Tag: Lillehammer 10 k freestyle

Halfvarsson on Win Streak; Harvey Repeats in 10th in Lillehammer Mini Tour

Calle Halfvarsson racing to first by 0.8 seconds over Swedish teammate Marcus Hellner (not shown) in the men’s 10 k freestyle on Saturday at the World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway. Halfvarsson is undefeated so far in the Lillehammer mini tour through two days of racing. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)

LILLEHAMMER, Norway — The men’s 10-kilometer freestyle on Day 2 of the Lillehammer mini tour turned out to be a nail biter and a win-win situation for Swedish fans on Saturday.

Calle Halfvarsson, who won Friday’s classic sprint, started 42nd, 6 minutes behind his teammate Marcus Hellner in bib 30. Both are Swedish national team veterans. And both were vying for the top step of the podium.

Halfvarrson ended up taking the win by just 0.8 seconds in 23:04.9. Hellner, four years Halfvarsson’s elder at 31, placed second, ahead of Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov in third (+6.7).

For the second-straight race, Canada’s Alex Harvey placed 10th, 23.5 seconds behind Halfvarsson.

“It was really fun to fight with Marcus until the finish,” Halfvarsson told FIS after, according to a press release. “My body felt good. I felt little bit tired in the first lap from yesterday’s sprint. In the second lap I got better and I could ski really fast on the last uphill.”

Hellner explained that, as an earlier starter, he didn’t have the advantage of knowing where his teammate stood and how fast he needed to go to beat him. While Hellner had the fastest time at 8.3 k (by 3.3 seconds over Halfvarsson), the 27-year-old Halfvarsson had the edge at the finish. (Halfvarsson also posted the fastest splits at 3.3 and 5.8 k.)

Sweden’s Marcus Hellner racing to second, 0.8 seconds out of first, in the men’s 10 k freestyle on Saturday at the Lillehammer World Cup in Norway. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

“It is a good feeling to be on the podium,” Hellner told FIS of his first World Cup podium of the season. “The body feels good. I have some work to do with my technique, I hope I can get better.”

The two Swedes helped keep the Norwegians off the podium, which hasn’t happened on Norway’s home turf since a 50 k in Trondheim in March 2009.

During the post-race press conference, Halfvarsson said it was cool to have two Swedes at the top “and it’s extra cool that it’s Marcus I’m fighting against.”

When asked if it was more gratifying to beat Hellner or all of the Norwegians, Halfvarsson laughed before saying that he’d rather beat Norwegians.

After the race, Harvey told FasterSkier in an in-person interview that he considers top 10 to be a benchmark. He recalled starting too fast on the first lap and fading a bit on the second, “at least the first half of it.”

The men’s 10 k freestyle podium at the Lillehammer World Cup, with Sweden taking the top two with winner Calle Halfvarsson (c) and runner-up Marcus Hellner (l) and Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov in third. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

Out of 97 finishers, Harvey’s split times ranked sixth at 3.3 k, seventh at 5.8 k, and 10th at 8.3 k.

“Sometimes you start too slow and you just can’t get it back, so I don’t think [my first lap affected me] too much, but had I started 5 seconds slower, I could have been 10 seconds faster on the second lap, but it really wasn’t a whole lot,” Harvey explained.

He continued by saying that his start aligned with his strategy.

The two-lap race included 209 meters of climbing resulting in 74 meters of total elevation gain. The first hill of the race began about 100 meters from the start, but Harvey, who said that “the conditions were some of the best we’ve had in years,” didn’t seem to mind the hilly course.

Sunday marks the final stage of the three-day mini tour, where Halfvarsson will start first in the 15 k pursuit. Harvey, who will be the eighth athlete out of the gate, 51 seconds after Halfvarsson and 1 second behind Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, had a positive outlook for Sunday.

