Tag: Falun

Northug Sticks It to Halfvarsson, Edges Swede for Norwegian Relay Win at Worlds

Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson leads Norway’s Petter Northug (c) and France’s Adrien Backscheider on the second-to-last major hill on the last lap of the men’s 4 x 10 k relay at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Northug went on to edge Halfvarsson by 0.6 seconds for gold, Sweden took silver and France was 8.9 seconds back for bronze.

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — All of Calle Halfvarsson’s trash talking gave Petter Northug something to get fired up about in the last couple hundred meters of the men’s 4 x 10-kilometer relay at FIS Nordic World Ski Championships on Friday.

Trailing Halfvarsson down into the stadium and leading up to the final rise before the finish, Northug rode on the tails of the Swede and blew past him on the climb, before giving him the ultimate run on the descent toward the finish.

There, Northug, who had already racked up two golds at these championships (in the classic sprint and freestyle team sprint), V2-ed like a madman to keep the slightest edge on Halfvarsson over the finishing flat. The Norwegian did so, and Halfvarsson let up about 20 meters before the line to accept his defeat.

It’s a lesson as old as time: talk smack and be ready to deal with the repercussions. Halfvarsson had to settle for silver when he was leading the fight for gold, and then watch Northug shush him at the finish.

That’s right, Northug, the now 12-time world champion (with two Olympic golds as well), put his finger to his lips after crossing the line, looking at cameras rather than back at Halfvarsson to send a message to the Swede.

The French men’s relay team (right) skied the entire World Championships 4 x 10 k with the Norwegians (center) and Swedes, proving something to themselves and the ski world: they belong as championships medalists. (Photo: Falun2015.com/Flickr)

“When Calle crosses the finish line, [I wanted to] make it hurt so much that he takes [it] with him for a lifetime,” the 29-year-old Northug told NRK, according to a translation, after sealing the win for Norway in 1:34.18.5, six-tenths of a second ahead of Sweden.

So what exactly did Halfvarsson do to get him so riled? A year ago, he said he would beat Northug in a finishing sprint on home soil in Sweden. Unfortunately for Halfvarsson, in front of more than 41,000 spectators in Sweden on Friday, it didn’t happen.

The Swede led much of the last lap, countering Northug’s attack on the second-to-last major climb on the 2.5 k freestyle course while France’s Adrien Backscheider clung to the duo as well.

The three had skied on their own, a healthy distance away from Russia in fourth, since the end of the second classic leg. Sweden’s Johan Olsson had brought the team from seventh and 20 seconds out to first, ahead of France’s Maurice Manificat and Norway’s Didrik Tønseth, by the halfway point amid heavily falling snow — which lightened up considerably for the first skate leg.

“It was really nice to be able to exchange first,” Olsson said in a press conference, after tagging Swedish teammate Marcus Hellner with a 6.7-second lead on France’s third skier, Robin Duvillard. “I was a little bit worried before the race. Yesterday I didn’t recover so much after the 15 k race. Of course I’m really satisfied with my race and the other guys as well.”

After catching the leaders, Johan Olsson of Sweden (1) skied through to the lead on the second leg of the men’s 4 x 10 k relay in Falun, Sweden. Here he’s shown leading the third of four laps with Norway’s Didrik Tønseth (left) and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh (2), and Maurice Manificat of France (3).

A two-time world champion, Olsson won Wednesday’s 15 k freestyle individual start by 17.8 seconds over Manificat in second, and Norway’s Anders Gløerssen took bronze, 19.2 seconds behind.

On Friday, Gløerssen skied the third leg for Norway, heading out 14.1 seconds after Hellner, and over the course of his four 2.5 k laps, he lifted Norway to first.

“I tried to set my own pace in the start and when I went out on the second lap, I was closing a little bit so I tried to speed up and close the gap,” Gløerssen said in the conference. “When I joined with the teams in front, I was a little bit tired so I tried to calm down. In the end i made a little attack just to see what happened.”

The result was Norway leading France by 3.8 seconds to start the last leg. Hellner tagged Halfvarsson in third, 6.4 seconds out of first.

“I think [Olsson] did a fantastic job and I was really satisfied with that gap, but I tried really hard but I wasn’t so strong today,” Hellner said. “The other guys were stronger and I lost some seconds to them.”

With one last skate leg to go, Northug led Halfvarsson and Backscheider out of the stadium. The Frenchman put himself in first for the first of two steeper climbs, both of which were used on the championships sprint courses, while Halfvarsson and Northug followed closely in second and third.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Evgeniy Belov pushed to catch the leaders, after his teammate Alexander Bessmertnykh brought his team from sixth to fourth on the second classic leg. Bessmertnykh finished his leg 32.4 seconds out of first and 18.3 seconds behind third. Alexander Legkov kept the Russians in fourth, tagging Belov about 40 seconds out of the mix.

From there, Belov — who ended up skiing the fastest anchor leg — cut the deficit in half early. Behind him, Italy’s Federico Pellegrino, Switzerland’s Toni Livers and the Czech Republic’s Petr Knop contended within a chase group. Germany’s Tim Tscharnke and Finland’s Ville Nousiainen skied together in eighth and ninth, and Simi Hamilton of the U.S. initially led Canada’s Lenny Valjas on the first of their fourth laps together in 10th and 11th.

Adrien Backscheider attacks around 3 1/2 k into his 10 k skate leg as the anchor for France in the men’s 4 x 10 k relay at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. He went on to place third behind Norway’s Petter Northug and Sweden’s Marcus Hellner, respectively.

About 3 1/2 k into the final 10 k leg, Backscheider decided to push the pace to ensure a medal. Russia was closing, or so he thought, and he didn’t want Belov to get anywhere near the top three.

“I started in second position and I just skied to make the gap with the Russian guy,” Backscheider told FasterSkier.

A 22-year-old bronze medalist from this year’s U23 World Championships, Backscheider’s timing wasn’t exactly spot on. While he slightly increased the distance to Belov to 26.7 seconds at 5 k and was seven seconds ahead of Halfvarsson and Northug at the halfway point, the Swede and Norwegian pulled him back in by the third lap.

On that same lap, Livers and Pellegrino two minutes behind the leaders dropped Knop, while Tscharnke and Nousiainen, Valjas and Hamilton, continued to ski in their own mini groups within the top 11.

With just over a kilometer to go, Northug upped the ante and tried to pass Halfvarsson on the first, longer climb. Halfvarsson stayed in front of him, while Backscheider matched them stride for stride in third over the top.

Not long after on the next steep uphill, Halfvarsson took his turn — looking at Northug and attacking at the base. Northug stuck on him, tucking behind him in second, while Backscheider hung on at the back.

“I didn’t want to be in front in the sprint hill; I wanted to stay in second, conserve power and I also didn’t want to [ski into] the wind,” Northug said in the press conference. “The last 150 meters was not that good, but I think it was pretty difficult today because it was really icy [in the finishing stretch].”

Racers had a mix of conditions, from light to heavy snow to in the classic portion, to hardly any precipitation for the skate legs. Organizers salted both courses beforehand to cope with the above-freezing temperatures and near-100-percent humidity, which has made the track increasingly soft throughout the week.

While most of the skate course was breaking down, the finishing straight was fast and hard-packed. There, Northug and Halfvarsson focused on skiing fast while staying on their feet.

“The most important thing is to cross the finish in first,” Northug said after racking up his fifth World Championships relay gold.

“You never know what’s going to happen in a relay, but we had a better chance this year on the last leg than in Sochi,” he added, referring to last year’s Sochi Olympics, in which the Norwegian men placed fourth behind Sweden, Russia and France, respectively. “It feels good to be back on top again. … It’s a lot of pressure on the Norwegian team before a relay. We knew before the championships that only gold makes the Norwegians satisfied.”

The defending Olympic relay champions, which came 0.6 seconds short of gold on Friday, Sweden took silver with essentially the same four-man lineup (except Halfvarsson in place of Lars Nelson, who scrambled for the team in Sochi).

Daniel Richardsson of Sweden and Niklas Dyrhaug of Norway leading the men’s 4 x 10 k relay in Falun, Sweden.

This time around, Richardsson led Swedes out instead, finishing his first leg in seventh behind Canada’s Alex Harvey in first, Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi in second and Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin in third. Norway’s Niklas Dyrhaug tagged in fourth, followed by Germany’s Johas Dobler and Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin, respectively.

While the top six were within 5 seconds of one another at the first exchange, Richardsson was 20.5 seconds back in seventh. (France’s Jean-Marc Gaillard was another 0.7 seconds back in ninth, behind Italy’s Francesco de Fabiani in eighth.)

“Yesterday I was a little bit worried that we wouldn’t take a medal at all,” Olsson said. “We know that Norway is the team to beat, and with Petter as the last leg, he’s almost Mr. One-Hundred Percent at the finish. … We’re satisfied with the medal, but of course we would be more satisfied with the gold.”

For Halfvarsson, it was personally his first medal of his home championships. Two years ago at World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, the Swedish men’s relay — with the same team and order — placed second to Norway by 1.2 seconds.

After Friday’s race, Halfvarsson realized his mistake.

“[Northug] came into my draft behind and got better speed and knew exactly how he’d run into the [downhill corner before the finish],” Halfvarsson told HD.se, according to a translation.

“I had trouble keeping track of where he was, then suddenly he just takes off. It might have been better to get in back of him before the stadium.”

He acknowledged that Northug was stronger, as did Backscheider, who finished 8.9 seconds back in third for bronze for France.

“The finish was hard — I need more experience to have a better finish,” Backscheider said at the press conference.

Regardless, France was pleased to repeat its bronze medal following the 2014 Olympics.

“We believed that it is possible,” Manificat said in the conference. “Championships is always a surprise, but we fight for this and … it’s really perfect.”

Russia’s Evgeniy Belov in fourth tries to close the gap to the top three, on his first of four laps in the men’s 4 x 10 k relay at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

Belov finished fourth for Russia, 31 seconds after Norway, and Livers skied away from Pellegrino to finish fifth for Switzerland, 2:03 behind Norway and 24.2 seconds ahead of Italy in sixth.

Tscharnke and Nousiainen raced to a photo finish for seventh, in which Germany had the edge, while the Czech Republic placed ninth 5.6 seconds later.

Canada’s Valjas held off Hamilton by 1.4 seconds for 10th (+3:03.5).

Norway’s prime minister, Erna Solberg, attended the race and personally congratulated her nation’s four-man team after the finish.

“I enjoyed it very much,” she told FasterSkier. “But it became a bit too exciting. I always want them to have a bigger lead in the last part, but of course Petter Northug is like this. He keeps it until the last 200 meters. … He always makes me nervous.”

Results

February 27, 2015
From the Land of Alpine Stars, French Win a Relay Medal with No Asterisk

The French men’s relay team (right) skied the entire World Championships 4 x 10 k with the Norwegians (center) and Swedes, proving something to themselves and the ski world: they belong as championships medalists. They might have been the happiest team in the race by the time 40 kilometers of racing were complete. (Photo: Falun2015.com/Flickr)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden– When the French men’s ski team won bronze in the relay at the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, last year, they made history. Never before had the French made the relay podium in a championship event, and team members Jean-Marc Gaillard and Maurice Manificat said they were crying from joy.

But that medal came with a caveat: Norway, despite being heavy favorites, famously missed the wax for large portion of the Sochi Games. And so, once the event was over, the French cross-country skiers vowed to do it again, and this time with no asterisk.

“We were thinking about it since last spring,” Gaillard told FasterSkier at the finish of today’s World Championships 4 x 10 k relay in Falun, Sweden. “We knew that the Norwegians had not so good skis in Sochi and we were a little bit lucky. So we were just thinking about how to have a medal in Falun, but in a regular race.”

French dreams came true today when the team of Gaillard, Manificat, Robin Duvillard, and Adrien Backcheider repeated in bronze – with Norway at the top of the podium and Sweden second.

The French were closer to first place (just 8.9 seconds) than they were to fourth. It was a clear, decisive accomplishment for a team with just a fraction of the resources of the Swedes, Norwegians, or fourth-place Russians, and from a country where cross-country skiing is hardly a popular pastime.

“In the finish we had a medal, and that was a very great thing for the French ski team,” said 22-year-old anchor Backscheider. “It’s a dream.”

Jean-Marc Gaillard of France (left) following Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin in the opening leg of the 4 x 10 k relay in Falun, Sweden.

It was a true team effort, with all four skiers contributing to the overall result. Gaillard had the weakest leg – “not the best race in my career” – and tagged off in ninth, 21.2 seconds behind Alex Harvey of Canada.

But after that, Manificat, the silver medalist from the 15 k skate earlier in the Championships, set to work.

Following along with Johan Olsson of Sweden, Manificat first caught the lead pack. Then, as Olsson put in an incredible push and fractured the group, Manificat tried to go behind him. He wasn’t able to hold onto the Swede, but entered the exchange zone more than seven seconds clear of third-place Norway. Next to Olsson, Manificat had the second-fastest split time for his leg.

By that time, Robin Duvillard was thinking that the podium was definitely attainable. Rather than focus on Norway or Sweden, he tried to extend the gap to the Russians, who were skiing in fourth place. By putting in his time pulling the lead trio (Duvillard caught Marcus Hellner of Sweden, and then the pair was caught by Norway’s Anders Glöersen), he was able to put another eight seconds into the Russian team and come one step closer to securing a podium spot.

“Maurice did a great job in the second lap, and for me it was – it was not to think, I had to just follow Marcus and it was just amazing,” Duvillard said. “Then I tried to push and make the gap bigger to the Russians. We were just here to take medals, we didn’t care if it’s gold, silver, or bronze. And the last one [Backscheider] is young. I took responsibility, and it was good because the Russians pushed really hard on the first two loops.”

Robin Duvillard of France pushing the pace on the third leg of the relay.

Backscheider took the tag in second place, just ahead of Norway. He had recently returned from Kazakhstan, where he placed third in the 15 k skate at Under-23 World Championships, and had also turned in an admirable 19^th-place finish in the World Championships 30 k skiathlon.

But skiing with the Norwegian and Swedish anchors, Petter Northug and Calle Halfvarsson, was another story. Nobody was quite sure what he could do.

Backscheider skied like a pro, however, and stuck with the superstars until the very finish. In fact, at times he pushed the pace and even began to drop them.

“I couldn’t stop because the Russian guy would come,” he said. “I tested the other guys, Northug and Halfvarsson. But they were very strong. I have to have more experience at the final sprint to compete there.”

In the end it was bronze for France, 8.9 seconds behind Norway. They were far from disappointed not to win gold. Their goal was a medal, no matter what color.

“Today it happened, and it’s just unbelievable,” said Gaillard, still ebullient from the team’s success.

“We knew that we were in good shape,” Duvillard said. “But in the relay, many things can happen. You can break a pole, fall, or have not good skis, or just find some team better than us.”

Despite wearing bib three as the Olympic bronze medalists, Duvillard asserted that there was no external pressure for the team to medal.

“We only took one medal in our history,” he said. “For us we are not here to defend something.”

22-year-old Adrien Backscheider of France leads Norway’s Petter Northug and Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson in the final kilometers of the World Championships 4 x 10 k relay in Falun, Sweden.

That might be because, despite the recent success of the French team and the earlier success of stars such as Vincent Vittoz, cross-country skiing doesn’t get much press in France.

“Don’t worry, it changes nothing,” Gaillard laughed about the result. “That’s not the biggest sport for sure in France. It’s maybe the 25^th sport. Maybe we have some place in the newspaper tomorrow. But a little one.”

The oldest member of the team at 34 years of age, Gaillard has put in his time on the World Cup circuit since 2002. And he has found success – individual podiums in Canada, Russia, Italy, and the Czech Republic, as well as relay podiums starting in Davos, Switzerland, in 2007.

But doing it at a championships event, with a team, is something special.

“It’s not that I deserve it, but I can feel that I know what is a medal and what is a good result,” he said. “If you are 20 years old when you get some medal, you think it’s easy and everything is possible. But when you don’t get a medal until you’re 44 years old, you can appreciate it. Really, it was a good idea to continue my career after the age of 30!

“With the team it’s more fun,” he continued. “When you have a medal individually, you can’t share with everybody because for sure you have some guy on the team who is disappointed about the race. When it’s a relay, it’s crazy because everybody is happy. You can really share it with the team.”

The men might get a few accolades back in France, but that’s not why he races, Gaillard said.

“The most important is to have fun with the team, and get the best results we can have,” he explained. “We can move mountains, sometimes even when you don’t have much support of your country. I think we have a good spirit in the team and I’m sure we train as much as the other ones. We have good conditions for training in France, nice mountains, everything. We just don’t have the money that the other teams have. So it really shows that everything can happen, even if you are not in the really strong country.”

Stay tuned for a complete international report and detailed reports on North American results.

Results

— Lander Karath contributed reporting.

Adrien Backscheider of France leading Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson and Norway’s Petter Northug in the final leg of the World Championships relay.

February 27, 2015
U.S. Women Tie Best-Ever Championships Relay Despite Early Mishap

American anchor skier Jessie Diggins leading Poland’s Sylwia Jaskowiec and Germany’s Nicole Fessel with 2.5 kilometers left to go in the women’s World Championship relay in Falun, Sweden.

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden– With two medals in the 10-kilometer freestyle race two days ago here at World Championships, both internal and external pressure was high on the women of the U.S. Ski Team to climb the podium in Thursday’s 4 x 5 kilometer relay.

They had been there before, at least in World Cup racing, when the Americans placed third in the same event in Gällivare, Sweden, in December 2012. But since then, they had won World Championships gold in the team sprint in 2013 and had best-ever individual performances by almost every member of the team.

And so the Americans went into the relay raring to go.

“You can say that you believe in yourself, but to actually believe in yourself is an entirely different thing,” U.S. Ski Team women’s coach Matt Whitcomb said. “I think some of these results earlier in the week, our top 10’s, our top 15’s, our podiums, have really allowed not just those who acquired the results, but those who are connected to them on the team, close to them, to feel that confidence. This is a team that really believes in themselves.”

Things didn’t go smoothly straight out of the gate, with leadoff skier Sadie Bjornsen crashing on an uphill and losing contact with the leaders. But despite that, the team fought their way back to fourth place, 1:49.9 behind the winning Norwegian team and just ahead of Poland and Germany, who had been in contact on the final loop.

“It can be hard, especially last night when you know that there’s a huge opportunity ahead of you, it can really shut you down, the pressure,” said Jessie Diggins, who anchored the relay. “I think we rose up and met it, and I think we can be really proud of that… To be fourth in the world on a day when not everything went perfectly, is something I think we can be really proud of.”

A Rough Start

Bjornsen was embedded in a tight lead pack for the first loop of the tough 2.5 k classic course. Skiing in fourth, she was aggressive and also handling skis which she described as the fastest in the field. Halfway through her 5 k assignment Bjornsen was sitting in fourth place when Anastasia Dotsenko of Russia skied over the tips of her skis on the short, steep uphill in the stadium.

Sadie Bjornsen (far right) at the start of the women’s 4 x 5 k relay.

“Russia just kind of went over the top of my front ski, and spun me around,” she said. “It was in a spot where it was high speed, so it was not ideal. I was feeling great. I was ready to chase with them.”

It was a fateful moment not only for Bjornsen, but for the rest of the field as well. The women had been tightly packed, but because Bjornsen’s fall created chaos in the middle of the group, a gap suddenly opened to the leading two teams, Russia and Finland. While Heidi Weng of Norway and Sofia Bleckur of Sweden were eventually able to recover and bridge that gap, the field had fractured sooner than it otherwise might have.

For Bjornsen, it was tough to fully recover. She initially made up some of the ground she had lost, but by the time she tagged off she was 50 seconds behind Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland.

“Initially I went really hard, and then flooded pretty badly,” Bjornsen said. “So it was hard to come back on.”

When she made it to the tag zone, she handed off to Alaska Pacific University teammate Rosie Brennan. The SuperTour leader through the first period of racing, Brennan qualified for her first World Championships by dint of her domestic racing so far this season.

“I was really nervous,” she said. “But I was really excited to be part of the relay. It’s just really awesome privilege.”

Rosie Brennan striding it out in the stadium during the 2015 World Championships relay. She passed the Russian team to move the U.S. from sixth up to fifth place at the relay’s halfway mark.

