the last loop, but then Anton was simply stronger in the last shooting. My strategy was to be focused on my technique and skills and not on the results, like I did too often in the past few weeks focusing on records and not the victory.”
Asked about his blazing attack on the final climb, Fourcade added: “Of course I train for that, but I think a lot of athletes do. I talked to Johannes, it was my revenge for the [2016] World Champs where he did exactly the same to me on the last uphill. But I know how it is, it can be different already tomorrow.”
“I am happy with a new podium of course,” Bø said in the press conference. “I was not at my best in the skiing today. But I still managed to shoot 18 out of 20. As Martin said it was [annoying] that we did not shoot zero [misses] and could not fight with Anton in the finish, but it was quite interesting and fun to stand there in the last shooting … I expected Martin’s attack the second he did it, but I had no energy to fight with him. That was quite strong.”
Sweden’s Fredrik Lindström placed fourth with no penalties (+44.7), and was the only man in the field who managed to shoot clean in all four stages.
“For the podium, I was never really close“, Lindström told the IBU in a post-race interview. “But it was a great day anyway. Four times zero [misses], and especially in the standing stages that makes you climb a lot in the standings. Super happy with my performance.”
US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey, who had to start closer to the back of the field in 44th position, almost two minutes behind the leaders based on his sprint result, managed to move up 21 spots in the race despite three penalties (2+0+1+0).
“I’m happy with the race, considering it started out pretty rough with the first two misses,” Bailey told US Biathlon after placing 23rd (+2:23.3). “I just read the wind wrong and didn’t correct enough. After that, I tried to keep my head in the race and make the best of it. I was happy with my skiing and glad to clean the last stage; this brought me up nine spots and I was able to gain another in the last loop. Now, it’s just one race to go. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Shooting quickly, Bailey recorded the ninth-ranked range time of the day and the ninth-fastest last loop.
His teammate Sean Doherty started 35th but fell back after having to ski six times through the penalty lap (1+3+1+1) to finish 46th (+4:05.6).
For Sunday’s mass starts as the final races of the 2016/2017 IBU World Cup season, the only qualified North American starters will be Dunklee (currently in 10th position in the World Cup Total Score standings) and Bailey (currently in eighth).
The women’s season award in the mass start discipline once more will be decided between Germany’s Dahlmeier and Czech Republic’s Koukalova, while Germany’s Simon Schempp will try to defend his narrow lead on Fourcade. But during Saturday’s final loop, the French star did consider saving energy for the final competition.
“No,” he simply quipped when asked about this in the press conference. “Of course the mass start is important tomorrow because it will decide about the [mass start] crystal globe. But I think today the pursuit was also really important, and you fight for victory and being one of the best athletes. You can’t be satisfied with only a third place when you can claim a second, and I think all athletes in my position would do the same.”
Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby after winning the Norwegian 54 k classic Birkebeinerrennet, part of the Ski Classics series, on Saturday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Ski Classics)
54 k Birkebeinerrennet (Rena to Lillehammer, Norway): Part of the Ski Classics series
[UPDATED] Not even a snowmobile clipping him and sending him tumbling 20 k before the finish could keep Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby from winning the Birkebeinerrennet on Saturday in Norway. Representing Team United Bakeries, Sundby set a high pace from the start and broke the group down to three by 9 k, with Petter Eliassen of Team LeasePlan and Simen Østensen of Team BN Bank sticking with him until about 30 k in the 54 k marathon.
With about 20 k to go, Sundby collided with a Ski Classics TV production crew snowmobile while trying to double pole in the snowmobile’s tracks. He was OK and went on to win by 48 seconds over Eliassen in second, and smiled about the incident after the finish.
“It came in with tremendous speed and mowed me down,” Sundby told NRK, according to a loose translation.
Ski Classics CEO David Nilsson told NRK he didn’t know exactly how that happened and emphasized that it was unacceptable.
“We always put safety first, but it is a difficult balancing act with the snowmobile at high speed to get TV pictures,” he said, according to a loose translation. “The skiers often ski in the [snowmobile] track and here it happened and somehow the driver missed it.”
While Sundby pulled out the win in 2:20:53.5 hours, Eliassen took second and Østensen followed another 3.5 seconds later for third place.
In the women’s race, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk (Team Santander) pulled out a 4 minute and 15 second win over Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgren (Lager 157 Ski Team). Japan’s Masako Ishida (Team United Bakeries) was another 48.6 seconds back in third.
“I’m really happy to win this race,” Kowalczyk said, according to a Ski Classics press release. “Everything went well and the cheering on the course was amazing. I will do the rest of the races in Visma Ski Classics, but this victory was the most important for me. Of course, I want to win again in Årefjällsloppet like I did last year, but to win here in front of this audience means so much to me.”
Tord Asle Gjerdalen, who finished fourth in the men’s race, and Johansson Norgren continue to lead the overall Ski Classics standings with three races to go. The next stop is the Årefjällsloppet in Sweden on March 25.
“It was a great race and we kept a high tempo up all the way,” Sundby said, according to the press release. “I was able to use uphills for my advantage and get a gap. I had good skis, the conditions were perfect, and to win here was one of my goals for the season. I have the Norwegian Championships in two weeks, and I haven’t counted out the option of going to Finland for the Visma Ski Classics finale.”
The all-Norwegian women’s 30 k freestyle mass start podium at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland, with Marit Bjørgen (c) in first, Heidi Weng (l) in second, and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 30 k freestyle mass start
Marit Bjørgen made it a four-peat on Saturday with her fourth gold and third individual win over the last week at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (She previously won the 15-kilometer skiathlon, 10 k classic, and 4 x 5 k relay.)
The 36-year-old Norwegian closed out the championships with a 1.9-second victory in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start, finishing in 1:08:36.8 hours after setting the pace and leading a large group for much of the race. The group began to separate around 15 k, where it was down to 13 women with five seconds of first. At that point, Americans Jessie Diggins and Chelsea Holmes were within that lead pack.
While Holmes started to fall off the pace around 16 k, Diggins stuck with the leaders to the very end, only until four Norwegians broke away to race for the medals over the final kilometer.
With Bjørgen still charging hard up front, her teammates Heidi Weng, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, and Ragnhild Haga followed, while Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski trailed another second back in fifth and Diggins was one more second behind in sixth.
Bjørgen led the downhill into the stadium and skied away from her teammates before the finishing stretch, leaving Weng and Jacobsen to duke it out for second place. Weng got it by less than one-hundredth of a second, Jacobsen took bronze (+1.9), and Haga completed the Norwegian top-four sweep in fourth (+7.4).
Diggins passed Pärmäkoski and notched fifth (+10.4) for her career-best 30 k result. Pärmäkoski placed sixth (+11.3), Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla finished seventh (+13.9), Austria’s Teresa Stadlober was eighth (+15.5), Sweden’s Anna Haag ninth (+20.3), and Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva 10th (+1:20.9) after edging Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal in a photo finish. Germany’s Stefanie Böhler placed 12th (+1:23.5) and Holmes finished 13th (+1:28.1) for her career best.
U.S. Ski Team member Liz Stephen placed 25th (+3:09.4), 6.6 seconds ahead of Canada’s national U25 Team skier Cendrine Browne, who notched a career best 26th (+3:16) in her first World Championships.
Holmes’s Alaska Pacific University (APU) teammate Jessica Yeaton, who races for Australia, finished 33rd (+4:32), Canada’s Dahria Beatty was 34th (+4:45.2), and American Caitlin Gregg 36th (+5:03.7).
Great Britain’s Annika Taylor, a California native, placed 38th (+6:19.4). Canada’s Emily Nishikawa was 40th (+6:41.5) and Katherine Stewart-Jones 41st (+7:18.6), and Brazil’s Jaqueline Mourão, who trains in Quebec, was 46th (+13:44.6) out of 47 finishers.
IBU World Cup (PyeongChang, South Korea): Women’s and men’s pursuits
The women’s 10 k pursuit podium at the IBU World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, with Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier (c) in first, Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen (l) in second, and France’s Anais Bescond (r) in third. (Photo: IBU)
Coming off a fifth place in Thursday’s 7.5-kilometer sprint, Susan Dunklee held her position despite three penalties in the women’s 10 k pursuit on Saturday to finish fifth again at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier racked up her second-straight win in as many races in PyeongChang (and sixth-straight, counting World Championships), finishing in 27:58.0 minutes with clean shooting. She was just one of four women out of 58 finishers that hit all 20 targets in Saturday’s four-stage race.
Finishing more than a minute later, Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen placed second (+1:12.6) after starting fourth based on her sprint result. Mäkäräinen had two penalties, both in the first standing, but cleaned the other three stages (0+0+2+0). France’s Anais Bescond raced up from eighth at the start to third place (+1:18.9) at the finish, with a single penalty (0+0+1+0), while Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff missed her second-straight podium in fourth place (+1:32.0) after starting second but accumulating five penalties (1+2+1+1).
Eckhoff edged Dunklee, of the U.S., by half a second as Dunklee placed fifth (+1:32.5) with three misses (1+1+0+1).
Canada’s Rosanna Crawford rose from 30th to 19th (+2:49.1) for her best non-relay result of the season, with two penalties (1+1+0+0). Her teammate Megan Tandy also landed her first top 30 of 2016/2017 in 30th (+3:26.2) with two misses (1+0+1+0) after starting 39th. Also for Canada, Julia Ransom finished 44th (+4:18.4) after starting 41st and skiing four penalty loops (1+0+1+2).
Also for the U.S., Clare Egan finished 36th (+3:41.9) with three clean stages but three misses in her first standing (0+0+3+0), after starting 33rd. Joanne Reid slipped from 35th at the start to 52nd (+4:53.4), with five penalties (1+1+0+3).