“I think I’ll have a decent group around me, and I may not be too far away from some good athletes so I can try to stay with them and move up the rankings, hopefully I’ll be around Finn Hågen [Krogh, who’s starting 8 seconds ahead in fourth] and get a good ride,” Harvey said.

Halfvarsson will start 28 seconds before Ustiugov in second and 38 seconds ahead of Hellner, who’s currently third in the tour.

Alex Harvey (Canadian World Cup Team) racing in the 2016 Tour de Ski 10 k freestyle, where he placed 37th in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

When asked what his strategy for the pursuit, Harvey, 28, replied, “to hunt, it’s a hunting race tomorrow.”

Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, who finished seventh on Saturday, 14.3 seconds behind Halfvarsson, chose a different strategy.

“I tried to find a good speed and not push too hard at the beginning and find a good rhythm and keep that up and I think it worked well,” Cologna said, adding that he hopes to be in top 10 on Sunday. He’ll start 11th, 59 seconds after the leader.

Noah Hoffman led the U.S. men in 33rd (+1:08.6), and was 5.3 seconds away from scoring World Cup points in the top 30.

“My goal was to go out and just ski with really relaxed muscles, and just ski high energy … and I think I did that pretty well,” Hoffman told FasterSkier after. “I wasn’t really good in the early splits and [Canada’s Devon] Kershaw started coming up behind me, and he got really close to me and then, but because I was feeling relaxed, I was able to kind accelerate through the race and ended up beating Kershaw by a couple of seconds, so I executed it the way I wanted to.”

Kershaw ended up 40th (+1:16.7) as the second-fastest Canadian of the day. Teammate Len Valjas was close behind in 42nd (+1:19.1). The two will start the pursuit with Valjas in 37th (+1:54) and Kershaw in 43rd (+2:01).

U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover called Hoffman’s race a “big step in the right direction.”

“He really paced that course well,” Grover said in a phone interview. “He was maybe a little bit back perhaps from where he wanted to be at the first time check, but compared to the field, he was kind of just picking through people all the way through the race.

“He skied with a lot of energy out there,” he added. “I know he feels like he is coming out from underneath this really big training load and now that he is having a chance to rest, we are going to start seeing his fitness coming through, and seeing his ability coming through.”

U.S. Ski Team member Eric Bjornsen chases Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby in the men’s 10 k freestyle on Saturday at the Lillehammer World Cup in Norway. Sundby went on to place sixth and Bjornsen finished 45th. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

Hoffman’s teammate Erik Bjornsen, who placed 24th in Friday’s sprint, finished 45th (+1:22.2) on Saturday.

Bjornsen told FasterSkier that he was hoping for better, but that his performance was realistic according to his current abilities.

“I felt pretty good the first 5 k and I had a sweet ride,” Bjornsen said. “I was skiing it with Sundby [who ended up sixth], and then once I got tired, it was hard to push, I think I was losing a lot of time on the last 5 k.”

Grover called Bjornsen’s race “solid.”

“He was really climbing through the ranks for awhile,” Grover said. “And then he lost contact and he kind of had a little bit of a flat space in the middle of the 10 k, and then closed quite well, so really solid day for him, and I think tomorrow could be another good day for him. He’s in great shape right now.”

Bjornsen will start the pursuit 44th, 1 second behind Kershaw and 2:01 behind Halfvarsson. Hoffman will start 6 seconds later in 48th.

Norway’s Petter Northug finished the race in 51st (+1:26.6) and will start the pursuit 36th (+1:53), just ahead of Valjas. Northug told a group of journalists after Saturday’s 10 k that lacked power in his strides, which he noticed after crossing the 2 k mark.

Also for the North Americans, Canada’s Graeme Killick placed 64th (+1:46.6), Knute Johnsgaard 73rd (+2:22), Bob Thompson 88th (+3:03.4), and Andy Shields 89th (+3:06.3). Americans Simi Hamilton finished 69th (+1:55.8) and Eric Packer was 78th (+2:28.7).

