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  • Schumacher 16th in World Cup 10 k as Norway Sweeps Podium

    Schumacher 16th in World Cup 10 k as Norway Sweeps Podium

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    Paal Golberg (NOR) led Norway to a 10 k Freestyle podium sweep in the frigid Swedish weather. Golberg was able to master the pacing and the cold to outdistance his teammates. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Today, the FIS World Cup moved to Gallivare, Sweden where a rolling course hosted the 10 kilometer interval start races. In the men’s race, the headline story was the absence of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo who raced yesterday’s sprint in the Norwegian Cup series while he shakes off the effects of having contracted Covid. But Klaebo’s absence didn’t mean that team Norway was hurting for fire power. Evidence of Norway’s depth is the fact that Norwegian men have now won the last 21 individual men’s distance World Cup races, a streak going back to February of 2022 when Iivo Niskanen (FIN) was able to pierce the Norwegian armor. Going into Saturday’s race in Gallivare, Andrew Musgrave (GBR) held second place in the distance standings as he looked to continue his early season momentum. For the U.S., the conventional wisdom was that Gus Schumacher was team USA’s best shot at a top 20 finish.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) led the Americans in the field: a 16th place finish for his second World Cup race in a row. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    When the racing concluded, it was all Norway (again) with Paal Golberg (NOR) finishing first, Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) second, and Iver Tildheim Andersen(NOR) in third. Norway occupied six of the top seven spots. Only Musgrave—who almost counts as Norwegian as he lives and trains in Norway—was able to break up the Norwegian red wave. He finished the day in fifth.

    Gus Schumacher led all American finishers in 16th, followed by Ben Ogden 25th, Scott Patterson 35th, Zanden McMullen 36th, John Steel Hagenbuch 45th, Luke Jager 54th, and Zak Ketterson 58th.

    The top Canadian finisher was Antoine Cyr in 47th. Other Canadian finishers included Olivier Leveille 53rd, Graham Ritchie 56th, Xavier McKeever 57th, and Leo Grandbois 63rd.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) started out strong, but couldn’t put couldn’t quite keep up the pace for the second half of the race. He led all Americans, finishing 16th. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    It was another cold day for racers with a temperature of six degrees Fahrenheit at the start. The competition was tight for the entire race, though Golberg was able to manage the conditions best and did a masterful job pacing. At 3.9 kilometers, he was in seventh place, but gradually and consistently pushed his way into the lead at the 6.3 kilometer mark. Even then, he led by only the narrowest of margins: 0.8 seconds over teammate Didrik Toenseth. But once Golberg grabbed the lead, he kept the pedal down, fighting off a swarm of his teammates who were all only a few seconds behind him. In the final kilometer, he was able to muster a burst of acceleration that gave him a slight cushion. At the finish he was able to gap Amundsen by 4.2 seconds.

    After the race Golberg said that he felt good about doing so well in a freestyle race. “Today I felt really good … classic is usually my best technique.”

    The win propelled Golberg to the top of the World Cup distance standings, and second in overall ranking. Amundsen was able to keep the overall lead in the race for the Crystal Globe, and is in second place in the distance standings.

    Andrew Musgrave (GBR) gave his loyal followers a thrill, but missed the podium by a mere 1.3 seconds. He would finish the day in fifth. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    When the 33 year old Musgrave crossed the finish line, it looked like he might be able to give his fans a thrill, as he was in third place. But that standing could not be sustained as subsequent Norwegians pushed him off the podium. He would finish the day in fifth. Musgrave has been hovering around the podium this season finishing eighth and fifth last week in Ruka, but just missed breaking through again, this time by 1.3 seconds.

    Schumacher lived up to expectations with consistency being the name of the game, earning his second 16th place World Cup finish in a row. He went out fast: 12th at the first time check, only 4.3 seconds off the lead. By the halfway mark, he had dropped down to 14th, but was still only 10 seconds from the top. In the second half of the race, he began to slightly fade; at the 6.3 kilometer mark he had dropped to 19.5 seconds behind the leader. The gap continued to widen; ultimately, he finished 41 seconds from the top of the leader board.

