With the Sprint World Cup already in the bag, Italy's Federico Pellegrino entered the last sprint of the season in Canmore on Tuesday without any pressure. "When you realize your goals, it’s so good,” the eventual race winner said. Meanwhile, Canada's Lenny Valjas fed off his home crowd to place 11th for his second-best result of the season.
Despite Petter Northug's greatest efforts, he couldn't catch Sergey Ustiugov during Saturday's four-lap 15 k freestyle pursuit in downtown Quebec City. The Russian held Northug off by 17 seconds for the win to keep the Ski Tour Canada leader's bib heading to Canmore, Alberta. Behind them, Alex Harvey outlasted Martin Johnsrud Sundby for fourth place, 44.5 seconds behind Emil Iversen in third.
On a cold, clear day in historic Quebec City, Canada's Alex Harvey didn't take the win, but he stole the show. In an impressive run, Harvey placed second to France's Baptiste Gros in the Ski Tour Canada's Stage 3 freestyle sprint. The U.S. had three in the heats, with Simi Hamilton finishing eighth, Erik Bjornsen a career-best 20th and Andy Newell 29th. Canada's Jess Cockney notched 10th for his best result in four years.
Photos from the third stage of the Ski Tour Canada: the men's and women's freestyle sprints in Quebec City. Local legend Alex Harvey placed second in the men's race, and American Sadie Bjornsen led the U.S. women in eighth after winning the qualifier.
FasterSkier previewed the Quebec City courses before the third and fourth stages of the Ski Tour Canada, another freestyle sprint and 10/15 k freestyle pursuits, with the sprint on Friday on the historic Plains of Abraham. We also joined a press conference with the local celebrity, Alex Harvey. "A top-five placement overall is still realistic," he said of the entire Tour. "Even the podium is not out of reach."
Norway keeps them coming. Norwegian young gun Emil Iversen took Stage 2 of the Ski Tour Canada, the men's 17.5 k classic mass start in Montreal, ahead of an all-star cast, including teammate Petter Northug, Russia's Sergey Ustiugov, and another Norwegian, Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Canada's Alex Harvey skied up to ninth for sixth overall in the Tour.
Emil Iversen of Norway pulled out a victory in Stage 2 of the Ski Tour Canada, ahead of teammate Petter Northug and Sergey Ustiugov of Russia in the men's 17.5 k classic mass start on Wednesday in Montreal, Quebec. Here are a sample of photos recollecting the action.
The U.S. Ski Team rocked the first stage of the Ski Tour Canada with back-to-back podiums, starting with Jessie Diggins in third in the women's freestyle sprint, followed by Simi Hamilton in third as well in the men's sprint.
FasterSkier has several boots on the ground in Gatineau, and over the last couple days, we gained a sense about the conditions and chatted with a few athletes before the Ski Tour Canada opens Tuesday with 1.7 k freestyle sprints. Snow reports, photos, quotes, and an added bonus: the U.S. Ski Team's latest music video.
With fewer than two weeks remaining until the Ski Tour Canada visits Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, and Canmore from March 1-12, we spent some time breaking down the provisional North American picks and estimated costs for Canadian nation's group skiers at the season-ending World Cups.
In the men's 15 k freestyle mass start at the World Cup in Falun, Sweden, Russian Sergey Ustiugov bested Italy's Francesco de Fabiani and Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby for his first distance win. "It is obvious that in the end of the season Russian team is getting better and better," Ustiugov said.
There were no Norwegians on the podium Saturday in Falun, Sweden. Russia secured the top two with Maxim Vylegzhanin in first and Alexander Bessmertnykh in second, and France’s Maurice Manificat finished third. American Erik Bjornsen to a second-best 21st, a minute out of first.
It's been a few years, but Nikita Kriukov wants you to know he's back. On Thursday, the Russian notched his first individual World Cup podium (and win) since December 2013 on a city sprint course in Stockholm. Canada's Alex Harvey narrowly missed the final and placed seventh for his best sprint result this season.
Fifty kilometers might seem like plenty of time to ease into a race, but especially in a World Cup race like Holmenkollen, those days are over. “It’s a battle from the start now," Canada's Devon Kershaw explained. His teammate Alex Harvey led the North Americans in 20th, Kershaw placed 23rd, Noah Hoffman of the U.S. was 24th, Graeme Killick of Canada 30th, and U.S. skier Scott Patterson 32nd.
Norway's Petter Northug showed his versatility as an all-rounder, winning Wednesday's classic sprint in Drammen, Norway. His quick double pole and quicksilver skate skis won out the day. The U.S. Ski Team's Simi Hamilton placed 11th overall while Canada's Alex Harvey posted his second-best sprint result of the season in 20th.
Maurice Manificat has been waiting for this win all season despite being on the podium twice in the last two months. On Saturday, he beat Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby for his first World Cup victory since 2013. For Sundby, it was a small speed bump on his way to seize control of the 2015/2016 World Cup overall.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby won his third-consecutive Tour de Ski by a record-breaking 3 minutes and 15 seconds and another Norwegian, Finn Hågen Krogh, bested a tight chase pack for second overall. Russian Sergey Ustiugov captured third, and Alex Harvey led the North Americans in 14th at the end of the eight-stage Tour.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby showed he's still got it, winning Saturday's 15 k classic mass start ahead of Norwegian teammate Niklas Dyrhaug and Kazakhstan's Alexey Poltoranin, for nearly a 1 1/2-minute head start in Sunday's final climb. Alex Harvey notched seventh on the day for 12th overall heading into the final stage.
Finn Hågen Krogh knows a lot about ups and downs, and has formed somewhat of a pattern at this year's Tour de Ski. However, the Norwegian had one of his career-best races on Friday, winning the 10 k freestyle by 3.6 seconds ahead of teammate and overall Tour leader Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Noah Hoffman placed 19th to lead the U.S., and Canadian Alex Harvey finished 37th and is now 15th in the Tour.
The fifth stage of the Tour de Ski, the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start on Wednesday, was decided by mere inches. Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin took the lead in a group of five athletes from the final descent, with several more shortly behind, and outlunged Switzerland’s Dario Cologna.