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.
It was full sun and full gas in Falun, Sweden, for one last hurrah of World Cup racing. The three-day weekend brought us new formats, American podium performances (plural!) and any number of other highlights. Thanks for listening over the course of the World Cup tour — we’ll be back periodically during the off-season with interviews and updates.
You can email us at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. We’ll catch up with a mailbag episode in the next few weeks.
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FALUN, Sweden — NOR. USA. USA.
Looking at the results monitor, those were the tri-letter country codes that popped into the top three at the end of the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit at World Cup Finals on Sunday.
The “NOR” belonged to Marit Bjørgen of Norway, who ended her 2017/2018 World Cup season with yet another win. In Sunday’s pursuit, the 37 year old led from start to finish and ended where she started, in first after covering the course in a time of 24:18.9 minutes.
For many who follow the World Cup, a Norwegian name — like Bjørgen, who has won more than 110 individual World Cup races — at the top of the results is nothing new. All due respect.
But the pressure for Scandinavia to hold off an American entourage is mounting; Sunday’s race presenting itself as a prime example.
A 41-second gap separated American Jessie Diggins from Bjørgen by the time she flipped past the start wand, her characteristic cheek sparkles visible from the stands. As the third starter on course, Diggins had sewn shut the 5 seconds that the day’s second starter, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg of Norway, had on the American and within the first kilometer, was establishing herself as Bjørgen’s main threat.
“I had 45 seconds in the total time at Mördarbacken the first time,” Bjørgen reflected in a post-race interview with FasterSkier. “And then it was 30 and then 20, then I was a little bit stressed. I thought, ‘Aha, I have to work harder a little bit.’ I feel like on the uphill I was the same speed as Jessica, but she was better than me on the easier part of the tracks. And I’m really happy to make it. I had to push hard in the end.”
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After catching Østberg, Diggins led the Norwegian and eventually dropped her by 17 seconds at 3.75 k. On Bjørgen, she had gained just over five seconds in time. By the 5 k mark, Diggins was a little less than 30 seconds back, and had put 13.4 more seconds into the race leader.
“I was grateful to feel so good today,” Diggins told FasterSkier. “We had amazing skis and that was really important. Especially on a course with so much gradual climbing and gradual working downhills, you needed to have good skis, and our techs delivered. And they gave us the tools we needed to have a good day.”
At the 7.5 k mark, 20 seconds separated the American from the win. By the time Diggins crossed the finish line in second, she was 16.7 seconds behind Bjørgen. The effort from Diggins gave her the fastest time of day in 23:54.4 minutes, which was 24.5 seconds faster than Bjørgen’s time.
“It’s a sport of patience,” Diggins said. “I feel like I’ve been coming into my own with the confidence to know that any race I start, I can be trying to fight for the podium and racing like I can win. Instead of racing like, ‘Oh, I’m going to try to just see what I can do,’ it’s like, ‘No, I’m going to try to win.’ ”
But Diggins was not the only American hunting and holding off Norwegians. Her U.S. teammate Sadie Bjornsen, who had gone out hot in Saturday’s race in hopes of a podium, earned it on Sunday in a sprint finish for third (+1:11.5) between herself and Norway’s Ragnild Haga and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen.
In the finishing stretch, Bjornsen, Haga and Jacobsen had gone head to head, with the American outlunging Haga — the gold medalist from this year’s Olympic 10 k state — by exactly half a second and beating Jacobsen by 1.3 seconds for the final spot on the podium.
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“Coming into the final stretch I was like, ‘OK, that is the last time you get to do the final stretch this year and make it count,’ ” Bjornsen told FasterSkier. “It ended up working out for me, and that turned into quite the dream day.
“I think the step I made this year is one step closer to being in a place where Jessie is racing right now,” Bjornsen continued. “To have a teammate who is just pushing the bar just every single day and making me believe that in order to be the best racer in the world, you have to have no fear. Jessie is a great example of that and it is certainly contagious.”
On Sunday, Bjornsen had started 21 seconds behind Østberg and 29 seconds ahead of Haga. By 7.5 k Haga had caught the group battling for third, which included Bjornsen, Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski, Østberg, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla, and Jacobsen. The group stayed together until the downhill back toward the stadium.
“I was like, ‘OK, I have to be smart here and keep pushing the pace hard enough that we do not get caught from behind, but conserve for that final sprint and then when I came into the sprint lap,’ ” Bjornsen reflected.
Along with being a podium threat in Sunday’s race, the Americans are also gunning full-speed ahead toward the top three in the overall, sprint or distance World Cup standings. On Friday, Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. claimed third in the season-long Sprint World Cup. On Sunday, Diggins stood on the podium in second in the Overall World Cup and third in the Distance World Cup.
“We are really showing that we are a skiing nation, and it’s taken so many years and so much hard work from a lot of people, but I think it’s so cool to show that we can be in the fight,” Diggins said.
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“It’s been a many year goal of ours to be ranked in the top three for the women’s team and we secured that for the first time today,” U.S. Ski Team Women’s Coach Matt Whitcomb told FasterSkier of his team’s best-ever Nations Cup ranking. “We’ve come into [past] finals, I believe, ranked third and then come out of finals ranked fourth. We’ve been fifth. And I think as an entire team, men and women combined, … I think we’ve finished fifth, which would be exceptional. It was really quite an achievement for both our men’s and women’s teams.”
Whitcomb was right; the U.S. Ski Team placed fifth in the Nations Cup.
In the decade leading up to the past two World Cup seasons, podiums from American women peppered the circuit, but predominantly in sprints. Kikkan Randall holds most of those, having recorded 28 individual podiums before 2016, only five being in a distance greater than 2 k. Sophie Caldwell broke through with a third-place sprint finish in 2014.
American Liz Stephen had also reached the World Cup podium four times in distance races prior to 2016 — twice outright and twice for time of day.
From 2016 on, the number of podiums that have gone to U.S. women has only increased. Caldwell earned three podiums this season alone. Diggins has racked up a total of 14 individual World Cup podiums since her first (which was also a first place) in 5 k freestyle in Toblach, Italy, in 2016. Bjornsen now has a total of five podiums over the course of two seasons. Stephen added two more to her name, one time of day and one outright, and Randall another top three in this past December’s Davos sprint.
Whitcomb was quick to point out that much of this success, started with U.S. Ski Team veterans Randall and Stephen, who skied the last World Cup races of their careers on Sunday. Randall finished the race in 43rd (+4:33.3) with the 29th-fastest time of day, and Stephen 50th (+4:57.2).
“Honestly I start crying every time I think about it,” Whitcomb said, referring to the fact that Randall and Stephen will be retiring after this season. “It’s been a day that I have feared for my whole career, basically since I started working with Kikkan and Liz, really since they started working with us.
“I know we are not saying goodbye forever, but definitely we are saying goodbye in a certain capacity to two of the most important people that have ever set foot on the U.S. Ski Team,” he added.
The two spoke with Fasterskier after their last race together, perhaps fitting as Stephen joined the team in 2006, only a year after Randall. The pair have worked with Whitcomb for the past 12 years.
“As your whole career flashes before your eyes, it’s the people that are the best part,” Randall, 35, said.
In their career final World Cup race on Sunday, both Randall and Stephen donned unicorn headbands, pink arm warmers and spandex boyshorts inscribed with the words “Thank You!!” across the backend. During their pre-race morning run, they felt something was missing and made a spur-of-the-moment stop at a store to purchase a few “costume pieces” for the race. Their outfits sparked smiles as they completed the race, and there was no denying the message they hoped to send off as they departed the ski-racing world: the energy and enthusiasm of a strong team.
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“We are all most proud of the team we built,” Randall said. “To see it at such a good point and to know just because we are leaving the scene doesn’t mean it’s going away; these girls are going to continue to carry the torch, the young girls coming in.”
“I would second that,” Stephen, 31, said. “One of the main things was that we wanted to leave a program that sustain itself, and I think that we both feel very happy and confident that that is going to happen. Like Kikkan said, Jessie won more points this year alone than we used ever see in an entire season men and women combined, you know, 10 years ago, and so I think that is a testament of the success that we have been able to create for one another.”
Both Randall and Stephen were also given the opportunity to take a victory lap after the race, alongside Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Sweden’s Anna Haag, who sported a Disney Princess bath towel as a superhero cap, as well as a bejeweled crown (in an interview with FasterSkier, Haag explained the outfit had not been coordinated with the Americans, but was rather a coincindence. The Americans and Swedish skier are longtime friends and shared a nonalcoholic-champagne beverage in the finish area after the race).
“I certainly wasn’t expecting a send-off like that,” Stephen said. “That was really special, that the four of us were able to do that together.”
“I have done this 20 years … and I have raced my goals and even more,” Saarinen told FasterSkier. “Actually this skiing family is the thing what I’m going to miss the most.”
Also racing for the U.S. on Sunday, Caitlin Patterson finished the pursuit in 35th (+3:58.4) with the 22nd-fastest time of day, Caldwell finished in 36th (+4:00.7), Rosie Frankowski 46th (+4:41.3), Kaitlynn Miller 56th (+6:13.8), and Ida Sargent 57th (+7:06.4).
“It’s been a really unexpected good season, and I am really happy with it,” Miller said. “Today was awesome seeing Sadie and Jessie finish out the World Cup season like that.”
The Canadians were led by Cendrine Browne, who finished 39th (+4:14.4) with the 27th-fastest course time, followed by Emily Nishikawa in 48th (+4:43.7), Dahria Beatty in 54th (+6:04.3) and Zina Kocher in 60th (+9:28.4).
“I love the course, it is perfect for me,” Browne wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “Steep up hills and one skate sections are what I prefer best! I was suprised yes!!! All season I was trying so hard to get into the top 30. Maybe I was trying to hard and putting to much pressure on myself. Today, I decided to have fun and to forget everything and it just happened!”
