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World Cup

The cream of the crop. The best in the world compete all winter long on the World Cup. We follow them at every stop with article and results. We also post occasional reports from North America’s best as they travel the globe.
A Big Day for Maubet Bjornsen as she Places Third in the Ruka Classic Sprint

A big day for Sadie Maubet Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) in Ruka, Finland. She placed third overall in the women’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint.  Italy’s Lucia Scardoni established the time to beat in the qualifier, 3:03.01. Maubet Bjornsen played her fitness cards early as she qualified in second, 1:15 seconds back.  “It has been an interesting fall battling through some frustrating tendinitis in my feet that didn’t allow me to run or ski...

The “Klæbo step” Brings Redemption and the Win in Ruka’s Classic Sprint

Straight to the point, no U.S. men advanced to the heats in Friday’s opening World Cup 1.4-kilometer classic sprint in Ruka, Finland. Since the sprint is part of a three-race series ending with a pursuit, all skiers started the qualifier.  As snow flurries fell in a semi-dark and Arctic Ruka —skiers raced under the lights — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway won the qualifier in 2:37:42.  Kevin Bolger of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) just...

United States Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: 5th Women’s Ranking 2018/2019: 4th Men’s Ranking 2018/2019: 11th Americans to Watch: Seven men and nine women will be lining up in stars and stripes for the World Cup’s opening: Finland’s Ruka Triple. Three race series features a classic sprint followed by a two-day distance pursuit. At the top of the ranks, Jessie Diggins (USST/SMS T2) finished the 2019 season 6th in distance and 7th in sprint....

At 26,  Nathalie von Siebenthal of Switzerland Retires

Switzerland’s top women distance skier Nathalie von Siebenthal announced her retirement Tuesday from elite level cross-country ski racing. According to the International Ski Federation (FIS), von Siebenthal took a break after the World Cup season and did not regain the motivation to continue. “The decision to take a break in spring was really important for me,” von Siebenthal told FIS. “In autumn I felt like my body was ready to go fully into training again. After...

Hanna Falk of Sweden out for the 2019-2020 Season

Monday, thirty-year-old Hanna Falk of the Swedish National Team announced on Instagram she would miss the upcoming World Cup season due to a back injury. Falk wrote she had endured back pain for the last month and confirmed an issue with a disk. According to Falk, she had been able to manage her back pain the past few years, but currently the issue had “reached a new level.” A translation of the Instagram post stated she will...

Cross Country Ski FIS World Cup on track for March 2020 Season Finale (Press Release)

  Press Release Cross Country Ski FIS World Cup on track for March 2020 Season Finale  The Season Finale to be held at the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park will welcome the world’s best skiers from around the world to compete for 3 days in March 2020.  CANMORE, ALBERTA July, 22 2019 – The Alberta World Cup Society (AWCS) just completed a successful pre-World Cup site visit by FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski), accompanied by FIS Marketing AG...

First World Cup Competitions Scheduled for Women’s Nordic Combined

While men’s Nordic Combined has been a fixture in the Winter Olympic games since the first contests were held in Chamonix, France in 1924, its female counterpart has not existed. Women’s cross country skiing was added to the Olympic program in the 1952 games in Oslo, while ski jumping was not added until the Sochi 2014 games. In November 2016, FIS published its “Nordic Combined Ladies’ Strategy Document” outlining a plan presented by the Nordic...

IMHO: The Most Challenging Cross-Country World Cup Courses

At the close of the season, after some striding and skating on some heavy courses, FasterSkier sent out a query to get some athletes’ opinions on which course (distance and sprint) was the most difficult? We also asked which specific World Cup climb was the deepest-dig grind. Here are the responses. We’ve included some course profiles for reference at the end of the piece. In your opinion what World Cup distance course is the most...

Behind the Scenes Organizing the Dresden City Sprint with Race Co-Director Torsten Püschel

Dresden City Sprint World Cup – Torsten Püschel Interview April 29, 2019 In the lead-up to the Minneapolis World Cup in March 2020, there are some parallels to the city sprint weekend in Dresden, Germany. Both are urban events relatively new to the World Cup circuit. What are the motivations and goals behind hosting a World Cup? What does it take to get a new event on the calendar? What has the Dresden World Cup...