The men’s 12.5 k pursuit podium on Saturday at the IBU World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, with France’s Martin Fourcade (c) in first, Russia’s Anton Shipulin (l) in second and Austria’s Julian Eberhard (r) in third. (Photo: IBU)
[UPDATED] One day after locking up the overall World Cup title, Martin Fourcade was back at the top of the podium in the men’s 12.5 k pursuit in PyeongChang.
Fourcade started third, after finishing third in Friday’s sprint, then shot clean to win in 31:24.2. Russia’s Anton Shipulin, who started 23rd, also shot 20-for-20 to race up to second place, 34.5 seconds behind Fourcade, with the fifth-fastest course time. In comparison, Fourcade’s course time was third fastest.
Friday’s sprint winner, Julian Eberhard of Austria finished third (+36.7) after skiing three penalty loops (0+2+0+1). His teammate Simon Eder placed fourth (+1:03.2) after starting eighth and cleaning three stages before missing two on the last standing (0+0+0+2).
Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev improved from ninth at the start to fifth (+1:09.5) with two penalties as well (0+1+1+0). France’s Simon Desthieux was sixth (+1:13.5), Austria’s Dominik Landertinger seventh (+1:20.3), Germany’s Benedikt Doll eighth (+1:20.4) with the fastest course time after starting 20th.
American Lowell Bailey was another 0.2 seconds back in ninth (+1:20.6), just ahead of Italy’s Lukas Hofer in 10th, who finished with the same time. Bailey previously tallied the third podium of his career on Friday, placing second in the sprint, but had two penalties on Saturday (1+0+1+0) to slip to ninth.
Also for the U.S., Leif Nordgren improved to 28th (+2:28.9) after starting 37th and shooting 19-for-20 (0+0+0+1).
Christian Gow shot clean to lead Canada in 32nd (+3:17.4), up from 56th at the start. His older brother Scott Gow slipped from 27th at the start to 43rd (+4:05.9) with five penalties (0+1+1+3), and Brendan Green followed in 44th (+4:09.8) with three penalties (2+1+0+0) after starting 28th.
The women’s 4 x 5 k relay podium at 2017 Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland, with Norway (c) in first, Sweden (l) in second and Finland (r) third. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
LAHTI, Finland—The Norwegian lineup for the women’s 4 x 5-kilometer team at the 2017 Nordic World Championships on Thursday was daunting: Maiken Caspersen Falla, Heidi Weng, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Marit Bjørgen. On paper and on snow, a rundown of names and accomplishments.
On Thursday the Norwegian women made the country’s historic championship gold medal count a tidy 100 by winning the 4 x 5 k relay in 52:21.5 minutes. In a sprint for the remaining two podium spots, Sweden’s anchor skier Stina Nilsson outsprinted Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski for second.
The Swedish team of Anna Haag, Charlotte Kalla, Ebba Andersson, and Nilsson scored silver (+1:01.6) while Finland’s home team of Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Kerttu Niskanen, Laura Mononen, and Pärmäkoski was third (+1:02.1).
The U.S., represented by Kikkan Randall, Sadie Bjornsen, Liz Stephen, and Jessie Diggins, placed fourth (+1:33.8).
Two Legs of Parity, Then Norwegian Dominance
Rabid fans of the sport know Norway is winner of the last three consecutive championship relays. And lovers of tactics also know the Norwegians like to push the pace from the gun and break the pack early.
Halfway through the first leg, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, a classic specialist, led Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. through the 2.5 k mark.
Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla (l) leads one row of skiers, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk lead’s another, during the scramble leg of the 2017 Nordic World Championships 4 x 5 k relay in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/lazenbyphoto.com)
For Falla, Norway’s scramble leg, it was her debut in a championship 4 x 5 k relay. Despite her prior medals, her pre-relay nerves were unsettled.
“I was really excited today and I was just hoping that the time could pass fast so I can race,” Falla said after the race. “It was a lot of waiting time, but I get good advice … and that helped me today. So I get my nerves under control.”
According to Falla, here’s the advice: “That I should stay behind the first lap and be strong in the climbs in the last lap,” she explained. “I did that, just as they said.”
In the last kilometer, Falla made a small break, tagging off to Weng with a near eight-second advantage on the chasers.
Weng leads the World Cup overall standings, but racing in the Finnish ski-den, she was unable to fend off the surging Finns. Five kilometers later, Niskanen had absorbed Norway’s punch. Finland and Norway tagged off to their respective third-leg skiers simultaneously. Sweden trailed twelve seconds back.
Up the first hill, the mother of all climbs on the skating course, Jacobsen and Mononen pulsed. Carrying Sweden’s hopes was Andersson — a 19-year-old junior fresh off a win in the 5 k skate at last month’s Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Utah.
The Finn-Norwegian duo pulled away, leaving Andersson with a 22.6-second deficit 1.3 k into the third leg.
Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Norway’s third-leg skier, made a decisive move to put major time into second-place Sweden and third-place Finland during the 2017 Nordic World Championships 4 x 5 k relay in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
A resurgent Jacobsen kept pushing; her moves to drop Andersson early on weren’t only a tactic to make it a two-team race, but a sustained display of overdrive that ultimately broke the Finns, too.
The third leg was the tipping point for Finland and Sweden. They were on the side of bleeding time to Norway; Norway on the side of looming victory. By 13.8 k, Norway was up 30.4 seconds on Finland and 45.8 seconds on Sweden.
Andersson managed the damage. She and Mononen skied into the stadium amidst a raucous Finnish crowd. By then, Jacobsen handed Bjørgen nearly a minute cushion.
That kind of margin and Bjørgen hustling from the line: Boom!
You know how this ends, with the queen waving an oversized Norwegian flag.
After the race, Jacobsen spoke of the pressure of skiing on Norway’s storied relay teams.
Marit Bjørgen carrying the Norwegian flag as she crosses the line first for Norway’s 100th World Championship win during the women’s 4 x 5 k relay at the 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“I think actually the biggest pressure is the one we put on ourselves and probably because it’s so hard for us to qualify for the team,” Jacobsen said. “We are skiing for the girls who didn’t make it this year but will probably make it next year. So we ski of course for our people and our nation. But I think the biggest nerves come from the desire to perform well and do strong legs.”
One hundred championship gold medals later, Jacobsen acknowledged it’s a full treasure chest.
“The Norwegian people are getting spoiled in gold medals, but it not so easy like it looks,” Jacobsen said.
Glide for glide, pole for pole, Sweden and Finland were mirror images the last leg. Known as a closer, Nilsson strategized that coming into the final corner she wanted to follow Parmakoski.
Sweden’s second-leg skier Kalla explained that Nilsson’s tactic was one of waiting until the end.
“If Stina should go with some team in the end, she should wait to the stadium and just focus on her strength and she made it just like the plan,” Kalla said.
Days earlier in the team sprint, Nilsson lost out on bronze to Diggins in a sprint to the line.
“In the team sprint I was first in the final curve,” Nilsson reflected. “And I felt that Diggins had an advantage of it, so I didn’t want to be first today.”
The press conference’s moderator interjected and tried to correct Nilsson, saying she was first again in the closing moments, not shadowing the Finn.
“No, not in the curve, but after the curve,” Nilsson said with a laugh.
The silver and bronze fight came down to Nilsson’s final kick and this time she made it stick for silver.
(Story continues below)
Sweden’s Stina Nilsson celebrates silver after outsprinting Finland’s Krista Parmakoski (l) in the final meters of the women’s 4 x 5 k relay at the 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
Same Place, But Progress: U.S. Places Fourth, Canada 10th
With three world champs medals already in the hands of American skiers prior to Thursday’s team relay, the public hope for a podium was high. Perhaps too high.
As U.S. Ski Team (USST) Head Coach Chris Grover explained, medaling in the team relay was certainly on the radar coming into the world champs week, but not where the team’s greatest expectations were held.
The U.S. women’s relay team, (from left to right) Sadie Bjornsen, Liz Stephen, Jessie Diggins, and Kikkan Randall, after placing fourth on Thursday at 2017 World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“The relay we knew was a shot, the team sprint we knew was an outside shot,” Grover said after Thursday’s race. “Probably our greatest medal opportunity was the individual sprint.”
As a gritty group of women, the Americans exude the attitude of a top team. Adorned in red, white and blue socks and face paint sporting the U.S.A.’s emblematic stars and stripes, it’s easy to see the enthusiasm the U.S. women show for team events.
But where does the blur between team-relay hype end and the reality of results begin?
Disappointment in anything less than a podium only comes when the expectation of one exists. Taken over the past few world champs years, the relay event might be one where the U.S. women can, and have, improved the most.
Eight years ago, at the 2009 world champs in Liberec, Czech Republic, the U.S. finished 13th, a little over three minutesout of third place. The following World Championships year, 2011 in Oslo, Norway, they were almost two minutes off the podium, crossing in ninth overall.
This year? The U.S. once again finished fourth — the third time in a row that the team has finished one place outside the podium at a World Championships event.
Yet, Thursday’s performance was the second closest the team has come to bronze, with the Americans crossing 31.7 seconds after third (their 2013 result in Val di Fiemme, Italy, was closer: 26.6 seconds behind third). Given room for systematic error, the statistical trend for the U.S. women in the team relay over the past five world champs: positive.
American Kikkan Randall during the first leg of the women’s 4 x 5 k relay at the 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“Even though this is the third time in a row that we’ve been fourth place at a world championships, there’s progress, there’s real progress,” Grover said. “The athletes could see the competition ahead of them the whole time. … To be getting closer and closer to that top standard, that’s very gratifying.”
When looking at the longer-distance performances from the week in tandem with Thursday’s start list, Grover further explained that the U.S. team’s incoming rank was similar to their outcoming result.
“I guess I’d say that when you look at the start list and you look at the results from the 10 k and the skiathlon, on paper we’re fourth,” Grover said. “Sweden, Finland, Norway they’re definitely ahead of us in terms of the distance results that we’ve seen here all week. So we knew we were sort of an outside chance to be fighting for the bronze and we knew that when we’re successful on the World Cup, it’s because one of those teams has a weak leg.”