“I am really happy about my season even if it was filled with so many emotions,” Browne continued. “Going to the Olympics and placing 33rd at my first Olympic race is definitely a highlight. Also, my 36th place in Holmenkollen is a huge accomplishment for me. Even if I fell twice and should have been in the top 30, it was an awesome race. And today’s 27th place is definitely the best thing that happened this season. Finishing the season like this fills my heart with joy and hope for next season.”
***
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Notes: While there has been a lot of discussion about retirements, Bjørgen isn’t saying it’s over.
“I want to finish [the season] in a good way, but I think I’ve been at my very best. I’ve passed it [my peak],” Bjørgen said in a loosely translated interview with NRK on Friday.
So will she race next winter? Bjørgen estimated she would need to train at least 850 hours if she wanted to compete with her teammate Therese Johaug, who will be returning to the World Cup next season.
“It’s going to be a lot of training, and you have to prioritize a lot. That’s the toughest thing,” Bjørgen said. “But when I’m at work, it’s no problem. I’m here to do the job. Should I do one more year, I will not do it halfway [half-hearted].”
***
Results: Pursuit | Overall Standings | Distance Standings | Mini-Tour Standings
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FIS Cross Country World Cup Finals (Falun, Sweden): 10/15 k freestyle pursuits
In the last women’s race of the World Cup season, U.S. Ski Team members Jessie Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen made it one they’ll remember for a long, long time as Diggins raced to second in the 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit and Bjornsen outlasted two Norwegians for third. The two finished the World Cup Finals mini tour in second and third, respectively, behind Norway’s Marit Bjørgen who won it in 24:18.9 minutes.
Bjørgen started with a 36-second cushion to her Norwegian teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in second. Diggins started third, 41 seconds back, just ahead of Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski in fourth (+43.0), based on their cumulative performances over the last two days of the mini tour (skate sprint and 10 k classic mass start).
While Østberg, Diggins and Pärmäkoski formed a chase pack, Diggins dropped them in pursuit of Bjørgen on the first lap. The American continued to push the pace throughout the three-lap race, coming within 16.7 seconds of Bjørgen at the finish.
Meanwhile, during the pursuit, a chase group of five, which included Bjornsen, caught Østberg and Pärmäkoski. The group of seven dwindled to three on the last two climbs, where Bjornsen and Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen and Ragnhild Haga broke away in a race for third.
The three were even entering the finishing stretch, where Bjornsen then beat them in a final 100-meter push to the line. Bjornsen claimed third (+1:11.5) for her fourth podium of the season and first in a distance skate race. Haga followed in fourth (+1:12.0) and Jacobsen fifth (+1:12.8), while Pärmäkoski placed sixth (+1:16.2), Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla seventh (+1:17.9), Østberg eighth (+1:19.0), Sweden’s Jonna Sundling ninth (+1:30.5) and Ebba Andersson 10th (+1:44.7).
Bjornsen now has five-career individual World Cup podiums to her name, and this is the first in a skate race longer than 5 k.
Diggins clocked the fastest time of day in 23:54.4, while Haga was second-fastest (+10.7) after starting the race in 17th. Bjørgen’s time ranked third, Jacobsen was fourth-fastest and Bjornsen fifth-fastest.
Diggins’s performance elevated her to second in the Overall World Cup standings, just 40 points behind Norway’s Heidi Weng (who placed 18th in the pursuit) in first for the second-straight year. Østberg slipped to third overall, 22 points behind Diggins. In the Distance World Cup, Weng took the title by 63 points over Østberg in second, while Diggins was another 32 points back in third.
Bjornsen ended up sixth in the Overall World Cup and 10th in the distance standings.
Also for the U.S., Caitlin Patterson raced from 46th at the start to 35th (+3:58.4) with the 22nd-fastest time of day, Sophie Caldwell placed 36th (+4:00.7), Kikkan Randall finished her last World Cup race in 43rd (+4:33.3) with the 29th-fastest time, Rosie Frankowski placed 46th (+4:41.3), Liz Stephen 50th (+4:57.2) in her final World Cup race, Kaitlynn Miller 56th (+6:13.8), and Ida Sargent 57th (+7:06.4).
For Canada, Cendrine Browne picked off 10 places to finish 39th (+4:14.4) with 27th-fastest time of day, Emily Nishikawa finished 48th (+4:43.7), Dahria Beatty 54th (+6:04.3), and Zina Kocher 60th (+9:28.4).
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In the men’s 15 k freestyle pursuit that followed, Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov started 38 seconds clear of Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in second, and Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson and Italy’s Federico Pellegrino headed out together another second later in third and fourth, respectively.
Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby started the race in seventh (+53.0), and Switzerland’s Dario Cologna followed in ninth (+56.0), while Canada’s Alex Harvey started 1:16 back in 18th.
While Bolshunov skied the entire race on his own and won the weekend mini tour in 35:03.3, a number of racers battled for second, with Sundby moving into second in the chase pack, ahead of seven others, less than 2 k in. Several skiers found themselves at the front of that group, including Cologna, Halfvarsson, and even Harvey (with Harvey leading the chase at 9.3 k), while the time gap to Bolshunov grew.
With about 2 k to go, the group was down to six. Harvey attempted an attack, but Cologna matched him. Then, on one of the course’s final climbs, Cologna made his move to get a slight gap, but lost his balance slightly on the downhill, allowing Harvey to catch back up.
With one last uphill to go, Harvey was in the driver’s seat in second, Cologna in third and Sundby in fourth. That order held to the finish, with Harvey claiming second, 47.1 seconds behind Bolshunov, Cologna placing third (+47.5) and Sundby fourth (+48.7). Just behind them, Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin crossed in fifth (+50.3), ahead of Norway’s Hans Christer Holund in sixth (+51.7), Halfvarsson in seventh (+54.1), and Norway’s Sjur Røthe in eighth (+54.9). Nearly 10 seconds later, Norway’s Niklas Dyrhaug outlunged two Russians for ninth (+1:04.1): Denis Spitsov in 10th (+1:04.2) and Andrey Larkov in 11th (+1:04.3).
Harvey, who finished the season in fourth in both the Overall and Distance World Cup standings, won the time of day in 34:34.3. Holund had the second-fastest course time, 1 second off Harvey’s time, after starting the race in 22nd.
Harvey’s Canadian teammate Devon Kershaw tallied his fifth-straight distance top 30 in 28th (+2:21.9), after starting 27th, and Graeme Killick finished 56th (+4:33). Julien Locke did not start.
For the U.S., Erik Bjornsen clocked the 22nd-fastest time en route to 38th (+3:10.4), after he started 51st. Simi Hamilton improved 10 places to finish 49th (+4:07.8), Scott Patterson and Paddy Caldwell worked together to move up from 72nd and 73rd, respectively, to 58th (+4:41.5) and 59th (+4:41.6), respectively, at the finish. Kevin Bolger placed 60th (+4:43.5) and David Norris 64th (+5:09.8).
While Klæbo slipped from second to 25th in the pursuit (+1:45.8), the Norwegian still won his first Overall World Cup by 119 points over Cologna in second. Sundby placed third, 29 points out of second and 82 points ahead of Harvey.
Cologna claimed the Distance World Cup Crystal Globe by 41 points over Sundby, and Holund reached the Distance World Cup podium in third, 58 points out of second and just 5 points ahead of Harvey in third. France’s Maurice Manificat had been third heading into the final day of racing, but finished the pursuit in 26th (+2:11.9) and dropped to fifth in the final distance rankings.
Results:
Women: Pursuit | Time of day | Final Overall World Cup rankings | Final Distance World Cup rankings
Men: Pursuit | Time of day | Final Overall World Cup rankings | Finals Distance World Cup rankings
***
IBU World Cup (Oslo, Norway): Women’s pursuit + men’s relay
Women’s pursuit report | Julia Ransom retires
In her last race of the season, Susan Dunklee returned to the podium. The American started fourth in Sunday’s 10-kilometer pursuit at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Oslo, then made her way into third by the final shooting stage. Dunklee shot 18-for-20 (1+0+1+0) and finished 29.5 seconds behind the winner, Darya Domracheva of Belarus, who missed two targets as well (1+0+1+0) and finished first in 30:37.4. Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina started the race in first (ahead of Domracheva in second) and ended up second (+9.2) with four penalties (0+2+2+0).
Canada’s Julia Ransom and Rosanna Crawford finished together in 51st and 52nd, respectively, both 4:52.4 out of first. Ransom had four penalties (0+1+1+2) while Crawford missed five (1+3+1+0). Emma Lunder did not finish.
In the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay on Sunday, Norway’s team of Lars Helge Birkeland, Henrik L’Abee-Lund, Tarjei Bø, and Johannes Thingnes Bø used just three spare rounds to clean eight shooting stages and took the win in 1:13:13.7 hours. Austria finished 50.3 seconds back in second place, with Dominik Landertinger, Felix Leitner, Simon Eder, and Julian Eberhard, with a total of five spares. Russia’s Maxim Tsvetkov, Anton Babikov, Dmitry Malyshko, and Anton Shipulin raced to third (+56.9) with just four total spares.
The U.S. men placed seventh (+2:01.5) with eighth spares, after Lowell Bailey put the team in seventh on the first leg. Sean Doherty skied them up to sixth on the second leg, Tim Burke slipped to 10th on the third leg, and Leif Nordgren posted the seventh-fastest anchor leg to put them in seventh at the finish.
Canada placed 16th (+5:42.4) with Christian Gow, Scott Gow, Brendan Green, and Macx Davies. The team had been in 19th at the final exchange, but Davies skied them up to 16th with the 14th-fastest anchor leg. In all, they used 10 spares.
Results: Women’s pursuit | Men’s relay
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FALUN, Sweden — To those watching, even to those racing, the winner was the woman who had led most of Saturday’s 10-kilometer classic mass start: Norway’s Marit Bjørgen.