While the gap to the leaders grew by 50 seconds under Brennan’s watch – Therese Johaug of Norway seized the lead from Finland and put on a show, caught only by Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla – Brennan moved the team up from sixth to fifth by passing Alevtina Tanygina of Russia. She had a powerful motivator ahead of her: Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, one of the world’s best classic skiers.

“Kowalczyk was the one who tagged in front of me, so I went out as hard as I could to try to get on the back of her, thinking maybe I could catch a sweet ride,” Brennan explained. “I wasn’t quite that fast, so I just tried to keep her in my eyesight the whole time. Then we caught that Russian girl, so I just tried to put a big enough gap on her so she wouldn’t come back on the downhill.”

When Brennan tagged off, she was 38 seconds behind Poland and in fifth place. Whitcomb was impressed by both Bjornsen’s and Brennan’s performances: one had crashed and the other was in her first senior-level relay ever, and the team was still fifth.

“It’s pretty impressive to see how close she was able to stay,” he said of Bjornsen. “I’m really impressed with her ability to crash, freak out a little bit, and then land right away. She just got up, stayed cool, and it’s a testament to a championship racer.”

And after that, it would have been easier for the gap to the leaders to grow even more. But Brennan kept things under control.

“It’s really cool to see Rosie in her first relay start be part of a fourth-place result,” Whitcomb said. “We’ve had days where we lose contact after one lap and that space that opens up and you’re in no draft. And those skiers ahead of you, if they’re packed up, they are going away from you fast. So that could have opened up to three minutes, but she kept it.”

That left the race up to the Americans’ habitual anchors, Liz Stephen and Diggins.

Skating to Success

Liz Stephen (U.S. Ski Team) working her way through the stadium in Falun.

While the climbs in the classic leg had gone on and on, with Bjornsen and Brennan climbing up “little Mörderbacken,” Stephen and Diggins had less time to work with as they tried to make up time on the leaders. The skate course was 2.4 k compared to 2.8 k on the classic course, and the biggest climb was only half the size.

That corresponded to ski times only 2/3 as long: while the classic legs were 14 or 15 minutes, Stephen and Diggins had only 10 minutes to work with each, as they tried to make up an almost two-minute gap to the leaders. A podium seemed out of the question.

“Short, so short!” Stephen said. “I had two V1 hills to hop the crap out of and I felt great on the ups. It was awesome to have Denise Herrmann [of Germany] lead that first section through the wind. I skied my hardest and my heart out.”

Stephen’s time was only one second off the fastest split for her leg – taken by Herrmann, who had moved up to catch her on the earlier part of the loop. But by the finish, Stephen had put three seconds into the German and made up time on the fourth-place team from Poland. The U.S. was now only six seconds out of fourth place.

“Every relay, no matter where we are, I’m fighting to get the next person,” Stephen said. “When I get that person I fight to get the next person. I think I say it everytime, but the game of tag is my favorite game of all time. I love just going to play tag out there. So I was just focusing on going past Germany and going past Poland and just getting there as fast as possible.”

Jessie Diggins heading out on the final leg of the women’s 4 x 5 k relay.

While the gradual profile didn’t fit Stephen’s traditional strengths – climbing on her skate skis – in a way, it was perfect.

“It’s a very low-profile and fast course, but that’s not to say that it’s easy,” Whitcomb said. “Liz is so fit right now. People will go out and try to jam on this course, and as soon as they start getting tired Liz will find that chink in the armor and destroy them. She came back from 40 seconds to within six of Poland, and as soon as she saw them, that’s like a magnet at work.”

With Poland ahead of her and Germany behind, Diggins set off as she usually does: pedal to the metal, trying to drop the competition. But after a lap, when she had caught but not dropped Sylwia Jaskowiec of Poland, and Nicole Fessel of Germany had also caught up, Diggins had to change her strategy.

Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) skiing the first classic leg for the U.S. women’s 4 x 5 k relay at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

“I tried to make them lead, and when they wouldn’t lead, I just stood up,” Diggins explained. “I knew I would recover fast on the downhill. I pretended, OK, it’s the last leg of the team sprint. If you can recover coming into that, and then make a move on the second hill and try to drop them, I knew our skis would be fast, I have a shot at this.”

On the last uphill before the stadium she put in a move, dropping both Jaskowiec and Fessel. She kept that lead into the stadium, up over the final hill, and into the finish line, to secure fourth place by 2.4 seconds over Jaskowiec. It tied the Americans’ best ever relay result.

“I love the chase,” Diggins said, echoing Stephen. “So I was just gunning [Jaskowiec] down… It was really cool to have that chase right there because it just gets you really fired up. I was just hoping I don’t blow up. There was a very real chance.”

Diggins credits the tactics she used to a lot of experience gained since she first anchored a U.S. relay in 2011.

“For sure at first the tactic was ‘head down and hammer’ and sometimes I’d blow up and it wouldn’t work,” she admitted. “Now I’ve definitely started gaining experience, so looking over my shoulder, there’s nobody behind us, I can slow down. I don’t need to pull these girls, I can pass them at the end. Whereas before, I would have been just keep trying to drop them, no matter what. Definitely, as I’m ‘getting older’, I’m getting it.”

U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover agreed that he was thrilled to see the added maturity in Diggins’ racing, so that she could make the most of her fitness and skate power.

“I think everyone was excited to see Jessie to ski so tactically well at the end,” Grover said. “She went out with Germany and Poland and both of those women are great sprinters. You knew it could be a really big fight at the line if it came to that. Jessie was incredibly smart to try to pull over and let [Jaskowiec] take the lead. She wouldn’t, so Jessie slowed down the pace and regrouped a little bit so she could make some moves at the end. Incredibly tactically smart race.”

Team Takeaways

The four-woman combination was completely new for the Americans, but Grover felt it was the right one.

The U.S. women (l-r Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Jessie Diggins, and Liz Stephen) after their first ever World Cup relay podium in November 2012 – the team is confident they can get back. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

“I’m really excited about how all four of those ladies skied,” he said. “They skied their hearts out and I’m really confident that we put together the strongest team, in the right legs, that we could have.”

While Stephen and Diggins were set in their team positions, the squad had done some serious thinking before placing Bjornsen in the first leg and Brennan in the second. It had worked out perfectly, though, Whitcomb thought.

“We were wondering if we should have Rosie scramble and Sadie go second,” Whitcomb explained. “Usually we put our strongest classic skier second because they can cover the most distance. But Rosie has shown that she’s really great at chasing people down. She crashed out of the mass start in the 15 k and was able to catch back up to Sadie and Liz. So that coupled with the fact that she doesn’t really love skiing with people on the descents, she could just be out there putting the hammer down, throwing the eyes into the back of the head, and going.”

Bjornsen was disappointed that her crash had created the initial gap to the leaders, but happy with what her teammates were able to accomplish.

“I am so incredibly impressed with my team,” she wrote in an e-mail later in the evening. “They fought really hard, and did incredible. I was so happy to see Rosie come into her first relay and do incredible too! Super cool. I am bummed that I had that little catch up that maybe lost an opportunity to chase with that first pack of three for longer… but it never works out just perfect on relay days… so that is life! We are happy to have finished so close to that podium, and we will be there again soon!”

Another takeaway from Grover is that while the team knew that a medal was possible, they also knew that things weren’t set up perfectly for them. Norway and Sweden would be tough to beat, and the race itself didn’t favor the Americans’ strengths. For instance, Stephen’s uphill specialization went unused on the relatively mild skate course.

“It was a little bit of a challenging day, and we knew it would be, in that the classic course is so much harder than the skate course,” he said. “So it really stacked it in favor of the classic skiers. Which is why you saw Kalla take the second leg for Sweden. For us in the U.S.A., we’re a little bit of a stronger skate nation, so to have a course that’s a little bit stacked in favor of classic, I think really favored the Scandinavians.”

In some ways fourth place is the toughest result to have – a “wooden medal” – but Grover pointed out that the team had been there before, notably at the 2013 World Championships relay in Val di Fiemme, Italy. He hoped the result could be motivating and not just disappointing.

So did Whitcomb.

“We know that if we can be within 20 seconds of third place tagging off onto our third leg, we can be in it,” he said. “Today was a little bit too much but I’m really excited that we didn’t end up sixth. Or ninth, like [the 2014 Olympics in] Sochi. Fourth place is such a success, and I’m absolutely thrilled.”

According to the women on the team, the motivation is still there, stronger than ever.

“I think all of us keep dreaming for that podium,” Stephen said. “And the fact that we’re not on it today makes us able to dream again for the next time. I’m really proud of all the girls on this relay team and the team as a bigger team. To have two girls on the podium the other day, I think we’re trying to ride the high. We all skied the best we possibly could today. I’m already dreaming for the next chance at a podium.”

Results

February 26, 2015
Bryan Fletcher Puts Himself in Medal Hunt, Finishes Career-Best Fifth at World Champs

Bryan Fletcher (U.S. Nordic Combined) racing to fifth in while skiing with a chase pack during Thursday’s 10 k at 2015 World Championships.

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — Bryan Fletcher knew there was one thing that could elevate him to the podium on Thursday at FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, and it wasn’t going to be playing it safe.

The 28-year-old U.S. Nordic Combined skier decided to go with the “go-big” mindset on the 134-meter large hill, and in doing so, he jumped to 13th on Thursday morning — a huge improvement from his 20th-ranked jump in the normal-hill individual competition at Falun World Championships, where he ended up 21st last Friday.

Bryan Fletcher (U.S. Nordic Combined) jumping in Sunday’s four-man team event at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)

“Today, I came into jumping in attack mode,” Fletcher recalled after Thursday’s 10-kilometer Gundersen start. “It was like, ‘Well since these are the Championships, and it’s not really worth being anything but on the podium, I’m just going to go for it as hard as possible and lay it all out there.’ ”

Starting the race 13th and 44 seconds behind the jump leader, Austria’s Bernhard Gruber, meant Fletcher could actually move up enough to matter.

“I jumped pretty well, put myself in contention, and then going into the race I was pretty nervous because being in contention is exciting but it’s also like, ‘Uh oh, now what do I do?’ ” Fletcher said.

Before Thursday, his previous individual best in four World Championships was 14th. He won a World Cup two years ago, but had not placed better than fifth in an individual competition since. He called upon his experience from a month ago in Sapporo, Japan, where he placed eighth and ninth in back-to-back World Cup competitions.

On a dark-and-damp Thursday afternoon, Gruber took off 5 seconds ahead of France’s Jason Lamy Chappuis in second and another Frenchman, Francois Braud, who started 7 seconds back in third. After that, the fifth- through eighth-best jumpers started within six seconds of one another, 23 to 29 seconds after Gruber, and Fletcher headed out six seconds after 11th and one second out of 12th.

“My goal was to ski a tactically smart race and not be in the front too much, but do enough work to put myself in contention,” Fletcher explained.

He ended up completing the first of four 2.5 k laps in 10th, toward the front of a 14-man pack. The group trailed the three frontrunners: Lamy Chappuis, Gruber and Braud, respectively. Japan’s Yoshito Watabe skied alone in fourth, 15 seconds behind them, while the chase pack reined him in from another 15 seconds back.

By 3.8 k, Norway’s Magnus Moan continued to lead the chase in fourth, with Fletcher in eighth and Watabe back in 11th. By the halfway point, the group was 30 seconds behind the three leaders, with Moan still in fourth, Germany’s Johannes Rydzek and Tino Edelman in fifth and sixth, and Fletcher up to seventh. Less than a kilometer and a half later, Fletcher was at the front of the pack in fourth, just 19.3 seconds behind the top three.

There, the American pushed to bridge the gap to the podium. Mostly focused on a medal, he gave his all while leading at least 11 others directly behind him.

“There were a lot of guys in our pack,” he said. “I think at one point it was all the way from third to 20th, and if you glance over your shoulder, you’re like, ‘Oh man, what am I doing at the front of this thing? I’m wasting so much energy.’ But at the same time, the guys that were at the front, myself included, were kind of really trying to get more people to share in the workload because we wanted to ultimately catch the front of the race and then be able to work past that.

“I think we were caught in a zone where we were working, and then also trying to rest at the same time,” he added. “It was tough to organize, but I feel like Magnus and I did a good job of sharing the workload as much as possible, and then also breaking away from the rest of the guys in that train to give ourselves a shot.”

With one lap to go, Fletcher was still in fourth, 20 seconds out of third. Moan clung to him in fifth, and Rydzek skied in sixth, followed by 10 others. Over the next 2.5 k, Moan attacked, Rydzek went with him and Fletcher worked to stay in the fight for fourth, while the rest of the pack dropped off the pace.

“I jumped on them and was actually really surprised when I looked back and we were clear of the group,” Fletcher said. “I was kind of relieved because I knew it was just us, and we were catching up to third place really fast so I was going all out trying to get there.”

American Bryan Fletcher (l) after finishing fifth to Austria’s Bernhard Gruber (1) in the individual large hill/10 k at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. It was Fletcher’s World Championships career best and a season best as well.

While Moan and Rydzek charged to the finish, Fletcher lost contact on the last two uphills. Gruber cruised into the stadium and finish uncontested to win in 22:45.8, 11.9 seconds ahead of Braud in second. Rydzek and Moan overtook Lamy Chappuis in the last kilometer and sprinted to the line for third. Rydzek took it by 0.2 seconds, 14.9 seconds after Gruber, Moan settled for fourth, and 8.3 seconds later, Fletcher finished fifth (+23.4).

“I was hoping I could beat those guys on the hill, but they were strong, they skied a great race, and obviously I [felt] the legs at the end,” Fletcher said. “This is a personal-best result this season for me and in a World Championship event. To be on the podium would have been a dream come true, but to be in the fight was more what I was really looking for.

For me, I really just want to ski a good race, a good race to the best of my ability and the best of my performance,” he added. “I was happy that I was able to do that today and I was in the fight.”

“To be on the podium would have been a dream come true, but to be in the fight was more what I was really looking for.” — Bryan Fletcher, fifth for a career-best individual result at World Championships

His younger brother Taylor, who jumped to 34th and raced up to 29th, 1:51.7 after Gruber, patted him on the shoulder afterward.

“I think that’s the best [U.S. Nordic Combined has] done since 2009 for an individual result so hats off to him,” Taylor said of Bryan’s new World Championships marker. Teammate Billy Demong won the large hill/10 k at 2009 worlds in Liberec, Czech Republic, and in 2011, he placed sixth in the same event.

“[Bryan] really pulled it together today and skied a smart race by the looks of it, and was able to finish hard, which is the most important thing here,” Taylor said.

The second American on Thursday, Taylor wasn’t pleased with his performance after putting himself 2:01 back after the jump.

“It’s hard to say what could’ve been,” he said. “But knowing how I’ve been skiing, I could’ve been up there for that medal. I’ve had a lot of really good jumps and I’ve had huge improvements in my last competitions, and I gotta be satisfied with that but at the same time I’m really disappointed … when it came time to show that work and that effort, I fell short a little bit.”

While Bryan posted the eighth-fastest course time, Taylor, 24, ranked 10th fastest of 47 men in the 10 k.

“I’m probably the most competitive guy out here,” Taylor said. “I yelled at guys in the track earlier because I just wanted to go. I can’t settle for something. I want it more and more and I’m going to work my ass off to get it.”

Bryan Fletcher (U.S. Nordic Combined) after finishing fifth in the large hill/10 k at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden, for an individual season best and career best at World Championships.

Also for the U.S., Demong went from 30th in the jump to 33rd overall (+2:27.3), and Adam Loomis improved from 44th to 41st (+3:46.5) at the end of the day.

With one competition left at World Championships — the 2 x 7.5 k team sprint — Taylor, for one, was looking for redemption.

“I know what I did on the hill and what happened and I’ve got one more event [the two-man team sprint] on Saturday, where it’s probably going to be Bryan and I and that’s gonna be special,” he said. “Hell, if he’s skis like he did today, and I jump better on the hill like I know I can, there’s no reason in hell why we shouldn’t be first, second or third.”

Results

February 26, 2015
Babikov Kicks Late for 20th in World Champs 15 k Skate, Killick Just Outside Top 30 for Canada

Canada’s Ivan Babikov (29) leads a train of skiers on the second lap of Wednesday’s 15 k freestyle up Mördarbacken: the longest, steepest hill of the 2015 World Championships course. Babikov placed 20th after a considerably faster second lap.

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — It only took a kilometer or so for Ivan Babikov to realize that he needed to go much, much faster. Two years ago at World Championships, the Canadian World Cup Team member placed fourth in the 15-kilometer freestyle individual start. In Falun on Wednesday, he was practically in last place for the first few thousand meters of the same race.

“The gaps right away were shocking,” Babikov recalled after the 15 k freestyle at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. “I couldn’t believe it, like, ‘What the hell? I’m not skiing that slow. What’s going on?’ ”

That moment gave him the kick he needed to get going, but yet throughout the first of two 7.5 k laps, he struggled to find a consistent pace.

Fortunately for him, that was the worst of it.

Ivan Babikov (Canadian World Cup Team) on his first of two laps in the men’s 15 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. He went on to place 20th. Two years ago, Babikov was fourth in the 15 k freestyle at 2013 World Championships.

“The worst was the first two splits, after that I couldn’t hear too much at the end of the course [in the stadium],” he said. “Then, second lap, I felt like i was picking it up.”

Babikov, 34, went from ranking 70th of 86 men at 1.5 k to 45th at the halfway point. After starting 29th, he sped up considerably on his second lap, clocking the eventual 23rd- and 21st-fastest times at 11.4 k and 12.8 k, respectively.

He finished 20th, 1:45.4 minutes behind Sweden’s Johan Olsson, who won the race by 17.8 seconds on home soil in 35:01.6. Considering it was a ways off from his fourth place at the last World Championships, Babikov had mixed feelings about his result.

“My pacing was really weird — I don’t know how to feel about it,” Babikov said, noting that his second lap ended up being 24 seconds faster than his first.

“I don’t know how that’s possible,” he added. “I kind of had in my head that the second lap will be really important so maybe that made me go too slow in the first lap, but it didn’t feel like it. … I kind of turned it around and had an amazing second lap. It’s hard to wrap my head around what happened, today was so weird.”

While he explained that skis made a “huge difference” in the slushy snow on the 5-degree Celsius overcast afternoon, with sprinkles of rain toward the end of the race, he added that his team’s skis were on par with most other nations’. At the same time, a few teams had “rockets” despite the variable conditions, he observed.

Graeme Killick (AWCA/Canadian National Development B-team) racing to 32nd in the men’s 15 k freestyle individual start, his first race of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

“I would say 70 percent of the course was just mush,” Babikov said. “Some of the steep uphills were ankle-deep slush.”

Throughout the race, he was unable to take full advantage of his strength in climbing. Most of the course was one-skate (V2), with the exception of the long, grinding uphill known as Mördarbacken. Babikov said only a minute or two of the 7.5 k loop, the steepest part of it, required offset (V1).

“I felt good on Mördarbacken, so climbing was not problem,” he said. “When I went to the second lap, I realized I still have a lot of energy so I started pushing all out…

“Top 20 sounds nice, but when you think about my fourth place, which came really surprisingly two years ago, it’s not even close,” he added. “Considering everything, I would probably be OK [with today’s result].”

By everything, Babikov meant the nasty cold, “some kind of viral thing,” he came down with a month ago in Rybinsk, Russia. After that World Cup, he flew home to Canada and spent the better part of the next week there down and out. When he returned to Östersund, Sweden, for the last World Cup before World Championships, Babikov placed 49th in the 15 k freestyle.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said of Wednesday’s race, his season-long focus. “I had some good skating in the skiathlon a few days ago and that kind of gave me a piece of my mind. Every day is different so I tried to give 100 percent.

Jess Cockney (AWCA/Canadian National Development B-team) racing to 57th in the 15 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. It was his first distance race in nearly three months. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

“Going into the relay, I think it’s a good sign,” he added of Friday’s 4 x 10 k team event. “I’m more positive about [today’s] race than bummed out.”