    U.S. Coach, Matt Whitcomb, wasn’t concerned about Schumacher’s pace. “He was 9.9 seconds out of the lead after 5K. He bled another 30 seconds on the second lap,” Whitcomb said. “But it’s the start we were looking for. I do not consider it a missed pace race; I just think it was a pretty big swing. I’m always a big fan of aggressive pacing strategies. Some days, you just get through and it ends up being the race of a lifetime. He wasn’t floundering, he was still skiing very well and attacking, just not with the same freshness from lap one.”  Whitcomb added that everyone, including Schumacher, is pleased with his progress. “We were really excited to continue to see great performances out of Gus,” said Whitcomb. “This is the Gus Schumacher that we’ve been waiting for the last couple of years. He’s laying down some consistency and it’s great to see such hard work paying off.”

    It was a fine performance and established Schumacher as team USA’s most consistent performer in distance events. He sits 14th in the overall distance standings.

    Ben Ogden had his season-best distance race, finishing 25th. “He started conservatively, for Ben,” Whitcomb observed. “We all know the standard Ben Ogden pace which is to explode out of a cannon. Today he kept things under wraps, and just kept picking people off. I think 10k freestyle is low hanging fruit for races he can improve in.”

    Tomorrow, the men and women move on to 4 x 7.5km relays.

    Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Paal Golberg (NOR), Iver Tildheim Andersen (NOR), (l-r) swept the podium for Norway. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Men’s 10 k Freestyle Interval Start RESULTS

  • Kalla, Belov Top Gällivare FIS Opener; Randall 8th, Kershaw 12th

    Kalla, Belov Top Gällivare FIS Opener; Randall 8th, Kershaw 12th

    Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla racing to a win in her first race of the 2017/2018 season, the women’s 5 k freestyle in Gällivare, Sweden, on Friday. (Photo: Sporteventgallivare/Instagram)

    Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Hanna Falk went 1-2 in Sweden’s season-opening International Ski Federation (FIS) race on Friday in Gällivare, with Kalla winning the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle by 8.8 seconds in 12:58.1 minutes. Falk, her teammate on the Swedish women’s team, placed second and Russia’s Yulia Belorukova took the third spot on the podium, 10.3 seconds out of first.

    The host nation had three in the top four, with Ida Ingemarsdotter in fourth (+16.1). Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal finished fifth (+17.8), Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva placed sixth (+23.4), and Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva was seventh (+25.0).

    Kikkan Randall of the U.S. Ski Team raced to eighth (+27.2), just ahead of Sweden’s Evelina Settlin in ninth (+32.0) and Russia’s Anna Nechaevskaya in 10th (+33.5). Japan’s Masako Ishida was just 0.3 seconds out of the top 10 in 11th.

    In an email, Randall explained that she decided to venture to Europe earlier this year to get some racing in ahead of the World Cup.

    “We also wanted a little extra time to let Breck adjust to the 10hr time change!” she wrote of her 1-year-old son, who will be traveling the World Cup circuit with Randall and her husband, Jeff Ellis, this winter.

    (Article continues below)

    Most of the U.S. Ski Team arrived in Rovaniemi, Finland, on Thursday, Nov. 16 (with the exception of Andy Newell, who is racing this weekend in Beitostølen, Norway, with Noah Hoffman). The rest of her teammates planned to train at the Santasport Olympic training center in Rovaniemi until Nov. 21, when the entire team will meet up in Kuusamo (also known as Ruka), Finland — the site of next weekend’s World Cup opener.

    “I’m happy with my start today,” Randall wrote of Friday’s race. “It took my a couple km’s to get going today but I felt like I was finding my rhythm in the 2nd half of the course.  It’s my first hard session this week after the travel over so today was a good jolt!  It was a competitive field and I was satisfied to be in the mix.”

    Ninety-two women raced the Gällivare 5 k skate, compared to 56 women on Friday in Beitostølen (Norway’s FIS season-opener). Randall planned to race the 10 k classic on Saturday in Gällivare, then skip Sunday’s classic sprint.

    “It’s great to be back around other World Cup skiers again and I’ve always liked Gällivare so it’s nice to be back here,” she wrote. “My former wax tech lives here and has been taking great care of us. … Looking forward to meeting up with the team in Ruka next week.”

    With 46 Swedes and 23 Russians accounting for most of the women’s field, Canada’s Emily Nishikawa put herself in the mix in 26th, 54.9 seconds behind Kalla. Nishikawa’s Canadian World Cup teammate Dahria Beatty placed 56th (+1:38.3).

