Closing in on the finish it was Falla and Bjørgen neck and neck, with Nilsson gaining ground. At the line it was Falla’s foot that crossed before Bjørgen’s. Falla said after the race, "Marit [Bjørgen] and I train a lot together and Marit usually wins when we practice the finish. It is nice to beat her.”
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.
The Weekend Roundup is back! Just because the Olympics are over doesn't mean the season is finished. Catch up with the renewed World Cup action in Lahti, Finland, the IBU Youth World Championships, and the Vasaloppet.
Kikkan Randall was the top American in today's World Cup freestyle in Lahti, Finland skating her way to 21st place. Noah Hoffman was the top American man, finishing 24th on the icy course.
Alex Harvey took 8th place in Sunday’s 15 k individual freestyle race in Lahti, Finland, proving that he’s still on form and hungry for results in the final weeks of the World Cup season. “Effort wise and everything it’s the race I’m the most proud of this year, it’s the race I get the most satisfaction out of, I was really happy with it," said Harvey.
Norwegian Martin Johnsrud Sundby is back on top following a disappointing Olympics, winning the men's 15 k freestyle in Lahti, Finland over Sweden's Daniel Richardsson and Russia's Alexander Legkov.
With World Cup action returning after the Olympics, a number of North American racers made their season, and in some cases, career debuts on the circuit.
In the final few hundred meters, Pål Golberg stormed ahead of a tiring Teodor Peterson and Alexey Petukhov to win his second career World Cup victory. "It was a crazy final with two falls," he said, "I was bit lucky I could avoid a crash, but luck belongs to sport. Today it was my turn."
The first thing U.S. women's coach Matt Whitcomb tweeted after Saturday's freestyle sprint, the first World Cup since the Olympics: "We are back!" Randall had won another skate sprint to rise to the top of the World Cup sprint standings, and Sophie Caldwell joined her on the podium -- the first time two U.S. women have shared an individual World Cup podium.
It was a long and tiring journey to Lahti, Finland for Alex Harvey. After suffering cramps in the Olympic 50 k, excessive travel, a lack of training gear, and general exhaustion, the Quebec native bounced back for a top ten finish in Saturday’s 1.5 k freestyle sprint, placing seventh.
With the Olympics starting Thursday and jam-packed week behind us, it’s almost futile to try and recap it all. But here’s the lowdown of what happened: The Junior/U23 World Champion began in Val di Fiemme, Italy, the final World Cup weekend before the Olympics took place in Toblach, Italy and NorAm racing continued at the Eastern Canadian Championships in Cantly, Quebec.
Of the 18 North Americans that competed in Sunday’s 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprints at the Toblach World Cup, nine made the rounds. Many of them chatted with FasterSkier about the day and final race before the Olympics.
It is difficult to pick a favorite in the men's Olympic sprint, but Norwegian Ola Vigen Hattestad made a strong case for that designation, winning the final pre-Games tune-up in Toblach, Italy. Teammate Eirik Brandsdal was second and German Josef Wenzl took third.
If anyone was going to deny Kikkan Randall of her third-straight skate sprint win, a feat that hasn’t been achieved on the World Cup since Marit Bjørgen's similar winning streak in 2006, it was most likely going to be Bjørgen. The 33-year-old Norwegian stayed calm and collected to do so, leading three Norwegians in the top four as Randall finished fifth in Sunday's Toblach sprint.
Erik Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team broke through in Saturday's 15 k classic individual start at the Toblach World Cup in Italy, two days after placing 17th the same event at U23 World Championships. Aside from Alex Harvey in fifth, the rest of the North American men placed outside the top 38 on a wet day marked by tricky conditions.
The Toblach World Cup 10-kilometer classic individual start on Saturday provided a few takeaways exactly one week out from the Olympics. Bjørgen made a statement with a definitive win, Kowalczyk missed the podium for the first time in a 10 k classic since 2009, and the U.S. women put four in the top 20, five in the top 22, in a classic distance race.
With a rocket-fast last lap and some unplanned help from Canada's Alex Harvey, Alexander Legkov made Saturday a little less about Dario Cologna, who returned to the World Cup after missing the first half of the season. Legkov won the last distance race before the Olympics, bringing Russia some good vibes before it hosts the Games.
The final weekend of World Cup racing before the Olympics continued today with the men's 15-kilometer classic individual start in Toblach, Italy. Here is a look at some of the action courtesy of FlyingPointRoad.com and NNF.
The final weekend of racing before racing focuses on the Olympics started in Toblach, Italy with the women's 10 k classic individual start. Here is a look at some of the action courtesy of flyingpointroad.com and NNF.
With the World Cup resuming on Saturday (after a bye weekend two weeks out from the Olympics), Toblach organizers are doing their best to remove and manage heavy snowfall. According to FasterSkier's on-site reporter Gerry Furseth, there was no official training on Friday "as the heavy snow made for unusual skiing conditions."