The 4×10 relay may very well be the marquee event of a major cross-country ski championship, providing the ultimate national bragging rights, and requiring four skiers to turn in top performances. The last time a race of this magnitude was held on Norwegian soil was in 1997 at the World Championships in Trondheim. Norway dominated that event, putting over two minutes on the field and taking some measure of revenge for the beating handed out...
It certainly seems cliché, but it did actually happen. As Marit Bjoergen made her way down the homestretch, Norwegian flag in hand, the impenetrable fog of an Oslo March began to dissipate, the forecasted sun making its first stadium appearance, and illuminating yet another celebration of gold. As expected, Norway skied clear of the field to win the women’s 4×5 kilometer relay, besting Sweden by 36 seconds. Finland, continuing a strong Championships, took bronze. The...
Norwegians Petter Northug and Marit Bjoergen have now both sat out a race at World Championships – not Charlotte Kalla though, and the Swedish star has no plans to take a day off. In another day at the office, Kalla teamed with Ida Ingemarsdotter to win the women’s World Championship classic team sprint in Oslo, Norway, skiing away from Finland and Norway in the last lap. The team sprint features pairs of athletes, alternating laps,...
“Comfy,” was how American Sadie Bjornsen described the leader’s chair, the seat occupied by the finishers with the best times after they cross the line in individual start races. The young American continued a strong World Championships showing, notching her second top-30 in two starts in the 10 k classic in Oslo. Starting at bib 36, Bjornsen was not unseated as race leader for nearly five minutes, when Sweden’s Sara Lindborg took over. Bjornsen, who...
When asked whom he designed the Oslo courses for, the renowned Hermod Björkestöl, responsible for the layouts at the last three Olympics, responded simply “for entertainment.” And entertainment, in the form of drama and excitement, was provided in spades as Petter Northug (NOR) overcame a shocking early attack by Alex Harvey, and an impressive late challenge by the Russians to achieve his primary goal for the 2011 World Championships – an individual gold medal. Northug...
The German cross-country team is off to an inauspicious start at the 2011 World Championships, but their Nordic Combined brethren are doing their best to make up for it. Twenty-two-year-old Eric Frenzel (GER) rode a stellar jump to a convincing victory in the men’s Normal Hill Gundersen 10km event in Oslo, Norway on Saturday afternoon. The 26,000 fans may not have been able to see much through the dense fog, but even if they had,...
The US women continued a solid start to the 2011 World Championships, placing three skiers in the top-30 for the second consecutive race in the women’s 15km pursuit. With an almost impenetrable fog blanketing the Holmenkollen ski stadium, spectators traded ears for eyes – the roar of the crowd alerting those just 100 meters down the track that the racers were coming. The pea soup certainly did not slow race winner Marit Bjoergen (NOR), who...
Marit Bjoergen (NOR) has already achieved her goal of winning an individual gold at the 2011 World Championships. Now the ski world gets to see what a relaxed Bjoergen can do. The winner of five medals, including three golds, at the 2010 Olympics, Bjoergen is the clear favorite in the women’s 15 k pursuit on Saturday, as distance racing gets underway at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway. While rival Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) is the defending World...
Marcus Hellner (SWE) left the Vancouver Olympics with the same number of gold medals as Petter Northug (NOR), but entering the 2011 World Championships all the hype has been focused on the Norwegian star. Admittedly, it was Northug who captured the bronze in the sprint event at those Games, and has more than his share of World Cup sprint victories. Hellner, on the other hand, despite his many successes, has yet to top the podium...
There may not have been medals, but a flower ceremony, the chance to stand on the podium, and most importantly a spot in the 10/15km classic race next week awaited the top finishers in today’s World Championship qualifying race. The qualifying event debuted in 2009 at the Liberec World Championships and according to FIS Cross-Country Race Director Jurg Capol, was added to rectify two issues from the 2007 Sapporo Championships. Capol cited both athlete safety...
The Norwegian wax truck is anything but subtle. A jet black tractor trailer with the visages of Petter Northug, Marit Bjoergen, and Therese Johaug painted with the Norwegian tri-colors and twisted into various expressions of comical aggression, the vehicle travels the World Cup circuit, the workplace of 10 to 12 committed technicians. Arch-rivals Sweden and Norway are the only two nations to possess such a convenience, the product of a passionate national following (and the...
Four weeks training at home without a race did not slow Kikkan Randall. The defending World Championship silver medalist in the freestyle sprint picked up where she left off a month ago, and found herself in the same spot – standing on the top of the podium. Randall scored her third career World Cup victory, and second in a row when she powered to the front on the tough finishing stretch in the Konnerud Ski...
Last year the Canadian men proved that performance a week before a major championship event is meaningless as a predictor. The hope is that that is the case this time around, as well. Both the Canadians and Americans did not impress in their final distance tune-up prior to this year’s World Championships – but the general consensus was that there was little to be concerned about. Devon Kershaw led all North American finishers in 26th...
One might say that a Swede winning a World Cup race on Norwegian soil would be reason for a national day of mourning. But despite Sweden getting the best in this stage of the great Nordic skiing rivalry, the unflagging good cheer of 15,000 Norwegian ski fans indicated otherwise. Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) turned in a dominating performance before a boisterous crowd in the last distance World Cup race prior to the start of the World...
The three day Beitostolen FIS race series in Norway concluded with a frigid race, featuring delayed start times and shortened distances. But this did not stop American skiers from continuing to turn in strong performances on the track. The races were originally scheduled as 15/30km freestyle events, but with predicted highs in the low single digits, the always cold-wary Norwegians opted to cut the distance to 10/15km. The US women packed the top of the...
A large contingent of US skiers took part in a classic sprint event in Beitostolen, Norway as World Championships approaches. The races featured large fields, consisting mainly of Norwegians, including several members of the World Championship team. The Americans fared well right from the start, sending four women and three men to the heats. Sadie Bjornsen, Jessie Diggins, and Ida Sargent placed 4th through 6th respectively in qualification, while Liz Stephen was 30th for the...
One year ago, the US and Canadian Olympic teams were in Whistler, British Columbia getting ready for the 2010 Olympic Games. This year, there are obviously no Olympics, but with medals on the line at the only marginally less prestigious World Championships, North American athletes are gearing up for the highlight of the season. Both team have arrived in Norway, and many of the skiers are looking to a series of FIS races in Beitostolen...
The group of junior and U23 skiers who stayed in Europe to race a series of Scandinavian Cup races in Latvia and Estonia wrapped up their Baltic stay with strong results. Reese Hanneman (APU), the lone US man to start, finished 36th in the 15km classic. “It was a very positive experience, even beyond the good (relatively, for me) result, because I got to ski with some very fast guys that were lapping through with me,”...
The 2011 US J1 Scando trip ended with a bang, as both men and women turned in excellent performances in 3×3/5km relays, capping three days of racing and generally strong US results. The US men led the way in the relay, battling at the front, and just missing out on the podium, placing fourth, 13.7 seconds behind the winning Norwegian team. The result did not come easily, and could have been better were it not...
The Rybinsk World Cups may lack the usual robust field, but if nothing else, it is a great opportunity for the Russians to showcase the sport to a passionate fan base. The men’s team did just that, overcoming a tough third leg by Petr Sedov to eke out the win over a strong Italian team. Evgeniy Belov and Maxim Vylegzhanin skied from the front on the classic legs, setting the pace, and opening up a...