The second-fastest Canadian on Wednesday, Graeme Killick placed 32nd in his World Championships debut, 2:26.7 back from Olsson. The result stood as a career best at the World Cup level (excluding Olympics) after placing 39th in a World Cup 15 k classic last season in Toblach, Italy.

At the 2014 Olympics, Killick went on to place 28th in the 50 k freestyle mass start. Also in Sochi, Russia, he finished 44th in the 30 k skiathlon and 65th in the 15 k classic.

Recently, the 25-year-old Canadian National Development B-Team skier hadn’t raced since Rybinsk on Jan. 23 and 25, where he was 43rd in the 15 k freestyle and 40th in the skiathlon. Sick for the beginning of World Championships, he didn’t arrive in Falun until Sunday (Killick, Devon Kershaw, Emily Nishikawa, and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt stayed back in Östersund to recover from their illnesses for the first few days of worlds).

On Wednesday, Killick said he had been feeling well for the last three days.

“Skate really isn’t my strength so I think I didn’t quite blow up like I normally would on a course like this, so I think it was OK,” he said of his 15 k. “Good lead-up into the 50 [k classic mass start on Sunday] and just good to get a hard effort in after missing the [skiathlon].”

Jess Cockney after his final race of 2015 World Championships, the 15 k freestyle, in which he placed 57th in Falun, Sweden.

His teammate on the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) and national-development team, Jess Cockney raced his first distance event since Dec. 7, when he was 67th in the World Cup 15 k classic pursuit in Lillehammer, Norway.

With fellow Canadians Alex Harvey preparing for other races (the relay and 50 k) and Kershaw also saving his energy for the final races of World Championships, Cockney asked his coaches if he could enter the 15 k skate and considered it a bonus.

“I just wanted to see if I could be consistent and have some of the hard training show itself in a result today,” Cockney said after placing 57th (+4:14.5). “I don’t think it really did, but it’s still good to be skiing distance races again. … I’ve just gotta work on fitness.”

Reflecting on his first World Championships, where he raced the classic sprint (49th), team sprint (13th) and 15 k skate, the 25-year-old Cockney said he’s learned a lot.

“I think I’m still not totally there mentally for the big races,” he said. “I kind of psyche myself out still a bit. I did at the Olympics last year and I did last week for the sprints so [I need to] just work on a little bit of mental training because we do enough stuff physically that my brain’s gotta be there, too.”

Results

February 25, 2015
Hoffman Top U.S. Man in 34th in Falun 15 k Freestyle

Noah Hoffman (U.S. Ski Team) racing to 34th in the men’s 15 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — It’s not easy following a double-medal act. A day after two U.S. women, Jessie Diggins and Caitlin Gregg, racked up silver and bronze in the 10-kilometer freestyle at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, their male teammates finished outside the top 30 in the men’s 15 k individual start.

Not that they were trying to compete with Diggins and Gregg, but after all the hype surrounding the U.S. women’s achievements, it was difficult for some of the American men to get excited about their results on Wednesday.

“I had trouble getting going a little bit,” U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Noah Hoffman, who led the U.S. men in the 15 k in 34th, said after his race. He finished 2:35.6 behind Sweden’s Johan Olsson, who won by 17.8 seconds in 35:01.6.

“[I skied] kind of just very even-keeled and neutral, but certainly nothing special, so not quite what I was looking for,” Hoffman added.

The seventh starter out of 86, he posted split times throughout the two-lap race that ultimately ranked in the top 40. While they indicated consistent skiing, they weren’t as fast as he wanted, and he said he lost time all over the course.

“It’s been a little discouraging,” he said of his World Championships thus far, which included one other race: the 30 k skiathlon, in which he placed 44th last Saturday. This season, he’s only completed three races after a broken leg in the 2014/2015 World Cup opener derailed his World Championships prep.

“It was not the year I planned on and [I’m just trying] to build on every race,” Hoffman said. “The season’s not over and I’ll think about moving on from the end of the season once the season comes to a close.”

In a blog post Wednesday evening, Hoffman reflected more on his race.

“I executed today more or less how I wanted to. I skied relaxed with high energy,” he wrote. “The race was a step in the right direction from Saturday’s skiathlon, and there’s nothing for me to do but keep preparing as well as I can and hope my form comes around.”

Erik Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) at the top of Mördarbacken on his first of two laps, en route to 47th in the 15 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

After Hoffman, Erik Bjornsen placed 47th for the U.S., 3:19.5 after Olsson, Kyle Bratrud was 52nd (+3:58.7), and Kris Freeman finished 59th (+4:25.9).

Bjornsen and Bratrud explained they came into the 15 k generally aiming for a top 40. Bjornsen finished 22.9 seconds back from that goal.

“Some spots were good. It felt like the body was firing. The results weren’t great,” the 23-year-old Bjornsen said.

He started 64th, one minute behind Bratrud in bib 62, and 30 seconds ahead of Norway’s Petter Northug. At one point, Northug nearly caught him, and Bjornsen was prepared to take advantage of a boost by trying to stay with him.

“All of a sudden, I could tell he wasn’t behind me anymore, and I looked back on one downhill and he was way back there,” Bjornsen said. “It would’ve been one thing if it was someone like [Switzerland’s Dario] Cologna, but with Northug, I figured he went for it and then wasn’t feeling it and started walking or something.

“I saw some fast guys behind me. I was hoping to at least ski with somebody out there, but it didn’t happen,” he added. “I felt like I was hammering a few hills and felt all right, but I lost some time somewhere.”

At 1.5 k, Bjornsen heard he was 17 seconds down to the race leader at the time.

“I was like, ‘Woah, that was quick,’ ” he recalled.

Despite pushing harder, he still didn’t feel like he was having a great race.

“There were parts today when I felt really good and obviously I felt great about the pursuit,” Bjornsen said, referring to his 28th-place finish in the World Championships 30 k skiathlon. “I think that I did a good job peaking for this championship. I love head-to-head racing so hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that on the relay [on Friday].”

American Kyle Bratrud (Northern Michigan University) racing to 52nd in the men’s 15 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

A Northern Michigan University senior in his first World Championships, Bratrud was pleased with how he fared in his signature race on Wednesday.

Early last month, Bratrud, 21, punched his ticket to U23 World Championships, and ultimately the Falun World Championships as well, with a 50-second win in the 15 k freestyle at U.S. nationals.

On Wednesday, he was looking to improve on his 84th place from 10 days earlier in the 15 k freestyle at his first-ever World Cup in Östersund, Sweden. He knocked off 32 places and didn’t crash, so he considered it a success.

“It was really soft, but I think that probably benefited me being a small guy,” Bratrud said of the slushy conditions on a 40-degree, damp-and-overcast afternoon. “I felt like I kept my tempo up pretty much the whole race. I died a little bit at the end, but it was a lot better paced than it was in Östersund so that was good. It was a good way for me to end my time in Europe.”

He ended up beating Northug, who placed 62nd.

“He’s been one of my idols since I’ve grown up,” Bratrud said. “I wouldn’t say I’m better than him, but to beat him is pretty cool.”

Now done with his first-and-only race of World Championships, Bratrud planned to head back to Marquette, Mich., to “catch up on the month and a half of homework” before heading to NCAA Skiing Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., in mid-March.

“We have a really strong team so I want to go back and put together a solid effort at NCAAs,” he said.

American Kris Freeman on his way to 59th in the 15 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

After placing 59th, Freeman called his race “horrible.”

He started eighth, right after Hoffman, and his 1.5 k time ended up ranking 33rd. By 7.5 k, he slipped to 42nd and then 55th by the 12.8 k checkpoint.

“I don’t understand — I felt pretty good this morning and I felt good on the first lap, and then it was just lights out and I couldn’t ski anymore,” Freeman said. “In this kind of snow, once you get a little tired you start to sink and if you’re feeling good you stay on top and float, and I was sinking. I’m really confused and disappointed.”

While he wasn’t sure whether he’d race Friday’s 4 x 10 relay, which the U.S. Ski Team won’t divulge until the start list has been posted Thursday evening, Freeman expected to race Sunday’s 50 k.

“Right now I feel like it’s a really long way and I’ve got to figure something out,” Freeman said. “I just want to feel the way I’ve been feeling this year and the first two races [of World Championships] I just haven’t felt like that at all.”

Results

February 25, 2015
Statistics, Start Times, and Snowstorms: The Women’s 10 k in Falun

Note: we owe a thank you to John Estle, who sent us an Excel spreadsheet looking at results from the 10 k freestyle race grouped by starting times, in bins of ten starters. We thought he was on to something, but that FIS points and the structure of the start list might play in as well. Thanks, John, for sending us down this rabbit hole.

The results of Tuesday’s 10 k freestyle race at FIS Cross Country World Championships in Falun, Sweden, were surprising.

It wasn’t strange that Charlotte Kalla won by 41 seconds. A winner the previous weekend in Östersund, the Swede was among the favorites to win, and certainly the favorite among her countrymen watching from the grandstand and lining the trails.

But just who joined her on the podium was surprising. Jessie Diggins and Caitlin Gregg achieved their first World Championships individual podiums in finishing second and third. For Diggins, who has a team sprint gold medal from 2013 World Championships, it was not shocking; for Gregg, who hasn’t scored a World Cup point since finishing 30^th in this event at the 2010 Olympics, it was.

Besides the Americans’ strong showing – every U.S. woman placed in the top 15 – the other surprise was Norway’s weakness. The top Norwegian finisher was Heidi Weng in 22^nd place. It was in sharp contast to World Cup competitions all season, where Norwegians have usually won and not infrequently swept the podium.

A snowstorm which rolled in as the individual-start race continued certainly complicated the results. Late starters were at a disadvantage, so it is easy to say that early starters like Gregg, who wore bib 3, got lucky. But was start time the main explanation for results? We set out to use statistics to answer this question.

First, we asked what provides a better correlation for race time: FIS Distance points, or start time (in minutes after the first starter)? When we do correlation tests, both factors provide significant correlations to race time, but FIS points provide a far better explanation, with 76% of the variance in race time explained as opposed to 41% by the start time.

So, the snowstorm did not disrupt the race so much that the historically “better” skiers could not beat the historically “worse” skiers. At almost every point along the FIS points axis, there were skiers who had a wide variety of race times, but in general, the racers with lower points had better results.

And in fact, the racers with the lowest points had a smaller variance in their finishing times. Therese Johaug and Marit Bjørgen of Norway, with the lowest FIS points (zero!), finished just over two minutes behind Kalla. But racers with 80 to 90 FIS points had range of four or five minutes between their various finishing times, and that’s in relation to each other, not even in relation to Kalla.

So why, if FIS points could predict pretty well where racers would finish, is our first reaction to the results to be so surprised? It’s individual results, like Gregg finishing third or Bjørgen finishing 31^st, that got us. Let’s look a bit more at those results in context, by putting some names onto the points on the graph.

To understand the results better, it’s important to look at the start list. It can be divided into three blocks: an initial unseeded block of five; then, a long block where unseeded skiers alternate with seeded skiers, each of these groups being seeded in reverse order with the highest-ranked skiers wearing the highest bib numbers; and finally, a block of six skiers with very unfavorable FIS points who were selected in a special qualification race on day one of World Championships.

To look at how seeded versus unseeded skiers raced, we split the dataset into two and made simple linear models including both start time and FIS points. We’ll set the model up with an interaction factor: is there some emergent result of combining FIS points and start time? Do skiers with high FIS points struggle more as start time advances, or vice versa? This sort of interaction might explain some of why we find the results so interesting.

(A statistical note: this isn’t actually statistically a good model, because FIS points and start time are highly correlated: the skiers’ start times are seeded according to ranking. However, the variation in the two factors is very different. While start time increases by half a minute with every bib, the distribution of FIS points is much more irregular, with clumps and gaps – thus if it does explain finishing time, it might do so in a different way. This is interesting, so we’ll break a few rules and put both factors in a model together, which will also allow us to see whether they interact.)

For the unseeded skiers, including Gregg, we find that both FIS points and start time are significant factors explaining finishing time.

First, look at the relationship to start time.

It’s pretty good, although there are definitely plenty of skiers with later start times who still had good results: Alena Prochazkova of Slovakia, Jennie Öberg, and Perianne Jones and, in particular, Emily Nishikawa of Canada, pop out.

Then, look at the relationship to FIS points.

The left end of the regression line – the one driven by Caitlin Gregg, Kikkan Randall, Anouk Faivre Picon (who earned a best-ever finish by a French woman at a World Championships) and Yuki Kobayashi (who contributed to an amazing day by Japan with two women in the top 11) – is drawn by the early starters.

And it reveals something important: yes, the first group of five unseeded skiers turned in strong results for being unseeded. However, they also had the lowest FIS points of any of the other unseeded skiers. Among all the unseeded athletes, they would still be expected to do the best on a day where start time didn’t matter, and if anyone were to shock the field by getting on the podium, they would be the best candidates.

There’s no significant interaction in our model between FIS points and start time. So a skier’s points profile predicts their performance in one way, their start time predicts their performance in another way, and there is no effect of one factor on the other.

That’s also true in the seeded group. Interestingly, however, not only is there no interaction, but start time is a much better predictor of a skier’s finish, the opposite of what we found from the unseeded group. The correlation between FIS points and race time is not significant, and its slope is close to zero: basically, a horizontal line through a cloud of data. Start time is not nearly as good a predictor as either factor was for the unseeded skiers, but it does explain something.

The most interesting thing to look at in this graph is how performances fall by teams. If you consider the black regression line to be the mean effect of start time on performance – the amount that the snow slowed skiers down as the race went on – then some teams fall mostly below the line (better than expected race times) and some fall mostly above the line (worse than expected race times).

Sweden and the U.S. have the best, most unexpected outcomes, with Kalla and Rydqvist for Sweden and Diggins and Stephen for the U.S. racing incredibly well regardless of their start times.

And while Norway made much of their waxing disaster, it’s actually Germany who perhaps did the worst: Nystad, Boehler, and Fessel all had very poor results, the slowest times of the entire seeded group.

The Russians must have had about average skis, because Zhukova, Tanygina, and Tchekalova all fall almost exactly on the line where their performance would be predicted based on their start time.

On the contrary, the Finnish women were all over the place: they had similar start times, but Mononen had a poor race while Niskanen excelled, and Parmakoski and Roponen fell somewhere in the middle.

The takeaway? Two big teams missed the wax, but aside from that, skiers did pretty much as would have been expected by their previous results and the deteriorating conditions. While the U.S. is expected to thank luck for putting Gregg and Randall in bibs three and four, they should thank their wax team even more, because American skiers excelled throughout the field and did even better than should have been expected based on their start times.

They can still covet Sweden’s wax truck if they want, though.

February 25, 2015
Diggins, Gregg React to Historic Double Podium in Falun; U.S. Lands Four in Top 15

The U.S. took two out of three spots on the podium in Tuesday’s 10 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships. From left to right at the medals ceremony: silver medalist Jessie Diggins (USA), gold medalist Charlotte Kalla (Sweden) and bronze medalist Caitlin Gregg (USA) at the medals plaza on Tuesday night in Falun, Sweden.

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — When Jessie Diggins crossed the finish line in Falun’s Lugnet Arena she collapsed. Unable to breathe and near tears after completing the 10-kilometer freestyle interval start at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, Diggins could barely move. She felt a hand on her back, but was hardly able to recognize who was comforting her.

The hand belonged to teammate Caitlin Gregg. The 34-year-old Gregg was the third starter and finished long before Diggins. She led the results for much of the day — unsurprising at first as the lower seeded skiers were at the front of Tuesday’s start list. However, she remained in the leader’s chair as skier after skier failed to match her time. It was only until Diggins finished that Gregg lost the lead.

When the whirlwind day — filled with blowing snow, tears and cheers — was complete, Diggins and Gregg placed second and third, respectively, behind home-crowd favorite Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. Kalla’s time of 25:08.8 outpaced Diggins by 41.0 seconds and Gregg by 46.9.

The results were historic. Until Tuesday, no American woman had earned a distance podium at an international-championship event. With the U.S. women’s results in the 2015 World Championships 10 k freestyle, that feat was accomplished twice over.

“I still cannot believe that this is happening, it feels like it is still sinking in.” Diggins said after the flower ceremony.

Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg/Madshus) racing to bronze on Tuesday in the 10 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Gregg finished third behind Swedish winner Charlotte Kalla and fellow American Jessie Diggins, who was second. (Photo: Madshus/NordicFocus)

The night before the 10 k freestyle U.S. Ski Team women’s coach Matt Whitcomb gathered the team for a pep talk. According to Diggins and Gregg, the theme of his speech revolved around the simple question: Why not?

He emphasized that many skiers count themselves out before they’ve even had the chance and that every member of the U.S. team had the opportunity to achieve their best. The two skiers didn’t know it at the time, but Whitcomb’s central message — anything is possible –– would become a reality the next day.

Taking Whitcomb’s advice, both athletes entered the 10 k with high expectations. Diggins, a regular on the World Cup circuit, explained her goal was a top six: “If I was having an amazing day,” she said.

Prior to Tuesday her best result in a World Championships distance race was 23rd, while her best World Cup distance result was fifth. Gregg, on the other hand, skied with the goal of being an early leader. She easily accomplished her objective, but soon realized that her time was much better than she could have expected.

“My goal was to try to come in, be the leader, and put in a good time,” she said. “I think it took maybe another twenty or thirty skiers before I started realizing that it was actually a really, really good time.”

Gregg watched Diggins from the leader’s chair as the 23 year old trailed on the final climb and then roared into the finish to best Gregg by nearly six seconds. “Then all of a sudden things started to become a reality,” she said.

“I was hoping for maybe a top six if I was having an amazing day but I didn’t think that – of course I was skiing so hard and giving it everything I had – I just didn’t realize that everything I had was going to be a medal.” — Jessie Diggins, 2015 World Championships 10 k freestyle silver medalist

Conditions played a large role in Tuesday’s race, with light snow falling from the start. As the 10 k progressed, the flakes became larger and wetter, leaving many teams with poor wax. The Norwegians, whose powerhouse skiers like Marit Bjørgen, Therese Johaug, Heidi Weng and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen often sweep the podium, were nowhere to be seen on the leaderboard. Their top finisher was Weng in 22nd, and the team complained of dragging skis in the new snow.

In sharp contrast, the U.S. skiers lauded their wax technicians for speedy skis. When asked by the Norwegian press whether her medal could be explained by the poor wax of the other competitors, Diggins said that waxing, good or bad, is part of ski racing.

“I wasn’t thinking about [the Norwegians] because a lot of times they have great skis. They don’t sit up here [when they medal] and say it was their skis,” she said. “I know I was lucky with the skis and how the snow was, but I also took advantage of the opportunity.”

“It was nice of Norway to share the podium,” she added with a smile.

As an early starter with bib 3, Gregg avoided the worst of the snow. Before the start, she wasn’t thrilled with the starting position because there wouldn’t be many opportunities for splits on course. Looking back, however, Gregg said the position was beneficial given the conditions.

“It’s hard to say, you can’t predict those kind of things but when they happen, you have to take opportunities like that and grab them and go,” she said.

This is Diggins’ second-career World Championships medal. Her first came from the 2013 freestyle team sprint in Val di Fiemme, Italy, where she joined forces with Kikkan Randall to claim gold. The pair was the first to earn a World Championships title in the history of U.S. skiing.

Diggins said that her first World Championships podium was much different than Tuesday’s. In 2013, she expected to medal in the event, while in 2015 she didn’t feel that pressure. According to the Minnesota native, Tuesday’s podium — while an individual start — felt like a team event because she and Gregg, who now lives in Minneapolis, shared the podium.

“To be here with Caitlin, it feels like another team event,” she said. “Just the fact that we’re making some history here as the first U.S. women to podium in a distance event at Championships is really crazy and it’s still sinking in.”

Gregg hasn’t been at, or near, the top of international skiing since the start of her career. The 34-year-old’s best World Cup result was in a 2010 Canmore World Cup, where she place 14th in the 10 k freestyle. Her next best result was last year in Falun at the 2014 World Cup Finals where she had the 25th fastest time in the 10 k pursuit. Last season, Gregg missed a spot on the Olympic team despite dominating the domestic distance circuit.

Americans Jessie Diggins (l) and Caitlin Gregg (r) hold up their silver and bronze medals from the 10 k freestyle at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden.

