After an unusual and unprecedented season, many athletes have announced their retirement as they move on from professional ski racing. Aside from the three notable retirements from the U.S. Ski Team, Sadie Maubet-Bjornsen, Sophie Caldwell-Hamilton, and Simi Hamilton, twelve international athletes have said goodbye to World Cup competitions.
Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby racing to 2017 victory in the men’s 15 k classic at the pre-World Championships World Cup in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Perhaps the biggest name among them is Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway, who after a somewhat inauspicious start to his World Cup career in 2005 when he DNF’d at the Oslo 50 k, went on to become a staple of men’s cross-country skiing. Sundby leaves the stage with five Olympic medals, including two gold medals (both from team events), four Championship medals, and thirty World Cup victories to his name. Results aside, Sundby was an important presence on the Norwegian men’s team for many years, taking on the responsibility of team captain.
Sundby was sanctioned in 2016 for an anti-doping violation when he exceeding the allowable amount of salbutamol – an asthma medication – in his system.
Putting his veteran strength on display, Martin Johnsrud Sundby skis to 7th in his first international competition of the [2020/21] season. (Photo: NordicFocus)In a goodbye letter by Norges Skiforbund President, Erik Røste, Røste writes, “Martin never gave up [in spite of challenges]. And that’s what really characterizes Martin. Because in addition to a fantastic talent, Martin is a struggler. One who has put in more effort and training than most to achieve his dream of becoming the best in the world… Thank you for all the contributions both on and off the trail.” (Translated from Norwegian).
Also retiring from team Norway is Mari Eide, who is expecting a child. Eide made her World Cup debut in 2010 and contested 70 World Cup starts since that time. At the 2019 Seefeld World Championships, Eide earned a bronze medal, finishing third in the skate sprint.
Viktor Thorn (SWE) racing the individual sprint in Ulricehamn, Sweden (Photo: NordicFocus)
From Sweden, Viktor Thorn and Hanna Falk have both announced an end to their ski careers. While Thorn is only 24 years old, he has been struggling with ongoing back pain and thus decided to step away from the sport. In a statement Thorn said, “I have struggled with back problems for almost five years and have come to the stage that I feel it is no longer worth spending all the time it takes to be able to be in the absolute elite level, when the last percent to be able to perform at the level I want to be hindered by my back … I feel ready to take on new challenges in life. A tough decision as the skis have been a big part of my life for so long, this decision still feels right. I am grateful for everything that this sport has given me and I will always be a skier but just not at the elite level anymore.”
Sweden’s Hanna Falk (r) smiles as she wins the fourth World Cup race of her career and first race in Falun, Sweden, with a victory in the women’s freestyle sprint at 2018 World Cup Finals. (Photo: Svenska Skidspelen/Instagram)
Hanna Falk, who has also struggled with health problems throughout her career, announced retirement after a lengthy career. Falk began World Cup racing in 2007 and earned her first victory in 2009 at the Düsseldorf (GER) City Sprints. After a period of health issues, Falk returned in form during the 2016/17 season, proving herself to be a force on the sprint circuit. She retires with 113 World Cup starts, including eleven podium finishes.
American Simi Hamilton (l) goes head-to-head with Germany’s Sebastian Eisenlauer (14), Norway’s Eivind Østnor Bakken (26), and Sweden’s Gustav Nordström (13) during their 1.2 k freestyle sprint quarterfinal on Saturday at the World Cup in Planica, Slovenia. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
From Germany, 31-year old Sebastian Eisenlauer has announced his intention to move on from professional ski racing. Eisenlauer began his World Cup career in 2010, going on to start 131 World Cups and represent Germany at two Olympics (Sochi and PyeongChang). Of his career, Eisenlauer said, “That’s it. An incredible time comes to an end and it feels like the right time to move along new paths. Every race was worth the step from every stage of my career, I find people that I can call friends now still. Thank you to everyone who joined and supported me on this journey.”
Finland’s Susanna Saapunki has decided to transition from professional ski racing to professional mountain running. Saapunki spent six years racing on the World Cup circuit, totalling 42 World Cup starts and one World Championship start in Lahti, Finland. Saapunki has now chosen to focus solely on running.
Anna Zherebyateva of Russia is concluding her World Cup career. Zherebyateva is engaged to Alexander Bolshunov and intends to focus on starting a family.
Anouk Faivre Picon of France has officially announced retirement after some years away from the World Cup circuit in which she primarily started in marathon events. Faivre Picon spent a summer training with the US Women’s Ski Team.