A weak leg from Finland, Norway or Sweden — the three teams that finished ahead of the Americans — at least in Thursday’s race, was nowhere to be found for the U.S.
From the start, Kowalczyk, pushed the pace with Falla, Haag and Saarinen in close quarters, while the USST’s Randall worked hard to hold on.
“Unfortunately, we lost some important time there in the beginning,” Randall said. “I know that’s something I’ve got to work on for next year, but it was exciting to know that we were still in the race the whole time and made Sweden and Finland really fight for those medals.”
Randall handed off to Bjornsen in fifth, approximately 16 seconds back from the second, third, and fourth spots. From there, the Americans raced alone, working hard to reel in the racers ahead.
“It’s always hard to have a carrot right in front of you and not go too hard at the beginning,” Bjornsen said. “I think all of us had a hard time with that today, not going too hard to try to catch them right away.”
By the end of her leg, Bjornsen needed another eight seconds from Randall’s time back to catch the third place position. She handed off to Stephen, who would have to make up 23.5 seconds on Sweden’s third leg, Andersson, to contend for the podium.
The young Andersson, however, was putting on a show. And Stephen wasn’t surprised. During the early stages of her ski career, Stephen attended a weeklong camp in Sweden. While there, she’d learn invaluable lessons from countless coaches, one just happening to be Andersson’s father.
Liz Stephen racing the third leg for the U.S. women’s team in the 4 x 5 k relay at the 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/ Lazenbyphoto.com)
“As I was lining up with her today I was just like ‘this is just full circle,’ “Stephen said after. “She’s a damn-good skier.”
That of course didn’t stop Stephen from putting her best foot forward. The American emphasised the areas she knew were her strength, working the hills.
“Part of me wanted to go out and blow [it] out of the water off the bat, but I also knew that these conditions are also a little bit more energy-expending than normal, hard-packed conditions,” Stephen explained.
Halfway through the first lap, Stephen had gained close to seven seconds on Andersson. By the end of the second lap, however, Andersson had regained the ground that she had lost.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t get her,” Stephen said. “But I did what I could out there … and I am very inspired to be on this team again. To watch my teammates give it all out there, it just makes you want to do the same.”
When Stephen handed off to Diggins, the anchor legs for Sweden and Finland were skiing together. Diggins explained that she had hoped Nilsson and Pärmäkoski’s race tactics would provide an opportunity for her to gain on them.
“I saw where we were coming in and I said, my only strategy is to go out as hard as I can and hope that they are playing cat and mouse in the front,” Diggins said. “[I thought] if they’re trying to be all strategic for the final sprint-out, then maybe I can catch them.”
Ultimately the gap proved too large, with Diggins crossing in fourth.
“I wasn’t able to close the gap but I never stopped fighting and neither did my teammates, and I’m really proud of that,” Diggins said.
Canada’s team of Katherine Stewart-Jones, Emily Nishikawa, Cendrine Browne, and Dahria Beatty finished 10th (+4:16.2) for the fourth-best world champs result of a Canadian women’s relay team. According to a Cross Country Canada press release, this was just the fourth time in the last decade that Canada has fielded a World Championships women’s relay (excluding the Olympics).
At the 2001 World Championships, Beckie Scott, Milane Thériault, Jaime Fortier, and Sara Renner raced to sixth for Canada. Before that, the program’s previous best was eighth at 1989 world champs, also in Lahti.
(Left to right) Canada’s Emily Nishikawa, Cendrine Browne, Dahria Beatty, and Katherine Stewart-Jones after placing 10th in the women’s 4 x 5 k relay at the 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“I think today we surprised ourselves,” Canadian World Cup coach Ivan Babikov said on Thursday.
“[Katherine Stewart-Jones] skied incredibly that first leg, with everything she could,” he added. “She was ahead of Germany, ahead of Russia, so many really good countries, and after that it was a matter of holding on and it was great.”
Stewart-Jones finished her leg in eighth, just seven-tenths of second behind Germany’s Katharina Hennig in seventh. Though Switzerland and Italy eventually caught the Canadians, the women expressed excitement about the finish and results yet to come.
“This is the first time we’ve fielded a world champs relay in a long time so that’s a huge accomplishment [in itself],” Nishikawa said during an in-person interview. “And then to come 10th … it’s really the beginning of something that’s pretty special.”
“I’m really proud of us,” Browne added. “I think we all skied really strongly today, and very positive for the future.”
— Harald Zimmer, Gerry Furseth, and Alex Kochon contributed
The women’s 4 x 5 k relay podium at 2017 Nordic World Championships on Thursday in Lahti, Finland, with Norway (c) in first, Sweden (l) in second, and Finland (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 4 x 5 k relay
The Norwegian women’s team got a much-needed lift from Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, the third leg of its 4 x 5-kilometer relay, on Thursday, who tagged her teammate Marit Bjørgen nearly a minute ahead of anyone else. From there, Bjørgen anchored the Norwegians to a 1:01.6-minute victory for her third gold of 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland.
Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland battled for silver, with Sweden’s anchor Stina Nilsson overtaking Finland’s Krista Parmakoski coming out of the final downhill into the stadium then leading her down the finishing stretch. Nilsson finished half a second ahead of Parmakoski for second place, while Finland claimed bronze (+1:02.1).
The U.S. was next across the line, after Jessie Diggins worked to close a 21.5-second gap to third place at the final exchange. While Diggins came within roughly 16 seconds of Nilsson and Parmakoski, that was as close as she could get and she finished fourth (+1:33.8), 31.7 seconds out of the medals.
The Canadian women’s 4 x 5 k World Championships relay team, (from left to right) Emily Nishikawa, Dahria Beatty, Katherine Stewart-Jones, and Cendrine Browne, after tallying the third-best relay result for the Canadian women at a World Championships on Thursday in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: CCC/Twitter)
Canada placed 10th (+4:16.2) out of 16 teams in the women’s relay, for the best result for the Canadian women’s program since a sixth place in the 4 x 5 k relay at the 2001 World Championships (and third-best result ever), according to Cross Country Canada.
Norway took control during the first 5 k leg, where Maiken Caspersen Falla stuck with Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, who set a fast pace out of the start. Only three were able to remain with Kowalczyk: Falla, Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Sweden’s Anna Haag, while Kikkan Randall of the U.S. fell off the pace and skied alone in fifth. Randall came through the first exchange 24.5 seconds behind Falla in first and 16.4 seconds behind Haag in fourth.
On the second classic leg, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla set a blistering tempo out of the start to catch Norway’s Heidi Weng 8 seconds ahead. Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen went with Kalla as the two bridged the gap to Norway. Later in that leg, Kalla began to fade while Niskanen took control and entered the exchange in first, just 0.4 seconds ahead of Weng. Kalla came through another 12.3 seconds later in third. American Sadie Bjornsen had worked hard to close the gap to third but tagged 23.5 seconds out of third in fourth (+36.2).
On the third leg, Jacobsen opened the race up for Norway, building a 56.7-second gap to second place during her skate leg, while Sweden’s 19-year-old Ebba Andersson pushed hard in the final kilometers to put her team in second. Finland’s Laura Mononen struggled with Jacobsen’s pace and dropped to third (+58.3). Meanwhile, Liz Stephen of the U.S. held onto fourth and tagged Diggins 21.5 seconds out of third at the final exchange.
From there, the Sweden/Finland fight for second place began. A minute ahead of them, Bjørgen skied comfortably in first, and behind them, Diggins skied alone in fourth.
Russia’s anchor Anastasia Sedova was tagged 45.5 seconds behind the U.S. in eighth (behind Germany, Poland and Switzerland), but passed those three teams to end up fifth (+2:28.6), 54.8 seconds behind the U.S.
Germany finished sixth, Switzerland seventh, Poland eighth, Italy ninth, and Canada 10th, with Katherine Stewart-Jones, Emily Nishikawa, Cendrine Browne, and Dahria Beatty racing for Canada. Stewart-Jones put them in eighth at the first exchange, Nishikawa slipped one spot to ninth, then Browne lost another spot for 10th, which Beatty held to the finish.
IBU World Cup (PyeongChang, South Korea): Women’s 7.5 k sprint
[UPDATED] The International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup circuit resumed on Thursday after nearly a two-week break coming off IBU World Championships, drawing competitors to PyeongChang, South Korea, the site of the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics.
The women’s 7.5 k sprint podium at the IBU World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, with Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier (c) in first, Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff (l) in second and France’s Anaïs Chevalier (r) in third. (Photo: IBU)
Coming off five gold medals (in six races) at World Championships, Germany’s overall World Cup leader Laura Dahlmeier picked up where she left off, winning the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint by 8.4 seconds with perfect shooting and a finishing time of 20:43.7 minutes.
Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff came closest to her in second, after also shooting clean, and France’s Anaïs Chevalier put herself in the mix with clean shooting as well to end up third (+41.6).
One second behind Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who finished fourth (+58.7) despite two standing misses (0+2), was American Susan Dunklee in fifth (+59.7). The 35th starter, Dunklee initially finished third (before being bumped off the podium by Chevalier, then one more spot by Mäkäräinen).
Dunklee missed one shot during the standing stage (0+1) and posted the eighth-fastest course time for her fifth top five of the season (including her second place in the mass start at World Championships).
“I tried to be patient,” Dunklee wrote in an email after Thursday’s race. “I focused on pushing the last half km of the loop where I thought other people would be tired. And our techs made great skis for these challenging conditions.”
She passed two competitors on her last loop, one of which had passed her earlier in the final 2.5 k. Dunklee described the conditions as “a patchwork of glazed, icy and slow patches. A large number of volunteers were working on it with hand tools right before the start and I think that helped substantially,” she wrote. “I think the course is good for me: big climbs with technical descents.”
