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.
Without the big show of Marit Bjørgen in Saturday's classic sprint, Norway's Ingvild Flugstad Østberg rose to the occasion, notching her first World Cup classic-sprint victory and fourth podium of the season.
Which Norwegian and by how much? That seems to be the ongoing question in the beginning of the 2014/2015 World Cup season, with Norwegian dominance for both the men and women since the first race in Ruka, Finland. Sunday in Davos, Switzerland, it was Ingvild Flugstad Østberg who came out on top in the 1.3 k freestyle sprint - and it wasn't even close.
Marit Bjørgen's gotten used to winning opening mini tours in Kuusamo, and she seems to have no problem getting off to a strong start in the first of three races in Lillehammer, either. "It is always fun to win," she told NRK after her second-straight World Cup sprint win in Friday's 1.3 k freestyle sprint.
Norway's Celine Brun-Lie chatted with FasterSkier while wrapping up her camp with the U.S. Ski Team and APU on Eagle Glacier. She flew home Tuesday, but not before flying around Alaska, visiting cabins, eating salmon, seeing moose, lots of moose -- and training 20-plus hours for each of the last two weeks.
Anchorage and Eagle Glacier are happening places these days, with the North American Women's Training Alliance (including Norway's Celine Brun-Lie and 13 top U.S. skiers), a couple of French biathletes and the U.S. men's team, which recently arrived for its first unified training camp in Alaska.
The U.S. women closed out their weekend in Beitostølen on top, with Kikkan Randall winning Sunday's 1.2 k skate sprint ahead of two Slovenians and three Norwegians, including Marit Bjørgen. Ida Sargent placed 13th and three other Americans made the top 20.
Kikkan Randall proved to the world once again that she can overcome any obstacle to reach the top of a World Cup podium. The first Olympic test event of the weekend took place on Friday at the Laura Cross-Country Stadium outside Sochi, Russia, where Randall bested France’s Aurore Jean and Norway’s Celine Brun-Lie to claim her second individual sprint win and ninth podium of the season.
Kikkan Randall nearly pulled off what appeared impossible — breaking away on the climbs and holding on to the lead in the women's skate sprint. Maiken Caspersen Falla responded and bested Randall in the homestretch.
Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins made it three weekends in a row with a U.S. podium, winning the team sprint in Quebec City over Germany and Norway. The win was a first in a team event for the American women.
Kikkan Randall has now recorded three medals in five skate sprints. But if the enigmatic American sprint star is tired, she sure isn’t showing it, as she blasted to her first World Cup victory of the season Saturday, in a skate sprint in rainy Liberec, Czech Republic. Randall took advantage of fast skis, an advantageous situation, and a strong finishing kick to secure the win, crossing the line 0.5 seconds ahead of her closest competitor...
The Norwegian women dominated the World Cup opener Nov 20-21, and the Norwegian men want revenge on the Swedes. However, will likely have to achieve the task without reigning World Champion Petter Northug in the Kuusamo (FIN) mini-tour.