As the 2014 SuperTour leader, Gregg started the 2014/2015 season on the World Cup, but contracted shingles and consistently race in the 50s on the World Cup.

Due to USSA criteria and the previous year’s Olympic selections, it appeared uncertain whether or not Gregg would be named to the U.S. World Championships team. Come Jan. 26, however, Gregg’s name was on the list and she was preparing conquer the 10 k freestyle — a race she had been focusing on all year.

According to Gregg, Tuesday’s bronze medal was validation of a career that’s consisted of hard work and perseverance. She said her medal sent a clear message that developing skiers who aren’t often given the best opportunities from the start of their careers can still be successful — all it takes is a little passion and grit.

“If you really truly feel it in your heart, keep pushing, keep pushing,” she said. “Anything is possible. Obviously, a lot of things fell together today for me, but I think it is a super strong message.”

“Some skiers just take a little bit longer to get going,” she added with a laugh. “You can win your medal at 34 years old.”

To race the World Championships 10 k freestyle Gregg skipped the 2015 American Birkebeiner last weekend — a race both she and her husband Brian attempt to participate in every year. Gregg explained that many of her fans, friends and fellow competitors were disappointed that she couldn’t race in Wisconsin, but that her podium would likely help them forgive her.

“I know people were a little bit bummed I missed the Birkie, but I think they’re gonna forgive me this time,” she said.

After finishing the Birkie, Brian hopped on a plane to Sweden, arriving just in time to help test Gregg’s skis on Monday. He said that his wife’s focus and perseverance was the key to Tuesday’s success. He cited Gregg’s failure to make the U.S. Ski Team (USST) after the 2007 World Championships in addition her absence from last year’s Olympics as speedbumps in her career, and explained her ability to overcome such obstacles allowed her to fight for Tuesday’s podium.

“Sometimes when there’s more chaos, she does better,” he said. “She does well in these high-pressure championship events and nails the races she needs to nail.”

According to Whitcomb, the 10 k freestyle was always the U.S. women’s best shot at a medal in Falun.

Americans Jessie Diggins (l) and Caitlin Gregg (r) share the women’s World Championships 10 k freestyle podium with Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (c), who won the race by 41 seconds for her first individual gold on Tuesday in Falun, Sweden. Diggins took second while Gregg took third, 46.9 seconds back. Both finishes were the best distance result in history for a U.S. woman at a World Championships. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

“A lot of people have been talking about the team sprint being our best chances for a podium and I was absolutely in disagreement,” he said. “It was this day. I didn’t know who it was going to be, that’s for sure, but the 10 k and the relay are just fantastic events for us.”

Whitcomb added the USST’s ability to push through much of Tuesday’s adverse weather conditions also aided in Gregg’s and Diggins’ performaces.

“I think it was Phil Mickelson who always looked to those rainy days and said, ‘Bring it on because I know it’s gonna to bum people out. And this is not gonna bum me out.’ So today is our day for that,” he said.

Both Gregg and Diggins said that while cross-country skiing in the U.S. is not popular or well-funded like many European programs, the Americans create an environment that allows for success.

“It’s taken so many people to get us here,” Diggins said. “It took an amazing team of people here at the World Championships and this team of girls that we have been traveling around the world with.”

“I feel like the podium doesn’t just belong to us, it’s like skiing in the United States that’s there on the podium today,” she added.

Whitcomb agreed, saying a combination of peak fitness and U.S. team atmosphere were key to creating an environment for success.

“We knew what we needed to enter the championships with and that was rested athletes and a team that was tightly bound,” he explained. “I think you saw on some of our recent media productions that this team has come together really tightly and when the team is right, the racing is right.”

USST Head Coach Chris Grover added that two podiums at World Championships will help raise awareness for cross-country skiing in America.

“It helps us build a story about these underdogs from a country where we don’t have a big of a budget as some of our competitors or where cross country skiing is appreciated like it is in Scandinavia. Hopefully we can continue to ignite a new generation of young U.S. athletes,” he said.

Kikkan Randall racing to 15th in the 10 k freestyle individual start at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)

Four U.S. Women in the Top 15

Diggins and Gregg weren’t the only U.S. skiers to turn heads Sunday. Liz Stephen (+1:06.4) skied to 10th, as a late starter who battled some of the worst of the snowy conditions. Before the 10 k, Stephen was seen as a U.S. favorite for a distance medal.

“Certainly it’s not the podium I put down on my goal sheet and that was in my brain when I started the race but I’m really happy with the effort. My day was in Russia this year and it will come again. I’m just so happy for the U.S. Ski Team,” she said, smiling.

“I’ve always skied for the effort and the team and the love I have for the sport, and today was a perfect representation of all of those,” Stephen added. “The podium is just a gold star you get at the end. The people and the sport are why I do it.”

Whitcomb was impressed with Stephen’s skiing and said it was the best he had seen from the 27-year-old team veteran.

“I’ve never seen Liz ski so perfectly as she did today. It’s the best I’ve ever seen out of her,” he said.

Just down the results sheet was Randall (+1:25.2) who finished 15th to give the U.S. women one of their best collective distance results to date. As the fourth starter of the day, Randall left the finish area with little idea of her placement and said her effort in the 10 k was far from what she wanted.

“I didn’t have a lot of snap out there, so yeah, another tough one,” Randall said. “Such a great atmosphere and such a great course, and not able to take advantage of it.”

Whitcomb explained that he had never seen a day like Tuesday’s where all four skiers placed within the top 15 and called it “picture-perfect.”

Results

February 24, 2015
Kalla Untouchable in Snowy World Champs 10 k; Diggins and Gregg Surprise with U.S. Double Podium

Americans Jessie Diggins (l) and Caitlin Gregg (r) share the women’s World Championships 10 k freestyle podium with Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (c), who won the race by 41 seconds for her first individual gold on Tuesday in Falun, Sweden. Diggins took second while Gregg took third, 46.9 seconds back. Both finishes were the best distance result in history for a U.S. woman at a World Championships. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — All over the trails of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships venue in Falun, people buzzed about Charlotte Kalla. They sang her name, cheered anytime the stadium announcer brought her up and roared as she skated by during the 10-kilometer freestyle individual start on Tuesday.

Three days earlier at her home nation’s World Championships, the 27-year-old Kalla had claimed a bronze medal in the 15 k skiathlon. One of Sweden’s best medal chances throughout the championships, there were a couple other races that Kalla, a 2010 Olympic champion in the 10 k skate and 2011 world champion in the classic team sprint (with Ida Ingemarsdotter), had been considered a favorite in as well. The 10 k skate was at the top of the list.

So when she soared through each timing point on the women’s course (made up of two unique loops) more than 10 seconds, then 20 seconds, 30 and finally 40 seconds ahead of any of the 48 women who started before her, the 13,800-strong crowd went nuts.

Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla racing to her first-career individual gold at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Kalla won the 10 k freestyle by 41 seconds over silver medalist Jessie Diggins and 46.9 seconds over another American, Caitlin Gregg, in third. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

“I was a little bit nervous before the start and for the whole morning; I just longed to go to the competition area and put on my race bib,” Kalla said in a post-race press conference. “When the speaker presented me before the start, it was an amazing atmosphere in the stadium. I had to keep calm and focus on skiing all the way and not just go crazy because there was a big crowd cheering for me.”

While Swedish spectators grew increasingly giddy over Kalla, the 49th starter of 71, two other names became a big part of the conversation at Lugnet Arena: Caitlin Gregg, an early leader in bib 3, and later in the race, Jessica Diggins in bib 37.

Known in the U.S. as Jessie, Diggins wasn’t exactly a surprise; the 2013 World Championships freestyle team sprint champion (with Kikkan Randall), she had already earned her stripes and risen to the forefront of international cross-country skiing.

But Gregg?

One Norwegian journalist said after the race he couldn’t even find her International Ski Federation (FIS) profile. It existed, but with a top World Cup result of 14th in the 10 k skate in 2010 in Canmore, Alberta, and an individual best of 47th at her last World Championships in 2009 in the 30 k freestyle mass start, one might understand why the independent American skier was overlooked.

“I must admit, I have never heard of her,” Norwegian women’s coach Egil Kristiansen told NTB afterward.

With a finishing time of 25:49.8, Gregg put herself in the leader’s chair for what ended up being almost half the race. Her fellow U.S. World Championships team member, Diggins ultimately bumped her out of it by 5.9 seconds.

Lightly falling snow at the start turned into a full-fledged downpour of wet-and-heavy snowflakes throughout the race, making an already soft track in above-freezing temperatures even slower. And while some of the Norwegians, like Therese Johaug, later said they felt like they were skiing on glue, the U.S. women didn’t seem to have a problem. Nor did Kalla.

Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in the leader’s chair after essentially securing her first individual gold at a World Championships in the 10 k freestyle at 2015 worlds in Falun, Sweden.

The Swede rounded the course in 25:08.8, 41 seconds faster than Diggins to replaced her in the fur-covered chair at the finish. Kalla hardly spent any time in it, though, congratulating Diggins on a strong race before sitting down briefly for a few photos then getting up to put on dry clothes. By the time she returned to the finishing pen, the race was just about over.

And nobody — none of the Norwegians, including Johaug, the 10 k skate’s defending world champion, nor Marit Bjørgen — came anywhere close.

“I think I had the focus on the right thing for the most of my race,” Kalla said in the press conference. “[I heard] coaches screaming that I’m going for the gold medal, but it’s putting that behind me and trying to ski as fast as possible.”

At 1.5 k, Johaug in bib 63 came within 8.2 seconds of Kalla, and Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen, the 47th starter, was 11.4 seconds back in third. Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen started 43rd and ended up 11.8 seconds off Kalla’s time at that marker, and Bjørgen, who started 65th, was 12 seconds behind Kalla at 1.5 k.

By the halfway point, Kalla was 17.5 seconds up on Diggins and 25 seconds ahead of Gregg in third. Another Swede, Maria Rydqvist ranked fourth at 5 k, 27.1 seconds behind, and Poland’s Sylwia Jaśkowiec — coming off bronze in Sunday’s freestyle team sprint — stood in fifth (+28.2).

Also at 5 k, Heidi Weng as the top Norwegian in bib 61 clocked through 49.8 seconds after Kalla. Jacobsen ranked 22nd there (+49.9), and Johaug and Bjørgen were 26th and 32nd, respectively, with Bjørgen more than a minute back with 5 k to go.

Kalla came through the 6.3 k checkpoint 36.3 seconds faster than Gregg in second place and 36.6 seconds ahead of Diggins in third. By 7.8 k the Swede was up to 40.2 seconds ahead of Gregg and 40.9 ahead of Diggins. Kalla extended that gap in the last two kilometers to win by 41 seconds for her first individual title at World Championships.

“It’s a dream come true, to become world champion at home,” Kalla told Expressen. “It probably has not really dawned on me yet. I need enough time for it to melt in.”

Diggins, who achieved silver for the best-ever U.S. women’s distance result at an international championships, and Gregg, who helped notch a historic U.S. double podium with bronze, felt similarly. Once the results were final, the 23-year-old Diggins fell to her knees in tears. Gregg, 11 years her elder, hugged her at the finish.

Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski team) leads Ekaterina Rudakova (l) of Belarus, whom Diggins passed, up “little” Mördarbacken early in the women’s 10 k freestyle individual start at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Diggins went on to take silver for the best-ever U.S. women’s distance result at an international championships.

“World championships and Olympic games, sometimes crazy things happen, and people who are favorites don’t always come out on top,” Diggins said. “You never know, especially with the snow today, [I thought], ‘Okay, here’s a chance. Why not me? Someone’s going to be on the podium and I have as good shot, I’ve trained as hard as anyone, and I want it as much as anyone,’ so I think with that in mind, we just went out there for every second.”

“Right off the bat, I just knew everything was clicking,” Gregg recalled. “It was that fantastic feeling you hope for when you get to a championship event, of like, yeah, this is just happening, keep it going, keep it going. I knew that I could only put down the best effort I could. I’ve been talking to [my husband] Brian and really trying to outline how to approach the course, and I just basically was executing my plan for the day and skiing consistently and skiing aggressively the whole way.”

With a goal of being in the race leader, she accomplished that, but it took some time for Gregg to realize that she was an actual podium contender.

“I knew I had two girls [starting] ahead of me,” Gregg said, referring to Japan’s Yuki Kobayashi in bib 1 and Italy’s Marina Piller in bib 2. “I looked at their results from previous races to know where they were on the World Cup so I used that to kind of say, OK if I’m pulling them in, this is a really good race for me…”

Also for the U.S., Randall started fourth, 30 seconds behind Gregg, and ended up 15th, 1:25.2 behind Kalla. The U.S. women put four in the top 15, with Liz Stephen finishing 10th (+1:06.4).

Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg/Madshus) racing to bronze on Tuesday in the 10 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Gregg finished third behind Swedish winner Charlotte Kalla and fellow American Jessie Diggins, who was second. (Photo: Madshus/NordicFocus)

“I did get a back split at one point that I was still tied for the lead at one-and-a-half k, which was a really positive feeling out there,” Gregg explained. “After that, it just all kind of drowned out — I don’t remember hearing any splits or anything. It was all just kind of mumble jumble.”

Diggins said she also stuck to her race plan, which involved breaking the course down into eight climbs, attacking each one then making a point to recover after each as well.

“As it was snowing, I knew that the course was going to get slower, so on the downhills I was setting my skis on edge and going knocked-kneed because maybe I would have fallen,” she said. “It was very fast. I was happy to stick with the plan and pace Mördarbacken [the big climb] like I wanted to. The crowds and the fans are amazing, but then you would just start wanting to go crazy and then do you blow up.”

While Scandinavian fans also cheered loudly for contenders like Johaug and Bjørgen, it wasn’t their exuberance that caused the Norwegians to have a massive off day.

“I think the skis were not perfect today, so it’s not only the snow,” Bjørgen told reporters afterward.

Bjørgen, a 34-year-old, 20-time World Championships medalist, ended up 31st, 2:23.6 behind Kalla, for her first time outside the top 24 in a World Championships race in at least 14 years. According to Norwegian media, the team didn’t anticipate the amount of snowfall that settled in Tuesday afternoon, and the Swedish ski federation had its own meteorologist, which predicted the exact conditions. Based on online weather models, the U.S. Ski Team also expected the snow.

“There were several things that worked out [for our team today],” U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover told VG. “The snow played a big role. Obviously, we had seen snow in the weather forecast.”

But for some reason, the Norwegians missed the memo and all five of its women missed the top 20. Weng as the top skier finished 22nd (+1:51.9), Johaug was 27th (+2:14), Ragnhild Haga was 29th (+2:20.4), and Jacobsen ended up 33rd (+2:32.4). And while they were disappointed, Johaug told reporters she wasn’t angry.

Norway’s Therese Johaug racing up “little” Mördarbacken early in the women’s 10 k freestyle individual start at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. She went on to place 27th for her first non-top 10 at a World Championships.

“I don’t blame the guys in the wax trailer, they work their butts off,” Johaug told Dagbladet, according to a translation. “Most of the time they nail it, but today they didn’t. That’s too bad. It’s not the end of the world, but I know I’m better than 27th.”

In five-career World Championships, Johaug had never been outside the top 10.

“That’s just ridiculous,” she added. “I pretty much cant remember the last time that happened.”

Moving on, she vowed four Norwegian women would be hungry for Thursday’s 4 x 5 k relay.

“I can promise you that there are four very revenge-crazed Norwegian girls at the start line there,” Johaug said.

At the end of the day, the several coaches complimented the Americans. U.S. women’s coach Matt Whitcomb said the door of their wax room hadn’t shut with so many people stopping by to congratulate them.

Norway’s Marit Bjørgen racing up “little” Mördarbacken early in the women’s 10 k freestyle individual start at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. She went on to place 31st for her time outside the top 30 in at least 14 years of World Championships competition.

“It’s a huge surprise,” said Kristiansen, the Norwegian women’s coach. “If anyone had put money on this podium before the race, I believe they would be very rich by now.”

VG pointed out that the U.S. Ski Team has 10 percent of the budget of the Norwegian national team, which spends about $7 million dollars a year.

“For us as a smaller ski nation, we must get everything to fall into place on the same day,” Grover told VG. “We were a bit lucky that several of our girls started a little early, but we also had wonderful skiing.”

The Norwegian saga aside, Kalla considered her gold on Tuesday more meaningful than her 2010 Olympic win because of the level of competition she faced.

“It is much tougher competition among the ladies in the World Cup now,” she told Expressen. “So it feels larger.”

Rydqvist was the second Swede in the top four, 48.6 seconds behind Kalla and 1.7 seconds off the podium. France’s Anouk Faivre Picon placed fifth (+55.2), Switzerland’s 21-year-old Nathalie von Siebenthal notched sixth (+59.2), and Japan’s Masako Ishida finished seventh (+1:02.5). Niskanen ended up eighth (+1:04.5), Switzerland put two in the top 10 with Seraina Boner in ninth (+1:05.8), and Stephen was the third U.S. woman in the top 10 in 10th.

Results

February 24, 2015
Nishikawa Cracks Top 30 in Falun 10 k, Jones Tallies Another Distance Best in Last Race

Canada’s Emily Nishikawa (Alberta World Cup Academy/National Development Team) racing to 30th in Tuesday’s 10 k freestyle for her best World Championships result at 2015 worlds in Falun, Sweden. Nishikawa led the Canadian women with the result and Perianne Jones placed 32nd. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — With the pressure off, the Canadian women posted some career-best performances on Tuesday in the 10-kilometer freestyle individual start at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

In Emily Nishikawa’s first race coming off illness, which kept her and fellow Canadian World Championships team member Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt back in Östersund, Sweden, until Sunday, recorded her first top 30 at her second World Championships.

“I was sick last week so I didn’t really know what to expect, how my body would react,” Nishikawa said after placing 30th, 2:20.5 behind Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla, who won the 10 k skate in 25:08.8. “It could’ve gone either way and it went well today, so I’m very happy with that.”

Canada’s Perianne Jones (Alberta World Cup Academy/National Development B-Team) racing to 32nd for her best World Championships distance result at 2015 worlds in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

Meanwhile, team veteran Perianne Jones notched yet another best distance result at worlds in 32nd after placing 37th in Sunday’s 15 k skiathlon. And in what she anticipates to be her last season of professional racing, and ultimately her last races, Jones, 29, didn’t expect to do any of the distance races.

“I had zero expectations going in,” Jones said after finishing 2:26.7 back from Kalla. “Coming into these championships, I thought I was going to do the sprint and the team sprint … and I ended up doing the sprint and the 10 k and the pursuit.”

Even on the World Cup, Jones hadn’t done better than 32nd in a distance race since placing 30th two years ago in a 15 k classic mass start in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic.

And then there was Nishikawa, 25, who cracked the top 30 for the first time this season on the World Cup, placing 29th in the 10 k classic in December in Davos, Switzerland.

The 54th starter out of 71, the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) and Canadian National Development Team skier faced some of the toughest conditions of anyone in Tuesday’s race, skiing two different loops of a 10 k course in heavily falling, wet snow.

“It was snowing pretty heavily, [but] my skis felt great,” Nishikawa recalled. “I pushed as hard as I could … I was just dying to get here to Falun. I’m so happy to be here and to be racing is a real treat.”

Nishikawa, Jones and Canada’s third woman at the championships, Bouffard-Nesbitt, warmed into their races, with Nishikawa’s 1.5 k time ranking 45th, followed by Jones in 46th and Bouffard-Nesbitt in 53rd.

By 5 k, Nishikawa was up to 35th and 2.8 k later, 33rd, before closing hard for 30th. At the end of the day, she finished 3.1 seconds ahead of Norway’s star skier Marit Bjørgen, who placed 31st (for her first result outside the top 24 in a World Championships in at least 14 years).

Jones, who sped up to clock the 34th-ranked 5 k time and 32nd 6.3 k time, finished 6.2 seconds behind Bjørgen, the 65th starter.

“I was lucky I started early — I was number 22 so I have probably never been that close to Bjørgen in a skate distance race ever,” Jones said. “I just wanted to ski hard and pick a pace up those hills I could maintain. I was pretty sure the girl behind me [France’s Coraline Thomas Hugue] was going to catch me, so I just tried to stay with her for as long as possible.”

