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Tag: World Cup Windup

  • World Cup Windup: Italy

    World Cup Windup: Italy

    Italy’s Federico Pellegrino outlasting Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov (not shown) and Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (behind) for the win in the men’s freestyle sprint final at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24.

    ITALY

    Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: Ninth

    Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: Ninth

    Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: Eighth

    Who’s Back:

    Federico Pellegrino, World Champion in the sprint and runner-up in the Sprint Cup; Dietmar Nöckler, who joined him for team sprint silver at World Championships and with one individual World Cup top-10; Francesco de Fabiani, with two top-tens in Tour de Ski stages; Ilaria Debertolis, top-30 in both the distance and sprint rankings and with two individual top-10’s.

    Who’s Missing:

    Ilaria Debertolis competing in the World Cup team sprint in Toblach, Italy, in January. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)

    Debora Agreiter announced on Facebook that she is taking a break from World Cup racing to focus on medical school. “Dear friends, fans and fans, I have made a decision to leave high-level sport and to embark on a new road.” She wrote, according to a translation. “I am also going to be very active in the future, doing what I have always loved, but I am putting sport on the second floor and I am dedicated to medical studies. I sincerely thank my family, who has always supported me and also supports me in this new experience. Thank you!” Agreiter finished 16th in the 30 k mass start at the 2014 Olympics

    Pre-Season Results:

    In pre-season racing in Davos, Giacomo Gabrielli and Stefan Zelger were third in fourth in a classic sprint while Ilaria Debertolis was fifth in both the women’s sprint and distance competitions; Giandomenico Salvadori was fourth in the men’s distance race.

    In a sprint time trial even before that, Federico Pellegrino finished second behind Lucas Chanavat of France in qualifying but ended up third in the B-Final in the Kings Court style sprint heats.

    Recent Drama:

    Federico Pellegrino is raring to go for the World Cup season. “Now I can’t wait to leave for the north and for the first sprint of the season,” he told Fondo Italia. “In Kuusamo, I want to try to win.” He told SkiTime.it that he also will compete in the Tour de Ski (or at least part of it), unlike some other top World Cup skiers who have already said they will bow out. He will also compete in a few distance races during World Cup Period I.

    Russian Sergey Ustiugov (center) takes the win ahead of Italy’s Francesco De Fabiani (l) and Norwegian Niklas Dyrhaug (r) during the men’s 15 k freestyle mass start in Falun, Sweden, in 2016. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

    One of the target races for the Italians is the team sprint in the Olympics, and Dietmar Nöckler has been focusing on this. “The preparation has been similar to the past years, although we have an eye on the Games,” he told Fondo Italia, according to a translation. “I have worked hard on skating, because the goal is to qualify for the Olympic team sprint team. This race could be very important for my career.”

    Virginia de Martin Topranin made some summer training videos for the Sportful apparel company. “A roller skiing session is definitely less romantic than cross-country skiing in the midst of glistening snow crystals, since you have to deal with asphalt and cars, but I have to admit that reaching the top of a pass on those four wheels offers great satisfaction, and the view is the reward for the effort!” she wrote in the accompanying text.

    Best Social Media Presence:

    Francesco de Fabiani posts a lot of training and drone videos on his Facebook page. A recent video showed training on the Schnalstal glacier, with great skiing shots but also some beautiful landscapes and scenery.

    Dietmar Nöckler consistently posts great training and racing photos on Instagram.

    Hands-down the most prolific Instagrammer on the team, and with more followers than all except Pellegrino, is Continental Cup skier Alice Canclini. If you want a tour of how to be an athlete in Italy, follow her and go along for the ride.

  • World Cup Windup: France

    World Cup Windup: France

    France’s Maurice Manificat celebrates his “time of day” victory in Stage 7 of the 2017 Tour de Ski, with the fastest time in the 9 k freestyle hill climb in Val di Fiemme, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/Nordic Focus)

    Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24.