“Marit and Tiril [Udnes Weng], another Norwegian young girl, they were skiing really fast and I thought that they would be first and second,” Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg told FasterSkier after the race.
Seven minutes after the start gun, Bjørgen had moved to the apex of the field and there she seemed intent to stay.
No doubt, the 37-year-old Norwegian holds a close relationship with the 10 k classic event. Over the course of her World Cup career, she has amassed 31 podiums in the distance/discipline, 16 of those being in first place.
Last year in Lahti, Finland, Bjørgen was crowned the 10 k classic world champion, and she also holds the 10 k classic World Championships title from 2011. At the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, she earned silver in the 10 k classic event. The next time a 10 k classic was featured at the Olympics, in 2014 in Sochi, Russia, she finished fifth.
With substantial backing, Bjørgen seemed well on her way to another 10 k classic win at 2018 World Cup Finals on Saturday in Falun. Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski may have not looked like a real threat — until the finishing stretch.
In the corner before the final 100 meters, Pärmäkoski pulled up just behind Bjørgen. Just two kilometers earlier, the Finn had been skiing two seconds off of the Norwegian’s pace.
Backtracking to the race’s halfway mark, Pärmäkoski had been even farther behind Bjørgen. Three seconds had separated the chase pack from Bjørgen and Tiril Udnes Weng, who led the race at 5 k. At that point, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla had been spearheading the charge to close down the gap, while Pärmäkoski skied in fifth, almost one second back from Kalla and four seconds back from Bjørgen.
Even earlier in the race, when Bjørgen made her move to the front at 3.75 k, Pärmäkoski, who had started in bib 32, was 19 places out of first.
“I had to start so much behind the others,” Pärmäkoski told FasterSkier, referring to her bib number, which was based on her finish in the opening race of the World Cup Finals, Friday’s freestyle sprint.
“But my body worked very well today … and I had really good grip and glide [with] my skis,” Pärmäkoski continued. “I passed the other athletes when we got to the downhill, the long downhill.”
By the descent heading back toward the stadium, Pärmäkoski had passed Tiril Udnes Weng and moved around Kalla. Close to two seconds stood between her Bjørgen and Østberg, the latter of which had moved into second at the 7.5 k mark.
“I didn’t dare to look back and see how many girls were keeping up with [us] in front,” Østberg said.
If she had looked back, she would have seen the Finn firing on all cylinders.
By the descent back toward the stadium, Pärmäkoski had caught Østberg and hunted her next Norwegian. She closed in on Bjørgen in the corner just before the finishing stretch. Fifty meters to go and Pärmäkoski pulled up just alongside Bjørgen.
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The two approached the finish line in tandem. Pärmäkoski, however, was stronger in the final double-pole push and nabbed the win by just 0.2 seconds over Bjørgen in a time of 26:00.5 minutes. Bjørgen took second behind the Finn in a time of 26:00.7.
“I thought that maybe I was stronger than her and I feel that I was doing a good finish, but she was stronger than me,” Bjørgen told FasterSkier, referring to the sprint finish between Pärmäkoski and herself.
“I thought Marit was gonna take it on the last 100 meters, but Krista was too strong,” said Østberg, who finished 5.1 seconds back in third.
The win is Pärmäkoski’s third 10 k classic title in a row this season. Her first came in Planica, Slovenia –which was also her first World Cup win — and her second came two weekends ago in front of a home crowd in Lahti.
For Østberg, the World Cup podium was her first since January.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been on the podium individually, in an individual race, so I was just so happy that I managed to finish in third place,” Østberg said.
Less than 10 seconds behind her, a pack of five surged to the finish line, with Sweden’s Ebba Andersson crossing in fourth (+14.5), Japan’s Masako Ishida fifth (+14.8), Kalla in sixth (+15.2), Austria’s Teresa Stadlober in seventh (+15.4) and American Jessie Diggins in eighth (+15.5). Exactly 1 second separated the five-skier spread, with Diggins bookmarking the tail end.
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Group17032018fm2419.jpg")
“I was a little bit bummed I didn’t quite have the same feelings in my body that I’ve been having,” Diggins told FasterSkier. “It wasn’t a bad race at all … I just was struggling to find that last gear. I know it’s there because it was there in the sprint yesterday. So I am just going to go hard tomorrow and see what I can do.”
Bjørgen currently leads the World Cup Finals mini tour and will be the first skier on course in Sunday’s 10 k freestyle pursuit. Starting 36 seconds after her will be Østberg in second, then Diggins, 41 seconds back in third.
In the Overall World Cup standings as well, Diggins ranks third with 1226 points. The American is 106 points behind Østberg in second and 213 points behind Norway’s Heidi Weng in first. At most, with a win, Diggins could score 200 points on Sunday. Behind her, Pärmäkoski is 112 points back in fourth.
An Olympic gold medal already achieved and a couple other firsts to her name this season (last weekend, she became the first American woman to podium in a 30 k Holmenkollen), Diggins’ drive is for a personal best on Sunday.
“I am just excited to keep pushing hard and see if I can break through and get some new firsts for me,” Diggins told FasterSkier. “I am fighting for a good spot in the overall [World Cup] and in the overall distance [ranking] as well … it’s fun to try to do something new and definitely motivates me to keep fighting really hard. It kept me pushing for every second today.”
Diggins is also third in the Distance World Cup standings, 64 points behind Østberg in second and 43 points ahead of Pärmäkoski in fourth.
Rounding out the remainder of Saturday’s top 10 was Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen in ninth (+24.8) and Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen in 10 (+26.2). Just 0.1 seconds outside of the top 10 was American Sadie Bjornsen in 11th (+26.3).
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This World Cup season has marked somewhat of a breakthrough season for Bjornsen, with the 28 year old earning her first distance podium and two classic sprint podiums.
On Friday, she appeared to be pulling for a podium again. Bjornsen charged hard to the front of the pack in bib 8, three bibs back from Diggins, who led the first 2 k of the race before Bjørgen took over.
When asked about the risk involved with taking such a race tactic and why she chose to do so, Bjornsen was thoughtful. Reflecting on her recent strong results in sprint qualifiers, she explained that she was testing “what can happen if I have no fear, if I have no fear of failing.”
“I keep trying to tell myself that in the distance races … any amount of fear really pulls you back from that podium potential. So this last week I made it a goal of mine to try to race from the gun and see if I can hang on,” Bjornsen said.
With this being the final weekend of World Cup racing until next season, Bjornsen also saw it as an opportune time for her to try going out harder at the start. In a sense, test her pacing in an insular way.
“It’s the best time of the year [for that],” Bjornsen said of a hot start. “You have nothing to lose. I definitely am fighting in the overall [World Cup] for places, too, but at the same time it’s not fighting for a podium. So if I absolutely explode, like I did today in the middle of the race, there is just no failing with that.
“I am learning how to [ski in the front] this year and next year I’m ready to come back and take that risk more often,” she added.
Bjornsen is currently ranked eighth in the Overall World Cup standings with 799 points. Ahead of her is Kalla in seventh (828), Bjørgen in sixth (835), and Stadlober fifth (836). In the distance standings, Bjornsen is 10th. She will start Sunday’s pursuit in sixth, 57.3 seconds after Bjørgen.
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Randall17032018fm2474.jpg")
Also competing for the U.S. on Saturday was Sophie Caldwell, who placed 41st (+1:36.1), Rosie Frankowski in 44th (+1:43.7), Caitlin Patterson in 47th (+1:54.8), Kikkan Randall in 57th (+2:34.1), Kaitlynn Miller in 64th (+2:50.7).
In her final weekend of World Cup racing, Randall explained Saturday’s result was not quite where she hoped to be, partly as her body still felt the effects of Friday’s sprint effort.
“I always just like to end on a good note feeling like I just really raced hard and [with] regards to the results, feel competitive,” she said. “Yesterday was more along those lines, today was just hard, but it’s still good to be up here. Such a beautiful day for racing, perfect temperature, good tracks, good skis.”
Emily Nishikawa led Canada in 36th (+1:31.1), followed by Cendrine Browne in 50th (+2:05.7), Dahria Beatty in 61st (+2:46.6), and Zina Kocher in 69th (+6:12.0).
Results | Mini Tour Standings Day 2 | Women’s pursuit start list
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-17-at-2.06.20-PM.png")
Saturday was the second day of World Cup Finals mini tour, held in Falun, Sweden, which conclude the 2017/2018 season. Friday’s first stage began with a skate sprint, while Saturday featured a 15-kilometer classic mass start for the men.
As the season is no longer young, the fitness for some athletes frayed, a mass start could offer the opportunity for some to hide in the pack and others to exploit. On a sunny and cold Saturday in Falun, the leading distance skiers on the World Cup were unable to separate. The terrain was World-Cup hilly, yet the pace was never decisive enough to shatter the field.
That field was 91-skiers full. 182 poles. 182 skis. Churning from the start, only those skiers in the front rows of the start pyramid could pole and stride away unscathed. As is the nature of 91 skiers fighting for classic-track scarcity — the lanes taper down in number — pile-ups are the norm. So while some skiers like U.S. Ski Team members Erik Bjornsen and Scott Patterson lost time in a starting-scrum spill, others were looking for brighter opportunities up front.
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Group17032018fm2504.jpg")
From the start the pace was hot. There was Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, Sweden’s Emil Jönsson, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Niklas Dyrhaug, Canada’s Alex Harvey, Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin, Russians Alexey Chervotkin and Alexander Bolshunov, and Swedes Calle Halfvarsson and Marcus Hellner, all in either a strung-out or condensed formation 3.75 k into the race. Skiers were slowly slipping off the back. But even with the surging up front, the tactics playing out appeared to place a premium on safety in numbers.
Bolshunov surged at 4.5 k to snag the highest-value time bonus. Otherwise, for much of the race, identifying specific skiers was a task in itself. Coming down the hills a third through the race, the top-50 skiers were a sinuous and continuous line separated by 17.7 seconds. At the bottom of climbs, the compressive part of the accordion effect was in play. Skiers in front could push, those behind became a more dense cluster of lycra-clad athletes.