Rosanna Crawford led the Canadians in 30th (+1:54.9) with one prone miss (1+0), and Megan Tandy placed 39th (+2:14.8) with one standing penalty (0+1), just ahead of Julia Ransom in 41st (+2:19.5), who had one standing miss as well (0+1). All four Canadian women qualified for Saturday’s pursuit, with Emma Lunder placing 51st (+2:38.2) after one penalty (0+1).
For the U.S., Clare Egan and Joanne Reid finished 33rd (+1:59.5) and 35th (+2:07.6), respectively, both with one standing penalty (0+1). Maddie Phaneuf missed the top 60 to qualify for the pursuit in 68th (+3:07.7) with one miss (0+1).
After being in contention for a podium, France’s Marie Dorin Habert did not finish, reportedly because she felt nauseous.
Above: Norway’s Marit Bjørgen celebrates her 16th World Championships gold after winning Monday’s 10 k classic in Lahti, Finland. Below: The women’s 10 k classic podium at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, with Bjørgen (c) in first, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (l) in second, and Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/Twitter)
FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 10 k classic
No contest. That was the takeaway of Marit Bjørgen’s performance in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start on Monday at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland, after the Norwegian posted a 41-second victory in 25:24.9 minutes.
Bjørgen started 54th of 72 starters and clocked the fastest time over every intermediate timing point on the course. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla had been the previous race leader after starting 34th before Bjørgen bumped her out of the leader’s chair by 41 seconds.
Norway had two on the podium with Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen in third, 55.5 seconds behind Bjørgen. Norway’s Heidi Weng missed the podium in fourth (+1:13.8), while Sweden’s Anna Haag — an early leader in bib 18 — finished fifth (+1:22.7). Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen took sixth (+1:23.7) and Krista Parmakoski was seventh (+1:31.4), while Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk tied for eighth (+1:34.5). Germany’s Stefanie Böhler rounded out the top 10 in 10th (+1:35.8).
Sadie Bjornsen led the U.S. women in 23rd (+2:21.2), Kikkan Randall placed 26th (+2:31.7), Rosie Brennan was 32nd (+2:55.4), and Ida Sargent 43rd (+3:55.2).
Katherine Stewart-Jones led the Canadians with her best result at her first World Championships in 36th (+3:09.6), Emily Nishikawa followed in 37th (+3:14.9), and Dahria Beatty 39th (+3:24.9).
IBU Youth/Junior World Championships (Osrblie, Slovakia): Junior relays
(From left to right) Russia’s Nikita Lobastov, Igor Malinovskii, Nikita Porshnev, and Kirill Streltsov after winning the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay on Tuesday at IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia. (Photo: IBU)
[UPDATED] Russia, Norway, Germany. Or Norway, Germany, Russia. That’s how the podiums shook out for the junior men’s and women’s relays on Tuesday, the last day of the 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth/Junior World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia.
Russia won the men’s 4 x 7.5-kilometer event by 53.9 seconds in 1:17:27.8 hours, with Nikita Lobastov, Igor Malinovskii, Nikita Porshnev, and Kirill Streltsov. After coming through the first exchange in fifth, 44.2 seconds out of first, Malinovskii skied his team into first and they held the lead to the finish. In total, Russia used seven spares to clean and had no penalties.
Norway claimed silver with Dag Sander Bjørndalen,Johannes Dale, Aleksander Fjeld Andersen, and Sindre Pettersen. After getting tagged in 14th, Dale moved the team up to sixth and Andersen improved to second, which Pettersen held. The team combined for one penalty and 12 spares.
Germany claimed bronze (+1:39.3) despite one penalty and 16 spares, with Justus Strelow, Danilo Riethmüller, Dominic Schmuck, and David Zobel. Fourth at the first exchange, Riethmüller picked moved them into third on the second leg, which Schmuck and Zobel held.
Canada finished 12th (+6:00.5) with Zachari Bolduc, Trevor Kiers, Jules Burnotte, and Pearce Hanna combining for three penalties and 13 spare rounds. Positioned in 10th for the first two legs, the team moved into eighth on Burnotte’s third leg. Hanna had to ski three penalty laps on the final leg and slipped to 12th.
The U.S. men finished 14th (+9:07.4) with Cody Johnson, Cameron Christiansen, Travis Cooper, and Peter Carroll combining for two penalties and 10 spare rounds. The team gradually moved up from 16th at the first exchange to 12th at the third and final exchange, before losing two places before the finish.
(From left to right) Norway’s Hilde Eide, Karoline Erdal and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold after winning the junior women’s 3 x 6 k relay on Tuesday at IBU Junior World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia. (Photo: IBU)
In the junior women’s 3 x 6 k relay, Norway rose to gold with Hilde Eide, Karoline Erdal and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (for Tandrevold’s third medal in the last three races, and first gold of the week) finishing in 56:18.4. The team, which had zero penalties and used eight spares, moved up from fourth at the first exchange to first on Erdal’s second leg and Tandrevold anchored them to the win.
Germany crossed the finish 16.5 seconds later for silver, with Vanessa Voigt, Sophia Schneider and Anna Weidel. In seventh after the first leg, Schneider moved them into third before Weidel anchored them to second. They had one penalty and used nine spares.
Russia rounded out the women’s podium in third (+26.1) with Kristina Reztsova, Ekaterina Moshkova and Valeriia Vasnetcova. After being tagged in ninth, Moshkova skied them up to fourth and Vasnetcova picked off one more place for bronze. They combined for one penalty and eight spares.
Canada’s junior women finished 14th (+4:17.7) with Megan Bankes, Emily Dickson and Nadia Moser combining for four penalties and nine spares. They had been as high as 11th after Bankes’s first leg.
The U.S. finished 17th (+11:30) with Siena Ellingson, Helen Wilson and Nina Armstrong accumulating five penalties and 11 spares. They had skied as high as 15th after Ellingson’s first leg.
Former Dartmouth skier Corey Stock racing at the 2015 UVM Carnival two years ago. (Photo: Silke Hynes)
In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 22-year-old Corey Stock, of the Bridger Ski Foundation, who’s representing the U.S. at her first U23 Worlds Championships after competing at Junior Worlds in 2012 and 2013.
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“My full name is Corey Stock, but you can call me Corey. I was born in Lincoln, Mass., raised in Lincoln, and one thing you should know about my hometown is it is the town where Paul Revere was captured.
I started cross-country skiing when I could walk, thanks to trails my brother would tromp down in our backyard (back when it snowed in Boston). I currently train in Bozeman, Mont., with BSF [Bridger Ski Foundation].
If I’m not skiing, you might find me listening to NPR podcasts while remarking on what a gorgeous day it is. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ by Dr. Seuss.
One of the things I’m most excited about for U23/Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow is hosting the rest of the world in the USA! One race I’m especially targeting there is the classic sprint.
The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing or racing was when Sophie Caldwell told me that I will race fastest when I am happy! One of the best race memories I have is Soldier Hollow JNs 2012.
If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Anna Haag.
12. If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll probably be… turns out that I am a professional skier! Hopefully I’ll go to business school post-skiing.
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) leads the American train around the bridge corner into the finish straight in the A-final of Saturday’s NorAm classic sprint at Sovereign Lake in British Columbia. She went on to finish fourth behind Julia Kern (second from r), Liz Guiney (back left) and Kaitlynn Miller (l), respectively. (Photo: Peggy Hung)
Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers.
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Canadian NorAm/U.S. SuperTour at Sovereign Lake: Classic sprint
[UPDATE] U.S. skiers filled the open category podiums on the first fully North American NorAm event in recent years on Saturday at Sovereign Lake near Vernon, B.C. With NorAm points, SuperTour points and FIS points on the line there was a great turnout of the top skiers.
In the open women’s 1.2-kilometer classic sprint, Julia Kern of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) won in 3:17.04 after qualifying fifth. Liz Guiney of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) finished second, 0.67 seconds back, and her CGRP teammate Kaitlynn Miller rounded out the podium in third (+0.91). Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Alberta World Cup Academy) was the top Canadian in fourth (+1.49) and the lone Canadian in the final. Jennie Bender (Bridger Ski Foundation) placed fifth (+3.8) and Heather Mooney was sixth (+19.84).
On the same 1.2 k course, Reese Hanneman (Alaska Pacific University) made up for his 15th qualifying time to take the men’s final win in 2:38.08. Cole Morgan of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) took second in the final (+0.87) after winning the qualifier, and Ben Saxton (SMST2) was third (+1.92). Matt Gelso (SVSEF) finished fifth (+3.88), after precipitating a semifinal crash that took three Canadians (Angus Foster, Simon Lapointe and Evan Palmer-Charrette) out of contention, but didn’t result in a protest. The lone Canadian man in the final, Antoine Briand (Pierre-Harvey Training Centre) placed sixth (+11.98).
Susan Dunklee being hoisted up by her US Biathlon support team at the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia, after tying her career-best result in a pursuit. Dunklee placed fifth on Saturday for a season best as well. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
Another day at the front of the pack, and another day of (nearly) perfect shooting for Susan Dunklee, who raced from 11th to fifth for her first flower ceremony (top six) of the season at the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
Dunklee (US Biathlon) cleaned the first three of four stages in Saturday’s 10-kilometer pursuit to move into second with one standing stage remaining. In that final shooting stage, she had her first miss of the day, yet still left the range in second, 22 seconds behind Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier in first. Dunklee finished out the race with the 21st-ranked course time on the last loop (her first-loop time was the fastest in the 56-woman field) and placed fifth, 24.1 seconds behind Dahlmeier — who won her second-straight race in Pokljuka. Dahlmeier finished first in 30:43.1 despite two prone misses on the second stage, which put her as far back as fifth (0+2+0+0). Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen finished second, 16.8 seconds back, with two penalties as well (0+0+1+1), and Eva Puskarcikova of the Czech Republic reached the podium in third (+18.7) with a single miss followed by three clean stages (1+0+0+0). One spot ahead of Dunklee, reigning World Cup champion Marie Dorin Habert of France clawed her way up to fourth (+18.8) after starting 17th, with one penalty (0+0+1+0).