    FRANCE

    Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: Eighth

    Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: 15th

    Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: Fifth

    Who’s Back:

    France’s Baptiste Gros leads teammate Richard Jouve in their semifinal of the freestyle sprint at the Ski Tour Canada in Quebec City in 2016.(Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    Maurice Manificat, the fastest man up the Tour de Ski final climb last season, and a World Cup race winner previous seasons as well; Lucas Chanavat, a finalist in several World Cup sprints and third in the U23 standings; Richard Jouve, third in the sprint at World Cup finals and fifth in the U23 standings; the World Cup podium relay team of Manificat, Jean Marc Gaillard, Clement Parisse, and Alexis Jeannerod, as well as Robin Duvillard, a member of the World Championships relay team and the 2014 Olympic bronze-medal relay team (soon to be silver), and Baptiste Gros, who won a World Cup in 2016.

    Who’s Missing:

    A women’s team. Not a single French woman scored World Cup points in the 2016/2017 season. France didn’t even send a women’s team to 2017 World Championships. That’s right, there were no French representatives in the cross-country ski races at World Championships. French women competed at only two few World Cups: the home races in La Clusaz and the sprints in Toblach, Italy.

    Pre-Season Results:

    Lucas Chanavat of France had the fastest men’s qualifying time in the Davos World Cup freestyle sprint in 2017.

    In early November, Lucas Chanavat won both the qualifier and final in a King’s Court style sprint in Davos, besting Italy’s Federico Pellegrino among others; Richard Jouve and Alexis Jeannerod were second and third, and Aurore Jean won a lightly-attended women’s race.

    More recently, the French attended FIS races in Saariselka, Finland, where Maurice Manificat tore it up, winning the 10 k classic and, in a surprise, also winning the classic sprint ahead of his sprint-specialist teammates.

    Recent Drama:

    In the year or so after the 2014 Olympics, where the French women finished fourth in the relay, the women’s program lost its best skiers. Three started families, and Celia Aymonier became a biathlete (she now has several World Cup top-tens and a World Championships bronze medal in the relay).

    For two seasons, the French women were nearly completely absent from the World Cup, but that may change this year, in part because the Olympics always bring out efforts to get each country represented. The three new moms are back training: Coraline Thomas-Hugue, Aurore Jean, and Anouk Faivre-Picon, who in the meantime won some big Worldloppet races like the Engadin Ski Marathon. Several younger skiers are also joining them. It’s not straight into the thick of things; the team will do some FIS racing throughout the season. There is the possibility of a few participating in the World Cup sprint in Ruka, Finland, but none will go to Lillehammer and instead a group will focus on competing at the third World Cup in Davos, Switzerland.

    Aurore Jean racing in Davos in 2014.

    “The atmosphere in the group is very good and it’s nice to see positive girls and a team in training,” coach Alexandre Rousselet told ski-nordique. “We will have a quota of four girls each [World Cup] but they will not be filled. We are waiting for the girls to have encouraging results at OPA Cup and FIS events before they register… We will first work on this 10 k skating goal. to try one or more qualifications for the 2018 Olympics. The relay and the other races would be a bonus… The Olympics are in their heads but for the moment, at this stage of the winter, it is still far away.”

    (And yes, he refers to them as “les filles” rather than “femmes” or “dames”.)

    In Saariselka, the women showed their stuff: Coraline Thomas Hugue won the 10 k skate over Anna Shevchenko of Ukraine, with Aurore Jean third, Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk fourth, and Anouk Faivre Picon fifth. They did not fare as well in the classic technique, with Jean leading the group in fifth in the 5 k classic and Delphine Claudel finishing seventh in the classic sprint, where none of the team made the final.

    Best Social Media Presence:

    This year’s “One of Those Nordic Days” videos has been posted, featuring skiers acting silly and doing stunts on skis. It is made by Team Valoche and former biathlete Alexis Boeuf, and features many national team members as well as biathletes Martin and Simon Fourcade, the Italian women’s biathlon team, and alpine skiers Julien Lizeroux and Tessa Worley.

    Maurice Manificat is fairly prolific on Twitter, posting content from his own Instagram and Facebook pages as well as re-tweeting content from other French sports personalities and engaging in conversation. His handle is a good way to keep track of what’s going on in nordic sport in France.