    For Nishikawa, who’s known as a distance skier, the top-30 result was notable in that a 5 k falls somewhere between a sprint and a distance race.

    “5km is such a hard distance, and it is over so fast, but it is a lot of fun,” Nishikawa wrote in an email. “I have been able to work on my sprinting a bit more this summer as I have been injury free, so I’m looking forward to seeing more speed in my racing this season.”

    She planned to race all three days in Gällivare, including Sunday’s sprint.

    “With these races, I am just hoping to fine tune my fitness and get some hard intensity in to feel sharp for the upcoming World Cup races,” added Nishikawa, who’s entering her fifth World Cup season as a leading member of the Canadian women’s World Cup Team. “Today’s race was a really hard effort and I am happy with how I skied today.”

    The 12th-ranked Russian woman on Friday, Evgenia Shapovalova, who was recently banned for life from future Olympics, placed 22nd.

    Belov Bests Ustiugov

    In the men’s 10 k freestyle on Friday, another one of the Russians sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Evgeniy Belov won in 23:08.5. He was 6.5 seconds faster than his Russian teammate Sergey Ustiugov, who placed second. Ustiugov is the defending Tour de Ski champion and Overall World Cup runner-up.

    Switzerland’s Dario Cologna placed third, 7.6 seconds out of first, and Russia swept fourth through ninth, with Sweden’s Marcus Hellner following in 10th (+36.4). Out of the five actively competing skiers the IOC sanctioned earlier this month, all five raced on Friday in Gällivare, which was legal considering FIS had not ruled they can’t.

    Four of those skiers are men. In addition to Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin placed 14th (+43.2), Alexander Legkov followed in 15th (+45.9) and Alexey Petukhov finished 23rd (+56.7) out of 157 finishers on Friday.

    Devon Kershaw (front) training with U.S. Ski Team sprinter Andy Newell in Sjusjøen, Norway, last week. (Photo: Noah Hoffman)

    Ahead of them, Canada’s Devon Kershaw ended up 12th (+39.9), tying another Russian Artem Maltsev (who is not on the IOC-banned list) with identical times.

    “My stance on the whole Russian fiasco is unchanged,” Kershaw wrote in an email, referring to a previous email he wrote to FasterSkier earlier this week when asked how he felt about the IOC-banned Russians competing in FIS events. “I find the entire thing both disturbing and hilarious. The fact that FIS is risking their credibility like this makes no sense to me. Apparently there will be an emergency meeting of sorts tomorrow about it (with FIS I’m assuming but I haven’t heard much about it) – so we’ll have to all wait and see what they come up with.

    “As for seeing Belov win – I mean, that’s no surprise,” Kershaw continued. “He’s shown that he’s a force when he’s in form. But yeah, the fact that he and others have been recently banned for life by the IOC are winning races after that news came out just shows the Mickey Mouse club that our sport has become.”

    As for his own race, Kershaw wrote that he felt great about it. The course suited him well without too much hard climbing. “… You kind of need to be pushing the whole way around. I really like courses like that,” he wrote.

    The conditions, however, with about 10 to 15 centimeters of new snow from the early morning that continued into the race, made the course slower, which Kershaw found to be more challenging.

    “But that is another reason why I am so satisfied with the effort today. Individual start skating in soft conditions? Not my favourite, so I’m happy how I was able to execute things,” he wrote. “For me to be in the mix in a 10km skate like that feels great. I had good energy all race and hit my technical goals for the race too, so I have to be satisfied.”

    Kershaw and the rest of Canada’s Period 1 World Cup team arrived in Gällivare last Sunday. Over the last week, they’ve been testing equipment and getting into a race routine ahead of the World Cup opener, he explained.

    “I changed various things with my training this year so it’s exciting to see how my body feels in the beginning of a new season,” Kershaw wrote. “… My goals are really to just be calm and execute well – which means going into the racing with no expectations other than to ski as technically well as possible while working on the whole pacing thing (which can be challenging at the beginning of the season when you don’t have that many races in the body). I’ll look to have another well executed race tomorrow and the results will be what they will be.”