While Hugue had a career-best day of her own in 12th, Jones said this race would go down as one she’d remember — and likely her last international race.

“This was my final World Champs, probably my final international ski race,” she said. “After last year, I just kind of wanted to give it another shot, and it has been a good year in a lot of ways — I have been really healthy, more than I have been in the past. I think these last few distance races, too, I have surprised myself a little bit even though they weren’t in the plans.

“This is the first time this week that I skied with teammates, so it is really nice to have the other girls here and for us all to come to the start line together and to have a teammate to hug at the finish line,” Jones added. “It has been a great year and I think there are lots of good ladies coming up and it has been fun to spend a year with them and hopefully pass some things on.”

Canada’s Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) racing to 52nd in Tuesday’s 10 k freestyle, her debut race of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

In her first World Championships, Bouffard-Nesbitt, of Rocky Mountain Racers, placed 52nd, 4:05.4 behind the winner.

“Today was just a really cool experience,” she wrote in an email. “I was loving every second of it. The fans, the atmosphere, the location, the conditions, so many things that made today amazing and memorable.”

Less than three weeks ago, Bouffard-Nesbitt earned her spot on Canada’s World Championships team with a 12th-place finish in the skiathlon at U23 World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Coming off that performance, she came down with a long-lasting cold.

“The race itself wasn’t great,” Bouffard-Nesbitt wrote of Tuesday’s race. “My movements were lacking power, and I didn’t feel that race fitness that generally leads to good races. I was missing that ability to really push, my body just wasn’t really doing it today.”

She hoped the effort would be good preparation for Saturday’s 30 k classic mass start.

“I was dealing with pretty low energy and a cold last week, but I’ve bounced back from that and am healthy now,” the 22 year old wrote. “I’m not upset about my race. I just raced my first ever World Champs and I’m totally psyched about that. There isn’t much that can take away from how amazing it was to be on the start line! And there was so much to be stoked about today too.

“Today wasn’t about me. I raced, and I was super pumped about being in the race, but I was also super excited for [American medalists] Jessie [Diggins] and Caitlin [Gregg] who had just mind blowing performances, and for Emily having her second top 30 of the year!” Bouffard-Nesbitt added. “It was a pretty great day!”

With three women at World Championships, Canada will not field a relay for Thursday’s 4 x 5 k team event. Instead, Nishikawa and Bouffard-Nesbitt will likely focus on the final race in Falun: the 30 k classic on Saturday.

Results

February 24, 2015
American Men Seventh, Women Eighth in World Champs Team Sprint

American Jessie Diggins, in the 2013 World Championships winners bib, chases Germany’s Denise Herrmann in the women’s 6 x 1.2 k freestyle sprint final on Sunday at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Second in their semifinal, the U.S. placed eighth in the final and Germany was fourth behind Norway, Sweden and Poland, respectively. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — “Today gives us a real appreciation for when we were on podiums and when we were winning these events,” U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover said Sunday from the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. The day marked the much anticipated freestyle team sprints, where Jessie Diggins and Sophie Caldwell joined forces to place eighth in the women’s 6 x 1.2 k, and Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton skied to seventh in the men’s 6 x 1.4 k.

The U.S. women’s team entered Sunday’s race wearing the customary bibs marking them as reigning world champions. Two years ago in Val di Fiemme, Italy Diggins and star-sprinter Kikkan Randall paired to win the first-ever world championship gold by U.S. cross country skiers. The atmosphere was different in Falun, however, with the Americans acknowledging they were far from the level of skiing witnessed in 2013.

An unstoppable Norwegian team of Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Maiken Caspersen Falla claimed the women’s team sprint with a time of 14:29.57. Sweden and Poland rounded out the podium, while the U.S. finished 34.06 seconds back from the winners in eighth.

While a medal was out of reach for the Americans in the 2015 team sprint, they walked away from the competition with their heads held high, proud of the effort they gave on the fast, hard 1.2 k course.

“I was so proud of Soph and I have to say, I think we had at least twice as much fun as anyone else out there,” Diggins said in a post-race interview. “We got to put on those defending world champ bibs and that’s a cool thing.”

The Americans started their day in the second women’s semifinal where they skied to claim an automatic advancement to the final. They entered the heat with the usual team sprint strategy – save as much energy as possible – which kept them in the top-two for the majority of the race. By the time Caldwell tagged Diggins for her last lap, however, the team was sitting in fifth and nine seconds out of first.

Diggins explained that while it was likely their team would have qualified as a lucky loser had she held position, she decided to give it her all and fight for an automatic qualification to the final “just in case.” Diggins soon gapped the women fighting for second behind Germany, and skied the rest of the race in a comfortable qualifying position.

With their spot in the final secured, the two Americans once again focused on conserving their energy. Thier rest was hampered by the unlucky draw of the second semifinal heat, which resulted in a half hour of rest less than the first semifinals competitors – including the three eventual podium finishers: Norwegians, Swedes and and Poland.

Despite the deficit in recovery time, Caldwell started the final in third position. She eventually fell to a close sixth as she entered the exchange, just two seconds out from the Norwegian leaders. Diggins exited the stadium in fifth holding a constant position throughout her first leg. The four skiers in front of her pulled ahead on the hills, but Diggins caught them on the downhill into the stadium.

“I was behind the first four girls and trying to do as little as possible, so I let them gap me over the top,” Diggins said. “My skis were so fast that I came into the tag zone with them.”

Diggins said she entered the stadium with too much speed. Unable to slow before colliding with a German skier, and the Minnesota fell after tagging Caldwell for the next leg.

“I had a couple falls out there today,” she explained. “We came into the tag zones way faster than we thought. The first time I came in, Germany wasn’t going fast enough and I couldn’t go right and I couldn’t go left so I went into her and fell. The second time it was a similar thing.”

Caldwell dropped to seventh in her second leg after the exchange, and from there the U.S. remained between seventh and ninth for the rest of the race.

USA skis in fourth in the men’s final in Sunday’s 1.4 k freestyle team sprint at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: flyingpointroad)

“The first leg was good but by no means easy. I started to get some tired legs and Grover told me to pace the next laps so that I could stay as close as possible,” Caldwell said of the strategy in her final two laps. “If I was going to try and go out and stay with them from the start I would blow up big time and then I’d lose even more time. I let them go a little and gave Jessie have the tough job of trying to catch up. I tried to judge how I was feeling and ski at the smartest race I could based on that.”

Diggins explained that she attempted to catch the leaders in her second leg, but spent too much energy and ‘blew up’ in the third and final pass around the 1.2 k course. The 23-year-old was in a close battle for seventh with Laurien van der Graaff of Switzerland in the last meters but ultimately lost in the final lunge.

Despite her status as a defending world champion, Diggins explained that she entered Sunday’s team sprint with less pressure than in 2013. According to the American skier, she and Randall were the favorites to win the race after strong performances earlier that season. The Americans didn’t enter the 2015 event with the same expectations, though the team often referred to it as their best chance of a medal in Falun.

Despite the lowered expectations, Diggins said she had been focused on Sunday’s sprint since the previous year.

“This is one of those races where I’ve visualized skiing this course since May,” Diggins siad. “I’ve been psyching it up in my mind, which is both good and bad because by the time we raced it I had already done it a million times.”

Caldwell also felt the pressure of racing in the USST’s best chance at a medal. “I’ve never been this nervous for a race in my life,” she said. “You can ask all my teammates, I wasn’t able to function for the past 24 hours. Everyone did a really good job of reminding us that even though they (Diggins and Randall) were defending championships, we’ve never done a team sprint together and I’m not 2013 Kikkan.”

Caldwell added that she hoped to team with Diggins again, and explained that even though Sunday’s race wasn’t medal worthy she believed the two could be ‘great’ in the future.

Andy Newell, USST, trails Finn Hågen Krogh in the the semifinal of Sunday’s 6 x1.4 k team sprint at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Newell and his teammate Simi Hamilton took seventh overall. (Photo: flyingpointroad)

Newell, Hamilton Team Up to Take Seventh

Newell and Hamilton took to the line of the men’s team sprint final following their third place finish in the semifinals. Like their female counterparts, the men were in the second heat of the day and thus had less time for recovery.

Skiing outside podium contention for the majority of the six laps, the American men eventually raced to seventh behind the dominant performance of Norway’s Petter Northug and Finn Hågen Krogh. Second went to Russia, while the Italians defended their 2013 bronze in exciting fashion. The American team ultimately finished 17.48 seconds behind the winning time of 15:32.89.

Hamilton explained that while the pace was relaxed at first it became more challenging as the leaders increased the tempo. He added that the course was challenging due to the varying terrain.

“It was a course where in some places it’s really advantageous to be leading and in others it is not, Hamilton said. “It’s tough to make yourself hang out in the pack because there are some technical corners where it’s a big advantage to be in front.”

For the first half of the race the Americans sat between fifth and seventh. By the final exchange, however, Newell tagged Hamilton in ninth. “You’re actually not breathing that hard but your legs are so blown out by the finish,” he said of the demanding race.

Hamilton said he entered his final lap ready to “let it fly.” He ultimately brought the U.S. to seventh after passing Sweden, when Teodor Petterson lost his pole, and France, after Baptiste Gros fell in the last 500 meters and lost a ski.

Reflecting on Sunday’s race, Newell explained he cared less about the placement of the team and rather how close the two were to the sprint’s leaders.

“It’s not so much that we care about places,” Newell said of Sunday’s objectives. “We want to stay as close as we can to the leaders. To us there’s not really a big difference between finishing seventh or eighth, or even sixth. We want to be close to the podium and that’s our ultimate goal.”

Hamilton agreed, adding that he set a personal goal of sixth for the day.

“We skied alright but we can both do better than that,” Newell said. “At least we were in the final and at least we were pretty close to those guys. Just a little more improvement and we’ll both be in there.”

Grover said he was pleased with efforts from all four athletes gave in the team sprint. At the same time, he acknowledged that the U.S. teams in Sunday’s race were below the high level of competition shown by Sunday’s top competitors.

“I think people for sure skied really well all day. That’s just where we are right now,” Grover said of Sunday’s performances. “Of course we wanted to be ahead of there right now, but it gives you appreciation for when you do have two athletes that are at an extremely high level and can put them together to create that podium.”

Results: Men | Women

February 22, 2015
No Bjørgen? No Problem as Norway’s Østberg, Falla Take World Champs Team Sprint Title

Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (in red bib) awaits her longtime friend and Norwegian teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla at the finish of the women’s 6 x 1.2 k classic sprint on Sunday at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. The two took gold by more than eight seconds over Sweden. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — With Marit Bjørgen out of the freestyle team sprint on Sunday after what she considered a disappointing sixth-place finish in Saturday’s skiathlon at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, that left someone to step up in her absence.

The Norwegian national-team staff decided one of their best bets was Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, a longtime friend of their other athlete in the race, Maiken Caspersen Falla.

Teammates for the last decade, the two wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“If there is anyone who makes me better, it’s Ingvild,” Falla, the 2014 Olympic classic-sprint champion told NRK, according to a translation, after Sunday’s race.

“We’ve known each other a long time and push each other on countless sessions,” Østberg added.

Both 24, the two are nearly three months apart in age, with Falla being the elder. Partners in the World Cup freestyle team sprint last month in Otepää, Estonia, Falla and Østberg placed second, 0.85 seconds behind Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter and Stina Nilsson in first.

While the Swedes stuck with their winning order, the Norwegians switched it up on Sunday, with Østberg leading out and Falla anchoring the 6 x 1.2-kilometer freestyle team sprint. The combination worked, as the two won the first semifinal of the day ahead of Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk and Sylwia Jaśkowiec. The two teams automatically advanced to the final, and Sweden in third earned a spot as one of six teams with fast-enough times to move on as well.

Germany’s Nicole Fessel and Denise Herrmann won the second semifinal, and the Americans, with Sophie Caldwell and Jessie Diggins, placed second in that heat. Finland, Russia and Slovenia advanced as well, along with France and Switzerland from the first semifinal.

Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk leads Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg on the second lap of the women’s 6 x 1.2 k freestyle team sprint on Sunday at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Østberg reclaimed the lead for good for Norway. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

In the final, Norway got down to business from the start, with Østberg leading out of the stadium and into the first-and-only climb of the women’s 1.2 k course. Fessel and Ingemarsdotter followed, while the U.S. positioned itself in fourth with lead-out skier Sophie Caldwell.

By the time the pack returned to the stadium, Kowalczyk put herself in third for Poland, less than half a second behind Østberg in first and Fessel in second. Ingemarsdotter came through the exchange in fourth (+0.88), Slovenia’s Katja Visnar tagged Nika Razinger in sixth (+1.47) while the U.S. was 2.01 seconds back in sixth.

One lap later, Germany was up to first with Herrmann, and Jaśkowiec was 0.55 seconds back in second and Falla 0.57 seconds behind in third. The silver medalist from Thursday’s classic sprint, Nilsson came through in fourth (+1.01) for Sweden, with Diggins three-tenths of a second behind her in fifth. Flying into the exchange and prohibited from snowplowing to stop, Diggins ran into one of the Germans and nearly caused Ingemarsdotter to crash before the Swede headed out on her second loop.

“The U.S. was falling in front of me so I had to go around them,” Ingemarsdotter said in a press conference. “It was a little bit scary for a while, I think, ‘Oh I hope, I don’t fall.”

She didn’t.

With two of six laps completed, the race for gold appeared wide open — until Østberg launched an attack on the steep climb.

Fessel went with her, as did Kowalczyk, while Ingemarsdotter started to fall off the pace and Caldwell drifted farther back in fifth. Østberg led Fessel into the exchange, where they tagged in first and second, respectively, 0.43 seconds apart. Kowalczyk tagged her teammate some 3 seconds out of first, while Ingemarsdotter was another second back in fourth and Visnar 10.17 seconds behind in fifth. Behind Russia in sixth (+10.41), the U.S. slipped to seventh (+11.21).

Heading out on her second lap, Falla made a point to stay up front and push the pace, leading Herrmann up the steep climb while Jaśkowiec and Nilsson clung tightly to them. Diggins moved up into fifth several seconds behind the leaders, while Falla widened the space between her and everyone else on her way back down into the stadium.

By the time she reached the tag zone, Falla put Norway 1.07 seconds ahead in first, followed by Herrmann, Jaśkowiec (+1.67), Nilsson (+2.56), and Diggins (+16.28).

Her final time around, Østberg went for it once more on the sprint hill, this time dropping Fessel. Kowalczyk took advantage of the fading German and moved into second over the top, while Østberg led by a significant margin on the way down. Meanwhile, Kowalczyk, Fessel and Ingemarsdotter pushed to take hold of second.

“I had a little gap to Poland and Germany so I just tried to push everything I had to get Stina in as good a position as possible for the last lap,” Ingemarsdotter recalled. “I know if Stina has a little bit feeling that she is with them, then no one will beat her.”

While she put Sweden in fourth, Østberg gave Falla a 6.11-second head-start for their final lap. Kowalczyk tagged Jaśkowiec in second, six-tenths of a second ahead of Germany in third and nine-tenths of a second ahead of Sweden.

Falla continued to plug away alone up front, while Jaśkowiec, Herrmann and Nilsson jockeyed for position in the chase pack. On a tight turn before a final descent into the stadium, Nilsson came from behind and nearly collided with Herrmann. The two stayed upright, but Herrmann dropped to fourth while Jaśkowiec led Nilsson into the finishing stretch.

The women’s freestyle team sprint podium at the medals ceremony on Sunday night at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (third from l) and Maiken Caspersen Falla (third from r) teamed up for gold, Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter (l) and Stina Nilsson (second from l) took silver, and Poland’s Sylwia Jaskowiec (second from r) and Justyna Kowalczyk (r) tallied bronze. (Photo: Falun2015/Twitter)

There, Falla, the 2015 World Championships classic-sprint bronze medalist, crossed the line uncontested for the Norwegian victory in 14:29.57.

“We were planning to start a little bit easy in the first round and speed up in the second and give it all in the last round, and we did as planned,” Østberg explained in the conference. “It was amazing to give Maiken some seconds and she was really strong in the last lap, and then we could cross the finish line first. That was amazing.”

Nilsson outsprinted Jaśkowiec to clinch second for Sweden, 8.17 seconds after Norway and 0.31 seconds ahead of Poland.

“I was very inspired by Ida’s amazing last lap so I felt that the medals were really close,” Nilsson said after her second-straight silver. “I gave it everything I had on the last lap and I’m very happy it worked out well.”

“I saw only the back of Falla,” Jaśkowiec recalled in the conference. “I was going [for] second place in the finish area, but I felt in my back that somebody push very fast and I tried to focus on only to get the final line. Stina was amazing with amazing finish and I could just only watch how she passed, but bronze medal is for us. I am really happy we could even be a part of this today.”

Her teammate, Kowalczyk was just as thrilled after missing out on a medal when she placed fourth in the classic sprint on the first day of World Championships.

“Before the race, I was sure that we’ll be good because Sylwia has really good skating, but there was five or seven really strong teams,” Kowalczyk told FasterSkier. “I am so happy because this is the first medal for Poland [at these World Championships], and I’m so happy for me and of course for Sylwia because she’s ranking number two in Poland now, who have the medals in cross-country skiing. … It’s not only Justyna now.”

Jaśkowiec reveled in her first World Championships medal after coming back from a rollerski accident in 2010.

“Four years ago, I had a very bad accident and I spent one year on rehabilitation so comeback was very tough,” she said in the conference. “I have a lot of thought if I could come back in skiing — the level is so high that I felt that the top athletes just run away from me so today it’s a huge satisfaction and my dream has come true. I know that the tough time was worth so much pain and fighting, and I hope that my courage just now start to be faster and faster and it will be the beginning of the show.”

Herrmann anchored Germany to fourth, 11.57 seconds back from the winners and three seconds off the podium. Russia’s Anastasia Dotsenko and Natalia Matveeva improved to fifth (+29.19) after ranking ninth at the second-to-last exchange. France was sixth (+30.26) with Coraline Thomas Hugue and Celia Aymonier, and Switzerland was seventh (+33.98) with Seraina Boner and Laurien van der Graaff.

The U.S. finished eighth (+34.06) after slipping from fifth to eighth on Caldwell’s last lap. Slovenia placed ninth (+42.39) and Finland — which reached the team-sprint podium in the last three World Championships — was 10th (+42.9) with Riikka Sarasoja-Lilja and Anne Kyllönen,

At the last World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, the U.S. won the freestyle team sprint with Diggins and Kikkan Randall in 2013. Sweden took silver with Charlotte Kalla and Ingemarsdotter, and Finland earned bronze with Sarasoja-Lilja and Krista Lahteenmaki (now Pärmäkoski).

Østberg and Falla placed fourth in that race, some 20 seconds after the U.S. and 10 seconds off the podium. After that showing, Østberg viewed Sunday as an opportunity.

“When Marit said she wasn’t supposed to go [in the team sprint] then I’m really happy that I could show that I also could do a really good job,” she said in the conference. “In 2013, we were the same team and the same distance and then I ruined it, and today we could do this for the team and to do this with Maiken is amazing. We’ve been teammates for several years and good friends so that’s an awesome feeling.”

“In 2013, we were the same team … and then I ruined it, and today we could do this for the team and to do this with Maiken is amazing.” — Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, who won gold with teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla on Sunday in the 2015 World Championships freestyle team sprint

“We were a proper gold team today,” Falla told NRK, according to a translation. “It means so much to stand here with Ingvild — we’ve been through so much together.”

The two set the tone for back-to-back Norwegian victories on Sunday, as Finn Hågen Krogh and Petter Northug teamed up for gold in the men’s 6 x 1.4 k team sprint later that afternoon. They beat Russia’s Alexey Petukhov and Nikita Kriukov by 5.64 seconds.

Women’s results

February 22, 2015
Harvey Does It Again with Skiathlon Bronze, Second Medal of 2015 World Champs

Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin (l) and Switzerland’s Dario Cologna (r) go head to head for first in the finishing stretch of the men’s 30 k skiathlon on Saturday at the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Behind, Canada’s Alex Harvey (second from l) and Norway’s Didrik Tønseth battle for third. The spectator grand total for the day was 44,300 people. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — The Canadian team chef better get cooking. After promising cakes in exchange for medals at 2015 FIS World Ski Championships, the man by the first name of Mattias will have to get working on his second batch following Alex Harvey’s second medal in as many races so far in Falun.