    Richard Jouve posts beautiful photos of wherever he happens to be, both on his Twitter account and on Instagram.

    And Lucas Chanavat also posts crisp photos of training and racing, and also shots of him upside down in different places.

    For the day-to-day-to-day of training with the French team, follow Robin Duvillard.

    And Anouk Faivre Picon is among those documenting life as a high-performance mom.

  • World Cup Windup: Germany

    World Cup Windup: Germany

    Germany’s Thomas Bing (7) leads Sweden’s Daniel Rickardsson (2) and Switzerland’s Jason Rüesch during the first leg of the men’s 4 x 10 k relay at 2017 World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24.

    GERMANY

    Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: Seventh

    Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: Sixth

    Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: Ninth

    Who’s Back:

    Nicole Fessel and Steffi Boehler, top-20 in the World Cup distance standings; sprint finalist Sandra Ringwald; Victoria Carl and Katharina Hennig, who joined Ringwald and Boehler to finish second in the World Cup relay in Ulricehamn; Florian Notz, Elizabeth Schicho, Laura Gimmler, and Thomas Bing, each of whom had a single World Cup top-10 last season, and Hanna Kolb, who had two.

    Who’s Missing:

    Veteran sprinter Tim Tscharnke retired partway through the summer. The 2010 Olympic team sprint medalist has struggled with back problems and finally called it quits. “The last three years of my career were riddled with many mediocre months, punctuated by health problems and athletic setbacks,” he said.

    Pre-Season Results:

    The World Cup women’s 4 x 5 k podium on Jan. 22 in Ulricehamn, Sweden, with (from left to right) Germany (Stefanie Boehler, Sandra Ringwald, Victoria Carl, Katharina Hennig) in second, Norway (Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Heidi Weng, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Marit Bjørgen) in first, and Sweden in third (Ida Ingemarsdotter, Sofia Henriksson, Charlotte Kalla, Hanna Falk). (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)

    Earlier this month in Davos, Switzerland, Thomas Bing won a sprint race and Laura Gimmler was the runner-up in the women’s race. Katharina Hennig and Steffi Boehler went 2-3 in a distance race.

    Recent Drama:

    After being sick in both August and September, Florian Notz is aiming for a World Cup debut in Davos in December, not earlier. “I did not have any real training for two to three months,” he told Südwest Press. “That’s why Kuusamo is too early for me… I have set myself as a goal, that I want to attack fully [in Davos]. I am still optimistic that I can be in shape by then. But of course, everything has to go right.” If not, Olympic qualifying will be tricky.

    Lucas Bögl is among the athletes joining the new “Athleten für Deutschland” athlete union, which was recently founded as an independent alternative to the athletes’ council run by the German Olympic Committee. The head of the German Olympic Committee is not a fan, saying basically that athletes trying to make demands will only bring problems upon themselves. Bögl disagreed. “The club should help the athletes commission and support the athletes,” he told OBV-online. “That should be in the interest of everyone involved.” He also said: “Cross-country skiing is not something you do for the money, it’s more of a way of life. I have turned my sport into a profession. I feel privileged that I don’t have to sit in an office. I can do that for a long time after my career is over.”

    Sandra Ringwald, who just missed making the 2014 Olympic team for Germany, and is particularly focused on 2018 Games this winter. “I want to fulfill my Olympic dream and be in PyeongChang,” she told the Südkurier newspaper in an interview. “However, I’m going easy on the whole thing. In the past few years I have often set my goals too high… I’m not working just for Olympic qualification. My aim is to play a good role in the World Cup as well. I want to show what I can do at the very first races.”

    Best Social Media Presence:

    Steffi Boehler is a consistent Instagram poster, and also includes some of her artwork along with training and daily-life pictures.

    Sprinter Sebastian Eisenlauer also posts gorgeous training shots:

    As does Jonas Dobler.

  • World Cup Windup: Switzerland

    World Cup Windup: Switzerland

    Switzerland’s Dario Cologna celebrates third in at the top of the final climb in the last stage of the 2017 Tour de Ski on Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

    Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24.

