![Today's Sprint Podium in Falun, Sweden at the World Cup Finals. Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg (NOR, Marit Bjorgen (NOR), Stina Nilsson (SWE) (l-r) (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Falun-sprint-podium-2014.jpg")
It’s a race of “threes” between three Norwegians in the World Cup Finals this weekend in Falun, Sweden, and it’s hard to know which is closer: Marit Bjørgen’s race today where she edged her teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg by just under three-tenths of a second in the classic sprint, or her race for the overall World Cup Championship, where she now trails teammate Therese Johaug by only three points.
The outcome of the overall point race will have to wait until the end of the weekend, but the sprints are all wrapped up – Østberg led out of the start with Sweden’s Stina Nilsson and Bjørgen in hot pursuit. By the top of the first big hill the race had split into two groups: the Norwegians and Nilsson battling it out for their order on the podium, and Americans Kikkan Randall and Sophie Caldwell racing Finland’s Krista Lahteenmaki for fourth place.
The front group had a tough fight in the rollers after the big hill: Bjørgen made a move on Østberg, with Østberg double-poling hard to catch up. They were neck and neck, but Bjørgen held her small lead into the finish, besting her teammate by 0.29 seconds. Nilsson crossed in third (+1.39), Randall fourth (+6.84), Lahteenmaki fifth (+8.49) and Caldwell sixth (+9.86). This was Randall’s second-best World Cup classic sprint finish, following a second-place finish in Kuusamo earlier this season, and she also officially won her third-consecutive Sprint Globe, although she already had that locked-up in the points after last week’s racing in Drammen, Norway. For Caldwell’s part, this was “by far” her best ever classic sprint finish and her first time advancing beyond the quarterfinals in a World Cup classic sprint.
![Norway's Marit Bjorgen celebrates after winning the sprint at the World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/bjorgen.jpg")
“Neither Sophie nor I got a very fast start and were chasing the pack right off the bat,” Randall wrote in an email. “[This is] something we need to work on for sure. But once we got onto the climb we worked our way solidly into the chase pack behind the top three. Each time up the steep climb I felt like I wasn’t able to nail the technique well enough to use all my power. I was able to carry my speed off the downhill well but there was too much of a gap up to the top three for any draft. I just hammered as hard as I could the rest of the way.”
“It was exciting [to be in the final],” Caldwell said, “because I’d never even been in the semifinal of a classic sprint. My strength is classic sprinting is probably striding over double poling, so I was psyched to see a course with some good striding hills in it. The only problem with that is that it’s a really hard course, so by the time the final came around I was pretty exhausted.”
Each of the top four women, Østberg, Bjørgen, Nilsson and Randall, won their quarterfinal heats. Randall was third in her semifinal, behind Bjørgen and Nilsson, but moved on to the finals as a lucky loser along with Lahteenmaki, who was in the same semifinal heat. Caldwell was second in her heat behind Østberg, managing to edge German sprint powerhouse and overall sprint points runner-up Denise Herrmann.
U.S. Women’s coach Matt Whitcomb weighed in on his athlete’s performance.
“Sophie was a little tired in the final and Kikkan couldn’t find the climbing gear today, but Kikkan was one of the best in the field from the top of the course to the finish line, which included some descending and cornering and fast paced double poling.”
“We had exceptional skis out there, both kick and glide,” he continued, “and Kikkan just thought she couldn’t find that peak striding gear today, which some times she can and sometimes she can’t, and today that was a challenge.”
Which isn’t to say he was disappointed.
“To put four girls in the heats at World Cup finals is a big accomplishment. [The Falun sprints] have traditionally been a pretty big day for the women’s team and it was again today, with I guess four in the top 20 and two girls in the finals. It was pretty exciting to have Sadie, Sophie and Kikkan go 1, 2, 3 in their quarterfinal heat. But overall just such a tremendous end to a really successful year for Kikkan; grabbing the third consecutive sprint globe is such a big accomplishment and to finish it with a fourth place in a classic sprint is really big. I’m so proud of Kikkan and Sophie and the whole team – it’s a team accomplishment.”