For Dahlmeier, it was her 10th World Cup victory and fifth in a pursuit.
“My motto is ‘Scheiß da nix, dann feid da nix’,” Dahlmeier told Germany’s ZDF, which vaguely translates to “Don’t worry be happy,” or “Just do it.”
“That was worth gold today. I was a bit surprised about my two misses in prone. Apparently I already had an aberration in the first stage, then I clicked [adjusted the sights] and was a bit surprised that the two misses still happened,” she added. “… Then came the standing shooting, and there I tried to keep calm again. The race is only over once you cross the finish line, and that became true again today. I am happy that the race flipped again like this.”
Canada’s Julia Ransom cleaned three consecutive stages before missing two on the last standing. She finished 34th for the second day in a row, 2:33.5 behind Dahlmeier. Rosanna Crawford placed 49th with three penalties (2+1+0+0) and Clare Egan of the U.S. was 56th with six misses (2+0+1+3). Canada’s Megan Tandy, with seven penalties (1+1+3+2) did not finish.
In the men’s 12.5 k pursuit, the first man out of the start, Martin Fourcade of France, held his lead to the finish, hitting all 20 targets and winning in 30:27.4. Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen rose from fourth at the start to second at the finish (+6.0) with clean shooting as well, and Russia’s Anton Shipulin placed third for the second-straight day (+6.2), with one penalty in the last stage (0+0+0+1).
Friday’s sprint runner-up, Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway, ended up fourth (+48) with two misses on the last stage (0+0+0+2), Germany’s Simon Schempp placed fifth (+59.8) after starting sixth, and had one miss (0+0+1+0), and Michael Rösch of Belarus cleaned for sixth place (+1:21.0) after starting 16th.
Lowell Bailey (US Biathlon) finished 18th (+2:01.6) for the second day in a row, with one prone penalty in the first stage (1+0+0+0).
Biathlon Canada’s Christian Gow picked off two places for a new career best in 31st (+2:41.7) with a single prone penalty (0+1+0+0).
Tim Burke placed 42nd (+4:09.8) for the U.S. (after starting 53rd) with five standing penalties (0+0+2+3), Canada’s Scott Gow finished 48th (+4:39) with five misses as well (2+1+0+2), and the third Canadian in the race, Brendan Green was 57th (+5:36.4) with five penalties (+5:36.4).
Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (c) won her first World Cup race of the season on Saturday in the 15 k freestyle individual start in Davos, Switzerland. Joining her on the podium: Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) in second and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski (r) in third.
Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg is back on top of the podium after a 7.9-second win in Saturday’s 15-kilometer freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, over — you guessed it — her teammate Heidi Weng.
Østberg started 38th (out of 59) and led at every split to take the win in 37:44.4, her first this season and her first in a 15 k. Weng started a minute ahead of her in bib 36 and ended up second, while Finland’s Krista Parmakoski notched third (+16.7) for her third podium of the season, ninth in her career and second skate podium.
The next fastest woman, American Jessie Diggins finished 37.6 seconds off the podium in fourth (+54.3), ahead of Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva in fifth (+1:00.5) and Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal in sixth (+1:05.6). Ragnhild Haga of Norway was seventh (+1:10.8), Finland’s Riitta-Liisa Roponen eighth (+1:21.4), Italy’s Ilaria Debertolis ninth (+1:32.2), and Sweden’s Anna Haag 10th (+1:35.5).
The U.S. had two in the points with Liz Stephen in 28th (+2:17.5). Kikkan Randall was 2.3 seconds outside the top 30 in 33rd (+2:30.2), and Caitlin Patterson placed 44th (+3:21.6). Rosie Brennan did not start.
Emily Nishikawa led Canada in 34th (+2:33.5) for her best result this season, Dahria Beatty was 42nd (+3:15.2), and Cendrine Browne 54th (+4:07).
Weng remains the Overall World Cup leader by 70 points over Østberg, Parmakoski ranks third, and Norway’s Marit Bjørgen, who is not competing this weekend in Davos, is currently fourth.
[UPDATE] In the men’s race earlier on Saturday, Martin Johnsrud Sundby racked up another victory in Davos’s 30 k freestyle, beating his fellow Norwegian Anders Gløersen by 13.7 seconds with a winning time of 1:07:31.6 hours. Gløersen took second for his first podium in a year (he was third in the Davos 30 k last December) and Finland’s Matti Heikkinen reached the podium for his second-straight race in third (+25.7).
Canada’s Alex Harvey placed 12th (+1:29.4) and his teammate Graeme Killick notched 21st (+2:24.2) for his second-best World Cup result (after placing 19th in a skiathlon last March at the Ski Tour Canada).
Devon Kershaw was the next top North American in 43rd (+3:52.9), six seconds ahead of the lone American in the race, Noah Hoffman in 44th (+3:58.9). Canada’s Andy Shields placed 64th (+6:33.9).
Norway’s Therese Johaug won her second World Cup race of the season on Friday in Davos, Switzerland: another 10 k classic and again by 42 seconds over teammate Marit Bjørgen. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)
DAVOS, Switzerland — Anyone who remembers Therese Johaug’s World Cup debut probably remembers knowing that she was going to be good.
But sometime in her first few years on the circuit, Johaug earned a reputation as a skating specialist. While she was surely excellent in the freestyle technique, perhaps that has also been something of a fallacy – her first World Championships appearance came in 2007 in Sapporo, Japan, where she finished third in the 20 k classic, the second Norwegian.
Regardless of whether the question “will Therese Johaug ever excel in classic” was ever a fair one, this season she has proved that the answer is definitely “yes.” On Saturday, she took her second-straight victory in a 10-kilometer classic World Cup – three if you count the ski times from last week’s pursuit race in Lillehammer, Norway, where she had the fastest split time but lost a sprint finish for the win against earlier-starting Marit Bjørgen.
After Saturday’s race, she laughed in a press-conference when asked whether this was her new favorite race format.
“I think so,” Johaug said. “It has been really good this season. As I said in Kuusamo, that was my first victory. Now I have a second victory in classic. I think I have taken a big step in this. I’m really happy. I feel also that my technique is really good, and my shape is also really good. So it’s fun to race.”
Johaug, the 58th of 60 starters, led from start to finish. Teammate Bjørgen, the last of those starters, had information about Johaug’s splits, but could never catch her. After two kilometers she was within a second and a half of Johaug, but by the finish she was 42.5 seconds back. It was a big gap, but Bjørgen still had second place locked up.
“I lost lots of seconds from Therese on the top [of the course] to the bottom,” Bjørgen said. “I’m not so very happy with that.”
With barely any snow at the venue or in the town of Davos, the course has been constructed largely in the last week with snow blown up on the nearby Flüela Pass and then trucked down. Although she lost time on the downhills, Bjørgen said that they were in better shape than they had been the previous day.
“Therese is really strong and she is in good shape,” she said. “Her technique is perfect today.”
Johaug agreed, but said that it still wasn’t as perfect a race for her as her opening victory in Kuusamo.
“Here is a lot of double pole and it’s more flat here than in Kuusamo,” she explained, which doesn’t fit as well with her climbing expertise.
Bjørgen still holds the yellow bib of the overall World Cup leader, and will race in the freestyle sprint on Sunday to try to extend her lead.
“Of course I will race tomorrow,” she said. “I have to try to get some more points there. I have done very good sprints this year, so I’m looking forward tomorrow.”
Johaug will also compete in the sprint, but she has no illusions of being able to beat her teammate there.
“I will try to sprint,” she laughed. “I’m not planning on sitting here tomorrow! It’s really good training for me, with high speed.”
Sweden’s Anna Haag racing to fourth, 1:07.1 behind Norwegian winner Therese Johaug, at the Davos World Cup 10 k classic on Friday.
Kerttu Niskanen of Finland finished third, 16 seconds behind Bjørgen. After Norway-only podiums in all of last weekend’s mini-tour competitions, it was refreshing to see a new face on the podium.
Niskanen, always a top talent for Finland, hadn’t had a top result so far this season. Her previous best was ninth in the Lillehammer mini tour. But she had watched her younger brother Iivo win his first World Cup in Kuusamo in the beginning of the season, and that might have boosted her confidence.
“I’m happy that Iivo and me can make good results,” she said. “I enjoy it a lot when my brother can make good results. It’s important when Iivo, for example the victory in Kuusamo, I was so, so happy. It’s nice that we both can do it.”
Her strategy on the tough Davos course was to go faster and faster as the race progressed. She succeeded, moving from seventh place after two kilometers to fifth, then fourth, and finally third.
“I tried to make my best,” she said. “I started, I think I tried to start at an easy speed and then tried to make it harder and harder. But I think that I didn’t make any big spurts in the second lap. I’m really happy that I’m number three. I like so much Davos. This track is really, really nice.”
For the men’s 15 k classic coming up later on Saturday, she had one wish.
“I hope that Iivo can make better results than me,” she laughed.
Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland was skiing in third place for almost the entire race, but lost a lot of time in the final two kilometers. The stadium announcer speculated that she might have crashed, but it seems that she simply ran out of steam – already at 7.8 k, she was maintaining her place but her lead on fourth was slipping. The accelerations by the rest of the field couldn’t be matched and Kowalczyk, usually a favorite in classic races, finished seventh.
Instead of the world champion and Olympic gold medalist, it was the Swedes who earned the next spots after Niskanen. Anna Haag and Sofia Bleckur finished fourth and fifth, a welcome supplement to Charlotte Kalla’s usual antics (she finished 15th today, unable to lead her team).
“After all those years when it has not been so fun, it means more than you think,” Haag told Swedish newspaper Expressen, according to a translation. “I always make sure that I’m optimistic and positive. Before each competition I think, oh, I might win. Even if I maybe know it’s not possible. In this way, maybe the disappointments are harder when you’re positive.”