    SWITZERLAND

    Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: Sixth

    Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: Seventh

    Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: Seventh

    Who’s Back:

    Olympic gold medalist Dario Cologna, who finished seventh in last year’s World Cup standings and third in the Tour de Ski; Nathalie Von Siebenthal, eighth in the Tour de Ski; Laurien Van Der Graaf and Jovian Hediger, with two sprint top-10’s each; Nadine Faehndrich, third in the U23 standings; Seraina Boner, the long-distance queen who helped the Swiss women finish seventh in the World Championships relay, and Toni Livers, also sometimes a marathon racer but also with a World Cup top-ten last season; Jason Rueesch, Jonas Baumann, and Curdin Perl, who teamed up with Cologna for fourth place in the World Championships relay.

    Who’s Missing:

    Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal racing the second-fastest third leg split in the women’s 4 x 5 k relay at 2017 World Championships on March 2 in Lahti, Finland. Her team finished seventh.

    No notable retirements.

    Pre-Season Results:

    The Swiss team strutted their stuff on home soil in Davos earlier this month, with Dario Cologna winning a distance race against the Italian and German teams and Laurien Van Der Graaf picking up a win in the sprint.

    Cologna also finished third behind Evgeny Belov and Sergey Ustiugov in a 10 k skate in Gällivare, Sweden, and Nathalie Von Siebenthal finished fifth in the 5 k skate. One day later, Cologna was fifth in a 15 k classic behind a Russian podium sweep. Then on Sunday, Nadine Faendrich made the sprint final where she finished sixth.

    Best Social Media Presence:

    On Dario Cologna’s Facebook page, he posted all summer a series of nine videos of the “Cologna Challenge”, a series of sometimes-humorous competitions between himself and his brother Gianluca Cologna.

    On the men’s team, Jason Rüesch also has a great Instagram feed.

    Nadine Faehndrich occasionally posts training videos on her Facebook page. Of the three women who scored World Cup points last season, only Laurien Van Der Graaf is on Instagram.

    And of course, there’s also Swiss-Canadian Heidi Widmer, who is a member of the SAS Pro Team.

  • World Cup Windup: Russia

    World Cup Windup: Russia

    Sergey Ustiugov was extremely excited to capture another Tour de Ski stage win in Toblach, Italy, in January. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)

    Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24.

    RUSSIA

    Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: Fourth

    Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: Fifth

    Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: Second

    Who’s Back:

    Ust-iu-gov! Ust-iu-gov! Sergey Ustiugov, a sensation in the last two seasons, is back for more. There’s also top-20 ranked overall skiers Alexander Bessmertnykh and Andrey Larkov, seventh-ranked sprinter Natalia Matveeva, 10th-ranked distance skier Yulia Tchekaleva, and runner-up in the U23 standings Yulia Belorukova – who along with Matveeva won silver in the team sprint at 2017 World Championships. Plus, 2010 Olympic sprint gold medalist Nikita Kriukov, who didn’t have an individual podium last season but won World Championships team sprint gold with Ustiugov. Who else is back is a bit complicated as …

    Who’s Missing:

    … Alexander Legkov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexey Petukhov, Evgeny Belov, and Evgenia Shapovalova are all racing in pre-World Cup FIS races, but have been banned by the International Olympic Committee for doping at the 2014 Olympics. They are appealing their cases, but if the ruling holds, they will at the very least miss the 2018 Olympics. The International Ski Federation (FIS) may or may not implement a ban of their own which would keep the five off the World Cup. Julia Ivanova was also banned by the IOC but has not returned to racing.

    Pre-Season Results:

    Yulia Belorukova is a rising star. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)

    So far, a number of Russians have done well in pre-season FIS racing. Ilia Chernousov finished second to Switzerland’s Dario Cologna in a trial in Davos. Alexey Chervotkin won a 15 k skate in Muonio, Finland, where Maxim Vylegzhanin picked up two top-six finishes and last year’s U23 World Champion Alexander Bolshunov won a 10 k classic. Natalia Nepryaeva also shone on the women’s side.