Despite the prevalent pulsing of pace, skiers like Chervotkin and Harvey had their moments of pluckiness. Each paced a long line of skiers through the 9.3 k mark. But clear at this point was that the pattern of this race would be defined by the collective mass of skiers that began the mass start. Yes, time gaps would balloon a bit by the finish, but at 12 k (the second time bonus), a gap of 1.7 seconds separated first through 35th place.
The move that mattered in this race came from the birthday boy, Halfvarsson. According to FasterSkier’s reporter on the ground, the Swedish crowd serenaded Halfvarsson, 29, with a happy birthday rendition prior to the start. Maybe it was birthday stoke, maybe it was an acknowledgment that with age comes fewer opportunities to seize the win, but with one kilometer to go, Halfvarsson ran like Klæbo. Up and over the hill, the Swede forged a small gap on the 30-plus chasers.
Again on the last short incline before the speedy descent into the stadium, Halfvarsson performed a masterful high-step run. Only Bolshunov at this point could suck up near the Swede’s tails. For a moment, rounding into the final straight, it looked like Halfvarsson’s icing on his birthday cake would be a Falun stage win.
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/29261816_10160055657770043_1367412252973465600_o.jpg")
Halfvarsson came into the straight out of the tracks. As he zeroed in to begin the double-poling finish, the birthday boy stumbled slightly slotting into the nearest lane. Bolshunov flew by with a supreme double pole and took the win in 36:59.8. Halfvarsson placed second (+1.3), Italy’s Francesco De Fabiani third (+3.1), Poltoranin fourth (+3.7) and Chervotkin fifth (+5.2).
For the 21-year-old Bolshunov, it was his first-career World Cup win. Prior to Saturday’s win, Bolshunov had stood on the podium six times in his first full season on the World Cup. (Bolshunov’s only World Cup start last season was in Drammen, Norway, in March 2017.) Along with Klæbo, also 21, Bolshunov has risen into one of the sport’s top athletes. He claimed three silvers and a bronze medal in PyeongChang. His two individual Olympic medals were a second in the 50 k classic mass start and third in the classic sprint.
“I have had many second and third place finishes this season so I am very happy to finally have a win,” Bolshunov told the International Ski Federation (FIS) after the race. “This feels good. I will do what I can tomorrow for another good result but for now, I will enjoy this win.”
Sunday’s final men’s race of the season and last race of the three-stage mini-tour, will be a 15 k freestyle pursuit. Bolshunov leads the mini-tour standings in first with a total elapsed time of 38:37 minutes. Klæbo, who finished 22nd (+13.6) on Saturday, sits in second (+38.0), while Halfvarsson is third (+39.2).
The Swede took away the positives from the day’s near-win in front of the home crowd.
“I tried today to get a win but it was too much,” Halfvarson told FIS. “Off the final corner, I was really tired. I am still happy with second place. I have been on a podium a few times this season and always third. So at least second place is an improvement even if I didn’t manage the win.”
Canada’s Alex Harvey was the best placed North American in 20th place (+10.7). He’ll begin Sunday’s pursuit in 18th (+1:16.1).
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Group17032018fm2554.jpg")
Teammate Devon Kershaw finished 26th (+14.6) for his fourth-straight race in the top 30 (including his 26th-place finish in the Olympic 50 k classic). Graeme Killick placed 41st (+1:13) and Julien Locke was 81st (+3:29) for Canada.
“I felt quite good today,” Kershaw said after the race. “I was a little disappointed with the last kilometer because I was kind of out of position a little bit after Mördarbakken and couldn’t quite get up through traffic, but it’s really close. And a little disappointed to be 26th again; it seems like that’s kind of where I’ve lived all year, but it was a good race for me.”
Kershaw, a 35-year-old staple of the Canadian team, has been seeking a return to top form.
“Just races like today where I feel good and can execute decently well,” Kershaw explained.
“To be honest this year I am super motivated after the championship. I’ve [been] having major, major asthma issues at the Olympics and that really really affected me and it took a long time to get a little better, but I felt like by the time I got to Lahti I was feeling quite a bit better. So that really helps, I mean, I can breathe again and I’m feeling good.”
Kershaw is expected to mull over the prospects of continuing his ski career in the coming weeks.
“We’re not sure, I’ll talk to the wife next week [Norwegian former elite skier Kristin Størmer Steira],” Kershaw said of his future plans. “You know there’s a lot of issues right now in Canada so I’ll have to think about it. A lot of guys are saying that they’re gonna call it a day. And I’m not getting any younger, but I still feel quite good, and I mean a race like today shows that I can still compete with the best in the world so that’s motivating, but we’ll definitely have to take some weeks to think about it.”
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Falun-men-pileup-1.jpg")
For the U.S., Erik Bjornsen finished 52nd (+1:47.1), Simi Hamilton 62nd (+2:06.4), Kevin Bolger 69th (+2:27.1), David Norris 70th (+2:31.2), Scott Patterson 71st (+2:40.6), Paddy Caldwell 75th (+2:52.7), and Andy Newell 86th (+4:47).
Patterson’s race did not go as planned.
“I was in a big pile-up right at the start,” Patterson told FasterSkier after. “I was the second-to-last one out of the stadium and then the first time up Mördarbakken, my ski fell off. So I skied halfway down, got my ski back on, just turned back around and then just like stupidly chasing the rest of the race. …
“I felt OK,” Patterson added. “[Without] those two stupid things it would have been a good race. But I was so far off and then it was really hard to get back to the pack and then it was like, ‘Well, I can’t get to the pack. I am here with those guys.’ ”
Lately, Patterson, 26, has been a highlight for the U.S. distance skiing prospects. The first-year U.S. Ski Team member notched three individual top-20 results at last month’s Olympics, including 11th in the 50 k classic. Last weekend in Oslo, Norway, Patterson proved that was no fluke, as he placed 16th in a traditionally deep field at the Holmenkollen 50 k skate.
World Cup Finals conclude with 10/15 k freestyle pursuits on Sunday.
Results | Falun mini-tour standings| Men’s pursuit start list
— Gabby Naranja, Harald Zimmer and Alex Kochon contributed
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Group17032018fm2541.jpg")
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/29315195_10160055008385043_9179238108267282432_o.jpg")
FIS Cross Country World Cup Finals (Falun, Sweden): 10/15 k classic mass starts
Day 2 of World Cup Finals in Falun entailed 10- and 15-kilometer classic mass starts on Saturday, and in the first race of the day, Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski pulled out a thrilling finishing-sprint victory over Norway’s Marit Bjørgen.
After American Jessie Diggins led early in the first 2.5 k loop, Bjørgen set the tone from the front for most of the race. With less than a kilometer to go, Norwegian powered up the final horseshoe-shaped climb in first, with Pärmäkoski and Bjørgen’s Norwegian teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg just behind her. The three had dropped the field while lapping through the stadium around the 7.5 k.
While Østberg fell off the pace on that final uphill, Bjørgen accelerated as she took a few quick strides over the top, gaining a few meters on Pärmäkoski as they headed into the descent. The finishing stretch is long in Falun, and Pärmäkoski was able to come on strong just before she and Bjørgen entered the final 100 meters before the finish. There, Pärmäkoski’s double-pole speed not only matched Bjørgen, but beat her, as Pärmäkoski passed her with several meters to go and took the win by 0.2 seconds in 26:00.5 minutes. It was Pärmäkoski’s second win of the season and fourth of her career (including time-of-day pursuit stage wins).
Just behind Pärmäkoski and Bjørgen, who congratulated each other immediately at the finish, Østberg finished 5.1 seconds back in third. Five women fought for fourth place, with Sweden’s Ebba Andersson taking it (+14.5) ahead of Japan’s Masako Ishida in fifth (+14.8), Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in sixth (+15.2), Austria’s Teresa Stadlober in seventh (+15.4), and Diggins in eighth (+15.5).
Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen was the next finisher across the line in ninth (+24.8), then Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen in 10th (+26.2) and American Sadie Bjornsen in 11th (+26.3).
Canada’s Emily Nishikawa was the next North American in 36th (+1:31.1), and she led her teammates Cendrine Browne, who placed 50th (+2:05.7), Dahria Beatty in 61st (+2:46.6) and Zina Kocher in 69th (+6:12).
For the U.S., Sophie Caldwell finished 41st (+1:36.1), Rosie Frankowski 44th (+1:43.7), Caitlin Patterson 47th (+1:54.8), Ida Sargent 52nd (+2:10.2), Liz Stephen 54th (+2:20.0), Kikkan Randall 57th (+2:34.1), and Kaitlynn Miller 64th (+2:50.7). Rosie Brennan did not start.
In the men’s 15 k classic mass start on Saturday afternoon, Russia’s 21-year-old Alexander Bolshunov notched his first-career World Cup win after reaching the podium seven other times this season (placing third in six of those seven races).
Bolshunov hung in the pack and took the lead at the start of the final lap at 11.25 k, ahead of four of his Russian teammates, Alexey Chervotkin in second, Evgeniy Belov in third, Andrey Larkov in fourth, and Maxim Vylegzhanin in fifth. Behind them, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna skied just ahead of Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Canada’s Alex Harvey, who were among 29 skiers within four seconds of first.
While Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson led the final climb before the stadium, Bolshunov caught him on the downhill and out-double-poled him in the finishing stretch, taking first by 1.3 seconds in 36:59.8. Halfvarsson finished second and Italy’s Francesco de Fabiani scored his second World Cup podium of the season in third (+3.1).
Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin missed the podium by 0.6 seconds in fourth (+3.7), Chervotkin followed in fifth (+5.2), ahead of Cologna in sixth (+5.6) and Italy’s Federico Pellegrino in seventh (+5.6), after they finished together. Sundby and his Norwegian teammate Niklas Dyrhaug also crossed the line at the same time in eighth (+6.3) and ninth (+6.3), respectively, just 0.1 seconds ahead of another one of their teammates, Sjur Røthe, in 10th (+6.4).