International Cross-Country Performance of the Year

International Cross-Country Performance of the Year   With the 2018/2019 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is running a series of articles highlighting some of the players and performances from the season. This honor goes to the most outstanding international cross-country performance. Zeroing in on a single cross-country performance of the year can be futile. Choosing one performance out of a season’s worth of individual and team efforts is sure to exclude some athletes from...

World Cup Prize Money and the Distribution of Wealth

      If you’ve read the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) website in the last few weeks and deviated from exploring the cross-country sub-site, U.S. alpine star Mikaela Shiffrin has been prominently featured. Her season was record-breaking. With 17 wins, she set a FIS World Cup record for alpine victories in a single season. With the fattening of her win total, was the commensurate growth of her bank account. She became the first World Cup...

Breakthrough Skier of the Year

  With the 2018/2019 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is running a series of articles highlighting some of the players and performances from the season. This year, the breakthrough skier is Rosie Brennan. Rosie Brennan raced her first World Cup pre-Vancouver Olympics. That was 2009. Since then her career has been mercurial. In fact, this is Brennan’s second nod for breakthrough skier of the year. She was named to the U.S. Ski Team (USST)...

International Skiers of the Year

With the 2018/2019 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is running a series of articles highlighting some of the players and performances from the season. This year, the International Skier of the Year awards are nominated to two Norwegians who spent the season at the top of the World Cup ranks, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg Consistency is Queen, and for that Ingvild Flugstad Østberg reigned superior in 2018/2019 with...

Québec City: Notes, Quotes, and Gallery

The World Cup season wrapped up with World Cup finals in Québec City and FasterSkier was there. Three photographers and three interviewers worked together to gather information from 150 racers, including 56 North Americans. While top skiers chased glory on the tracks, 500 volunteers toiled out of sight. Alex Harvey retired in a public blaze of glory, Lenny Valjas and Ida Sargent retired in a flood of interviews but without a press conference, and a...

Klæbo Takes Home a Crystal Globe; Harvey Ends Career with a 2nd Place

Alex Harvey finished his career racing for Canada with a bang today in Québec City, Canada. Harvey placed second to Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in today’s 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit. It was Harvey’s second podium in as many races as he can now claim a perfect ending to his career. Another solid ending went to Klæbo, who with his win today earned the overall World Cup title. Although the point differential lent an air of intrigue to the...

On Beauty–Québec Day Three: By Bill McKibben

Beauty was the order of the day, beginning with the spectacle that spread out on the old battleground that shoulders up against the city of Québec. Nordic skiing usually proceeds against a backdrop of pine and birch, but there’s an undeniable thrill to see a race unfold beneath a bright blue sky, the action painted on a backdrop of buildings and streets. From the bottom of the one steep drop, one looked up to see...

Nilsson Makes a Clean Sweep in Québec; Diggins Skis the 4th Fastest Time of Day, Bjornsen 11th

It was beginning to seem as though it could not be done, and then it happened.  Norway’s Therese Johaug did not stand atop the podium after the 10-kilometer classic first stage of the women’s pursuit in Québec City. Sprint champion Stina Nilsson did. Not only that, but the bonus seconds garnered from Nilsson’s win in Friday’s skate sprint allowed her to enter the course for the final leg of the week’s three-race series with a margin...

Quebec Men’s 15 K Pursuit Race Rundown

FIS World Cup Québec City Men’s 15 k Freestyle Pursuit Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo did not cede the win today as he moved to take the World Cup overall over Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov. The day’s first starter in the 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit, Klæbo won in 29:05.4. Klæbo began with a 52 second lead on second starter Bolshunov and a 53-second gap on Canada’s Alex Harvey. The trio eventually linked up with Klæbo pulsing with speed to take...

Québec City World Cup Final Women’s Pursuit Race Rundown

FIS World Cup Finals Québec Women’s 10 k Freestyle Pursuit Day three in Québec City brought sunny skies and fast tracks. The first starter on the day for the 10 k freestyle pursuit, Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, took the win and with it the Québec City overall. Nilsson began with a 33.2 second lead over Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in second and a 49.4 second lead on third starter Therese Johaug, also of Norway. Nilsson won in...

Québec City: Quotes, Crashes, and Setting The Stage

The Québec City World Cup has been a wild ride for the first two days, which are really only setting the stage for the big event. On Sunday, two crystal globes will be decided and hometown superstar Alex Harvey will retire on a course he raced on as a child.   Tricky Skiing The first two days have brought wildly varying conditions, but both were challenging. Rain on Thursday evening caused sugar snow conditions on...