Liz Stephen led the U.S. with a season-best 20th, and Emily Nishikawa as the only Canadian starter tallied a career-best 29th. Stay tuned for more reporting.
Sweden’s Johan Olsson three years ago at the 2011 World Cup opener in Sjusjøen, Norway. (Photo: Inge Scheve)
The first race of the season is a good one to get the kinks out. You don’t have to tell that to a few top contenders in Friday’s International Ski Federation (FIS) races in Bruksvallarna, Sweden.
Not only did Johan Olsson snatch the victory by less than half a second in a season-opening 10-kilometer classic race, but husband-wife duo Emil Jönsson and Anna Haag swapped timing chips and caused a lot of commotion in the timing shack.
Calle Halfvarsson dominated the men’s 10-kilometer classic race, but lost out on first by four-tenths of a second. The stadium announcer, Kjell-Erik Eriksson, took the blame.
“As a speaker, I generally have a good handle on everybody’s times,” Eriksson wrote on his website, Sweski.com.
Swede’s Calle Halfvarsson (front) edges Italy’s Federico Pellegrino for the win in the individual skate sprint at the 2013/2014 Tour de Ski in Oberhof, Germany. In a 2014/2015 opening FIS Race on Friday in Bruksvallarna, Halfvarsson missed out on first by 0.4 seconds. (Photo: Felgenhauer/NordicFocus)
“I was sure Calle was going to win when he came into the stadium. At the last turn, he was clearly in the lead. Johan Olsson was 11 seconds behind, and at one point he was 18 seconds behind. That’s why I called out Calle as the winner as early as the start of the final straight stretch,” he explained.
“Calle wanted to give the spectators a little extra, he slowed down and just rolled across the finish, but that cost him the victory. Johan Olsson raced the last straight stretch as if it was an individual sprint race, and he won by less than half a second. … I take the blame for that, if it helps people sleep better tonight.”
Halfvarsson, 25, assumed full responsibility, telling Aftonbladet that it was “ridiculous” of himself. “It’s my fault,” he said, according to a translation.
“I was leading by 20 seconds and thought I could [lollygag] towards the finish. I thought I’d be cool and it was a bit cocky to slide into the finish,” he said.
Olsson, 34, said he felt a little sorry for Halfvarsson.
“I was in the stadium when I heard that Kjell-Erik said Calle stopped [skiing],” he told SportExpressen. “So I realized that I could pick on him with a hefty spurt.”
He added that he was a bit surprised with his result.
“It feels really nice,” he said, according to a translation. “You can ask my teammates — they know I have not been in shape. It’s almost as if I was starting to wonder if I did something wrong. But when the bib number goes on … it felt a lot better.”
Friday’s winner in Beitostølen, Martin Johnsrud Sundby had this to say in response to Olsson’s supposed poor form: “Has Johan Olsson ever claimed to be feel fit and prepared ahead of a race? WTF,” Sundby he told SportExpressen. “The day he does, the rest of us might as well not even bother to start.”
Sweden swept the top 18 with Lars Nelsson finishing third, 22.5 seconds behind Olsson and 22.1 behind Halfvarsson. Daniel Richardsson was another 5.6 seconds back in fourth and Jesper Modin took fifth, 7.9 seconds later.
“Has Johan Olsson ever claimed to be feel fit and prepared ahead of a race? WTF. The day he does, the rest of us might as well not even bother to start.” — Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, reacting to Olsson’s statement after his Bruksvallarna win, after Sundby won Friday’s FIS opener in Beitostølen, Norway
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Emil Jonsson and Anna Haag trying the Americans’ strength plan in the summer of 2011. (Photo: Kikkan Randall/Liz Stephen)
Apparently Jönsson and Haag are so connected that they even share timing chips, causing a major mixup for the timing crew.
Jönsson had marked the chips with each their names, but he inadvertently switched the chips so that they had the wrong name. Haag discovered the mistake after finishing and was mostly just happy not to get DQed. However, she got no splits skiing with Jönsson chip, Eriksson noted. Jönsson was not listed as starting or finishing — but the results did not indicate a disqualification, either.
Haag ended up third in the women’s 5 k classic, 50.4 seconds behind Swedish national teammate Charlotte Kalla — the winner in 16:04.4 — and 13.4 seconds back from 20-year-old runner-up Sophia Henriksson.
Kalla, who strained a back muscle a few weeks ago, said she wasn’t sure how she’d fare heading into Friday’s race.
She was pleased with her result.
“It feels great to start off the season in this way,” Kalla told Aftonbladet.
Sofia Henriksson sheds tears at the finish of last year’s Tjejvasan, an annual all-female event in Sweden, after skiing in the lead pack but missing a top finish because of a pileup. (Photo: Adam Alexander Johansson)
“Today I felt like I got the answer I hoped for,” she added, according to a rough translation. “I thought it went well in skiing. I had good skis and took hold. I knew that there were some parts where you can earn on kick-double poling so I tried to find the pressure there too. It’s one of my strengths.”
A first-year senior with Piteå Elit, Henriksson found herself surprised with her performance.
“I knew that I can go well in a classic race, but not quite this good,” she told Skidzonen.
“I didn’t have much courage, but I bet it all and it went really well,” she added. “It is important to get the confidence directly and of course fun with this kind of start.”
A 17-year-old junior, Sweden’s Ebba Andersson also surprised in 10th.
Sweden filled the top five with Emma Wiken in fourth, 51.1 behind Kalla, and Sara Lindborg in fifth (+53.4). Switzerland’s Seraina Boner was sixth.
Warren Taylor (l) and Charlie Greenberg skiing at Sognefjell glacier in Norway during Burke Mountain Academy’s recent Scandinavian trip from June 11-July 1. (All photos courtesy of Kate Barton and Koby Gordon)
Editor’s Note: The following is a firsthand account from 17-year-old Warren Taylor, an incoming senior at Burke Mountain Academy in East Burke, Vt., who recently returned from his third trip to the academy’s annual Scandinavian nordic-training camp.
I first went to Sweden and Norway two years ago with Pete Phillips, Matt Johnson and a big group of skiers, and the next year with Kate Barton and Simi Hamilton. This year, with Kate, my coach at Burke, we were there for just under three weeks, arriving on June 11th and flying out July 1st. I have done camps with Burke for around four years now, but this past year was my first as a student there.
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Burke skiers running down to the start of the Hallsta Test in Sweden during its annual Scandinavian training camp.
I’m not much of a city boy, but I did my best to guide us out of Stockholm. The multitude of unmarked one-way streets almost sealed our defeat. After finding the E4 highway, we headed north to Sollefteå. Tim Regan, Koby Gordon, Charlie Greenberg, Kate Barton, and I had all made it to Sweden.
Arriving in Sollefteå, we were a little disappointed that the go-kart track so heavily advertised looked like it had been abandoned years before. We instead took an early night before starting a five-day camp with the Sollefteå Skidgymnasium. This training camp took place at a five-star hotel right next to a seven-kilometer rollerski track overlooking the town. Next to the hotel was a pair of old wooden ski jumps built far off the ground and swaying in the wind above the trees.
We started the camp with short running intervals and a strength session where Robin Bryntesson, a former Swedish national team skier, impressed us all with his uncanny ability to walk around on his hands and balance on just one. After a few days of rollerskiing, an orienteering race and a brutal race down the river in the least hydrodynamic boat imaginable (pretty much a square dock), we did the famed Hallsta Test.
The two-kilometer uphill-running test went from the town straight up and past the hotel, almost to the very top of the mountain. We were told the record was 7:50, and even Swedish World Champion Johan Olsson was never able to break it. This was one of the tougher tests I’ve done, but I felt surprisingly good, getting a time of 10:09, just beat out by the younger coaches and a Swede named Jacob who was also my roommate during the camp.
Us with Emil, Liz, Anna, and coaches Bengt, Tony, Robin, and Per-Ola.
Later in the week we saw U.S. national team skier Liz Stephen, who came up with Sweden’s Anna Haag and Emil Jönsson to do a 30 k skate time trial on the rollerski track. When we had a chance to talk with them, Emil jokingly told us that he had been putting in around 200 hours of training per month, but he had just gotten his ticket to Sochi, so now he wouldn’t have to train at all.
After a three-hour run through marshes, a few technique sessions with the Swedish coaches, and a nice afternoon in town playing some volleyball and basketball, the camp ended. We headed right to a town in northern Sweden called Östersund for a night of camping and a short roller ski before we went up to Bruksvallarna, a small town in northwestern Sweden that borders Norway.
Burke Mountain Academy skiers during a 4 1/2-hour run near Bruksvallarna, Sweden.
We tried to find something to do on Midsummer, a national holiday for the longest day of the year at Östersund, but the guy at a tourist center directed us to a church up in the hills where he said there would be festivities. Unfortunately, the only thing going on was a Swedish sermon that felt quite uncomfortable to us as foreigners who didn’t speak the language. We had all heard about some crazy parties during this holiday, but the town was empty and we went to bed wondering where on earth the Swedish population had gone.
Bruksvallarna was a ghost town as well, and we searched in vain for its “downtown.” We eventually found that there was no downtown, just a little grocery store across from our cabin that did not open at all the first day, forcing us to drive half an hour to the next town over.
The next day we went out for an epic 4 1/2-hour run in the mountains up the road from our little cabin. We waded through knee-deep marshes and climbed through brambles and bushes out to a lake that we saw in the horizon from the first peak we climbed.
On the way back, we stopped by a small red building that we picked out in the distance. A little goat path ran along the patches of snow to this house, and we could see people hiking along it. It turned out to be a fully functional and a surprisingly nice waffle house at the top of a mountain.
Little cabin by the lake we ran to (with antlers we found along the way).
I can honestly say I’ve never had a tastier waffle, probably because I ate it after four hours of running and hiking.