Less than five seconds later, Harvey finished 20th (+10.7), ahead of Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in 22nd (+13.6). Klæbo slipped out of contention on the third of four laps, as he dropped from fourth to 22nd in less than two kilometers.
Canada’s Devon Kershaw finished 26th (+14.6) for his fourth-straight race in the top 30 (including his 26th-place finish in the Olympic 50 k classic mass start), Graeme Killick placed 41st (+1:13) and Julien Locke was 81st (+3:29).
Erik Bjornsen was the top American man in 52nd (+1:47.1), Simi Hamilton finished 62nd (+2:06.4), Kevin Bolger was 69th (+2:27.1), David Norris 70th (+2:31.2), Scott Patterson 71st (+2:40.6), Paddy Caldwell 75th (+2:52.7), and Andy Newell 86th (+4:47).
World Cup Finals conclude with 10/15 k freestyle pursuits on Sunday.
***
IBU World Cup (Oslo, Norway): Women’s relay + men’s pursuit
France won the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup women’s 4 x 6 k relay to start the day at Holmenkollen, ahead of Germany and Italy, while the Canadian women’s team (Sarah Beaudry, Julia Ransom, Emma Lunder, and Rosanna Crawford) placed 11th and the U.S. (Clare Egan, Susan Dunklee, Joanne Reid, and Emily Dreissigacker) came back from 21st to finish 15th.
In the men’s 12.5 k pursuit that followed, France’s Martin Fourcade won his 10th race at Holmenkollen, putting himself 49 points ahead of Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø with three individual races in Tyumen, Russia, remaining. US Biathlon’s Sean Doherty tied his second-best result this season in 17th and his teammate Lowell Bailey raced up to 28th with the 19th-fastest time of day. Leif Nordgren placed 40th and Tim Burke was 47th, while Canada’s Scott Gow finished 51st and Christian Gow was 54th.
Results: Women’s relay | Men’s pursuit
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-16-at-11.25.10-AM.jpg")
FIS Cross Country World Cup Finals (Falun, Sweden): Freestyle sprints
In the last sprint of the season and the first race of the three-day World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden’s Hanna Falk and Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won their respective 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint finals, while Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla and Klæbo claimed the season-long Sprint Crystal Globes and Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. placed third in the Sprint World Cup.
Falk started Friday by topping the women’s qualifier on home turf in 2:59.88 minutes, 1.65 seconds ahead of American Jessie Diggins, who qualified in second. Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva qualified third (+2.73), while American Sadie Bjornsen raced to the fourth-fastest qualifying time (+2.96), ahead of Norway’s Marit Bjørgen in fifth (+3.72).
Falk then won the first quarterfinal and first semifinal before taking control and dusting the field in the women’s final. She essentially led the final from start to finish, but slowed her pace and the five women behind her as she ascended the last climb. As she reached the 180-degree turn at the top, Falk launched into high gear, leaving the rest of the field chasing. Bjørgen was closest to her in second, but still several meters back, as they descended down into the stadium, and Falk skated away from her pursuers for her fourth-career World Cup win (and first victory in Falun) in 3:08.25. Sweden’s 23-year-old Jonna Sundling came on strong in the finishing straight for her first World Cup podium in second (+0.53), Bjørgen took third, and Sweden had three in the top four with Anna Dyvik in fourth (+1.72).
Norway’s Silje Øyre Slind finished fifth (+4.3), and Caldwell, who had qualified for the heats in 16th then won her quarterfinal and advanced in third in the second semifinal, placed sixth overall (+6.99).
Four American women posted top-20 qualifying times, with Kikkan Randall advancing as well in 18th. Diggins placed seventh overall after finishing third in the first semifinal, 0.42 seconds behind Falk in first and just 0.08 seconds behind Sundling, who advanced to the final in second.
Bjornsen was ninth on the day after placing fifth in that semifinal, 0.85 seconds out of first. Randall finished 15th overall after placing third in her quarterfinal, 3.14 seconds behind Diggins, who won that heat.
Also for the U.S, Ida Sargent missed the top 30 needed to qualify in 36th, as did Rosie Brennan in 49th, Caitlin Patterson in 63rd, Liz Stephen in 66th, Kaitlynn Miller in 69th, and Rosie Frankowski in 75th.
Canada’s Emily Nishikawa placed 40th, Dahria Beatty was 48th, Cendrine Browne 60th, and Zina Kocher 71st.
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-16-at-11.31.42-AM.jpg")
In the men’s race, Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov qualified first in 2:36.23, 0.46 seconds ahead of Klæbo in second. Klæbo then won the first quarterfinal, first semifinal, and you guessed it, the final as well, backing off before crossing the finish line for the last time in 2:37.03.
Italy’s Federico Pellegrino powered past France’s Lucas Chanavat in the finishing stretch of the final to claim second, 0.39 seconds behind Klæbo. Chanavat completed the podium in third (+1.76), Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola finished fourth (+3.26), and Sweden’s Oskar Svensson and Teodor Peterson placed fifth (+3.88) and sixth (+6.17), respectively.
Two American men qualified for the heats, with Simi Hamilton advancing in 13th and Kevin Bolger in 29th. Hamilton went on to place 14th on the day after finishing third in the first quarterfinal, 0.61 seconds behind Klæbo. In his second-career World Cup sprint, Bolger placed 30th overall after finishing sixth in his quarterfinal, 2.21 seconds behind Peterson in first.
In the overall Sprint World Cup, Klæbo took his second-straight title by a whopping 243 points over Pellegrino in second, while Falla won her third-straight Sprint Crystal Globe by 78 points over Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, who was out sick for Friday’s race. Nilsson joined her at the Sprint World Cup podium ceremony on Friday, as did Caldwell, who achieved her best overall sprint standing in third.
Falla placed eighth overall on the day after being eliminated in the semifinals (she finished fourth behind Falk, Sundling and Diggins, respectively).
For the U.S., Erik Bjornsen narrowly missed qualifying in 31st, Andy Newell placed 43rd, Paddy Caldwell was 60th, David Norris 84th, and Scott Patterson 87th.
For Canada, Julien Locke placed 32nd, Alex Harvey 34th, Devon Kershaw 74th, and Graeme Killick 81st.
Results:
Women: Qualifier | Final | Women’s Sprint World Cup (final standings)
Men: Qualifier | Final | Men’s Sprint World Cup (final standings)
![6.03.2014, Falun, Sweden (SWE): Alex Harvey (CAN) - FIS world cup cross-country, 15km men handicap start, Falun (SWE). www.nordicfocus.com. © Felgenhauer/NordicFocus.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Harvey160314mf137.jpg")
Alex Harvey started Sunday’s 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit in Falun, Sweden, with one thing on his mind: a first- or second-place finish would put him on the overall World Cup podium.
After the 25-year-old Canadian won Saturday’s 30 k skiathlon race he took the lead in the Falun mini-tour, and seized a 26 second advantage in Sunday’s pursuit race ahead of Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway and Alexander Legkov of Russia. The skiathlon victory also put him in contention for third place in the overall World Cup standings, a fact he learned from Sundby after Saturday’s race. To accomplish this he would have to hold off either Sundby or Legkov.
Harvey said to FasterSkier on Saturday that the “optimal plan is to stay away [from Sundby and Legkov], but Plan B isn’t bad either,” referring to skiing with the two chasing skiers.
Before the race, Justin Wadsworth, Head Coach of the Canadian National Team spoke with Harvey. “We just talked before the start about the course and then I asked him if he had any plans and he said that he was just going to go out and ski steady, not bury himself and see if he could hold them off.”
Harvey started his race by skiing steadily and smoothly through the winding and hilly course.
“I started at my own pace, but didn’t want to go into the red zone; I knew they were coming,” Harvey told Cross Country Canada, according to a press release.
![Canadian Alex Harvey edges Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby (not shown) by 0.4 seconds for the 30 k skiathlon victory at World Cup Finals on Saturday. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Harvey150314mf128.jpg")
Just over a kilometer into the race, Harvey still had a 25-second lead on Sundby and Legkov, but by the 3 k mark the pursuers were 16 seconds behind him.
With Sweden’s Daniel Richardsson trailing Harvey by 54 seconds, and another Swede Marcus Hellner leading a chasing pack of six skiers some two minutes behind the leader, it was essentially a three-man race for first place. Sundby led Legkov and made a hard push to catch up with Harvey, and after 3 k they steadily approached Harvey ahead of them.
“I was kind of hoping that he could ski out in front of those guys,” said Wadsworth. “Twenty-six seconds is quite a bit, but at the same time when there are two of the world’s best skiers really pushing each other on certain sections it’s almost impossible to hold them off.”
By the time Harvey reached the famous Mörderbakken climb, Legkov and Sundby were only a few seconds behind him and by the top of the climb they had caught him.
“They came back to me at the six-kilometre mark,” said Harvey. “Then it became tactical.”
“He did a really good job for the first couple of k maintaining the time gap, and then Sundby pushed and the time gap came all the way down until they caught him,” Wadsworth said. “That happened pretty fast, but Alex never panicked. He knew he had pretty good skis.”
After Harvey had been caught he continued to lead the three men. With the chasing group so far out of contention there was little pressure to maintain a fast pace, and Harvey appeared calm in the lead, and the pace manageable.
“Alex was looking super relaxed even up to the point they got him,” said Wadsworth. “So it wasn’t like Alex was stressing and then they caught him. I was pretty confident that he was going to be pretty rested for the last push.”
Meanwhile, Richardsson, who had started nearly a minute behind Harvey and was skiing in fourth position, looked to have elevated his pace, perhaps having been informed that the pace had slowed somewhat at the front of the race.