Also on the list of retirements this season are Livio Bieler and Anja Lozza of Switzerland, Stefan Zelger of Italy, and Valentin Mättig of Germany.
The start of the men’s 15 k classic mass start at Stage 6 of the 2018 Tour de Ski on Saturday in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with (front row, left to right) Canada’s Alex Harvey, Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov, Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin, Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, and Switzerland’s Dario Cologna. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Beginning this Saturday in Toblach, Italy with a freestyle sprint is the 13th edition of the Tour de Ski (TdS). According to the International Ski Federation (FIS), over the course of seven stages the men will race 80.918 kilometers, the women 60.67 k.
The TdS has become both a staple and a spectacle of the annual World Cup calendar. With a jam-packed series of races primacy is placed on both the ability to recover well and wither less as the TdS transpires.
Prognostication can be tricky in a long-form template like the TdS. So much can go astray during seven races not to mention the travel and dicey germ-avoidance.
Last season’s winner on the women’s side, Heidi Weng of Norway, sits 18th overall in the World Cup standings (14th in distance). She has four top-20’s in the four distance events she’s contested with her best result an eighth in Lillehammer’s 10 k skate. Although featuring two sprints in the first three stages, the TdS remains a distance skier’s paradise.
Weng has skied solidly on the World Cup, but she has yet to show the form that made her a TdS overall winner in 2017 and 2018. Norway has won the last five iterations of the TdS: Marit Bjørgen won once in 2014/2015, Therese Johaug twice (2013/2014, 2015/2016), and Weng the last two years.
Austria’s Teresa Stadlober leads Norway’s Heidi Weng (2) and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, American Jessie Diggins (3) and others around a downhill corner during the women’s 10 k classic mass start at Stage 6 of the 2018 Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme, Italy. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
If Norway is to keep the streak alive, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, last year’s TdS runner up, could be the heir apparent. She currently ranks second in the World Cup overall and 15th on the sprint list.
Johaug, having returned from an 18 month doping ban, has been on a distance race tear. She has won all five World Cup distance events this season. Johaug, however, will not be lining up for the TdS.
Only five different women have earned distance podiums this season — Johaug, Østberg, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Ebba Andersson, and Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski. Along with Johaug, Kalla and Andersson are skipping the TdS. (Andersson sits third overall on the World Cup, Kalla fifth.) With the TdS missing three of the five top ranked World Cup distance skiers, daily stages and the overall podium are up for grabs.
Last season’s third overall finisher, Jessie Diggins of the U.S. Ski Team (USST), often cites the TdS as a point in the season when her form trends towards podium performances. She sits eighth in the current distance standings and could very well have a stout TdS.
Russia’s Natalia Belorukova and Yulia Nepryaeva look strong as does Sadie Bjornsen (USST), and Austria’s Teresa Stadlober.
With less than predictable distance stage podiums for the women, it may simply come down to a drag race on the Alpe Cermis final climb Jan. 6.
Switzerland’s Dario Cologna (c) celebrates his fourth Tour de Ski overall title. He was joined by Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby (l) and Canada’s Alex Harvey (r) on the podium in second and third, respectively. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
The men’s scene is also open to interpretation. Last season’s TdS winner, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, was in fact a surprise victor. Prior to Cologna’s stage two win in last year’s TdS, it had been nearly three years since the four time TdS overall winner had won a World Cup. Cologna sits 21st overall on the World Cup currently. Given last year’s resurgence, anything is possible for the Swiss skier.
Then there’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby form Norway. He finished on the TdS podium the last three years. At thirty-four-years-old, Sundby is ranked first on the distance list, with a second, a third, and a fourth place in distance races this season.
Sundby won the TdS on two occasions – in 2013/2014 and in 2016. His 2015 win was stripped after he tested positive for excessive levels of Salbutamol. He placed second in the past two Tours.
In a field rife with talent, Sundby’s ability to race and rebound and race and rebound will be tested. Sjur Røthe, Emil Iversen, and Didrik Tønseth— all from Norway— look in form. And there’s Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. The winner of last season’s overall World Cup has had flashes of his past explosive self. He could be a TdS protagonist.
The men’s field is notably tight. Along with the Norwegians, several Russians could pop a podium, a stage win, and the overall. Russia comes with a loaded team ready to exploit. Alexander Bolshunov leads the overall World Cup – he’ll turn twenty two on Dec. 31st. He’s backed by teammates Evgeniy Belov, Andrey Melnichenko, and Denis Spitsov.
