What started out like any other cold turned into a season-ending downward spiral for Devon Kershaw, who, in the midst of what would have been his eighth World Championships, had to forgo racing and leave Sweden early to recover at his fiancée’s home in Oslo, Norway.
Alex Harvey stayed at the front of the pack for most of Sunday's 50 k classic mass start, the final race of 2015 World Championships in Falun, but he couldn't quite get into the position he needed before a four-man finishing sprint -- which he was just behind. Also for Canada, Graeme Killick notched a career-best 19th, and Ivan Babikov placed 30th after leading as well.
Therese Johaug did what she had to do to beat Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen on Saturday in the final women's race of 2015 World Championships: the 30 k classic mass start. She did so by inadvertently attacking around 7 k: "I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s early. I have 23 kilometers to the end,'" Johaug recalled.
After missing out on a podium at the 2014 Olympics, the Norwegian men put themselves back on top in Friday's 4 x 10 k relay at World Championships in Falun, Sweden. With his characteristic finishing kick, Petter Northug outlasted Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson for gold, and France took bronze.
Bryan Fletcher leapt into contention in the large hill/10 k individual at 2015 World Championships with the 13th-best jump to start the race within 44 seconds of first. In the fight for third until the last few hundred meters, he placed fifth for U.S. Nordic Combined's best individual result at World Championships since 2009.
Ivan Babikov couldn't believe what he was hearing early in the 2015 World Championships 15 k freestyle. Two years after placing fourth in that race, he was in danger of finishing near last if he didn't speed up. Babikov turned it on for his second lap, which ended up being 24 seconds after than his first, to place 20th. Also for Canada, Graeme Killick placed 32nd and Jess Cockney was 57th in his first distance race in almost three months.
While the American men missed their personal marks in Wednesday's 15 k freestyle at World Championships, some, like Kyle Bratrud, were more satisfied with their performances than others.
Charlotte Kalla made for a happy local crowd on Tuesday with a 41-second win in the 10 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Two Americans joined her on the podium for a historic first in a women's distance race at a World Championships: Jessie Diggins in second and Caitlin Gregg in third.
With the pressure off, the Canadian women posted some career-best performances on Tuesday in the 10-kilometer freestyle individual start at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Emily Nishikawa took 30th, and Perianne Jones placed 32nd in what she said would probably be her final international race.
The Canadians placed seventh in the second men's semifinal at 2015 World Championships on Sunday, missing out on a spot in the final and placing 13th overall. “Everything worked to plan, it was just we were a little bit too far back, a second or two," anchor Lenny Valjas said.
Longtime friends and teammates Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Maiken Caspersen Falla, of Norway, were out for some redemption after their fourth-place finish in the 2013 World Championships team sprint, and they got it with a sizeable win over Sweden's Ida Ingemarsdotter and Stina Nilsson, while Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk and Sylwia Jaśkowiec were thrilled with bronze.
Alex Harvey approached Saturday's 30 k skiathlon with a winning mindset and came out with bronze, his second medal in as many races so far at 2015 World Championships. "A medal today is as good as gold," Canadian National Team Coach Justin Wadsworth says, "We couldn’t want anything more." Russia's Maxim Vylegzhanin outlasted Switzerland's Dario Cologna for his first world title.
Erik Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team and Alaska Pacific University notched his best-distance result of the season on Saturday in his first race of 2015 World Championships. He led the U.S. men in 28th in the skiathlon, while Noah Hoffman placed 44th, Kris Freeman was 48th and Matt Gelso finished 54th.
The start lists are out and it's official: Sophie Caldwell and Jessie Diggins will be representing the U.S. women in Sunday's freestyle team sprint at World Championships. While it was a tough decision to leave Kikkan Randall off the team, U.S. head coach Chris Grover explains the reasoning behind it.
At 19, Ben Berend made his World Cup debut last month in Schonach, Germany. After a whirlwind trip to Kazakhstan for Junior Worlds and Austria for the last Continental Cup, the Colorado native is set to compete in his first senior World Championships on Friday in Falun, Sweden.
Out of six U.S. Ski Team members who advanced to the heats in Thursday's World Championships classic sprint, Sophie Caldwell and Simi Hamilton went the farthest, making it to the semifinals before finishing 10th and 12th, respectively. Andy Newell placed 17th and rookie Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess led his quarterfinal at one point before ending up 30th overall. Sadie Bjornsen was 19th and Ida Sargent placed 29th.
Marit Bjørgen overcame the spectator roars for Sweden's Stina Nilsson to hold off the home-crowd favorite by 0.42 seconds in the women's classic-sprint final on the first official day of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Bjørgen captured her 13th World Championships gold, Nilsson notched silver and Norway's Maiken Caspersen Falla took bronze.
Five north American men qualified for the heats of the World Championships 1.4-kilometer classic sprint. Alex Harvey led the charge in the wet and warm conditions to finish fifth overall.
U.S. Nordic Combined named two rookies to its five-man World Championships team earlier this month, which will be competing in four events at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, over the next two weeks. Adam Loomis, 22, is one of them.
Born in Argentina, Carlos Lannes took advantage of every opportunity he could to get on snow before moving to Spain after his teenage years to pursue an international career of competitive racing. He went on to compete at the 2010 Olympics and is entering his fourth-and-final World Championships.