![Martin Johnsrud Sundby celebrates his victory in the 15 k freestyle pursuit in Falun, Sweden](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Sundby160314mf127.jpg")
Richardsson crept to within 40 seconds of the leaders until Sundby took back the lead from Harvey and began to push the pace once again. Sundby tested the two others with some aggressive hill climbing, but both Legkov and Harvey stayed with him.
Going through the stadium with 3.7 k remaining, Sundby looked to relinquish his lead, pointing at Legkov, who up to that point had not taken a turn in the lead. Legkov made no move to take the lead as Sundby slowed, and it was Harvey who ended up taking the reigns at the front of the race.
Harvey led until the base of the Mörderbakken climb, 2.7 k away from the finish line. As the skiers began the climb, Legkov attacked with his powerful hill climbing. Sundby was quick to respond to the challenge and sped ahead of Harvey to stay close to the Russian’s skis.
Legkov slowed the assault mid climb, and Sundby, sensing an opportunity, immediately counterattacked. The Norwegian hammered up the upper half of the long hill, and this time it was Harvey who responded, while Legkov was too sluggish to match Sundby’s speed.
With Legkov a few seconds behind, it was a battle between Sundby and Harvey. Sundby’s rapid climbing on a late hill proved too much for Harvey, and the Norwegian gained an advantage by several seconds heading into the stadium.
“Those are two of the best in the world and are both Olympic medalists,” said Harvey of Legkov and Sundby. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I also knew I needed to beat one of them to get into that top-three. Once Legkov couldn’t respond, I knew I just had to stay on my skis. I had great shape and the skis were really good!”
In the end, Sundby had enough time to savor his victory. Harvey took second, the result he needed for the coveted podium position on the overall World Cup standings, and Legkov was third.
It has been a breakthrough season for Sundby: he won the Tour de Ski, the overall World Cup title, and on Sunday, the Falun mini tour. “It’s been an incredible season,” Sundby told FIS. “I worked really hard for this. It was really a good battle with Legkov and Harvey today. I knew I wanted to have a [gap] between me and Alex in the finish. I am looking forward to the World Championships next year. Falun is a place with a great atmosphere.”
To NRK, Sundby said, “I have had the smoothest season of all, even if you can pick out a race here and there where I got a beating. But overall, I have been the world’s best skier.”
![FIS world cup cross-country, 15km men handicap start, Falun (SWE)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Podium160314mf142.jpg")
“Before the season, I had not thought I would win the World Cup,” Sundby continued. “I thought maybe top five. I was number seven last year and felt that I was a little better and would raise some places this year. But it has gone way over expectation.”
Harvey’s third-place finish on the overall World Cup was an important achievement for the Canadian National Team.
“It definitely gives some satisfaction with what has been a frustrating year for us, but the overall World Cup is a pretty amazing thing,” Wadsworth said. “Especially to place in the top three when you are a North American is a real feat because it means you have to be in Europe all winter and posting every weekend that you can. In the last three years we’ve had Devon [Kershaw] in second overall in the World Cup and Alex [Harvey] third now so it leaves all of us with a good taste.”
“I’m super stoked,” said Harvey of his podium. “That was a super-nice way to end the season … I had kind of given up on the overall when I had to pull out of the final stage of the Tour de Ski because so many points are given in that race, but I was able to gain a lot in the last weekend.”
“When I grew up it was never something I thought about. My dad [Pierre Harvey] was never better than eighth in the overall. Just being on the World Cup podium was something we all dreamt of in Canada. We have come a long way. We know we can be fighting for the top every weekend. Devon [Kershaw] was second a couple of years ago, and now I’m third. We take a lot of satisfaction showing that we can be consistent.”
![The start of the women's 15 k skiathlon on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Feature150314mf002.jpg")
With two races left in the World Cup season, Liz Stephen could’ve raced like she had nothing to lose. But the skiathlon is a race of strategy as much as skill, and on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden, the longtime U.S. Ski Team member decided she’d better start conservatively in classic.
Hovering in the mid-30’s for most of the race, Stephen later explained that the first half of the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon, turned out to be a “pretty standard classic race” for her. No bells or whistles, but she didn’t need them. She had 7.5 k to make up ground.
About a minute and a half behind the leader, Norway’s Therese Johaug, at the halfway point, Stephen in 37th transitioned smoothly to skating and began her own race. Between 8.2 and 9 k, Stephen rose from 34th to 25th. With less than 4 k to go, she was up to 16th.
“The skate portion went much better than the racing has been going lately,” Stephen, 27, wrote in an email. “The body was really ready to race out there during the skate.”
![Liz Stephen (U.S. Ski Team) on her way to 34th in Saturday's 3 k freestyle prologue at the first stage of the Tour de Ski in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo: Marcel Hilger)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/12/589B5005.jpg")
She ended up picking off one more person (Finland’s Krista Lahteenmaki) to finish 15th, 2:08.3 behind Johaug, who won by more than 33 seconds. The result put her 18th in the World Cup Finals standings and 15th in the season-long distance ranking— tying her personal best from last year. With one race remaining on Sunday, the 10 k freestyle pursuit, she was 17th in the overall World Cup.
“The goal going into the season was top 15 in the overall and top 10 in the distance list,” Stephen wrote. “I am close to those goals, and improving over last year’s standings in the overall is certainly something to recognize as a step in the right direction.”
Last season, she was 20th overall — 22 places better than she had been the year before.
“I am happy that the season is coming to an end and going home for a break is in sight,” Stephen wrote. “I am not so much tired as mentally ready to change it up, get out of hotel rooms for a while and be back in the USA with my family for a while. Recharge a bit.”
First, she’ll go with most of the team to Anchorage, Alaska, next week for SuperTour Finals and U.S. Distance Nationals March 22-28.
Looking back on the season, Stephen emphasized the success of her teammate, Kikkan Randall, the three-time defending World Cup Sprint champion, and how she has impacted the rest of the team.
“She has taught me to believe in myself, how to work harder, try new things, be open to the idea of being the best in the World someday,” Stephen wrote. “The fact that she instills this fun atmosphere on our team while also kicking serious a** on the world cup, year in and year out is really inspirational and special to be a part of. I’m really very proud of her and to be her teammate in so many ways.”
![Kikkan Randall (U.S. Ski Team) in Friday's classic sprint qualifier at World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. She went on to place fourth in the final and take home her third-straight Sprint World Cup Crystal Globe. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Randall140314mf027.jpg")
Randall finished 20th (+2:25.6) on Saturday in one of the few World Cup skiathlons in her career. The result put her 17th in the distance rankings, and kept her in fifth overall — 30 points behind Norway’s Heidi Weng in fourth.
“I wanted to be up in the top 15 so I fell short of that goal today,” Randall wrote in an email. “I still have some good opportunity to move up tomorrow and I need to fight for every point.”
Randall skied around 20th for much of the race, moving up from 21st at the transition to 19th at 8.2 k. Lahteenmaki edged her by 0.4 seconds for 19th, and Randall finishing four seconds ahead of her U.S. teammate, Sadie Bjornsen.
“To have a good result you have to go with that opening pace and try to stay up near the front,” Randall explained. “I tried to start hard but my body was pretty tired from the sprint yesterday. I was skiing mid pack in the classic and then headed out on the skate with some girls to chase. I had some good sections were I felt I was picking up time and then some bad parts where I had a hard time keeping my glide up in the skate. I came into the stadium with a couple girls but didn’t ski the finish very well. It was an okay day for me.”
Like Stephen, she was excited to wrap up the season.
“It’s been a lot of racing and a lot of emotional energy, especially in the last six weeks,” Randall wrote. “It’s been a pretty good season. Overall I was happy with my consistent sprint performance but felt I went backwards a step in my distance skiing. And of course the Olympics was my biggest goal of the season and I didn’t reach my goals there. I am definitely ending this season wanting more.”
Bjornsen started faster and was 12th through 6 k and ninth at the transition at 7.5 k, just 43 seconds behind Johaug.
“The pace went out super hard from the start,” Bjornsen recalled. “It was quite windy out there, and I was breaking wind in my outer track for the first couple of k’s … so I was struggling to stay on pace. After jumping in behind some girls, I found control, and the classic portion went really well from that. I had great skis. I chose to go on the slicker side, which made for some rocket fast skis on the downhill.”
The transition to skating proved to be Bjornsen’s biggest challenge as she slipped to 17th within the first kilometer out of the stadium. She recalled a pack of about 10 people passing her in the first 10 minutes, and was in 20th with 4 k remaining.
“I was able to turn it around shortly after when I got the feelings back in my legs,” she wrote. “It was fun to be out there trying to ski with Kikkan, and then reel back some of the skiers that had passed me by the end.”
Conditions were a factor as the night before brought a mix of rain, sleet, then snow, according to Stephen. “But the skiing was good,” she explained. “Pretty transformed snow and the high winds blew some snow into the tracks in places making the conditions slow in some spots and very fast in others.”
The course itself is what many of these same racers will be tackling at World Championships next season. Several North Americans said they liked the course, and Stephen described it as “hard, fair and fun.”
“The are a fun level of challenging!” Bjornsen wrote.
![Noah Hoffman (U.S. Ski Team) racing to 35th in the 30 k skiathlon at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/02/Hoffman1.jpg")
Noah Hoffman led the U.S. men in 18th, 2:48.3 behind Canadian winner Alex Harvey.
Going against his instincts, he decided to play it relatively safe and pace himself throughout the men’s 30 k skiathlon. Hoffman, 24, is known for his tendency to try to lead or stick with the leaders in distance mass starts, but his goal was to score around 20 to 25 points throughout the three-race Finals to put him in the Red Group in the distance standings.
“I scored 13 points today so I need to do something similar to tomorrow,” he said of the pursuit. “Which is nice, better than it could have been.”
Out of the start, he said the pace wasn’t too fast, but he focused on gradually working his way up from just outside the top 40 to 25th within the first 3.75 k. He was 20th at 5 k, 14 seconds behind the leaders, and halfway through the classic leg Hoffman was skiing 30 seconds back in 22nd.