When the team hired the Swedish chef for the two-week championships, some of its athletes requested cakes, according to Canadian World Cup Team member Ivan Babikov.

“He joked back, ‘Well if there will be medals, there will be cakes,’ ” Babikov said. “Now he makes more cakes for Alex to celebrate with another medal.”

Babikov’s teammate, Harvey became the first Canadian to rack up two medals at a single Nordic World Championships, and he did so in the first two races. Harvey, 26, found a final gear to rise from fourth to third in Saturday’s 30-kilometer skiathlon, passing Norway’s Didrik Tønseth late in the finishing stretch for bronze.

Alex Harvey (Canadian World Cup Team) leads up Mördarbacken early in the classic portion of the men’s 30 k skiathlon, ahead of Estonia’s Aivar Rehemaa (52), Russia’s Evgeniy Belov (2), Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, and Norway’s Niklas Dyrhaug (5) among others. Harvey went on to place third for his second-straight medal of the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

After spending most of the six-lap race in the lead, Harvey was pleased to end up third, 1.6 seconds behind the winner, after Switzerland’s Dario Cologna attacked the last time up the most grueling climb on the course: Mördarbacken. Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin went with him, and Tønseth eventually latched onto the two leaders with just over two kilometers remaining.

Meanwhile, Harvey in fourth concentrated on reining in the leaders, while Cologna and Vylegzhanin duked it out up front. On the last major climb, Vylegzhanin maneuvered around Cologna and boxed him out over the top before descending into the stadium.

The defending Olympic champion (in both the skiathlon and 15 k classic), Cologna hung on tight, but wasn’t able to get ahead of the Russian, as Vylegzhanin sealed his first World Championships title in 1:16:25.9 hours, 0.4 seconds ahead of Cologna.

“I simply don’t have the words to describe how happy I am over this gold medal,” said Vylegzhanin, a three-time runner up at World Championships (twice in the 50 k freestyle mass start and once in the 30 k pursuit), during a press conference. “It has been a really long journey here.

“Throughout the race it seemed like everyone around me was really, really strong,” he added. “I gave it everything I had in the final spurt and didn’t really get the feeling that it was enough for gold until I passed the goal line.”

Harvey finished 1.6 seconds back in third and 1.8 seconds ahead of Tønseth in fourth. France’s Maurice Manificat took fifth (+10.2), and Calle Halfvarsson finished as the top Swede racing for 44,300 adoring spectators in sixth (+22.8).

After slipping about seven seconds back from the three leaders with about 1 1/2 k to go, Harvey charged hard to close the gap, and nearly caught them on the second-to-last climb. While Cologna and Vylegzhanin skied out of reach, Harvey trailed Tønseth closely, passing him 5 seconds before the finish.

“It was so mushy and I was starting to not see clearly,” Harvey recalled, noting that his legs felt extremely spent after 15 k of classic followed by 15 k of skating on Falun’s notoriously tough course — and in soft conditions on an above-freezing afternoon. “I knew my legs were not 100 percent, so I wouldn’t have an amazing sprint, but it was good enough to grab one place, that was good for the podium.

“I had two medals in my career in World Championships, and now I have two in three days,” he added after achieving his fourth medal. “It’s crazy.”

“I had two medals in my career in World Championships, and now I have two in three days. It’s crazy.” — Canada’s Alex Harvey after winning bronze in Saturday’s skiathlon

An early leader with Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, Harvey skied in second for much of the first few kilometers before following Sweden’s Lars Nelson, France’s Jean Marc Gaillard and Swedish race-favorite Marcus Hellner, respectively, at the 5 k checkpoint.

As the climbs began on the second classic lap, Gaillard initiated a break from the large lead group, and Nelson went with him. Nelson looked back at one point to gauge the space behind them and nearly tripped up in the tracks, but he regained his composure and the two skied together up front until about 8.5 k. There, Harvey at the front of the chase pack caught them.

“I was trying to see if guys would want to break away. When I saw that it was Gaillard and Lars Nelson, I mean, they are good skiers, but not the favorites, I decided not to go with [them],” Harvey said.

Had it been someone like Cologna or Russia’s Evgeniy Belov “or some guys I think can go all the way, then I would have pushed it to break away [with them],” he added. “The plan was to try to break away if it was possible, but it just didn’t happen.”

Instead, Harvey aimed to control the pace from the driver’s seat, leading Nelson into the stadium at the end of 10 k. With one 5 k classic lap to go, 25 men remained within eight seconds of the lead and 18 of them were 3 seconds from Harvey.

By 11.5 k, Niskanen was back up front again, just ahead of Harvey, and Tønseth held his position in third while Nelson skied in fourth. Vylegzhanin hovered in fifth while Cologna was a few seconds back in seventh. Throughout the next lap, the lead switched several times between the frontrunners, including Tønseth and Gaillard, but by the ski change at 15 k, Harvey was back in first.

He and Gaillard entered the transition simultaneously, and Harvey emerged 0.3 seconds faster. On the following skate lap, the Canadian sensed something he hadn’t felt during the classic — his body wasn’t feeling so great. In fact, it hadn’t felt very good in freestyle races this season, he later explained.

Canada’s Alex Harvey leads Russia’s Evgeniy Belov (2) and the rest of the lead pack the first of three times skating up Mördarbacken around 18 k in the men’s 30 k skiathlon at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

Harvey reasoned his best chance for staying in the race required that he keep leading, and he did so for the next five kilometers.

“[I decided] I am going to stay in the front and go slow on the climbs, because that is where I am weak in skating, and try to do that for as long as I can,” Harvey said.

By the end of the first skate loop, he led 15 men within seven seconds of him through the stadium.

With two laps to go, the Canadian sprint silver medalist started to show some wear as Hellner moved to the front ahead of Belov, Norway’s Niklas Dyrhaug, Tønseth, Vylegzhanin, Cologna, and Harvey, respectively. At 21.3 k, Harvey was 4.5 seconds back in seventh.

Even there, though, Canadian National Team Head Coach Justin Wadsworth wasn’t concerned.

“[Leading is] what he did a lot last year in the skiathlon that he won here in the World Cup Finals, and he said he felt like that was the way he wanted to do it,” Wadsworth said. “He wanted to control and not let people make surges, and he knows that a lot of people respect him right now … no one attacked him; they knew he was one of the favorites. When you can play or use that as your advantage, I think it’s huge.”

“When Hellner went on the second lap, I just had to drift back,” Harvey explained. “If I pass the line, it just doesn’t come back. [My leg started to cramp], so I just had to feather it a little bit.”

That same lap, by the second-to-last climb, Harvey worked his way back up front while the two Russians in the mix — Belov and Vylegzhanin — clung tight to him.

Wadsworth noticed how Harvey one-skated (V2-ed) most of the course while others relied on the more labor-intensive offset (V1).

“The speed was slow enough that he could do that,” Wadsworth said. “He knew he was saving himself and he knew the legs were going to get tired at the end no matter what.”

Hellner led the last time through the lap zone, followed by Belov, Harvey, Vylegzhanin, Dyrhaug, Gaillard, and Manificat, in that order. Cologna came through with the pack, 2.3 seconds back in eighth, just ahead of Halfvarsson, Tønseth and Norway’s Petter Northug.

With 5 k remaining, Cologna advanced to third early in the lap to prepare for the final push. Meanwhile, Harvey skied in seventh leaving the stadium, then rose to third once more before the start of the big climbs.

There, Cologna made what he hoped would be the game-changing attack: “I knew that I’m strong in the uphill so I was not sure what I have to do and when I have to go, but in the end I was in front on Mördarbacken the last time,” he told FasterSkier. “So I said, I will try everything, and I think it was the right tactic.”

Tønseth worked hard to get back in contact with Cologna and Vylegzhanin, who immediately went with him up the remainder of the hill, while Harvey and Manificat fell off the pace in fourth and fifth.

Along the next flat, Harvey decided to go hard in pursuit of third place or better.

“You’ve just got to be selfish; I made [Manificat] work on the flat and downhill stuff to get the draft and then as soon as we hit the next little hill, I just went by him and I went full blast,” he said.

Harvey dropped Manificat and bridged the gap to Tønseth on the penultimate climb. Up front, Cologna let up slightly to prepare for the finishing showdown with Vylegzhanin.

“I let him go in the last uphill because I thought maybe it’s a little better to relax on the last downhill to focus for the sprint, but I was not able to pass him again in the finish,” Cologna said. “Vylegzhanin was still there and a little bit fresher at the end.”

Despite missing out on gold by four-tenths of a second, Cologna was happy with silver.

“It’s always great to win a medal,” he said. “Everybody wants to be in good shape and to win, so it was a very good start for me, these championships, and it’s good to have the medal already in the first race. Now I’m looking forward to the next one.”

For Canada, ‘The biggest thing is redemption’

A few seconds behind, Harvey concentrated on staying on his feet before going for bronze.

“I was first trying to just stay on my skis because my legs were pretty jammed,” he said.

“It’s a great day for me. Hard to believe,” he said in a Cross Country Canada press release. “The skis were fantastic. I had really good training over the summer, and I think the wax team are doing such a great job, it’s hard for me not to be on the podium these days.”

“We’re so pumped about this,” Wadsworth said. “I think we came into the day really feeling like Alex could win the race, but realistically, how his legs are doing skating these days, a medal today is as good as gold. We couldn’t want anything more.

“The biggest thing is redemption for our wax team,” he added. “We really battled after Sochi last year, and we added some new people and took a lot of time in the summer to meet together and to get communication working. There’s been some hiccups through the winter, but we’ve kept really pushing to get on top of it and it’s paid off. That’s the thing that’s the most exciting.”

Babikov, who placed 23rd on Saturday after skiing up from 30th at the transition, said the team was beyond excited for Harvey — even when some of them weren’t personally having their best races.

“Compared to Alex’s medal, [23rd is] not so good, but I’m just really happy and pumped for him,” Babikov said. “Every single person on the team … we’re just so psyched. It’s the best world championships so far for Cross Country Canada. We’re so happy for Alex. It’s good for us, it’s good for our team, it’s awesome that one of the best guys in the world is on our team and we train together.”

“It’s the best world championships so far for Cross Country Canada.” — Ivan Babikov, Canada’s second man in Saturday’s skiathlon in 23rd

For Harvey, it was his fourth World Championships medal of his career. In 2011, he won the classic team sprint with Devon Kershaw, and in 2013, he was third in the individual classic sprint — the event he claimed silver in two days ago.

Wadsworth noted the impact this had on the program after Canada took home one medal between the last two previous championships (2013 World Championships and the 2014 Olympics).

“To have two medals [in Falun], it’s more [about] showing that we do have one of the best programs for waxing and we’ve invested a lot in it,” he said. “We’ve also done things that are a little bit different than other teams or the U.S. by having a little bit smaller team. We’re here to get medals and this is what’s going to help our program in the long run, where we can put it back into development and other things. We have to go for it at these big events like this.”

While Canada’s plan for Sunday’s team sprint was originally to start Harvey and Lenny Valjas, Wadsworth explained that would likely change out of a need to rest Harvey.

On Saturday night, Jess Cockney and Valjas were listed to start.

“It was [going to be Alex] and Len, but the way his legs were kind of acting at the end of [today’s] race, we’re … thinking that he might not do it and start to recover for the 50 k, maybe use the relay as a tuneup for that,” Wadsworth said.

During Saturday’s race, Babikov explained he struggled with the sugary conditions during his classic leg and couldn’t blame it on his skis.

“[Alex and I] had the same skis prepared so I think it was just me, I was just struggling with those conditions,” he said. “Maybe I was too tight … Most of the time in the skiathlon I have a problem with classic so I maybe worked too hard to stay with the pack so that made me too tired. That’s why I was surprised I felt so good in skate.”

A minute behind Harvey at the halfway point, Babikov had the seventh-fastest transition time and immediately started picking off places during the freestyle leg. Twenty-eighth at 20 k, he was up to 23rd at 21.3 k.

“[I came into the ski change] ten or 15 seconds behind [Italy’s Roland] Clara, some Germans [Jonas Dobler and Florian Notz] and some Japanese athletes [Keishin Yoshida and Akira Lenting],” he said. “I think I was with [Finland’s Sami] Jauhojaervi. I started fighting them and catching them one by one, and the group kind of exploded … I worked my way up. It took me half a lap to catch that group ahead of me, maybe on the Mördarbacken, I caught them.

“I had a good feeling skating and was feeling pretty satisfied with my skate part,” Babikov concluded after finishing 2:43.8 behind Vylegzhanin in 23rd.

For the rest of World Championships, he was looking forward to the 15 k freestyle “and maybe the relay,” he said.

Results

February 21, 2015
Bjornsen Busts Out Season-Best Distance Result in 28th at World Champs, Top U.S. Man in Skiathlon

Erik Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) races up Mördarbacken during the the men’s 30 k skiathlon at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden. He finished 28th for his best distance result of the season. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — The timing was right for Erik Bjornsen in the first race of his second FIS Nordic World Ski Championships on Saturday.

For the first time this season, the 23-year-old U.S. Ski Team member cracked the top 30 in a distance race and he did so after skiing in the top 30 for most of the men’s 30-kilometer skiathlon.

After starting the mass start in bib 47 of 63, Bjornsen made his way up to 34th, 9.2 seconds from the lead, within the first 1.5 k of the opening 15 k classic leg. Meanwhile, his U.S. teammate Matt Gelso, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, hung with the group in 31st, 8.1 seconds behind.

“I have been working on my classic technique and just trying to stay really relaxed,” Bjornsen recalled.

After the women rounded two similar courses for the 15 k skiathlon earlier Saturday afternoon, the men were left with mostly chewed-up conditions in temperatures around 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Race officials salted two hills on the men’s 5 k freestyle course, according to Gelso, who said, “Those were awesome and the rest, the main hill on Mördarbacken, was so deep and soft and smushy…”

Bjornsen and Gelso skied near each other for the first lap, with Bjornsen in 35th at 3.3 k, 10.5 seconds behind the leaders, and Gelso just 0.7 seconds back in 38th.

By the end of the first lap, Bjornsen was up to 28th, 7.7 seconds out of first, while the second U.S. man at the time, Kris Freeman (Freebird) lapped through the stadium in 42nd, 13 seconds back. Gelso was 0.8 seconds behind Freeman in 44th, and U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Noah Hoffman lost contact with the lead group to complete his first of six laps in 54th, 43.7 seconds from first.

From that point, Bjornsen continued to the lead the U.S., skiing in 27th at 15 k, 14.1 seconds back, and 24th after the ski change at 15 k. At that point, he was 43.7 seconds behind race leader Alex Harvey of Canada.

“For the first couple of laps, it was really good, I was having solid kick,” Bjornsen said of the first half of the race. “Last lap I was starting to slip, but I knew I had some really fast skis so really just trying to work up the tops of the hills. I was really happy with the classical leg.”

He completed his first skate lap in 25th, 1:04.4 behind, and hung in 29th (+1:37.1) with 5 k to go.

“I got a split with, like, two laps to go and I was like 28th or 29th,” Bjornsen recalled. “I was starting to cramp and I was trying to hold on for dear life. I mean, I was pretty happy with the last few kilometers. I was able to pick off a couple more spots. It was awesome.”

He ended up 28th, 2:54.0 behind Russian winner Maxim Vylegzhanin after posting the 25th-fastest classic leg, 25th-ranked skate leg and 20th-fastest transition time.

Bjornsen said the key was trying to hold onto the group then passing them when he felt good in the final kilometers. In doing so, he overtook some competitors he hadn’t seen earlier in the race.

“I felt like I was always with people trying to hold on, knowing that those guys in front of me were probably dying just as bad as I was,” he said. “I am pretty confident with my finishes and I knew if I could just hold onto those guys for those the first two laps of skating, I would be able to makes something happen the last lap and I was able to.”

He finished 0.3 seconds behind Germany’s Jonas Dobler in 27th, 0.5 seconds behind Finland’s Iivo Niskanen in 26th and a second behind Japan’s Akira Lenting in 25th.

“I was right behind a few more spots,” Bjornsen said. “It would have been nice to have a little bit more in the tank, but I was happy with it.”

Noah Hoffman racing to 44th Saturday’s 30 k skiathlon at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: NoahHoffman.com/Jonas Birgerson)

Behind him, Freeman reached the ski change in 49th, 2:52.6 back from the lead, Hoffman came through 53 seconds later in 51st (+3:45.7), and Gelso nearly another minute back in 52nd (+4:43.0).

Hoffman went on to post the 39th-ranked skate leg to finish 44th (+7:09.1) in his first classic race of the season, after he broke his fibula in the 15 k classic World Cup opener in November in Kuusamo, Finland. Last week at the World Cup in Östersund, Sweden, Hoffman was 38th in the 15 k freestyle.

“Not what I was hoping for,” Hoffman said after Saturday’s skiathlon. “The classic leg was really challenging from the gun. So early on it was so bad, and I’m not sure why.

“I was definitely trying to ski a race where I could move up in the skate leg but that whole thing kind of went out the window when I found myself being dropped from a 60-person group in the classic leg,” he continued. “At that point, you have to do everything you can to hold on.”

In a blog post on Saturday evening, Hoffman wrote that his “energy and technique felt okay, I was just slow. The race was brutally hard; I felt like I’d been hit by a truck afterwards.”

He told FasterSkier his goal coming into the race — just his second race of the season after spending more than two months healing, rehabbing and recovering — was to get into the points with a top 30.

“That didn’t happen today. I think I can still do that in the coming races, but I need to refocus,” Hoffman said. “There’s two more good races [the 15 k skate and 50 k classic mass start] coming up for me plus the relay will be really fun, and then a couple of World Cups after World Champs. I’m just hoping to build. Today was not what I was looking for, but there’s lots more possibilities.”

Freeman finished 48th (+7:57.1). Up until two days ago, he explained he wasn’t sure he was going to race after catching a cold at his last races, the SuperTour mini tour, in Craftsbury, Vt.

“I felt flat and it showed,” he said. “I’m not happy with it. I blew up spectacularly at eight kilometers when I lost the group and then I regrouped around 20 k, which is a good thing, and I was able to come back and actually race again, but it was obviously unimpressive.”

Freeman reflected that he may have opted for too much kick while testing his skis.

“I could run up a wall, but they weren’t running very fast, and I just kept losing a little bit on the downhill and I wasn’t strong enough to overcome it,” he said. “To stay with the pack today, I was going to need an advantage in skis and I think a slight disadvantage just killed me, but it was totally my fault — I went back for more.”

The last time up the infamous Mördarbacken hill, Hoffman caught Freeman with just a couple kilometers to go.

“He was at a different level going up that so I think he is going to have a good race in the 15 k [next week],” Freeman said. “I am hoping that this blew the snot out of me and I will be back for the 15 k.”

In his first-ever World Championships race, Gelso, 26, finished 54th (+11:26.4), and explained after he felt “pretty awful” during it.

“I was struggling with the classic. I was OK the first lap and then I just started blowing up and I don’t know why,” he said. “I was hoping to be with the pack in the classic and see what happened in the skate, but that didn’t happen for a number of reasons.”

Gelso added that the skiathlon had been his focus race while in Falun.

“I just didn’t have it today, that is for sure,” he said.

At the same time, Gelso observed that the racing scene in Falun, with more than 44,000 spectators on Saturday, was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.

“I thought this was just going to be like a World Cup, but just a little bit bigger,” he said. “Like Hoff and I talked about, it’s more like a mini Olympics than a big World Cup. There’s lot going on, there’s a lot of people, there’s a ton of effort that goes into this. It’s a pretty serious event.”

Commenting on the team’s overall performance on Saturday, USST Head Coach Chris Grover called it, “a solid day; great for some just okay for others.” In the women’s race, Liz Stephen led the team in 11th.

In the men’s race, Grover observed that Bjornsen had “really fantastic skis, which you could see on the downhills. He was gliding super well and maybe dropped a couple places during the classic leg on the ups and then he would just grab them right back on the downs,” he said.