Unfortunately, we were only in Bruksvallarna for a day and a half, but we were all excited to drive west to the snow in Norway at Sognefjell. Although it poured during our first ski, I stopped noticing it after a while, just glad to be back on snow. However, afterwards I did notice how unbelievably wet all my clothes were.
We spent two nights camping near the longest fjord in Norway with a glacial waterfall running next to the campground. We then moved to a hotel I would argue is one of the best hotels on the planet. An all you can eat buffet, skiing all day, a drying room for all our clothes, and famous skiers at every corner. What more do you need?
Our drive down to the fjord
We had three glory days at the glacier before heading back to the U.S. All we did was pile hours, sleep, and eat too much brown cheese. We encountered plenty of sun, making all but one of the skis radiant and rainless. Although the trails were deteriorating quickly as the snow melted, workers did a fantastic job of rerouting the trails so we were able to keep skiing on a 7 k loop.
After those three days, we began our odyssey back to the U.S. Following a seven-hour drive to Oslo, we camped on a soccer field by the highway. One more six-hour drive to Stockholm and we were halfway home.
We walked around the city for an afternoon and saw a sweet Red Bull competition. People were trying desperately to fly cardboard planes as far as they could off a ramp into the water flowing through Stockholm. Unfortunately, we did have some trouble finding our way back to the van.
I’ll miss the sunny days by the fjord, the scenic mountain runs in Bruksvallarna, the people I met, and, of course, the brown cheese at Sognefjell.
All the training and technique gains made during this trip will push me forward as I continue to ski. Hopefully I’ll be back next year to experience it all again.
Sognefjell Glacier Skiing!Sunny kayak in the fjord
Norway’s Marit Bjorgen celebrates her fourth gold and fifth medal of the 2013 World Championships after winning Saturday’s 30 k classic mass start in Val di Fiemme, Italy. She hadn’t won the ultimate distance event at a World Championships since 2005.
FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2013 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, is brought to you by the generous support of Fischer Sports.
VAL DI FIEMME, Italy – When you’ve already got 11 World Championship golds, it takes something really special to bring you to tears for the 12th one.
For Norway’s Marit Bjørgen, who’s been on the Nordic World Ski Championships podium more than any other woman, it wasn’t the 19 medals or number of victories that moved her. The 32-year-old was focused on her achievement in the one race that mattered most to her this season: the 30-kilometer classic mass start.
One of the sport’s most unrivaled competitors, Bjørgen had some losses over the years that haunted her. Placing second to Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk in the 2010 Olympics and again at the 2011 World Championships to teammate Therese Johaug topped the list. Both were in 30 k mass starts, and while she viewed the latter as “winning a silver,” it still wasn’t the gold she had hoped for.
Norway’s bronze medalist in Saturday’s 30 k classic mass start, Therese Johaug (l) and fourth-place finisher Heidi Weng congratulate teammate Marit Bjørgen on her fourth victory at the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. (Photo: Fiemme2013)
And so she tailored her focus and training this season specifically for that race. That’s why Bjørgen, who will turn 33 in 19 days, took nearly a month off of World Cup racing from late-January to mid-February. That’s why she collapsed at the finish on Saturday and held her head in her hands as two of her teammates, Johaug and Kristin Størmer Steira, kneeled to hug her.
Her fourth gold medal of the week, and fifth in five races, meant everything to her. And she had worked for 30 k to get it.
“I think the other girls on the team knew that this was one of my biggest goals this season,” Bjørgen said at a post-race press conference. In the last 300 meters, she outsprinted Kowalczyk to claim her first 30 k gold since the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany.
“They were really happy for me and we are really happy for the whole team that we have been so good in this World Championships,” she added. “We have taken many golds, many medals, but we haven’t celebrated yet.”
Bjørgen contributed to Norway’s total of 16, between the men and the women, with four golds – one of which was in Thursday’s relay – and a silver. Johaug added another gold and a bronze, which she took 5 seconds behind Kowalczyk on Saturday.
Easily a race favorite, Bjørgen had her work cut out for her in taking on Johaug, the defending world champ and this week’s 10 k winner, and Kowalczyk, the classic distance specialist. Of course there were other contenders, too, like Norway’s Heidi Weng, Germany’s Nicole Fessel, Sweden’s Anna Haag and Charlotte Kalla. Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen and Anne Kyllönen were also in the mix, along with Masako Ishida of Japan, but none came close to the podium.
A sea of red: Three Norwegians and Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk (second from l) lead early in Saturday’s 30 k classic mass start at the 2013 World Championships. Therese Johaug (l) and eventual-winner Marit Bjørgen work up fron, followed by Heidi Weng (r) and Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (8).
The Kowalczyk-Bjørgen-Johaug trio wouldn’t let them.
On the third of six laps, the three frontrunners – who led from the start – began to drop the 42 other starters. Weng held onto the back, and Steira and Haag managed to stay within a few seconds behind. By the halfway point, six women remained in contention, with Bjørgen up front then Johaug, Kowalczyk, Weng, Fessel and Haag, respectively.
Lap four was a different story.
With temperatures soaring above 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) and the snow softening accordingly, several of the top skiers had already changed their skis.
Ishida was the only one besides Kowalczyk, Bjørgen and Johaug to catch a glimpse up front, albeit briefly, at the start of lap three after they did so. She chose to go another round on the same boards and paid the price, slipping up the final climbs.
Japan’s Masako Ishida briefly took the lead, ahead of eventual-winner Marit Bjørgen (7), on the start of the third of six laps in Saturday’s 30 k classic mass start at the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. She finished 10th.
“I can’t make diagonal up so I was losing power,” Ishida said after falling back to 10th and fighting to keep that position to the finish. “It was difficult. I am not so strong like Marit Bjørgen and Justyna. … I made a mistake today.”
Still going strong up front halfway through the fourth lap, Kowalczyk, Johaug and Bjørgen steadily distanced themselves from the rest. Coming through the stadium at 20 k, Weng skied in fourth, 11 seconds back, and Fessel another 8.3 behind in fifth.
All the top women used their second opportunity to change skis, and Kowalczyk, Johaug and Bjørgen left the stadium with a sizable gap. Less than two kilometers later at the high point of the course, they were 34 seconds up on Weng.
Over the top of one of the last hills, Johaug looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was close. Comforted by the empty expanse behind her, she proceeded to switch leads with Kowalczyk and her teammate for the rest of the penultimate lap.
Heading into the stadium with 5 k to go, Bjørgen, Kowalczyk and Johaug had 42.5 seconds between them and Weng. Fessel was 57.4 seconds back in fifth, and Ishida was sixth, nearly a minute and 30 seconds behind, leading a chase group with Steira, Haag and Niskanen. Kyllönen was another nine seconds back in 10th.
A Norwegian coach shouts to Marit Bjørgen (l) and Therese Johaug (c) as they set out on the last of six laps in Saturday’s 30 k classic mass start with Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk. Bjørgen went on beat Kowalczyk by 3.7 seconds.
The front three remained relatively quiet on the last lap, saving their energy for the final two kilometers. Bjørgen and Johaug strategically hung in second and third throughout the loop while Kowalczyk worked to stay ahead, picking up the pace on second-to-last hill.
Her Norwegian contenders answered, and they kept their order — Kowalczyk, Johaug, Bjørgen – over the top. As Kowaczyk double poled into the ensuing downhill, the other two stood up, conserving.
At the bottom, Bjørgen carried her momentum and pulled alongside Kowalczyk. With less than a kilometer left, this was the moment everyone had been waiting for. Bjørgen challenged Kowalczyk to the top, and Johaug slipped back while struggling with her kick. Before the descent, Bjørgen let Kowalczyk lead into the stadium.
“I attacked on the last climb and Justyna answered on that, and I thought, ‘I have to be in second [on the] downhill and use my power,’ ” Bjørgen told reporters.
The tactic worked as Bjørgen slingshot past Kowalczyk over the final bump before the long stretch to the finish. There, she extended her gap by several hundred meters, leaving no question who was the 30 k world champion. Bjørgen beat Kowaczyk by 3.7 seconds in 1:27:19.9, and Johaug finished third, 8.7 seconds back.
“I am proud of myself,” Bjørgen told NRK. “This here was my goal in this championship. I have an incredibly good feeling right now.”
Sitting on the ground with her head tucked into her knees, Kowaczyk absorbed the loss. She later told reporters she was disappointed, but pleased with the effort. Asked why she didn’t attack first, she said she tried, but without much luck.
“Today, Norway skied really good,” Kowalczyk said. “After 30 k, you don’t think nothing, you try to ski fast and fast and nothing more.”
The race’s 2011 freestyle champion, Johaug immediately congratulated her teammate at the finish, hovering over Bjørgen as she recovered on the ground.
“Justyna was much stronger than me to the last hill,” Johaug said at the press conference. “I won the bronze medal today. It was a special race; it was a lot of tactics and nobody wants to go first. This World Championships has been a dream for me. I leave here with one gold and one silver and one bronze medal, and of course, the gold in the relay so I could never dream about that before.”
Nearly a minute and 30 seconds off the podium, Weng was the third Norwegian across in fourth, 1:38.3 behind Bjørgen. Fessel notched her best individual result at World Championships in fifth (+1:49.0) and Haag was sixth (+2:05.7). Finland took seventh and eighth with Niskanen and Kyllönen, respectively, and Steira placed ninth. Ishida made it into the top 10, and Kalla, who competed in all six races at this year’s World Championships was 11th.
Norway’s Marit Bjørgen Norway nabs a clear-cut victory over Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland in Saturday’s 30 k classic mass start at the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
Of note:
While it had nothing to do with the race, one of the most comical moments of the day came at the post-race press conference. Just when it seemed like the question-and-answer session with Bjørgen had come to an end, an Italian reporter asked her what she thinks about being a “sexy icon” – “sexikon” in Euro-speak.
Bjørgen laughed.