“I was trying to be patient and stay a little more conservative,” he said. “I wanted to be skiing a little further back in the group. I did that and I don’t know that my strategy mattered that much today because I wasn’t quite good enough to be able to go with that fairly large group that ended up shelling everybody else.”
The group he was talking about was the chase pack, which Norway’s Eldar Rønning initially led to try to cut down a 20-second gap on the four leaders at 8.7 k. Hoffman was at the tail end of the group with Ivan Babikov in 23rd and 24th, respectively, and with one lap to go in classic he was detached, trailing the leaders by 45 seconds with Norway’s Sjur Røthe.
“I did end up with a good ride behind Sjur Røthe for the classic, which was really good and I know he is a great skater and he proved that today,” Hoffman said. (Røthe ended up seventh.)
“I was definitely hoping to be able to go with him which would have led to a really good result, but I just wasn’t quite good enough in the skate,” he added. “I have had a little bit of a tough time transitioning from classic to skate and I need to continue to work on that. Once I got into the skate, in the last two laps of the skate I was feeling better and moving up more.”
For the second half of the race, Hoffman mostly stuck around 20th. He heard he was in 19th about halfway through the skate leg, which was where he figured he needed to be.
“It was definitely the right thing to do, it is what I need to do more of,” Hoffman said of his pacing strategy. “There was definitely a couple of movements where I was like, I could definitely move up from here, and then I had to settle myself down and say this was a fine place to be. But for the most part, I think it was good. I did what I wanted to do and I think I am learning slowly, slower than I would like to be.”
At this point in the season, Hoffman said his energy is good, but he’s excited to go home and will stop at his base in Park City, Utah, between racing in Alaska and vacationing in Mexico.
“I think fitness is tailing off a little bit; I train a lot less than my teammates throughout the winter and it has been a long time since I have done any substantial training,” he explained. “But that is fine … [to] still be able to ski into the points with this fitness is good so I am looking forward to a little bit of domestic races when I go home, something I haven’t done in two years.”
Hoffman ranks 28th in the World Cup distance standings, just within the top-30 U.S. team criteria, and 35th overall with one race to go. He will start 21st, 4:19 back from Harvey as the leader and a second behind 19th and 20th in Sunday’s pursuit.
— Matt Voisin contributed reporting
See also: Two Weeks After International Debut, Hanneman Nabs PB’s; Diggins Also Close
![Canada's Alex Harvey celebrates in his traditional fashion after winning his third World Cup race of the season, the 30 k skiathlon and second stage of World Cup Finals on Saturday in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Harvey150314mf132.jpg")
Thirty kilometers is a long time to get to know somebody, and when you’re already pretty well aquatinted, well, then it comes down to mind games.
Canada’s Alex Harvey knew he’d be better off following the lead of three others for the first half of the men’s 30-kilometer skiathlon — the classic portion — at World Cup Finals on Saturday. Plenty of kick made it easy for him to stay in contact on what he considered his weakness: the big, steep hill, known as Mörderbacken in Falun, Sweden.
The men had to ascend it eight times total — four loops of classic, four loops of skate. Harvey stayed comfortable behind Sweden’s Daniel Richardsson, Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, and Russia’s Alexander Legkov, entering the transition in fourth and emerging out of it in first.
Everybody else was at least 21 seconds behind, and not a threat according to Harvey. Even when Finland’s Matti Heikkinen started to go for it in early in the skate leg, leading the chase pack in an effort to close the gap on the four leaders, Sundby, Legkov and Harvey kept it cool, even “chill,” Harvey said.
![Daniel Richardsson leads the men's 30 k skiathlon on Saturday during the first of eight laps in the penultimate race of World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. Richardsson went on to place fourth behind Canada's Alex Harvey, Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby, and Russia's Alexander Legkov, respectively. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Feature150314mf080.jpg")
Meanwhile, Richardsson, who initiated the breakaway with a relentless double pole about 5 k in, started to falter. With 10 1/2 k to go, he was trying to minimize a gap of his own to the front three. Harvey was surprised the Swede fell off the pace, but said Richardsson, who turned 32 on Saturday, pulled their weight for most of the classic leg, and he’s known as a better classic skier.
And then there were three. The breakaway trio stuck together for the rest of the race, never looking back to see where Heikkinen was (he lost steam about 5 k into the skate leg), and not worrying about the chase pack, which included the likes of Devon Kershaw — who led its charge halfway through 9 k into classic portion.
The front four had gapped the masses between 5 and 6 k; there was still plenty of race ahead of them, yet they skied smart enough to put more time into the chase group in the skate leg.
With 10 k to go, France’s Jean-Marc Gaillard was leading the pack in fifth, 36 seconds behind the leaders. No way was he or anyone else going to bridge 30-plus seconds alone, let alone into a headwind, Harvey thought.
So it was the Canadian, Norwegian and Russian — all essentially guaranteed a podium in the penultimate race of World Cup Finals, but everyone wanted to win.
After the transition, Sundby led up the long gradual climb out of the stadium, just like he did on every other lap, and the others let him do so into the headwind on a windy, above-freezing afternoon. Harvey decided it was time to take his turn up front soon after, not so much for courtesy but strategic reasons.
“I was leading on the climb just because I wanted to set my own pace,” he said. “I didn’t know how the other guys were [feeling] and I felt like the most vulnerable place for me it always is uphills. It was the best position to react on the front.”
And so he led up Mörderbacken — every time.
Throughout the next four laps, the pace remained somewhat relaxed, even lulling at times. Harvey said he wasn’t worried about Legkov or Sundby attacking the last time up Mörderbacken because he had a sense everyone was pretty gassed at that point.
Harvey got up front anyway, skiing up the middle of the long climb to minimize the amount of space anyone would have to use to get around him. If anything, their pace slowed, with Richardsson as the next closest competitor 19 seconds back.
By the final uphill 180-degree turn, Harvey almost came to a stop in first — all part of the plan, he later explained. Canadian Head Coach Justin Wadsworth was relieved.
“I was worried he was leading so much,” Wadsworth said. “I told him that after the race, ‘Oh man, you had me worried you were going to lead down the last downhill,’ which was I think on this course, a bit of a curse. … He just put on the brakes at the last second … and I was really happy to see that, because when he did that I knew he had a lot of confidence in his skis and his body.”
Just like Harvey guessed, Legkov went for the open space and Harvey went from first to third, remembering the value of the slipstream on the last downhill into the stadium. The Canadian had gone from sixth to fourth with a similar tactic in Friday’s classic-sprint final, and this time, he was going to use it to ski to a victory.
“I knew my skate skis were good all day, [and] Legkov and Sundby, they’re not the strongest sprinters,” Harvey said.
Sundby had two skate-sprint podiums at the Tour de Ski and won the Kuusamo mini tour at the beginning of the season, and considering that, Harvey thought he would the toughest to beat in a sprint. Really though, he just wanted to enter the stadium in second or third — didn’t matter which order.
With a couple hundred meters to go, Harvey took advantage of a narrow opening between Sundby on the left and Legkov on the right to follow Sundby toward the finish in second. While Harvey followed the course’s natural line to the right behind Sundby, he said Legkov moved left into his path and he broke the Russian’s pole as a result.
“I tried to stay in Sundby’s draft because Legkov was so sketchy today,” Harvey said, noting Legkov crashed three times (once classic skiing out of the stadium, another time at the classic-bonus prime and one more up Mörderbacken — all on his own).
While Sundby and Harvey dueled to the finish, Legkov skied alone in third, finishing 5.9 seconds back. The Canadian pushed up and over the last rise to the line, edging Sundby — the overall World Cup champion — by 0.4 seconds to win in 1:18.07.6.
Sundby later told Harvey in doping control that he was in contention for a World Cup overall podium, which he hadn’t realized and would be a career best. Harvey will have to hold off Sundby and Legkov, who will start 26 seconds behind him in Sunday’s 15 k freestyle pursuit, to win the World Cup Finals mini tour and claim 200 points that comes with it (and would put him ahead of Norway’s Chris Andre Jespersen in third in the overall standings).
But on Saturday, Harvey took some time to celebrate his third World Cup victory of the season, yelling exuberantly with a final “Yes!” at the finish, and getting congrats from his teammate Devon Kershaw, who had one of his best races of the season in 12th.
![Canada's Alex Harvey celebrates his third World Cup win of the season after a 0.4-second victory in Saturday's 30 k skiathlon at World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Harvey150314mf131.jpg")
“I enjoyed it right after the race, on the podium and everything, it was pretty sweet,” Harvey said. “It’s been such a good season for me with three wins. The skiathlon, since I’ve been a junior, it’s always been my favorite race. It took me a while to get good at sprinting.”
Wadsworth said Harvey will probably have to be in the top two Sunday to secure third in the overall World Cup.
“After the year we have had, for him to end up third overall tomorrow, it just shows that Alex is a guy for the future, that he can contend for the overall World Cup,” Wadsworth said. “We are playing on such a different field as North Americans because we have to deal with being on the road all year long. I don’t think people really put enough weight into that. For Alex to rebound after a hard Olympics and difficult races here and there, and we have been living out of a hotel since November, I think it really, really speaks strongly to the quality all-around skier that he is.”
While the 25-year-old Harvey acknowledged that every season has its highs and lows, he felt fortunate that his didn’t have many. His health was good, he didn’t get sick or injured, he pulled out of one race at the Olympics to save energy for other races, and while the Olympics were marked by some waxing woes, he said there were plenty of non-race-related things in Sochi to focus on.
“We controlled the things that we could control and we came into the season with a good plan,” Harvey said. “The body was there every weekend except [the first one in] Kuusamo. I’ve had a lot of fun this year, just always fighting for the top 10. It went by really fast there … it was just high spirits the whole winter.”