“He and his coach, Erik Flora, have just managed to find the form when it counts,” Grover added. “Here is another championship just like last year where he has just started off in excellent form so that is pretty exciting.”

On Sunday, two of U.S. sprint veterans — Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton — will race the two-man freestyle team sprint in that order. At the last skate team sprint in Otepää, Estonia, they missed qualifying because of a crash and placed 19th. At last year’s Sochi Olympics, Hamilton teamed up with Bjornsen to finish sixth in the classic team sprint.

Results

February 21, 2015
Oh So Close for Norwegian Rookie Tønseth

Norway’s 23-year-old World Championships rookie Didrik Tønseth placed fourth in the skiathlon on Saturday, his first race of 2015 World Championships, and missed the podium by 1.8 seconds. (Photo: Twitter)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

Norway’s Didrik Tønseth was looking at a podium finish in his very first FIS Nordic World Ski Championships event. Now he’s looking at doing more pushups.

Twenty-three-year-old rookie Tønseth was leading for part of the way in the men’s 30-kilometer skiathlon on Saturday.

“I was thinking that, ‘This is it. I’m going to nail it today,’ ” Tønseth said to Norwegian reporters about the first half of his race.

But then about halfway through, he hit the wall.

“In the middle of the race, I was just thinking that I needed to just finish and go home and work on pushups,” Tønseth said.

But he fought his way back and with just a couple of kilometers to go, he was in the top three. Tønseth kept his position until the final stretch to the finish, and barely missed the podium in the last five or so meters after Canada’s Alex Harvey passed him before the line. He collapsed across the finish, 1.8 seconds back from third in fourth place.

“In a way, I’m happy with the race, but fourth place is nothing,” Tønseth said afterward.

“The race was good but the sprint wasn’t so good,” he told FasterSkier.

But he didn’t spend much time thinking about the ranking. Tønseth raced as hard as he could. He squeezed every ounce of energy out of his body, and he is gearing up for the rest of World Championships.

“It’s the 50 k a week from now that I’m really here for. That was the original plan anyway,” Tønseth said, noting that the skiathlon was a warmup event for him.

And while fourth place is no podium, Tønseth was rewarded with a spot on the Norwegian relay team for the 4 x 7.5 k relay next Friday.

Results

February 21, 2015
U.S. Taps Caldwell, Diggins for Team Sprint; Randall ‘Playing it day by day’

Kikkan Randall (U.S. Ski Team) during Thursday’s 1.4 k classic sprint qualifier, in which she placed 36th to miss advancing to the heats on the opening day of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. She finished 35th overall after Sweden’s Hanna Falk was disqualified. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — The defending world champions in the women’s team sprint will field a new team at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Sophie Caldwell will join Jessie Diggins as the Americans attempt to defend their title in a field that features fierce competition in the form of Norway’s team of Maiken Caspersen Falla and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Sweden’s team of Stina Nilsson and Ida Ingemarsdotter.

Kikkan Randall, a member of the defending 2013 World Championships team, will not start Sunday.

“It was a really hard decision to make. We had a number of women we were considering for that,” U.S. Ski Team (USST) Head Coach Chris Grover said in an interview. “Jessie was the first pick for that team given what her form has been like.”

Grover explained that Caldwell, Randall, Sadie Bjornsen, and Ida Sargent were all in the running for the final spot and that U.S. coaches took results, tactical abilities and current states of fitness into the consideration. He said that the decision to start Caldwell was due to her improving form over the season.

“Sophie seems to be coming into better and better fitness. Her skating in the pack in a sprinting environment is always good,” he said.

Randall has struggled to find form so far this season. In the first two races of World Championships, she finished 35th in Thursday’s classic sprint and 31st in Saturday’s 15 k skiathlon.

“[I’m] just kind of playing it day by day, and searching, and trying to find better feelings,” she said after the skiathlon.

According to Grover, the decision to leave Randall off the team was difficult giver her abilities and experience. He believes that Caldwell’s addition gives the U.S. its best chance at a top result. He also acknowledged that “at the end of the day, you never really know if you made the right choice or not.

“It was a hard decision with Kikkan because even though she’s not at her peak fitness right now, she’s still good tactically and a good skater. She knows where to be and knows where to see the openings,” he said. “It was tough and in the end, we felt like Sophie’s trajectory right now was putting her in a place right now where she could be part of our best team.”

The women’s and men’s team sprints begin tomorrow with semifinals at 12:30 p.m. CET (6:30 a.m. EST).

Team sprint start lists: Women | Men

February 21, 2015
Rydzek Realizes Every Child’s Dream as Nordic Combined World Champ; Taylor Fletcher Leads U.S. in 19th

Germany’s Johannes Rydzek (5) celebrates his first World Championships title in the first nordic-combined competition of 2015 World Championships on Friday in Falun, Sweden. He edged Italy’s Alessandro Pittin in the normal hill/10 k individual by 1.3 seconds. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — Johannes Rydzek hadn’t seen the podium in a World Championships competition since his first World Championships in 2011 in Oslo, Norway, where he won three silver medals between the large-hill individual and two team events.

Four years later, the 23-year-old German rose to gold in the normal hill/10-kilometer individual on Friday, the first day of nordic combined at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

“Every child that comes to sport has this dream to be a world champion, and now I am one,” Rydzek told the Associated Press.

Rydzek jumped to fifth on the 100-meter hill at Lugnet Arena in Falun, Sweden, then overcame a 31-second starting deficit to make a break for first on the last lap of the 10 k Gundersen start. Rydzek answered an attack from Italian leader Alessandro Pittin with about half a kilometer to go, trailing him down into the stadium. On the final rise before a sweeping downhill toward the finish, Rydzek passed Pittin and outlasted him by 1.3 seconds for the win.

“I tried everything to go alone,” Pittin told the AP. “But for sure, Johannes was faster than me when we entered the stadium.”

Pittin had raced up to second with the fastest ski time, latching onto the lead pack on the fourth-and-final lap. He jumped to 14th and started the 10 k race 1:16 minutes behind Germany’s Eric Frenzel, who led the jumping portion.

Rydzek posted the fourth-fastest ski time to win in 26:38.9, while France’s defending Olympic champion Jason Lamy Chappuis finished third (+5.0) after starting third, 25 seconds back. Frenzel placed fourth (+6.1) with the 20th-ranked time.

Håvard Klemetsen led Norway in fifth (+9.6) after starting sixth, and Japan’s Akito Watabe and Yoshito Watabe placed sixth (+12.2) and seventh (+14.4), respectively. The two were among the most competitive in the jump on a windy afternoon, which included delays, with Yoshito soaring to second and Akito ranking fourth heading into the 10 k.

Norway’s Jørgen Graabak improved from 11th to eighth, Germany’s Fabian Riessle rocketed from 23rd to ninth with the fifth-fastest time, and Austria’s Bernhard Gruber went from 17th to 10th overall.

U.S. Nordic Combined’s Taylor Fletcher (25) racing to 19th in Friday’s 10 k after jumping to 25th on the normal hill in Falun, Sweden. Fletcher was the lone American in the top 20 on the first day of nordic combined at 2015 World Championships. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

Taylor Fletcher led the U.S. in 19th after starting 25th, 1:31 behind Frenzel, and finished 1:32.5 after Rydzek. His ski time ranked 18th.

“I felt like I had good speed, I just I never got into a rhythm,” Fletcher said afterward. “I felt like I was swimming and I was never comfortable. I had people stepping all over my poles and I was going in and out of the line of people trying to move up, and I didn’t race my style.”

Fletcher started four seconds behind his older brother Bryan, who jumped to 20th and ended up 21st (+1:40.9).

“We were really hoping that we’d be able to pull away or work together and pull up to the front, but with the way the conditions were and just how I was skiing, it was really hard to actually make up ground on anybody,” Bryan said.

While temperatures cooled slightly to around 35-degrees Fahrenheit by the start of the race at 4 p.m., the course had turned to a mashed-potato-like consistency with the sun beating down on a 40-degree afternoon.

The 50-man field saw the jumping portion delayed from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. because of winds, leaving competitors with about 50 minutes after the last jump to prepare for the pursuit-style race.

“We didn’t get much of a warmup and we were only able to ski the upper part of the course,” Bryan said. “They didn’t have the full course open or anything so that was tough. It was a quick turnaround.”

Ben Berend (U.S. Nordic Combined) competing in his first World Championships competition on Friday in Falun, Sweden. After jumping to 16th on the normal hill, Berend finished 45th in the 10 k. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

He noted that his teammate Ben Berend, in his first World Championships, had more adversity to deal with jumping as the ninth starter in the first group.

“Every time they were going to start the competition today, he’d have to get dressed, go all the way to the top of the jump and by the time he’d get there, they’d say, ‘OK we’re not going to do it,’ and he’d have to come right back down,” Bryan said. “For us in the later group, it wasn’t nearly as bad. It certainly is a lot of warming up and then, ‘OK, we’re not going yet.’ … It’s the same for everybody. It used to happen a lot more on World Cup then it does these days with TV and everything, but it’s just something you have to deal with.”

Berend jumped to 16th, the second best of the four Americans after Billy Demong leapt to 10th.

After having competed at one World Cup beforehand, the 19-year-old Berend was surprised to discover he led the jump through the first 18 men.

“I went and actually got equipment checked. I was in there forever and I came back out and they were like, ‘You’re still in the lead. You need to come back to the leader’s chair,’ ” he recalled. “I’ve never been there before so that was a pretty awesome experience being able to take that in.”

The 19th jumper, Demong bumped him out of it.

“Having Bill take me out of that leader’s chair, it couldn’t have been more perfect,” Berend said.

“They were like, ‘You’re still in the lead. You need to come back to the leader’s chair.’ ” — Ben Berend (U.S. Nordic Combined), who was 16th in Friday’s jump and 45th overall for his career best in his second World-Cup-level individual competition

Demong went on to finish 25th in the 10 k (+1:51.8), and Berend placed 45th (+4:54.6).

“I’m not fast enough to ski at the front of these races,” Berend said. “The conditions just made it tougher so the race was pretty brutal, but you learn. It was good experience for me out there. … Overall it was an awesome day. I’m looking forward to learning from this and moving on to better results in the future.”

Demong noted that this was Berend’s first World Championships and third-ever World Cup event (after two competing twice at last month’s World Cup in Schonach, Germany).

“To execute well and sit in the lead, that’s huge,” Demong said. “At 19 it’s a lot easier to train a few years and get faster at cross country than it is to make a ski jumper. Ski jumping is a really funny sport. When I was his age I was a great jumper, but I struggled in cross country. I’d rather start with someone who is a talented athlete, a great jumper, and try to teach them the cross-country side.”

In his eighth World Championships, the 34-year-old Demong explained that jumping has been his strong point this year.

“I haven’t competed a whole lot, and seemingly in my old age not training much for jumping has paid off,” he said. “The same can’t be said about cross country. I haven’t raced super well this year, but it’s been stable. Today, I started out harder, hoping to make something happen and paid for it the second half of the race. Ordinarily, these were my racing conditions. When I was my fittest this is where I would win, like Vancouver and Liberec. That being said, when you’re not the fittest, it is punishing.”

The second of four nordic-combined events is scheduled for Sunday with the 4 x 5 k team event.

“Sunday is going to be great if we can jump like we did today,” Demong said. “I think Taylor and Bryan skied a really good first half today. They’ve been two of the fastest, if not the fastest guys this year, so hopefully I can pull my stuff together and we’ll have a fight for a medal.”

— Lander Karath contributed reporting

Results

2015 Nordic Combined World Championships

2015 Nordic Combined World Championships

2015 Nordic Combined World Championships

2015 Nordic Combined World Championships

February 20, 2015
World Champs Rookies: 10 Questions with Ben Berend

Ben Berend racing to 23rd on Day 1 of the Nordic Combined Continental Cup in Park City, Utah. (Photo: Craig Ward)

We can’t imagine anything much more exciting than making an event like World Championships for the first time, so we contacted the North American skiers living that exact dream this year.

Instead of interrogating them with the usual “tell us how you’re feeling,” we decided to pose the following 10 questions to each of the North Americans headed to their first World Championships from Feb. 18-March 1 in Falun, Sweden.

***

The youngest member of the five-man U.S. Nordic Combined World Championships Team, 19-year-old Ben Berend, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., recently competed at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

There, he notched a best individual result of 13th in the normal hill/5-kilometer competition and placed seventh in the 4 x 5 k team event with fellow Americans Jasper Good, Ben Loomis and Koby Vargas.

“I’m on a little bit of a different agenda than the rest of the world champ team,” Berend told the National Nordic Foundation while en route from Almaty to meet teammates Adam Loomis and Taylor Fletcher in Ramsau, Austria. After competing in the Continental Cup there, they traveled to Falun on Monday.

Ben Berend (U.S. Nordic Combined B-team) warming up before his first-ever World Cup in January in Schonach, Germany. There, he placed 46th in the normal hill/10 k individual competition and seventh with the U.S. in the team event. (Courtesy photo)

“For me, I don’t really have any expectations because I have no idea what to expect. As the 5th man and youngest member of the team my biggest goal is just to absorb all the information that comes my way,” he said. “Our team consists of Olympic and World Championship medalists who I can learn a lot from. It will be awesome to see first hand how Bill [Demong], Bryan [Fletcher], Taylor, and Adam prepare and handle a championship event.

“My biggest advice for the young guys in our sport is just to stay patient and work hard,” the U.S. Nordic Combined B-team member added. “Improvement doesn’t happen overnight so don’t get frustrated if it takes some time. If you put in the work though, it will ALWAYS pay off eventually. Also don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice from any of us older guys. We not only want to achieve our goals but we want to help you achieve yours as well. It may be an individual sport, but it’s a team effort.”

On Friday, he was listed to compete in the first nordic-combined competition of the week — the 100-meter normal hill/10 k individual — along with Demong and the Fletcher brothers.

1. What was the first thing you did when you found out you were named to the World Championships team?

“When I saw the press release of the World Championship team, telling my Mom and Dad was the absolute first thing I did. They have been so supportive of my skiing career over the years.”

2. What’s been the biggest performance of your career so far? What one race stands out the most and why?

“I think two results stick out the most to me. My 14th place finish in the Park City Continental Cup last winter was really huge. Not only was it my first time in the top 30 but it really showed me that I belonged in these competitions and could be competitive. Also last week’s result at the Junior World Championships in Almaty was a testament to how much I have improved over the last few years. My top result in 2013 was 26th, in 2014 it was 23rd, and this year my top result was 13th. It’s one thing to feel an improvement but to see results justifying that is a great feeling.”

3. What are you most looking forward to at World Championships?

“I’m really looking forward to the atmosphere in Falun. With one World Cup start to my name I’m very new to that whole scene. I honestly have no idea what to expect and I think that’s kind of fun. It will also be awesome to witness how Bill, Bryan, Taylor, and Adam handle and prepare for a Championship event. These guys have had a lot of success at this level and I know I’m going to learn a lot from them.”

4. What’s your biggest motivation while competing?

“There are two types of motivation, self motivation and outside motivation. Up until this year I definitely fell into the first category. Outside factors have never really affected my motivation. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could accomplish things. This spring our funding was cut and we were basically told that the future of our sport didn’t have podium potential at the Olympics or World Championships. To me that was a slap in the face because I was one of the younger guys coming up. A lot of my motivation now comes from wanting to prove that the younger generation of this sport can be as successful as the guys that came before us.”

Ben Berend at the FIS Nordic Combined Continental Cup on Dec. 12 at Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah. (Photo: Paul Loomis)

5. Which event(s) do you hope or plan to compete in?

“As the 5th guy, I have no idea what events I will compete in. We have a very strong team going into Falun with four guys who have really proven themselves on the World Cup. However, if I could choose any event it would be the Big Hill 10km because one of my strengths is jumping on larger hills.”

6. If you could race the team sprint with anyone in the world, who would it be?

“I would definitely convert Gabriela Soukalová [of the Czech Republic] from a biathlete to a nordic-combined skier so we could race together and fall in love.”

7. Which world cup skier would you least like to meet in a dark alley (or the final 100 meters of a race)?

“I would not want to meet Magnus Moan in a dark alley or in the last 100 meters of a race because he is tall, scary, and has bad ass tattoos all over his arms.”

Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic after winning an IBU World Cup 7.5 k sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

8. What will be your key to success in Falun?

“As a team, our key to success is experience. Between Bill, Bryan, and Taylor there are 6 World Championship medals to account for. These guys have been here before and know how to perform when it matters.”

9. Finish this sentence: If I made the podium at World Champs __________.

“… I would yell ‘I’m going to Disney Land!’ as I crossed the finish line. I would celebrate with my teammates and savor that moment forever. Also I would quit my job as a dishwasher immediately.”

10. Name a person who’s had a major influence on your skiing career.

“I can’t name a single person because so many people have influenced my skiing career. I think the most influence has come from my teammates on the World Champ team. As a young kid I watched Bill Demong win World Championship and Olympic Medals. He really set the bar for US Nordic Combined skiing and I so badly wanted to follow in his footsteps. Last year I made the National team and had the opportunity to move in with Taylor Fletcher and have Bryan Fletcher live right next door. Throughout the year I’ve learned from these guys what it means to handle oneself like a true professional inside and outside of the sport. On any given day Bill, Bryan, Taylor, or Adam would be helping me with my cross country skiing. Even though they were focused on their own skiing, they would all go out of their way to help me develop my own skills as an athlete. It’s a real team effort and I couldn’t ask for better teammates and friends.”

February 20, 2015
Caldwell, Hamilton Reach Semis for 10th, 12th in Falun Classic Sprint

Sophie Caldwell (21) follows Norway’s Celine Brun-Lie (10) in their 1.4 k classic-sprint quarterfinal on Thursday at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Caldwell went on to place third in the heat and advanced as a lucky loser. It was the first time she had raced heats in a classic sprint all season and she finished the day 10th overall. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — Leading up to the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, Sophie Caldwell had raced six World Cup sprints this season. Five of them were skate sprints.

On Thursday, the 24-year-old U.S. Ski Team member embarked on her second classic-sprint outing of the winter. Just over a month ago in Otepää, Estonia, Caldwell missed qualifying in her first classic sprint by nine-hundredths of a second in 31st.

So while she was happy to simply qualify in the opening race of World Championships, the 1.4-kilometer classic sprint, Caldwell was certainly looking for a little more beyond that.

The top North American women’s qualifier in 21st, 7.87 seconds behind qualifying winner Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, Caldwell went on to place third in her quarterfinal behind Kowalczyk and Norway’s Celine Brun-Lie, respectively.

Sophie Caldwell (U.S. Ski Team) racing to 21st in the women’s 1.4 k classic sprint qualifier on the first day of medal competition at the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Flying Point Road)

Fortunately for her, her finishing time of 3:31.75 (which was 2.2 seconds back from Kowalczyk) was the fastest among all the third-place finishers in the quarterfinals, and Caldwell advanced to the semifinals as one of two lucky losers (the other being Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter).

“I tired a little in this long double-pole stretch, but our skis were awesome,” Caldwell said after the quarterfinal, in which she found herself in fourth early.

Before descending down into the stadium for the final push up and over the last hill, Caldwell put herself in third behind Kowalczyk and Brun-Lie, then nearly caught Brun-Lie, finishing 0.52 seconds behind her.

“I wanted to get into their draft and I still had no idea how close people behind us were,” she explained, still unsure at the time whether she would advance to the next round.

“I felt like we went really fast and I’m hoping the time shows that, too,” Caldwell said.

It was as the Vermont native, who placed sixth in the 2014 Olympics freestyle sprint but sustained two separate elbow injuries last summer and fall that kept her from competing on the World Cup until early December, made it to the semifinals in her second World Championships appearance.

Two years ago at the last World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, she competed in one race — the classic sprint — where she placed 20th as the second-best American woman (U.S. teammate Kikkan Randall finished 19th).

Even that year, Caldwell didn’t make the semifinals.

Knowing her strengths in skiing efficiently and relaxed, she aimed to keep her cool on two of the biggest climbs of Falun’s sprint course. But the pace out of the start of her semifinal was “pretty fast,” she said.