Results | Mini-tour standings (after Day 2) | Pursuit start list

December 3, 2016
Saturday Rundown: Lillehammer, Östersund & West Yellowstone (Updated x 4)

Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) won the second individual World Cup of her career on Saturday in the women’s 5 k freestyle in Lillehammer, Norway, beating four Norwegians by 4.8 seconds or more. (Photo: USSA Nordic/Twitter)

Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers.

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U.S. SuperTour opener in West Yellowstone: Freestyle sprints

[UPDATE] The U.S. domestic season opened in West Yellowstone, Mont., with 1.3-kilometer freestyles on Saturday, and Matt Gelso and Jennie Bender emerged as the day’s winners.

Gelso, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) Gold Team, won the men’s final, and two Alaska Pacific University (APU) skiers, Tyler Kornfield and Reese Hanneman, joined him on the podium in second and third, respectively.

In the women’s final, Bender, of the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF), held off Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 teammates Erika Flowers and Anne Hart, who placed second and third, respectively.

Results: Qualifier | Women’s Final | Men’s Final

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IBU World Cup in Östersund: 7.5/10 k sprints

[UPDATE] Americans Lowell Bailey and Susan Dunklee led their teams in 13th and 27th, respectively, and five North American men and four women finished in the top 60 of Saturday’s sprint to qualify for Sunday’s pursuits in Östersund, Sweden. Oh, and France’s Martin Fourcade won his third-straight race (in as many races this season) and his second individual race for his 51st career victory. France made it a double with Marie Dorin Habert winning the women’s sprint.

Men’s report | Women’s report

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FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer: 5/10 k classic

Women’s report | Men’s report

There aren’t many 5-kilometer skate races on the World Cup schedule. But when they do come around, Jessie Diggins makes sure to capitalize.

The 25-year-old U.S. Ski Team member and Minnesota native rocketed to the second victory of her World Cup career on Saturday, winning the women’s 5 k freestyle in Lillehammer, Norway, in 12:40.3 minutes and by nearly 5 seconds ahead of anyone else.

After winning her first individual World Cup last season in a 5 k freestyle in Toblach, Italy (then reaching the podium three more times in individual races through March 2016), Diggins achieved her first podium of the season in the fourth race of 2016/2017.

She started 34th of 76 finishers, with top-dog Norwegians like Heidi Weng (who won Friday’s classic sprint) and Marit Bjørgen behind her. Diggins trailed slightly at the first 0.8 k checkpoint, but she drew the race’s attention at 2.2 k, where she overtook Norwegian Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen’s time by 2.1 seconds. At the finish, Diggins bumped Jacobsen out of the leader’s chair by 16.4 seconds, and the American would sit in that seat for the rest of the day.

Except she didn’t sit much. Diggins chatted with teammates and team staff, smiled and waved at cameras, and bustled about the finishing area. After her closest challenging, Weng in bib 60, finished 4.8 seconds off her time in second place, Diggins knew she had done it. Bjørgen had already finished and was third (+15.8), Jacobsen fourth (+16.4), and yet another Norwegian, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg fifth (+17.2).

She hugged Weng and told her she had a great race at the finish.

“Before I started, I knew it!” Weng said to her of Diggins’s win.

Diggins smiled, and later stood on the podium between Weng and Bjørgen.

“I’m so happy with my day today. I’m so lucky to have the most amazing team,” Diggins said in a televised interview with FIS. “When you get to train with such cool people, that belief, that confidence, it opens up opportunities. And I had such a great opportunity.

“My coaches and staff work so hard. so when they gave me this opportunity I really had to take it,” she continued. “… It means a lot that when everything goes right you can ski with the best in the world. Hopefully this will mean a lot back home because I’m not special or different in any way. If I can do it, all the little kids back home, they can do it, too!”

While Norway occupied four of the top five, the team had six in the top 10, with Ragnhild Haga in eighth (+31.2) and Kari Øyre Slind in ninth (+32.0). Finland’s Krista Parmakoski placed sixth (+26.9) and Laura Mononen was 10th (+36.1), and Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva placed seventh (+27.7).