    Recent Drama:

    The biggest drama, of course, is the doping investigation which has enveloped the previously-mentioned five athletes (and Julia Ivanova, who has retired and is no longer racing).

    Russian news recently reported that Yulia Tchekaleva, Anastasia Dotsenko, Natalia Matveeva, Natalia Zhukova, Natalia Korosteleva, Alexander Bessmertnykh, and Nikita Kriukov were also on the “Duchess List” of athletes allegedly given performance-enhancing drugs at Sochi. They have not been asked to have hearings with the IOC Disciplinary Commission, but it is possible that this could still occur.

    Dotsenko took last season off to have a baby, but is back in training this year.

    Russia’s Nikita Kriukov (l) and Sergey Ustiugov after winning the men’s classic team sprint on Feb. 26 at 2017 at FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland.

    Coach Yuri Kaminski talked about why Nikita Kriukov might be dangerous this year: “Neither in Vancouver nor at the last World Championships was he the favorite. In this regard, the Vancouver situation and the current one are somewhere similar.” By contrast, at the 2014 Olympics he was a favorite and did not win, teaming up with Vylegzhanin to finish second in the team sprint. “Sergey [Ustiugov] goes to the Olympic Games as a favorite, and this greatly complicates life. The situation, I would say, is exactly the same as that of Kriukov before Sochi, where he was coming in as a two-time World Champion in a sprint. It was believed that he was obliged to win at least one gold medal, that’s the way the task was set… all this was very hard. And it so happened that the circumstances turned against us.”

    Meanwhile, Alexander Panzhinsky still smarts from his just-by-a-toe loss to Kriukov in the 2010 Olympic sprint, and wants to win in PyeongChang: “I was burning inside from that defeat for a very long. And I dreamed many times, and thought about those last seconds a lot. Although on the other hand, it may be worthwhile to look at it as a very big plus for me. I really was very young in Vancouver. If I won, I took this career best for an athlete… [instead] it was motivation that helped me survive all these difficult years, when there were no big victories. And now it helps to keep this goal, to become an Olympic champion. This is generally the main task in my career.”

    Best Social Media Presence:

    If you don’t know the Russian team outside their results or racing, social media is an excellent way to fix that. Alexander Panzhinskiy makes sure to translate the captions of (most of) his posts from Russian into English and makes an effort to connect to the sport’s global fanbase.

    Ilya Chernousov also posts primarily in English, and makes training in Switzerland look pretty okay. He trains primarily with a long-distance race team, however, and is not part of the Russian national training group.

    If you don’t understand Russian, however, it’s probably best to stick with a visual medium. Sergey Ustiugov and his girlfriend, World Cup skier Elena Soboleva, both have great Instagram feeds (Sergey’s / Elena’s).

    Or, you could peek inside the training life with Sergey Turyshev.

  • World Cup Windup: Norway

    World Cup Windup: Norway

    Marit Bjørgen carrying the Norwegian flag as she crosses the line first for Norway’s 100th World Championship win during the women’s 4 x 5 k relay at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24.

    NORWAY

    Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: First, by a landslide: 13,383 points to 7,053 by runner-up Sweden.

    Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: First

    Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: First

    Norway’s Heidi Weng leading her teammates Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (middle r), Marit Bjørgen (middle l) and Sweden’s Stina Nilsson (far left) during the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle mass start in La Clusaz, France, last December. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus))

    Who’s Back:

    Overall World Cup winners Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Heidi Weng; Sprint Cup winners Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Maiken Caspersen Falla; World Cup race winners Finn Hagen Krogh, Emil Iversen, Sindre Bjørnestad Skar, Pål Golberg, Eirik Brandsdal, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, and Marit Bjørgen, And that’s just the skiers who won World Cups last season. There’s also other folks like, oh, Petter Northug and Astrid Jacobsen, who didn’t pick up individual wins last season but are probably pretty hungry.

    Who’s Missing:

    Therese Johaug. The world champion and two-time World Cup overall champion is still sitting out a doping ban for using a lip cream containing a prohibited steroid.

    Other than that, athletes usually don’t retire just before an Olympics, so pretty much everyone is back.