“I found myself at the back of the pack, definitely getting tired on the ups, but I knew I had fast skis so I just focused on getting a really low tuck through [the stadium] and picked off sixth place,” she said.

Caldwell skied up from sixth to fifth, finishing 5.86 seconds behind Norwegian semifinal winner Marit Bjørgen, who went on to win the final as well. Two Norwegians placed second (+0.41) and third (+1.08) behind Bjørgen — Maiken Caspersen Falla and Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes, respectively — and Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen finished fourth, 5.34 seconds back from the winner and 0.52 seconds ahead of Caldwell.

“My upper-body strength has improved a lot, but I still have some work to do on my double pole,” Caldwell said after the semifinal, which put her in 10th at the end of the day. “I held off sixth, which was great but it would’ve been nice to make a move on fourth, but I’m happy with the day.”

“That’s three championships in a row where Sophie’s our best sprinter,” U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Grover said Thursday night. “She’s continually showing that she’s a big-game, big-competition skier and she skis well in that arena when the pressure is up.”

Another American and Caldwell’s boyfriend, Simi Hamilton achieved his second-best classic sprint result of the season (and made the semifinals for the second race in a row) less than a week after placing 11th in the World Cup classic sprint in Östersund, Sweden.

Simi Hamilton (U.S. Ski Team) during Thursday’s 1.4 k classic sprint qualifier, in which he placed 28th to advance to the quarterfinals in Falun, Sweden. He went on to make the semifinals and ended Day 1 of 2015 World Championships in 12th overall. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

Hamilton qualified 28th in the men’s 1.4 k sprint, 6.64 seconds behind Russian qualifying winner Nikita Kriukov and 0.69 seconds within the top 30. His teammate, Andy Newell qualified 10th, 3.64 seconds back for his best qualifier of the season.

Hamilton went on to place fourth in his quarterfinal, 2.74 seconds behind the winner, Norway’s Thomas Northug. Older brother Petter Northug — the eventual men’s final winner — took second, 0.09 seconds behind Thomas, who won the heat in 3:00.42, and a third Norwegian, Eirik Brandsdal placed third (+0.71).

Hamilton’s quarterfinal ended up being the fastest by more than three seconds, and he advanced to the semifinal as the second lucky loser with Brandsdal. With about 10 minutes before the first men’s semifinal, Hamilton spent a few minutes on the spin bike trying to regroup for his next big effort.

“I felt like I was able to maintain a good effort through the quarter, which sometimes, at least in the past I’ve struggled with a little bit,” Hamilton, 27, reflected. “I’ve always had good top speed, but I think my fitness has been one of my shortcomings. I feel like my fitness is good right now.”

In his quarterfinal, Hamilton left the stadium trailing the pack in sixth, then moved to fifth by the top of the first major climb. He picked off another place in fourth ahead of Switzerland’s Jovian Hediger while making his way back into the stadium, the followed the Northug brothers and Brandsdal into the finish.

Catapulted into the first semifinal, Hamilton once again found himself in sixth shortly after the start. He improved to fifth on the long climb, then slipped back to sixth, finishing 8.14 seconds behind Kriukov, the semifinal winner. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino placed second in that semifinal (+0.14), Sweden’s Teodor Peterson was third (+0.77), Switzerland’s Ueli Schnider was fourth (+1.05), and Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola fifth (+2.18).

“I actually felt really good for the first probably 500 meters of that semi … then the wheels kind of came off,” Hamilton said after placing 12th overall. “I think the effort in the quarter just kind of caught up with me pretty quickly. But it was still sweet … great day, it’s always fun to be here in Falun where the fans are so amazing. This venue’s so great. The trails are awesome. Good first day to the championships.”

Six U.S. Ski Team skiers in the heats

In all, six of the eight U.S. athletes who started Thursday’s sprint qualified for the rounds, including Newell and Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess on the men’s side (in 10th and 30th, respectively), and Sadie Bjornsen and Ida Sargent for the women (in 26th and 29th).

Kikkan Randall (U.S. Ski Team) during Thursday’s 1.4 k classic sprint qualifier, in which she placed 36th to miss advancing to the heats on the opening day of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. She finished 35th overall after Sweden’s Hanna Falk was disqualified. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

Kikkan Randall placed 36th in the qualifier, missing out on the necessary top 30 by 3.22 seconds, and 21-year-old Ben Saxton was 54th in his World Championships debut.

Grover noted that the team’s overall performance on Thursday essentially matched its freestyle-sprint showing at last year’s Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where four women (Caldwell, Jessie Diggins, Randall, and Sargent) and two men (Newell and Hamilton) qualified for the heats.

But at the end of the day, the U.S. didn’t get the A-final it had been aiming for.

“I think when we set out in the year, we were hoping for more by today, for sure, but at the same time it’s just the first race of the championships,” Grover said. “Classic sprints have always been a hard one for us. … It’s hard to take those podiums away from the Scandinavians in the classic sprints … those athletes were in a different class that ended up on the podium and at this point at the moment, we’re not at that level.”

With changing conditions throughout the afternoon, mostly well above freezing but with a dampness that firmed the tracks before dusk, Grover explained that the team’s wax technicians worked well together to keep their skis competitive.

“It was a good day,” Grover said. “Good kick, good glide … It wasn’t perfect for every skier on every round, but it worked out good.”

Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) racing to fourth in her classic-sprint quarterfinal for 19th overall on the opening day of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

Sadie Bjornsen fell behind early in her quarterfinal when Sweden’s Hanna Falk obstructed her on their way out of the stadium. For Falk, it was her second yellow card within moments of her first (she received a yellow card for a false start) and she was disqualified after the heat finished.

“Hanna just came on the top of me with absolutely no room and it forced me to have to stop,” Bjornsen said of the obstruction that set her back to sixth early on.

From there, she lost contact with the pack on the long-and-winding uphill, and despite trying to catch Italy’s Francesca Baudin in third, Bjornsen ended up fourth, 9.51 seconds off the winning pace set by another Swede, eventual-silver-medalist Stina Nilsson. Bjørgen placed second in that quarterfinal (+0.84), and Baudin was third (+6.5).

“I wasn’t in the draft with them and it’s a bit hard to work your way back into that,” said Bjornsen, who ended up 19th overall. “It’s a bummer because I felt really good, but I guess that happens, it’s racing. Everybody wants to be aggressive at World Champs. I gave it a go and I’m still looking for more at the championships.”

Ida Sargent (U.S. Ski Team) was the first starter in Thursday’s 1.4 k classic sprint on the opening day of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. She qualified in 29th and went on to finish 29th overall. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

The first starter of the day, Sargent went out in bib No. 1 and qualified 29th. She then placed sixth in her quarterfinal, 8.56 seconds behind Falla as the winner.

“Not what I was hoping for, but that’s ski racing,” Sargent said. “I had trouble finding any kick. My strength right now is really my striding so having three big hills and not being able to stride on them was a challenge for me.”

While she was able to get out of the tracks and regain contact on the first long climb, she explained she got hung up behind Germany’s Denise Herrmann and lost contact with the leaders.

“I just didn’t have much left after fighting the whole time for the finishing stretch,” Sargent said. “Mona Lisa [Malvalehto of Finland is] really powerful, and I didn’t have anything when she went by me.”

Malvalehto finished fifth, 1.82 seconds ahead of Sargent. While the sprint didn’t go as the American had hoped, putting her in 29th overall, she explained she’d never forget that experience of starting first.

“The crowd just erupted when I started,” Sargent said. “That was a really special feeling. I prefer not to be the first starter. I’ve been the first or second starter in the last three World Cups so I think it would’ve been nice to have a little more course reports … especially on a day like today when you’re not allowed to ski on the course until you’re in the race, [but] being the first racer in the World Championships, that’s a really special moment that I’ll always remember.”

Andy Newell (U.S. Ski Team) racing to 10th in the men’s 1.4 k classic sprint qualifier on Thursday, the first official day of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. He went on to place fourth in his quarterfinal for 17th overall. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

Newell finished 17th overall and Blackhorse-von Jess placed 30th after the two faced off in the same quarterfinal. Newell skied up to third early out of the start, then second, before Blackhorse-von Jess surged up alongside Newell and then ahead of him near the top of the first climb.

“They talk about how fast the World Cup is, but also no one’s going as fast as they can, especially in the quarterfinal,” Blackhorse-von Jess said after rising from sixth out of the start to first at the top of that hill. “I had to really disadvantageous start position being the last [qualifying] bib and I just waited. Nobody wants to ski the edge tracks and I didn’t mind being there.

“I didn’t really mean to take the lead up the first hill, but I wanted to be in the top few coming down the hill,” he continued. “The first thought in my head was, ‘Damnit!’ … I thought somebody was moving on the outside and I was hoping they would hammer around and take the lead. They didn’t do that.”

By the second uphill, Peterson took control for a moment before Canada’s Lenny Valjas moved ahead of him over the top. Newell tripped up slightly on that same horseshoe corner and Blackhorse-von Jess slipped to fifth.

Valjas held his own until the last rise, but at the finish, Peterson had the edge by 0.17 seconds over Kriukov, who took advantage of some others’ slip-ups to move to second, and Valjas finished 0.68 seconds back in third.

Newell nearly fell on his way down into the stadium after riding too close behind Germany’s Sebastien Eisenlauer and took fourth (+1.06), Eisenlauer was fifth (+2.35), and Blackhorse-von Jess was 2.9 seconds back in sixth.

From left to right: Canada’s Lenny Valjas (21), American Andy Newell, Sweden’s Teodor Peterson, and another American, Dakaota Blackhorse-von Jess lead early in the men’s 1.4 k classic sprint quarterfinal on Thursday at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)

“It went completely to plan up until then and then I was out of it all of a sudden because I lost a lot of speed,” Newell said of his second tangle of the heat, in which he “came in really tight on [Eisenlauer’s] draft” and had to free his ski from the German’s boot to move around him.

Newell balanced on one ski for a moment then pushed to come back from fourth, but wasn’t able to make up for the lost time.

“It’s just little mistakes like that that can take it out of you, especially in a quarterfinal,” Newell said. “I feel like my shape’s good, my speed’s good, my fitness is good, but I’m just struggling in the finish there and I think it would’ve been a good day if I was able to get through.”

Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess (Bend Endurance Academy) racing to 30th in the men’s 1.4 k classic sprint qualifier in his first World Championships race on Thursday in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

Recapping his first World Championships race, Blackhorse-von Jess described it as “incredibly fun. It’s hard coming to World Championships and having it be your first sprint heat,” he said. “You make one tactical error and that really is the end of your day, and I was hoping to bring it back. … I was just a little too far back.”

“I was definitely excited for Dakota,” Grover said. “I was excited to see him sneak in there for his first time getting into the points [in a World-Cup-level race]. I was excited for Andy’s qualification. To be just three seconds back [from the top qualifier], that was showing he was kind of coming into form. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the best quarterfinal; he just got hung up at the end.

“Simi skied great, but unfortunately he just didn’t have time to recover [between heats],” he added. “[Those were] good signs from Simi but we’ve had those all year. … and Sadie probably didn’t get the fairest shake at it with the obstruction.”

With Sunday’s freestyle team sprints on the horizon after the men’s and women’s skiathlons on Saturday, Grover said the discussions for who would comprise the women’s team in particular were still ongoing.

“We really just don’t have the athletes that have made the 100-percent solid case [for their selection],” he said, adding that the decision would be based off “today’s results, recent trends and historical trends,” as well as the track conditions.

“[We have] a lot of discussion to do this evening in order to figure out how we’re going to approach the team sprint and how we’re going to approach the skiathlon,” Grover added.

— Lander Karath contributed reporting

Results: Women | Men

February 19, 2015
Bjørgen Seizes First Win of 2015 Worlds, Holds Off Sweden’s Nilsson in Classic Sprint

Norway’s Marit Bjørgen (c) celebrates her 13th World Championships gold and record-setting 30th overall medal (between Olympics and World Championships) with a classic-sprint win in the women’s 1.4 k final on Thursday, the official first day of the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. She edged Sweden’s Stina Nilsson (r) in second and Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla (l) in third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad)

FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, is brought to you by the generous support of L.L. Bean, now featuring a complete line of Kikkan Randall training wear.

FALUN, Sweden — Marit Bjørgen really needed to turn it on at one pivotal point in the women’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint final on Thursday, the first day of medal competition at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. And in her eighth World Championships — more than any other Norwegian cross-country skier can lay claim to — she knew exactly where to do it.

Just before the sun set around 5 p.m. in Falun, Sweden, Bjørgen, 34, hit the stride she had been waiting for all day, coming from behind to take her 13th World Championships gold medal ahead of Sweden’s Stina Nilsson and Norwegian teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla, respectively.

Between the Olympics and World Championships, the gold marked Bjørgen’s 30th medal, putting her in yet another league of her own. Before Thursday’s sprint, she was tied with Norwegian skiing legend Bjørn Dæhlie with 29 total medals.

“Thirty medals is great,” Bjørgen said at a post-race press conference. “The sprint was my first individual gold in 2003 so to still be fighting for a medal in the sprint 12 years after, it’s great and it’s a good feeling. … I’m 34 years [old] and still taking all the sprints around me.”

But Bjørgen wasn’t in it for the record books — she had a job to take care of on Thursday, especially if she wanted to breathe easy for the rest of World Championships.

Four out of five Norwegians made it all the way to the final (with the exception of Celine Brun-Lie, who placed fifth her her semifinal), where Falla led out of the start and up the initial winding climb out of the stadium. Nilsson followed Falla closely in second and Bjørgen remained tight in third, ahead of Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes, and Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, who initially trailed in sixth after a slow start.

“I overslept at the start and it had an impact on everything,” Kowalczyk told TVP1, according to a translation.

As the incline intensified, Falla, who had qualified second earlier in the day (0.24 seconds behind Kowalczyk) and won her quarterfinal before placing second in her semifinal to Bjørgen, dug deeper in the final. She remained up front, leading her three Norwegian teammates in the same lane, while Nilsson skied alongside and slightly behind her over the top.

Meanwhile, Kowalczyk surged from last to fourth, just behind Bjørgen, before the quick turn at the summit into an immediate fast descent.

Falla led up the subsequent climb — also steep but shorter than the first — followed by Nilsson, while Kowalczyk and Bjørgen took advantage of open lanes on the right. At the crest, Bjørgen moved left and in front of Kowalczyk, sneaking ahead of Nilsson as well as the group veered left down toward the stadium. Bjørgen sat back on her fast skis and rode up on the tails of Kalla, passing her to take the lead before the bottom.

As the lead four, with Bjørgen, Falla, Nilsson, and Kowalczyk, cruised into the stadium, they had one last rise before a final descent and sharp righthand turn into the finishing flat.

Before that uphill, Nilsson soared to second with superior glide, tucking past Falla, and chased Bjørgen over the top before challenging her to the finish. While she never drew even with Bjørgen, the Norwegian was well aware of the Swede’s presence.

“I feel Stina right behind me for the last 150 meters and I did have to push really hard before the finish line,” Bjørgen said.

The women’s classic sprint podium at 2015 World Championships on Thursday in Falun, Sweden, with winner Marit Bjørgen (second from l) of Norway, Sweden’s Stina Nilsson (l) in second, and Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla in third. (Photo: Falun2015)

She held off Nilsson by 0.42 seconds, winning in 3:26.63, while Falla hung onto third, 0.99 seconds after Bjørgen and 0.44 seconds ahead of Kowalczyk.

“I’m incredibly happy and relieved,” Bjørgen told NRK after winning gold in her first try at 2015 World Championships. “When I got to the finals, the beast woke in me. Then I knew the smell of medal and I knew I was really nervous at the starting line.”

Bjørgen nervous? It might’ve had something to do with the fact that she raced the final on brand-new skis, which were stoneground on Monday, according to VG.

“In the quarterfinals, I went on the old couple that I’ve won so much, but then I decided to switch to the new skis,” she said in the press conference.

After qualifying sixth, 2.54 seconds off Kowalczyk’s top time of 3:24.89, Bjørgen placed second in her quarterfinal, 0.84 seconds behind Nilsson, and won her semifinal by 0.41 seconds over Falla. Gjeitnes as the third-fastest qualifier raced to third in that semifinal, 1.08 seconds behind Bjørgen, to advance to the final as one of two lucky losers.

Østberg was the other with a third-place finish in her semifinal after Kowalczyk and Falla, respectively.

“I’m feeling in good shape, but I think anything is possible. If you have good skis, good day, it is possible to have more medals,” Bjørgen said of her outlook for the rest of the World Championships.

She could race all six events, or she might opt out of the team sprint on Sunday — she said she wouldn’t decide until Saturday.

“I have taken my goal, one individual gold, and I can relax a bit more,” she said at the conference.

For Nilsson, 21, the silver medal marked her first podium in her second appearance at World Championships. In 2013 in Val di Fiemme, Italy, she placed fifth in the classic sprint — her lone race of the championships.

As she crossed the finish in second on Thursday, she threw her arms up and yelled exuberantly. The 18,300-strong crowd boomed with excitement as well.

“I have not had time to think about what I’ve done,” she told Aftonbladet, according to a translation.

“I’m very happy,” she added. “I [felt] very empty when going in to the finish, but it’s nice to be empty and be second. … Not doubt about it that Marit was the strongest today.”

After what she considered a normal morning (“I had the feeling that I have every morning; I felt hungry,” she said at the press conference), Nilsson qualified fifth and made sure to finish in the top two of her next two heats. Then she completed the day in second overall, and while the moment hadn’t quite sunk in after the race, she had to acknowledge the Swedish fans.

“Every time they introduced me in the stadium, I got just as much praise as Marit,” she told Aftonbladet. “It does not happen every day. … It’s nice to know that there were people here for my sake.”

In the conference, a Swedish reporter even tried to get Norwegian men’s winner Petter Northug to comment on Nilsson.

“I think [runner-up Alex] Harvey knows more about Stina Nilsson…,” Northug said with a smirk.

“Not me,” responded Harvey, the Canadian silver medalist, then jokingly added, “Maybe my teammate.”

The 2014 Olympic champion in the freestyle sprint, Falla, 24, told NRK that she gave everything she had in the final, but that ultimately cost her.

“I had a very good day, and I felt better and better,” she said. “I used up everything I had, but Marit was simply too strong today.”

That said, the success was obviously good for the team. Gjeitnes placed fifth after Kowalczyk, 6.10 seconds behind Bjørgen, and Østberg finished sixth, 10.47 seconds back.

And while they were Norwegians in Sweden, both Falla and Bjørgen said they heard Swedes cheering for them — or maybe it was just Nilsson.

“The atmosphere here is really good,” Falla said in the conference. “I have a lot of supporters here, a lot of family, to know that all the people that are really important to me are standing around of course, it means a lot and helps me reach my goal here in Falun.”

She told reporters she wasn’t sure whether the classic sprint would be her lone race in Falun, or if she’d race the freestyle team sprint as well.

“Today, I am just enjoying third in this race,” Falla said.

Kowalczyk came up short of her first individual podium of the season at this level, after placing fourth in the 10 k classic in the opening World Cup in Kuusamo, Finland, and fifth in a 5 k classic during the Tour de Ski. She did not finish the Tour, pulling out before the final hill-climb pursuit despite ranking fifth overall, then went on to place third in last month’s World Cup freestyle team sprint in Otepää, Estonia, with teammate Sylwia Jaskowiec.

“On the one hand, I am glad that I was in the final, but on the other hand, I’m equally sorry,” Kowalczyk said to TVP1. “The opportunity was great, perhaps the only one in this championship.

“I was ready for a medal,” she added. “I should not have a worse start than Marit, because it is not her specialty, and I was weaker. I have to blame myself for it. If I could kick, I would have kicked. I have not watched the final [from behind].”

Bjørgen was complimentary of Kowalczyk’s season-best sprint.

“I would say she’s back and is good in classic,” Bjørgen said in the conference. “It’s great to see her there, and I really wanted her to be there.”

Among the semifinalists who ended up in the top 12, Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen placed seventh, Slovakia’s Alena Prochazkogva was eighth, Brun-Lie placed ninth, Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. was 10th, Slovenia’s Katja Visnar 11th, and Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter 12th.

Stay tuned for a complete North American report.

Results: Qualifier | Final results

February 19, 2015