    Canada’s NorAm leader at the end of last season, Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) was the next-best Canadian in 48th (+1:35.7), followed by Len Valjas (World Cup Team) in 49th (+1:37.0). Jack Carlyle (Alberta World Cup Academy) placed 67th (+2:07.2), Julien Locke (National U25 Team) was 72nd (+2:10.9), Graeme Killick (World Cup Team) 90th (+2:32.2), Brian McKeever (Para Nordic Team) 97th (+2:39.0), and Jess Cockney (World Cup Team) 119th (+3:10.7). Knute Johnsgaard (World Cup Team) did not start.

    Racing continues in Gällivare this weekend with 10/15 k classic individual starts on Saturday followed by classic sprints on Sunday.

    Results: Women | Men

  • Diggins Wins Again, Gregg Joins Her on Podium in Gällivare 10 k

    Diggins Wins Again, Gregg Joins Her on Podium in Gällivare 10 k

    Jessie Diggins stands atop the podium with Czech runner-up Petra Novakova (l) and U.S. teammate Caitlin Gregg (r), who placed third, after the women's 10 k freestyle in Gällivare, Sweden. (Photo: USSA)
    Jessie Diggins stands atop the podium with Czech runner-up Petra Novakova (l) and U.S. teammate Caitlin Gregg (r), who placed third, after the women’s 10 k freestyle in Gällivare, Sweden. (Photo: USSA)

    Consider it a test drive. That’s how several members of the U.S. Ski Team viewed this weekend’s season-opening International Ski Federation (FIS) races in Gällivare, Sweden. And while a win or result close to it is always welcomed, it wasn’t essential. No need to go 100 miles per hour on the first try.

    That said, if you start fast, go with it. Jessie Diggins, a 24-year-old A-team member who took silver in the 10-kilometer freestyle at the 2015 World Championships last season, kicked off this season with a win on Saturday in the Gällivare classic sprint, then repeated the feat in Sunday’s 10 k freestyle — what’s becoming her signature event.

    While it was great to get some good feelings on snow and back-to-back victories to go with it, Diggins said in a post-race phone interview that it was more about taking “inventory of where [we] are and what else needs to be improved, as well as a good reminder of warmups, race routines, and testing skis.”

    She added that the wins were a huge confidence boost going into the World Cup season, which starts Friday in Kuusamo, Finland. And she was pleased her offseason of technique work translated to results on snow.

    She was the fastest in a women’s field of 38 on Sunday, winning the 10 k in 25:08.7 by 10.7 seconds over Petra Novakova of the Czech Republic. For the second-straight day, the U.S. had two on the podium with Caitlin Gregg in third, 30.1 seconds behind Diggins. It was a flashback to February, when the two shared the podium at 2015 World Championships, where Diggins placed second in the 10 k skate and Gregg was third.

    Diggins had started second to last ahead of another teammate, Liz Stephen. Gregg went out 30 seconds ahead of Diggins and kept herself in contention in the top-three throughout the race.

    At the finish, Novakova originally bumped Czech teammate Karolina Grohova out of the lead, then stayed 19.4 seconds ahead of Gregg to hold onto first. That is, until Diggins crossed the finish line.

    “The course was awesome,” Diggins said. “It’s a challenging track with quite a bit of climbing and twisty, turny descents which doesn’t allow for a lot of rest. It is a great representation of the type of courses we race on the World Cup.”

    While she had fun out there, she also made up a lot of time on those who started ahead of her. Diggins jumped out to an early lead, 0.4 seconds ahead of Gregg and 0.7 seconds ahead of Novakova in third, by the first checkpoint.

    Jessie Diggins (bottom) and Caitlin Gregg after notching silver and bronze, respectively, at 2015 World Championships in the 10 k skate.
    Jessie Diggins (bottom) and Caitlin Gregg after notching silver and bronze, respectively, at 2015 World Championships in the 10 k skate.

    Halfway through the race, she held a 3.5-second lead over Novakova and Gregg was 17.6 seconds back in third. On the second of two laps, Diggins caught Gregg, her 30-second woman, and the two finished together.

    “I was psyched when Jessie caught me because I felt like I was skiing well so I knew she was skiing well!” Gregg recalled in an email. “I cheered for her and tried to hang on. As I started following her stride I felt myself actually relax and start skiing way better! I tried to keep the pressure on her because I knew she was fighting for the win without stepping on her skis! I thought it was great to follow her on most of the second lap and it certainly helped me reach the podium!”