“I’m not thinking about that,” she said. “I’m getting [to be] an old women and I think the younger women on the team like Therese and Heidi are much more sexy.”
The view from a higher point at the Canmore Nordic Centre during the 2012 Alberta World Cup, which took place Dec. 13-16 in Canmore, Alberta. It was the area’s fourth World Cup since 2005.
Note: This article has been corrected to omit the Salt Lake Olympic venue from the list of places that several interviewed skiers haven’t visited.
Most skiers dream of skiing like a World Cup racer.
Okay, one article can’t change your VO2 max, your last eight years of training and your technique. The next best thing is skiing where the WC Euro-stars like to ski. FasterSkier asked a few at the recent World Cup in Canmore, Alberta.
Here’s what they had to say. It’s worth noting there are almost as many favourite places as there are skiers. Also, assume that everyone loves their hometown and their “home” training centre.
North America
There is a lot of what Joran at StatisticalSkier would call selection bias here. All of the favourite venues have hosted WC races. Most of the skiers interviewed aren’t old enough to have skied at Lake Placid, N.Y., or Thunder Bay, Ontario. While Quebec City throws a great party, none of the skiers got to the permanent ski areas outside the city.
— Kristin Størmer Steira (NOR):
“I must say Canmore, it is so beautiful although I also raced in Vernon/ Silver Star and that’s a beautiful place, and of course the Olympics in Whistler was great, but this scene with all this beautiful mountains, it is great. … [Canmore] is a great course.”
— Anna Haag (SWE):
“It is hard; I really like Canmore. It was the first place I saw in Canada. For sure, it is special. But then Whistler, I have my Olympic medal so that is special. But I like it over here, I like to compete in Canada. … [Sovereign Lake/Silver Star] was really nice. The amount of snow was amazing and I think we had like almost 50 centimeters of snow during the time we were there and the conditions were perfect. [Courses] are really tough over here, especially here in Canmore. I think [Canmore is in] the top three of the toughest course I ever skied, especially with the altitude it gets even more tougher. But they are really nice and they are really fair, and that is really important for competition.”
— Tobias Angerer (GER):
“Canmore. I was many times here and I love this area with the nature, with this mountains, and the track is perfect. It is so wide, and yeah, you have place for skiing. It is really good and the atmosphere is really good. I think every year more and more people are coming and the atmosphere is better every year.”
Sweden’s Jens Eriksson (l) racing to a NorAm 15 k mass start victory on Dec. 8 at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, British Columbia. (Eriksson photo: www.teamjens.se)
— Emil Jönsson (SWE):
“You can’t be sad when you are here [in Canmore].”
— Vibeke Skofterud (NOR):
“That is hard to say. I love Canmore. I love Silver Star; I have been there for one time. To race here in Canmore, it’s amazing. It’s really hard course, but good course, it’s wide, the snow conditions is really good, and the preparation is really good, the training course is good, and we stay at the Radisson [laughs]. The nature is good. I have only positive things to say. Right now, I have to say Canmore, but also Silver Star is a really good place to stay.
— Jens Eriksson (SWE):
“The conditions in Canmore was the best I have ever competed in, hard groomed tracks and perfect conditions. … [Sovereign/Silver Star] was just a great place for anyone who loves skiing. It was really a lot of snow in Silver Star and so many nice groomed tracks every day. It was just great and very fun to train and prepare for the World Cup there.
Europe — Angerer:
“I have many, many favourite places. Davos, maybe. Holmenkollen. Trondheim is a very good track.”
— Haag:
“I have a lot of favourites. I think since me and Emil having an apartment in Davos, I think Davos is one of my favourite places in Europe.”
— Skofterud:
“Norway is good! Davos is good. I like Kuusamo, because I always race good there. A lot of nice places.”
— Eriksson:
“It’s really fun to be part of the World Cup Final in Falun [Sweden].”
— Steira got carried away and didn’t answer the question, but she did say she is going to Davos to relax before returning home for Christmas.
General:
Many skiers were excited about going to Val di Fiemme, Italy, but whether that excitement was for the 2013 Nordic Ski World Championships, the food, the skiing or some combination of these was unclear.
The Venues:
— Val di Fiemme:
The Tour de Ski finishes here, the World Championships are coming for a second visit, and Petra Majdič (SLO) loves the food. — Davos:
Swiss superstar Dario Cologna’s home, and a favourite training area for skiers from Canada, USA, Norway and Sweden. — Holmenkollen:
The race trails with ocean views are on Oslo’s mass transit system. The 2,700-kilometer trail system includes Drammen, another world cup venue. More than 100,000 spectators attended the final day of 2011 World Championships. — Falun:
Morderbakken and the World Cup Final. Enough said. — Canmore:
Elevation: 1,400 meters. Annual snowfall: 2.4 m (8 feet). Trails: 20 k in early season, or ski to the next town (Banff) once the snow starts falling. Season: October 15th to mid-April.
Events this year: World Cup, various regional XC and biathlon events.
Past Events: 1998 Olympics, 2005 World Cup, 2008 World Cup, 2010 World Cup.
Funding: 65% government support, 35% users fees. $925,000 in special grants for 2012 World Cup.
Short story: Frozen Thunder opens the new season with leftover snow from the previous winter. The natural snowfall is fairly low, but the largest nordic snowmaking system in the world provides great skiing. The facilities are as spectacular as the scenery: the Alberta government provides funding that other regions can only envy, and that money has been spent well. Accommodation is in Canmore, with the downtown less than 2 k from the stadium.
Skiing: The Olympic (classic) 3.75 k loop is brutal, even by World Cup standards. The Centennial (skate) 3.75 k loop is much more flowing and can be enjoyed by middle-aged, middle-speed masters. The descents on both trails are on the challenging side, with no recovery except on the final drop into the finish straight. The recreational trails vary from beginner-friendly to very advanced. By Christmas, it is possible to ski to Banff and catch a bus back.
At Whistler Olympic Park in April 2009, some of the nordic combined Olympians arrived early at the start line for the Woppet. Claudia Nystad was the women’s winner that year, practicing for her Olympic gold medal. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)
Elevation: 900 m. Annual snowfall: over 4 m (13 feet). Trails: 56 k. Season: Mid-November to mid-April.
Events this year: Nationals (cross country, biathlon, nordic combined, ski jumping), Payak, BC Cup.
Past Events: 2010 Olympics, 2010 Paralympics, 2009 World Cup, 2008 Nationals.
Funding: A mixture of Legacy funding and user fees.
Short story: If you want to ski a 50k/30k/15k race without worrying if there will be snow, try the Payak. This is a place with a lot of snow at low elevation, with an average 1.9m snow base by February, and much more in April. The season length is limited more by post-Olympic mandate/funding constraints than snow. Accommodation is at Whistler or Squamish. The 2010 Olympic season was by far the worst snow in the short history of the venue.
Skiing: The Olympic loops are fairly easy by WC standards, with easy descents that allow recovery. Despite this, big pack finishes were rare. The Olympic loops flow through many transitions and are fun to ski at easy pace. There are also 42 k of recreational trails.
Top of the Upper World Cup 5 k in October at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)
Elevation: 1600 m. Annual snowfall: 7 m (23 feet). Trails: 50 k + 60 k. Season: mid-November to mid-April. There is often a May re-opening for team camps.
Events this year: NorAms, BC Cup, Sovereign Lake Loppet.
Past Events at Sovereign: 2011 World Masters, 2005 World Cup.
Past Events at Silver Star: 1991 World Cup.
Funding: Sovereign is a non-profit club: one third season passes, one third day passes, the rest is event fees, fund raising and government grants. Silver Star’s nordic financials are blended in with the resort.
Short story: Although appearing as Vernon on the FIS results, this is actually two interconnected trail systems. Vernon is a town of 30,000 people (20 minutes drive and 1200 m below the skiing). Sovereign Lake is a ski club of 1,700 members that hosts races, and Silver Star is a ski resort (alpine, nordic, and village with accommodation). Most visitors buy the dual-area pass and never notice the area borders.
Skiing: The 3.75 k World Cup loops used in 2005 are fairly easy, as World Cup trails go, and were designed to be skied by club members between races. The lower (skate) 2.5 k loop and upper (classic) 5 k loop look FIS moderate on the course profile, but feel harder at race pace. Pacing an individual start on the upper 5 k is particularly challenging. Upper world cup 5 k has one challenging hairpin, otherwise descents are easy and allow recovery. The Master’s World’s 15 k loop is very flat and easy skiing. The recreational trails are only hard in the sense that climbing to the viewpoint at 1890m elevation can leave you breathless. Luckily, a dual-area pass includes one chairlift ride to the top viewpoint.
The view from 1,870 metres at Sovereign Lake on Sunday. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)
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![Norway's bronze medalist in Saturday's 30 k classic mass start, Therese Johaug (l) and fourth-place finisher Heidi Weng congratulate teammate Marit Bjørgen on her fourth victory at the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. (Photo: Fiemme2013)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/EC179FEE0F8E42ED9E93155D36FAFBD3.jpg")
![A sea of red: Three Norwegians and Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk (second from l) lead early in Saturday's 30 k classic mass start at the 2013 World Championships. Therese Johaug (l) and eventual-winner Marit Bjørgen work up fron, followed by Heidi Weng (r) and Sweden's Charlotte Kalla (8).](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/IMG_1201.jpg")
![Japan's Masako Ishida briefly took the lead on the start of the third of six laps in Saturday's 30 k classic mass start at the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. She finished 10th.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/IMG_1294.jpg")
![A Norwegian coach shouts to Marit Bjørgen (l) and Therese Johaug (c) as they set out on the last of six laps in Saturday's 30 k classic mass start with Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk. Bjørgen went on beat Kowalczyk by 3.7 seconds.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/IMG_1477.jpg")
![Norway's Marit Bjørgen Norway nabs a clear-cut victory over Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland in Saturday's 30 k classic mass start at the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/IMG_1520.jpg")
