No rest for the weary (except those who skipped Holmenkollen): We’re back with recaps of, objectively, the most lit series of races on the World Cup circuit, in Norway. We’ve got the goods from the Holmenkollen 50 k races, including the first-ever for women, and the always satisfying Drammen sprints. We’ll be back next week. Reach us at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com.
Today the International Ski Federation (FIS) banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from taking part in any remaining FIS competitions. The press release stated, “The FIS Council decided unanimously in line with the IOC recommendation, that with immediate effect, no Russian or Belarusian athlete shall participate in any FIS competition at any level through the end of the 2021-2022 season.” The belated decision came after a power struggle between the Norwegian Ski Association...
“Get whatever you want. I’m buying.” “It’s ok. I’ve got a card with me.” “No. You’re over here working for us. The least I could do is buy you a coffee and a bun.” Conversation over. Jessie Diggins bought my cinnamon bun and cappuccino. The same Jessie Diggins who won Gold at the last winter Olympics and is a regular on World Cup podiums just refused to let me buy my own snack at the...
Men’s Sprint Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Norwegian men showed up on form for today’s freestyle sprints in Konnerud, just outside the city of Drammen. As the venue was used for the Norwegian National championship at the end of January, most of the team has already had a dress rehearsal racing on the windy course. It seems that Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who sat out the national championships, did not need a dress rehearsal. He won the qualifier...
In the classic venue that are the Drammen city sprints, it was a singular affair from start to finish during the men’s World Cup 1.2-kilometer classic sprint on Wednesday. In a race format that tapered from a field of 61 skiers to the winner, one only needs to track the skier in the overall World Cup’s leader bib to follow along. The yellow-bibbed skier, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, didn’t surprise with his sprint win in...
FIS Cross Country World Cup (Drammen, Norway): Classic sprints Men’s report The cross-country World Cup hit the city on Wednesday, with classic sprints contested in the Oslo suburb of Drammen on snow which had been trucked onto the streets. And the crowd was rewarded with wins by two Norwegian favorites: Maiken Caspersen Falla in the women’s sprint and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in the men’s race. In the women’s final, Falla and Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia battled at the lead for...
Drammen is one of those staples on the World Cup, appearing on the circuit late each season and remembered for its trademark uphill finish in the middle of a city of 63,000 inhabitants, just 40 kilometers west of Oslo, Norway. “It tends to be fairly predictable snow,” U.S. Ski Team Women’s Coach Matt Whitcomb told FasterSkier during an in-person interview in Drammen on Wednesday. “It’s generally clean [snow]. It’s generally some sort of klister.” But...
FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Drammen, Norway): Classic sprints Just three days after 2017 Nordic World Championships ended in Lahti, Finland, World Cup cross-country skiers were back to their regular-season grind with 1.2-kilometer classic sprints on Wednesday in Drammen, Norway. In the men’s race, Norway stole the day with Eirik Brandsdal notching his first World Cup win since 2015 in Drammen, but Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov broke up the team’s total domination of the final with a...
After recently returning from a training camp with the Norwegian women's team, Jessie Diggins describes how the opportunity came about and one of her favorite workouts from her week in Norway. "I’m always looking for ways to make summer training exciting, new and adventurous," Diggins said.
Sweden's Stina Nilsson retained her Sprint Cup lead despite getting reprimanded for obstruction in the final. And although none of the three American women advanced out of their quarterfinals, the U.S. team declared the day a success with all three skiing blazing qualifier times.
Coming off her European World Cup debut, Craftsbury's Caitlin Patterson reflects on her races and experience in Finland and Norway, her 2014/2015 season in general, and what she's aiming for next year.
Andy Newell narrowly qualified in 28th, but made it into the semifinals and finished 12th overall in the season's final World Cup sprint. Canada's Lenny Valjas just missed out the semifinals and took 14th overall. Sadie Bjornsen was the lone North American woman to qualify and finished 26th overall after racing in the fastest quarterfinal heat.
Norwegians dominated the podium in the last World Cup sprint of the season on Wednesday in Drammen, Norway, with Eirik Brandsdal taking the win, but finishing behind teammate Finn Hågen Krogh in the race for the overall sprint title.
How much skate skiing should be allowed in a classic sprint race? Quite a bit, if Wednesday’s race in Drammen, Norway was any indication. "I think classic skiing took a step backwards," said USST Coach Matt Whitcomb. "I don’t think the line between what’s legitimate for classic technique was respected yesterday, and I think it opens a can of worms that makes the line very fuzzy now.”
Ola Vigen Hattestad and Pål Golberg dueled in each of their three heats, with Hattestad besting Golberg two out of three times, including the final heat which he won by just seven hundredths of a second over Golberg. Maicol Ristelli of Italy had a breakthrough performance in third.
Starting hard in her quarterfinal but missing out on advancing, Dasha Gaiazova led the Canadians in 15th in the Drammen classic sprints. Qualifying in 29th and 30th, Lenny Valjas and Alex Harvey were glad to make it through, but wanted a little more after finishing 16th and 20th, respectively.
With the season winding down, Kikkan Randall produced her best classic result of the year on Wednesday with a fifth-place finish in the Drammen, Norway, city sprints. She led the American women; Sadie Bjornsen also qualified for the heats and finished 30th.
Petter Northug put himself in prime position heading into the final World Cup races of the season, beating Alexey Poltoranin in Wednesday's classic sprint in Drammen, Norway, with one powerful finish.
On Sunday in Drammen, Kikkan Randall skied to her third career World Cup victory in the freestyle sprint. Here is a short series of photos documenting another great day for Randall. Once the page has finished loading, you may click images for larger versions.
The men’s turn. FasterSkier’s Topher Sabot was able to capture much of the action during them men’s 15km classic at the World Cup in Drammen, Norway this past weekend. Here is a small sampling of what he saw through his lens.