    Gregg wasn’t exactly sure where she stood throughout the race, but she had a sense she was in the running for a top result.

    “Both Jessie and Petra are fantastic skaters so it was a solid result for me,” Gregg wrote, a day after placing seventh in the classic sprint. “My skis were fantastic and I knew I was moving well on the course.

    “This has by far been my best preparation season ever,” the 35-year-old U.S. Ski Team rookie added.  “I started working with [personal coach] Tom Jorgenson after I came home from Norway this summer and he had helped me immensely in my training and technique! I feel like my fitness is really good right now and I am very excited to start the season.”

    Eighteen seconds behind Gregg, Stephen placed fourth, and another 1.8 seconds later, the fourth U.S. woman in the top five, Rosie Brennan was fifth.

    “Our coaches were out there giving splits and cheering as were our waxers,” Stephen wrote in an email. “We had a great group out there pushing us on and encouraging us to rally. The splits just encourage me, but I was not focused on the result out there today, I was just focused on the getting back into the groove of it all and maximizing my time taking corners with loaded legs at high speed.”

    Staying positive and motivated is something the U.S. women's cross-country ski team is famous for. Is it a sign of high emotional intelligence? Here, USST's Caitlin Gregg (r), Jessie Diggins (c) and Liz Stephen (r) in the finish of the 2015 Holmenkollen 30 k. Stephen led the three in ninth, while Diggins and Gregg Placed 14th and 19th. (Photo: Madshus/Nordic Focus)
    U.S. Ski Team members Caitlin Gregg (r), Jessie Diggins (c) and Liz Stephen (r) at the finish of the 2015 Holmenkollen 30 k. Stephen led the three in ninth, while Diggins and Gregg Placed 14th and 19th. (Photo: Madshus/Nordic Focus)

    On Saturday, Stephen — a well-known distance skier and hill climber — made the rounds and placed ninth in the classic sprint.

    “My goals for the weekend were to put a bib on and remember what it feels like to be ski racing on snow again,” she explained. “Snow brings its own set of new challenges and it can take a bit of time to get used to those again. I have a constant project on improving my downhills, so working on that the last couple of races has been on my mind, though today’s race was not my best performance on the downhill skills portion but, it has it’s ups and downs like any project.”

    Stephen added that she needed some more races to get into the form she wants to be in. Brennan was looking for the same.

    “I know my base fitness is quite high so it is a matter of finding the right balance of rest, quality intensity, and race starts,” Brennan wrote in an email. “I felt my race was solid, but I think I have another level in me that I hope to see as the season progresses.”

    Between those four U.S. women, that was everyone from the women’s team that competed. Ida Sargent rested this weekend as she’s been fighting a cold and is aiming to be healthy when the World Cup starts next week, U.S. women’s coach Matt Whitcomb explained. Sadie Bjornsen also did not race as she was coming off an illness from last week.

    “Sadie is healthy and back training, but the stomach bug she had earlier in the week isn’t something we wanted to test,” Whitcomb wrote in an email. “We know what happens with that test. She is in great spirits and had a productive workout tonight.”

    As for the results, with the U.S. notching two podiums and sweeping third through fifth, Whitcomb said in a phone interview that “the results are fun. It’s great to get a podium regardless of what show you are playing in, but the important thing is they are looking really good in what they are doing.”

    He credited Diggins with “another brilliant day” and said he was excited to see what she can do on the World Cup this season.

    “People can be scared of skiing fast early in the season, but to be honest, Jessie is just getting started,” he said.

    He added that the team’s wax crew was another highlight of the weekend, especially with new members that service chief Oleg Ragilo assembled this year. Diggins agreed.

    “The wax technicians did a great job, we had fast and consistent skis all weekend,” she said.

    Temperatures were cooler on Sunday, around -11 degrees Celsius (12 degrees Fahrenheit).

    Canada’s lone female in Gällivare, Emily Nishikawa placed ninth (+2:35.2), a day after finishing sixth in the sprint.

    “I was happy to start the season with a good race!” she told Cross Country Canada after Saturday’s race. “I’ve had a good summer of training and feeling strong coming into the race season so I was really excited to race…”

    Monday marks a travel day for most, with the World Cup skiers heading to Kuusamo for four days of preparation before the season begins in earnest with a classic sprint on Friday.

    Results