The second U.S. woman in the top 15, Sadie Bjornsen broke through her pattern of 17th in the last three races and place 14th (+41.8). Liz Stephen (USST) scored points in 26th (+51.2) in her first “distance” race of the season.

Caitlin Patterson placed 38th for the U.S., Rosie Brennan (USST) was 48th, and Sophie Caldwell (USST) 59th, and Ida Sargent (USST) 67th.

Canada’s Cendrine Browne (NST U25 Team) 50th, Emily Nishikawa (World Cup B-team) 52nd, and Dahria Beatty (NST U25 Team) 62nd.

Diggins is now third in the mini-tour standings through two days of racing (21.6 seconds behind Weng in first and 0.9 seconds behind Østberg in second), with just Sunday’s 10 k classic pursuit to go, and Bjornsen improved to 12th.

Calle Halfvarsson (c) gets the win for the second day in a row, while teammate Marcus Hellner (l) is pleased to be on the podium for the first time this year. Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov third in the 10 k skate in Lillehammer. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

In the men’s 10 k classic to start the day, Calle Halfvarsson of Sweden made it two in a row, winning the first distance race of the mini tour by 0.8 seconds over teammate Marcus Hellner. The competition is the second day of the World Cup mini-tour, which will conclude on Sunday with a classic pursuit. Halfvarsson also won the classic sprint on the first day of racing. For Hellner, it’s a strong result for the former World Champion after two straight seasons where he only stood on the podium once a apiece.

Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov slotted into third with a hard closing kilometer, moving from fifth place and nearly nine seconds back at 8.3 k to the podium and only 6.7 seconds behind Halfvarsson at the finish.

That left Norway off the podium, but the home team swept the next three places with Finn Hagen Krogh (+7.4), Simen Hegsted Kruger (+13.2), and Martin Johnsrud Sundby (+13.5).

Alex Harvey was the top Canadian in 10th place (+23.5). Devon Kershaw and Lenny Valjas finished 40th (+1:16.7) and 42nd (+1:19.1), respectively, with Graeme Killick 64th (+1:46.6) and Knute Johnsgaard 73rd (+2:22.0). Bob Thompson and Andy Shields rounded out the Canadian roster in 88th and 89th.

Noah Hoffman led the way for the U.S. men, just outside the points in 33rd (+1:08.6). Erik Bjornsen was 45th (+1:22.2), followed by Simi Hamilton 69th (+1:55.8) and Eric Packer 78th (+2:28.7).

Results: Women’s 5 k classic | Women’s mini-tour standings | Men’s 10 k classic |Men’s mini-tour standings

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Visma Ski Classics: La Sgambeda 30 k Classic in Livigno

Tord Asle Gjerdalen (Team Santander) crosses the finish line first in Sgambeda in Livigno, Italy, on Dec. 3, 2016. (Photo: Visma Ski Classics)

The Visma Ski Classics series began last weekend in Pontresina, Switzerland, with 8 k time trials. Racing continued this weekend just down the road in Livigno, Italy, where racers competed in the second race in the series, La Sgambeda. Skiers encountered superb conditions and firm tracks following cold temperatures the night before.

In the women’s race, a mass start over five laps of a 6 k course, Britta Johansson Norgren of Team Lager 157 took the narrow victory over Katerina Smutná of Team Santander, reversing their finishing positions from Pontresina a week before. Norgren finished 1.3 seconds ahead of Smutná after the two of them broke away from the main pack on the course’s final hill. Sara Lindborg of Team Serneke secured third, 17.4 back of Norgren.

The men raced on the same five-lap, 30 k course as the women. The men’s race also came down to a breakaway on the final climb. Tord Asle Gjerdalen of Team Santander took the narrow victory, rebounding from his sixth-place finish in the Pontresina prologue. Ilya Chernousov of Team Pioneer Investments was 1.3 seconds back. Team Leaseplan’s Petter Eliassen was third (+2.7) after leading most of the race.