Canada’s Alex Harvey placed third overall last year and he looked stronger as the TdS progressed.
The Stages
Stage 1: Dec. 29, skate sprint in Toblach, Italy.
Stage 2: Dec. 30, 10 k/15 k skate in Toblach, Italy.
Stage 3: Jan. 1, skate sprint in Val Müstair, Switzerland.
Stage 4: Jan. 2, 10 k/15 k classic mass start in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Stage 5: Jan. 3, 10 k/15 k skate pursuit in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Stage 6: Jan. 5th, 10 k/15 k classic mass start in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
Stage 7: Jan 6th, 9 k final climb skate pursuit in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
Teams
United States
Women: Sophie Caldwell, Sadie Bjornsen, Jessie Diggins.
Men: Ben Lustgarten, Simi Hamilton, Erik Bjornsen, Kevin Bolger.
U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover noted in a text that Caldwell, Hamilton, and Bolger will likely cease the TdS after the stage three sprint. Additionally, this is a small team for the U.S. at the TdS. Several athletes turned down TdS nominations including Scott Patterson (USST), Andy Newell (SMS T2/Salomon), Kyle Bratrud (SMS T2), Rosie Brennan (APU), Rosie Frankowski (APU), Caitlin Patterson (CGRP), and Julia Kern (SMS T2). These skiers plan on racing U.S. Nationals this January in Craftsbury, Vermont.
Canada
Women: Emily Nishikawa, Dahria Beatty
Men: Alex Harvey, Lenny Valjas, Bob Thompson
Norway
Women: Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Maiken Caspersen Falla, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Kari Øyre Slind, Kathrine Rolsted Harsem, Heidi Weng, Lotta Udnes Weng, Tiril Udnes Weng Mari Eide, Anna Svendsen
Men: Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Hans Christer Holund, Emil Iversen, Didrik Tønseth, Simen Hegstad, Krüger, Sjur Røthe, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, Eirik Brandsdal, Finn Hågen Krogh
Russia
Women: Yulia Belorukova, Lidia Durkina, Anna Zherebyateva, Mariya Istomina, Natalia Nepryaeva, Anna Nechaevskaya, Anastasia Sedova, Elena Soboleva
The women’s World Cup 15 k skiathlon podium on Saturday in PyeongChang, South Korea, with Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk (c) in first, American Liz Stephen (l) in second, and Japan’s Masako Ishida (r) in third. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
Multiple race warmup and cool downs, managing hydration and caloric intake, moving at her max sprinting speed — more than once. It’s not often that American Liz Stephen feels the lingering effects of a World Cup sprint day. Her most recent memory was three years ago, when she qualified 22nd in Szklarska Poreba, Poland.
But this weekend’s three-day competition series in PyeongChang, South Korea, challenged the distance specialist once again. With a smaller World Cup field than usual, Stephen qualified 29th in Friday’s classic sprint and advanced quarterfinals, where she raced in the first heat of the day.
In what ended up being the fastest women’s quarterfinal, Stephen pushed through Friday’s hill-dominant sprint course and crossed fifth for 25th overall. The back-to-back sprint experience, however, left the 30-year-old Stephen with a little less energy than she would have liked as she entered Saturday’s 15-kilometer skiathlon.
American Liz Stephen (2) skiing at the front of the women’s 15 k skiathlon on Saturday, alongside Norway’s Silje Øyre Slind (1) and Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk (3), at the World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
“I think I was feeling yesterday’s sprint race a bit, as I did twice as many rounds as I usually do!” Stephen joked in an email.
Yet, standing at the start in bib 2, behind Norway’s Silje Øyre Slind in bib 1, Stephen wasn’t going to let a little soreness stop her from racing to Saturday’s skiathlon podium.
After Poland’s Justyna Kowalczykgapped the front by close to 20 seconds in the first two kilometers of the classic leg, the American held on tight to the lead chase group, striding even with a medley of skiers, including Slind, Japan’s Masako Ishida, Norway’s Anna Svendsen, Sweden’s Maria Nordström, and Germany’s Elisabeth Schicho.
Stephen came through the exchange in fifth position, a little over a minute behind the race leader Kowalczyk and 12 seconds back from the second place skier, Ishida.
“I was afraid I skied little too hard in the classic portion,” Stephen said, according to an International Ski Federation (FIS) press release. “I wanted to stay with the leading group in the classical part not to fall back.”