    Pre-Season Results:

    None of the national team members have raced at the pre-World Cup competitions so far, but Chris Andre Jespersen picked up a win in Bruksvallarna, Sweden. Look for many more Norwegians to compete at their home opener in Beitostølen this coming weekend.

    The second World Cup stop of the season is in Lillehammer, so the Beitostølen races will also likely determine who gets to compete as part of the “nations group” there, the host country’s extra bunch of quota spots.

    Recent Drama:

    Oh, there’s always something, isn’t there? For Norway, it’s about the Olympics. With just four starting spots per race and so many top skiers, it will be a tough fight to get named to the Olympic team.

    Norway’s Emil Iversen crashes in the finishing stretch while Finn Hågen Krogh (2) leads Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola (10), Martti Jylhae (4) Canada’s Alex Harvey (13), and Poland’s Maciej Starega (22) during the second men’s skate-sprint semifinal on Feb. 23 at FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: Dustin Satloff)

    Emil Iversen, for instance, remembers how he fell twice at last year’s World Championships, including in the team sprint, where he ruined a good chance at a win given to him by teammate Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. He says he is feeling good, but he wants to redeem himself from Lahti and that’s no easy feat. “Everyone says they have never been stronger,” he told NRK. “Being in the squad should be within reach, but getting all the race starts I want will be incredibly hard.”

    Another drama: who will ski the relay. Petter Northug anchored both the 2010 and 2014 Olympic relays for Norway, but the team’s head coach has already decided that in 2018 the honors should go to Finn Hagen Krogh, who did a stellar turn to secure relay gold at 2017 World Championships.

    Marit Bjørgen was sick a few weeks ago, but is feeling better now. She says that she dreams of being in good enough shape to fight for six medals at the Olympics in February.

    Astrid Jacobsen, meanwhile, has changed her training and is in some ways imitating alpine skiers, focusing more on balance. “It’s hard to believe that you can improve oxygen capacity or become more persistent by exercising even more,” the 30-year-old said. “I have a thorough fitness already. I think there’s more to gain by catching up with new things… If I get a little better in this area and get better on the skis, I can be a little more efficient. Better efficiency will produce much better results than better capacity would.”

    Otherwise, a few skiers are not in the shape they’d like to be in at this point in the season.

    Finn Hagen Krogh is congratulated by his teammates after anchoring Norway to gold in the men’s 4 x 10 k relay on March 3 at World Championships in Lahti, Finland, 4.6 seconds ahead of Russia in second place. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    Didrik Tønseth got a bad concussion after a rollerski crash in Livigno, Italy, in early September, and had to miss a considerable amount of training. (Reminder: always wear a helmet while rollerskiing!) He skipped a recent high-elevation training camp because he sometimes still has headaches; he is otherwise doing some hard training again. Tønseth was part of the gold-medal relay team from 2017 World Championships but is worried about qualifying for the Olympics. “It’s a season where you have to do well before Christmas,” he told NRK, according to a translation. “It already counts from Kuusamo… so there is no favorable situation. I’m not completely satisfied.”

    Best Social Media Presence:

    The Norwegian ski stars generally don’t use Twitter much, but a few have great Instagram presences.

    Unsurprisingly, the Norwegian who is best at conveying his brand on social media might be Petter Northug. When the IOC made the decision to disqualify several Russian athletes from the 2014 Olympics for doping – including the silver-medal men’s relay team – this was the response from Northug, who had anchored the Norwegian relay team which had finished fourth, failed to medal, and otherwise caused great soul-searching in the country:

    Given the drama over who will anchor the men’s relay team in 2018, Northug is taking even one more laugh with this post.

    But if it’s not satire and gamesmanship you’re after but rather smiles and a peek inside the women’s team, who from this perspective seem to be genuine friends, follow Heidi Weng on Instagram.

    You might alternatingly find Niklas Dyrhaug modeling suits or shooting moose on his Instagram account, while Astrid Jacobsen’s Instagram feed often highlights the role of her dog in her life – and one of those roles is training buddy.