Before this season, Harvey had one career World Cup win. He went on to win the first prologue stage of the Tour de Ski in Oberhof, Germany, and then a World Cup skate sprint in Szlarska Poreba, Poland.
If he wins tomorrow, great, Harvey said. Twenty-six seconds is a lot of time to start ahead of anyone else, and if Sundby and Legkov charge hard enough to catch him, then he might find himself in a similar position as Saturday — trying to outsmart and outsprint them to the finish.
“The optimal plan is to stay away, but Plan B isn’t bad either,” Harvey said.
While Kershaw came through in 12th, 1:13.7 behind Harvey, the third Canadian in the race, Ivan Babikov placed 23rd (+3:42).
“It’s cool to see that he’s back in the top 15,” Harvey said of Kershaw. “There was nothing free today. It was windy. It was a slow 30 k. An hour and 18 is not fast.”
Wadsworth said Kershaw’s result didn’t surprise him.
“Devon, when he gets in the situation where he doesn’t have anything to lose … he was relaxed today and I think our skis were quite good,” Wadsworth said. “He just went out there and did what he normally could do, that is the kind of shape he is in. It was nice for him to just turn things off and put it on auto pilot.”
On Friday, Kershaw placed 40th in the sprint, which he described in an email as “another hard effort in a long list of hard efforts on the sprint front this season.”
“I was and am very disappointed with how my sprint season went this year,” Kershaw wrote. “I only qualified in 2 individual sprints (Oberhof skate sprint, and Poland) and got bumped in the 1/4 finals in each of those – so that’s a long cry from being on the podium in both classic and skate sprints like I have been back in 2011 and 2012. Something isn’t working – and I guess now it’s safe to say that something didn’t work – as my sprint season is done for this year.”
He explained he’ll have to spend time to figure out what went wrong and how to get back the speed that’s characterized most of his career. “This is the first season in awhile where I have no top 10 sprint results on the World Cup,” Kershaw wrote.
“I am not feeling very good – I mean, that’s pretty evident. I got pretty sick in Sochi, and then in Lahti I was still not 100% there either, but went for it by racing both races – which didn’t go well,” he added. “I have since been healthy, but my lungs are holding on to something – I could feel that a lot in the qualifier for sure. Still though, skiing around easy I don’t feel too bad, just feels like my top end is non-existent.”
His goals for the rest of World Cup Finals, “to have a distance race where I feel half-decent,” Kershaw wrote. He likely did that on Saturday.
Babikov recently returned to Europe after going back to Canada for a week to recover from illness post-Sochi. He said his skis felt a bit draggy in Saturday’s classic portion and his legs weren’t quite there in skating, but all things considered, he felt reasonably good, skiing with American Noah Hoffman and Norway’s Sjur Røthe until late in the skate leg. They dropped him with at least one lap to go and he skied alone for the rest of the race.
“That is the end of the season usually, everybody races with whatever they have in the tank,” Babikov said.
On Sunday, he’ll start 25th with Russia’s Evgeniy Belov in 24th, 5:13 behind Harvey. They have about a 50-second gap to 22nd.
“Of course I will try to ski as fast as I can,” he said.
As for his teammate: “Alex is on fire lately, he is in great shape and having the best season for him ever,” Babikov said. “It was great to see him win today, well, I did not see that, but I saw him in the finish.”
— Matt Voisin contributed reporting
![Reese Hanneman in spring-like conditions at World Cup Finals in Falun. (Photo: Reese Hanneman/Instagram)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/1185452_10152885975160639_325849616_n-1.jpg")
Reese Hanneman was so close, heartbreakingly close, encouragingly close, however you look at it, 0.45 seconds from making it into the points at World Cup Finals as a 24-year-old U.S. Continental Cup leader.
Sixteen days after his first World Cup of the season, Hanneman notched his all-time best World Cup result on Friday: 31st in the classic sprint in Falun, Sweden. The leader at the end of the last SuperTour period, the Alaska Pacific University skier earned his way to Europe, but in a field of fewer than 50 competitors, most of which have made the World Cup top-50 cut to get to Falun, there’s always a fear of finishing last.
Hanneman was far from it on Friday, nearly qualifying for the rounds, which would’ve made him the third American to do so this year.
“To be that close to the heats, and scoring points, is brutal,” Hanneman wrote in an email. “I felt good, but I didn’t even execute it perfectly. There are a few places I know I could have been faster. But there is nothing like a 31st on the World Cup to make you so hungry for the future.”
![Several members of the U.S. Ski Team lift up Kikkan Randall after she won her third-straight World Cup sprint Crystal Globe on Friday in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Randall140314mf151.jpg")
U.S. coach Matt Whitcomb was excited about Hanneman’s performance, considering he’s been in their development pipeline for several years. This season, just over two weeks ago, marked his international World Cup debut.
“To put the carrot that close to his face at the end of the season, he’s going to go home more motivated than ever,” Whitcomb said. “It’s a significant accomplishment to come that close to even qualifying for a World Cup sprint … He can review the tape from today and see a few mistakes that he made, very small ones, but that’s all it takes to find that half-second.
“He’s made a big step this year, and APU and all his coaches and all his sponsors have done such a great job of bringing him along patiently,” Whitcomb added. “He’s struggled at times and he’s constantly training with one of the toughest groups of guys in the country and to have patience with the ups and down has really paid off for Reese and he’s seeing this weekend that he can be a World Cup sprinter.”
Since winning his first national title and making the podium in three out of four races at U.S. Cross-Country Championships in January, Hanneman has known this trip was coming with a “pretty decent lead in the SuperTour overall” and Period-1 SuperTour leader Brian Gregg over in Europe racing and preparing for the Olympics.
“I didn’t set too many performance goals for myself over here for all of these World Cups,” Hanneman wrote.
He finished 80th in the skate sprint in Lahti, Finland, a course he felt didn’t play to his strengths. The Drammen classic sprint and Holmenkollen 50 k in Norway were next, and Hanneman knew both would be “insanely deep and competitive fields.”
His goal was to simply ski his best and try to find a sense of normalcy in what he found to be an intense World Cup setting.
“I think for the most part, I have been able to do that. I feel at home, and prepared to compete with these guys, for the first time in my life,” he wrote. “And that’s huge. I guess, in years past any time I raced a World Cup I would be starstruck and running around trying to get autographs and stuff… now I’m over that. Now I’m just like, Johaug, meh, whatever… :)”
On Saturday, Hanneman placed 38th in the 30 k skiathlon, 40.3 seconds ahead of U.S. Ski Team sprinter Andy Newell in 39th. It was his best distance result on the World Cup and second-best individual finish of his career.
“To finish 38th in a World Cup distance race (yes I know there are only like 42 finishers), is good for me, because there are no stragglers here,” Hanneman wrote. “These are literally the best 50 guys in the world, and that’s it. Being here as just the Conti Cup leader, it is encouraging for me to be able to be competitive at all.”
He finished one place and just over a minute behind 2013/2014 World Cup Sprint champion Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway.
“My goal for today was to ski a strong classic leg and then try to do my best in the skate,” Hanneman explained on Saturday. “I felt good in the classic, but was afraid about pushing it too hard, knowing I still had a brutal 15k skate ahead of me. I hoped to be skiing in the top 30 for the classic leg, and I ended up skiing with the 28-33 group for most of it so I was right there. Haha, it was actually me and like four of the best sprinters in the world (Brandsdal, Peterson, Gloerson, Hattestad), so I was feeling pretty stoked.”
Hanneman described the above-freezing temperatures on a sunny afternoon as “crazy. I have never seen such variable snow in one race. Some parts were absolute saturated, watery deep mashed potatoes, and some parts were drifting cold dry new snow. It was really strange.
“In the skate portion you could be tucking straight down a hill and then all of the sudden your skis would grab as if you had caught your klister, it was weird,” he wrote. “So considering the insane variability, my skis in both techniques were incredible. The US coaches and wax techs, and Eli Brown who is waxing my skis, did what I thought was an exceptional job on what must’ve been one of the hardest waxing days ever.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s 15 k freestyle pursuit, Hanneman explained that he’s once again going to try for his best and ski aggressively.
“Tomorrow is definitely not my forte, and I will be skiing alone,” he wrote. “So I just want to put in a hard effort and hang on.”
Just Shy of Points
Also just outside the top 30 in Friday’s classic sprint, U.S. Ski Team member Jessie Diggins placed 34th, 1.15 seconds from qualifying. In an email, she explained that she was satisfied with the result her first race back since getting sick after the Olympics.
“Classic sprinting has never really been my thing, but it’s also nice to have some big goals to work on for next year,” Diggins wrote. “I’m still looking forward to qualifying in a classic sprint!”
With a lingering cough she’s told will fade soon, Diggins went with the attitude of “ ‘Screw it … I just want to race!’ ” and decided to give everything she could at World Cup Finals.
“I don’t have really specific results-oriented goals since I don’t know where my body will be in distance racing,” she wrote. “But my overall goals are to enjoy the experience and give 100% so I can finish out the season knowing I didn’t hold anything back.”
On Saturday, Diggins placed 36th in the 15 k skiathlon. Her teammate, Ida Sargent finished 10 seconds later in 37th, and Continental Cup leader Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg/Madshus) placed 40th, six seconds ahead of Sophie Caldwell in 41st.
On Friday, Sadie Bjornsen, Kikkan Randall, Caldwell, and Sargent all made the rounds, with Randall and Caldwell advancing to the final, where they placed fourth and sixth, respectively.
Gregg finished 48th in the sprint. “I had fantastic skis and felt like I had skied super well,” she wrote in an email. “When I looked at the results board I saw that I had only beaten one girl, but then I realized she didn’t even start 🙁
“I am continuously impressed by how well our USA girls are skiing, we had 4 qualify and Diggs was right there as well then two moved onto the final!” the 2014 American Birkebeiner champion added. “It’s incredible to be in this positive atmosphere!”