Skate skis on, Stephen quickly caught and surpassed Svendsen and Schicho by the 8.4 k mark, rejoining Ishida. With over a minute separating her and Ishida from Kowalczyk, the battle for second began. Around the 10 k mark, Stephen made her move. Powering past Masako, Stephen started her second hunt, this time for the Polish skier.
But Kowalczyk’s early classic-leg surge and strong skating staved off any attempts from Stephen.
“Liz was able to take some time out of her, but not significant time,” USST Head Coach Chris Grover said on the phone. “So that was impressive racing by Kowalczyk.”
Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk winning her first World Cup in three years on Saturday, the women’s 15 k skiathlon at in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)
“It has been a long time since I have been on the World Cup podium,” Kowalczyk said, according to FIS. “I was quite surprised to see how well I skated.”
Finishing exactly 56 seconds behind Kowalczyk was Stephen in second place. The result was Stephen’s best individual result since 2015, when she placed second in the 10 k freestyle race in Rybinsk, Russia.
“It’s hard not to feel happy when you get a podium finish!” she said, according to a U.S. Ski Team press release. “However, I didn’t feel like I had as much energy as I wanted to have today, but it was enough to hold onto second.”
In her first podium appearance since 2009, Ishida finished 18.8 seconds after Stephen in third (+1:14.8).
Just missing the podium by 6.6 seconds was American Caitlin Patterson in fourth (+1:21.4). Though a tangle on the first hill of her classic leg pushed Patterson back to 13th, the 27-year-old Craftsbury Green Racing Project skier was able to reconnect with the top 1o by the 2 k mark.
Unconcerned with Kowalczyk’s blistering pace, Patterson focused on the chase pack. By the time she reached the ski change, she was positioned in seventh. Her transition to skate skis smooth and energy still strong, Patterson began to pick people off.
She caught Nordström, who had been 10 seconds ahead of her at the exchange, as well as Schicho and Svendsen, both of whom were close to 30 seconds ahead of her when they switched to skate skis.
Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) en route to a career-best World Cup result of fourth in the women’s 15 k skiathlon in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
“Caitlin Patterson was really impressive,” Grover said. “She was kind of hovering around seventh or eighth for most of the race, and then really in the last lap, really started to pick people off, including right at the very end to get all the way up to fourth.”
Feeling fairly well adjusted to the time difference, and appreciative of the low-altitude racing, Patterson was proud of her race effort. Her only issue being the seconds that separated her from the podium.
“When I look at the results and see how close third place was ahead of me, I can’t help but wish I could have somehow gone faster sooner!” Patterson wrote in an email. “A true sign of how much this makes me hungry for more, though I know I gave it everything I had out there today.”
The third American woman on Saturday was Liz Guiney in 13th (+2:21.7). The PyeongChang World Cup marks Guiney’s third week of World Cup racing and, while this weekend’s field is not as strong as the ones she recently raced against in Sweden, the result was still a little unexpected for Guiney.
“I’m very happy with my race today!” Guiney, 25, wrote in an email. “With the weaker World Cup field, it was a good opportunity to score some points, but I think I surprised myself by being within reach of the top 10.”
The last two races mark Guiney’s first World Cup points, with her best individual finish prior to this weekend 49th in the Falun 15 k classic mass start.
“Last weekend in the Falun 15k, I got a little too excited out of the start and paid for it later in the race, so my goal today was to ski my own race,” Guiney wrote. “I was really psyched to cross the line and find out that Liz Stephen placed 2nd and Caitlin (my GRP teammate) was 4th, which is a big breakout result for her!”
Two Canadian women also earned their first World Cup top 30’s on Saturday, with Annika Hicks (Alberta World Cup Academy) placing 26th (+5:17.8) followed by Sadie White (NTDC Thunder Bay)in 29th (+6:54.7).
Racers return to the race venue tomorrow for Sunday’s freestyle team sprint.
![The women's World Cup 15 k skiathlon podium on Saturday in PyeongChang, South Korea, with Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk (c) in first, American Liz Stephen (l) in second, and Japan's Masako Ishida (r) in third. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/Podium04022017vt0038.jpg")
![American Liz Stephen (2) skiing at the front of the women's 15 k skiathlon on Saturday, alongside Norway's Silje Øyre Slind (1) and Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk (3), at the World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/Soboleva04022017vt0039.jpg")
![Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk winning her first World Cup in three years on Saturday, the women's 15 k skiathlon at in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/Kowalczyk04022017vt0027.jpg")
![Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) en route to a career-best World Cup result of fourth in the women's 15 k skiathlon in PyeongChang, South Korea. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/Patterson04022017vt0067.jpg")