Norgren and Gjerdalen are now leading the individual standings, with Gjerdalen’s Team Santander the top team, as the Ski Classics series approaches a month-long holiday break. Racing resumes in early 2017.

Results

December 3, 2016
No ‘I’ in Team: Sundby Praises Teammates After Lillehammer 10 k Win, Norwegian Sweep

Martin Johnsrud Sundby (Norway) shows his happy face after winning the men’s 10 k freestyle at the Lillehammer World Cup mini tour on Saturday in Norway. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

If you’re trying to imagine how Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby reacted to his win on Saturday, picture his female teammate Therese Johaug realizing she beat Marit Bjørgen by three-tenths of a second for the win. Better yet, watch the video.

Sundby was basically the opposite of that. It’s not that the 30-year-old defending Overall World Cup champion is too cool to jump up and down and yell, he just had a different way of showing his emotions.

And he was actually a little emotional on Saturday.

Sundby led a Norwegian podium sweep, winning the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle individual start — the second stage of the Lillehammer World Cup mini tour — by 2.2 seconds over teammates Finn Hågen Krogh and Sjur Røthe, who was 6.4 seconds back in third.

Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby quietly awaiting his fate while sitting in the leader’s chair near the end of the men’s Lillehammer World Cup 10 k freestyle on Saturday. He ended up holding off Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson, then teammate Finn Hågen Krogh, for the 2.2-second victory.

Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson placed fourth, 1.5 seconds off the podium, and Norway took fifth and sixth with Niklas Dyrhaug and Chris Andre Jespersen, respectively.

“I am happy for the win, but I am extremely happy for the team,” Sundby told FIS.

With Friday’s sprint winner, Pål Golberg, in 12th and Didrik Tønseth in 17th, the Norwegians had seven of 15 starters in the top 20. What might be more notable is neither Petter Northug (in 35th) nor Eirik Brandsdal (in 53rd), who led the Overall World Cup before Saturday’s race, were among them.

“We have trained hard for so many months now, and … for me, kind of a captain for this team, I get a bit touched when the guys are so good,” Sundby said.

After finishing 14th in the sprint (just like Johaug), Sundby ranked 15th in the mini tour, 27.4 seconds behind Golberg, after Friday’s race. He improved to second on Saturday behind Krogh, and will start 20 seconds after Krogh in Sunday’s 15 k classic pursuit. Golberg will head out 6 seconds later in third.

Sundby’s win also put him in the yellow bib for in the second World Cup weekend of the 2014/2015 season.

But even after standing up from the leader’s chair and flexing his right arm a little bit for doting Norwegian spectators, Sundby was quick to defer the attention back to his teammates.

“It is an absolutely insane team effort,” he told NRK.

Four different Norwegians took turns in the leader’s chair: first Jespersen (who topped Sweden’s Daniel Richardsson by 13 seconds. Before that, Richardsson ousted Switzerland’s Curdin Purl, who started eighth of 118 men).

Jespersen’s initial splits weren’t anything outstanding: he ranked 22nd at 2.2 k, but sped up to ninth by the halfway point. With 1.8 k to go, the 31-year-old Jespersen posted the eighth-fastest time of all the finishers. During his race, it was the fastest.

“I do not think it was so much fun to be peed on last weekend, so I had decided today [to go hard],” he told NRK, referring to the 15 k classic in Kuusamo, Finland, where he placed 45th.

“The ending was abnormally good to me,” he said of his finish on Saturday.

The 17th starter, Jespersen remained in the hot seat for some time until his teammate Dyrhaug topped him by 0.6 seconds. Dyrhaug turned it on even later in his race, going from fifth at 7.2 k to first by the finish.

At the end of the day, Dyrhaug’s 8.3 k time ranked eighth and he ended up fifth.

Røthe then took over the top position by 12.5 seconds. With Sundby just six starters behind him, he looked as if he knew he wouldn’t be in first for long. Røthe posted the fastest times through every checkpoint but the first one at 0.9 k (where Switzerland’s Roman Furger had the quickest start), until Sundby, Halfvarsson and Krogh came through.

At 2.2 k, Halfvarsson took the lead, followed by Sundby 3.4 seconds back. The order stayed the same with Røthe in third until 5 k, where Røthe’s time ranked second-fastest by just 0.3 seconds over Sundby.

Halfvarsson remained in first until 8.3 k, where Sundby, who started 1 minute ahead him, had the edge by 1.1 seconds. Later on, Krogh, the 114th starter, would post the third-fastest time at that marker, 2.7 seconds behind Sundby.

That’s about when Sundby, in the leader’s chair after displacing Røthe by 6.4 seconds, started to pack up his belongings. Any way about it, even if Krogh had the race of his life and beat him, or Golberg as the last starter picked off six places in the last 2 k to reach the podium, Sundby knew he was headed to the flower ceremony.

“I did an even race. I tried to push hard last 2 kilometers,” Sundby told FIS. “I tried to collect some seconds on the last uphill where a few skiers were struggling. Everybody must have had tired legs.”

Finn Hågen Krogh after pushing himself well past the red zone to challenge Norwegian teammate Martin Johnsrud Sundby (not shown) for the win in Saturday’s 10 k freestyle individual start at the Lillehammer World Cup. Krogh was 2.2 seconds off the mark for second.

Halfvarsson faded in the last two kilometers to put himself on the edge of a top-three, finishing 7.9 seconds behind Sundby. Krogh looked to be after the win more than a podium as he pushed himself to the brink into the stadium, collapsing and gasping for air at the finish. He ended up 2.2 seconds behind Sundby for second overall.

“Since yesterday’s prologue I felt my shape has been very good,” Krogh said. “I was ready for today; it was maybe better than I expected. I found a good rhythm from the start. I had very good skis and I felt confident.”

Røthe was third, another 4.2 seconds back, and Halfvarsson settled for fourth, 1.5 seconds later.

“I’m really happy to be back on the podium,” Røthe said after his first individual World Cup podium since placing third in the 2012 skiathlon in Canmore, Alberta (and not counting his second-fastest time in last year’s Tour de Ski final climb in Val di Fiemme, Italy).

“It is even better to be there with my good friends Finn and Martin,” he added.

After not feeling quite in top form before Saturday, Sundby, who now leads the Overall World Cup by 9 points over Krogh and 20 points over Brandsdal in third, told reporters he was excited for Sunday’s pursuit.

“Hopefully we get an exciting race tomorrow,” he told FIS. “I think both the race and the winner could be exciting.”

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Notes: Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave, 24, had the best distance race of his career (not counting the eighth-fastest time in the 2014 Tour de Ski final climb) in 13th, which puts him 10th in the mini-tour standings before the pursuit.

Canadian Alex Harvey dropped from sixth to 11th in the mini tour, after placing 33rd, 54.6 seconds behind Sundby. He cited his bothersome left leg, with a blood-flow issue that typically springs up and pains him on uphill skating courses, as the reason behind his result.

“At the top of the course [around 3.5 k] before we go back down to the stadium, there’s a lot of offset, like steep climbing and my leg was starting to feel pretty bad already,” Harvey said on the phone. “So I was just fighting against it already and I couldn’t push after that. I couldn’t use my leg much, and the downhills were so icy that it was kind of hard to relax and recover so I was always contracting the legs. It was just a really bad day for my leg I guess.”

He’ll start Sunday’s pursuit 59.3 seconds behind Krogh and 0.4 behind Musgrave, and is focused on picking off as many places as possible — possibly up to Dyrhaug, who’s starting 16 seconds ahead of him in sixth.

Complete results | with Splits

December 6, 2014