At Sunday's Holmenkollen 30 k classic mass start, Norway's Therese Johaug dominated. She won by a margin of 3:46.5 over teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. FIS reports Johaug's margin of victory was the largest ever for a women's cross-country World Cup.
In just over two weeks time since she won her first individual World Cup, American Jessie Diggins proves she deserves a place on the podium once again, racing to a third place finish overall in the women's 10 k freestyle individual start race on Saturday in Nove Mesto. “It’s been so fun to have all that hard work and all the hours of training pay off in such a big way,” Diggins said.
Therese Johaug's 9.9-second win over Norwegian teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg on Wednesday at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski wasn't enough to take the overall Tour leader's bib from Østberg. Meanwhile, Heidi Weng stuck in third overall, and the U.S. women, led by Diggins and Bjornsen, continue to have two in the overall top 15 after both placed in the top 30 on Wednesday.
Therese Johaug attacked from the gun and began to run away with the lead just 800 meters into Saturday's 15 k classic mass start in Lenzerheide. The Norwegian World Cup leader won Stage 2 of the Tour de Ski to take the lead in the Tour by 4.5 seconds over teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. Another Norwegian Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen had a scary episode at the finish.
Therese Johaug raced to a 1-minute-and-10-second victory in the women's World Cup 15 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, and her teammate is calling the deficit scary. “She is completely a machine," third-place finisher Heidi Weng said. "What is it exactly you're made of?”
The Norwegians may have won the race, but the Americans stole the show in the women's 4 x 5 k relay on Sunday in Lillehammer, Norway. For the U.S. women, placing third marked their first time back on the World Cup relay podium since December 2013. (Updated)
Therese Johaug and Martin Johnsrud Sundby didn't even try to make it interesting on Saturday; they were feeling too good. The Norwegians won the Lillehammer World Cup skiathlons by 1 1/2 minutes and 44 seconds, respectively, and skied a good portion of the race completely alone.
Top skiers' message to world leaders: we want to keep having winter, so make a legally-binding climate agreement. And the message to ski fans? Andy Newell says: "We need to get on the backs of the guys and women in the U.S. who make these decisions, and put some pressure on them.”
While Therese Johaug dominated the 10 k classic pursuit to win the Ruka Triple mini-tour, that wasn't the surprise - that would be teammate Heidi Weng finishing a lap early and losing both a podium finish and a lot of World Cup points. Sprinters Stina Nilsson and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg went 2-3 are beginning to make their names as distance skiers.
After today's 5 k skate in Kuusamo, Finland, Therese Johaug laughed remembering how short races used to be such a weak point for her. Not anymore: the Norwegian skied to a dominating 17.6-second victory over Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. That's 2% back in an 11-minute race.
Jessie Diggins collected back-to-back victories in the U.S. Ski Team's first races of the season in Gällivare, Sophie Caldwell, Andy Newell and Canadian Alex Harvey all placed second, and Caitlin Gregg reached the podium as well.
Two 22-year-old sprinters topped the podium in the men's and women's freestyle sprints in Bruksvallarna, Sweden, with Norway's Havard Solås Taugbøl beating four Swedes and Even Northug in the men's final and Stina Nilsson denying Charlotte Kalla of her third-straight victory.
Though he called his shape 'crappy', Niklas Dyrhaug led Daniel Myrmæl Helgestad and Chris Andre Jespersen in a sweep of the Bruksvallarna 15 k skate. On the women's side, Charlotte Kalla won by more than 35 seconds over Swedish teammate Stina Nilsson.
Charlotte Kalla met expectations in winning the 5 k classic opener in Bruksvallarna, Sweden, yet her coach pointed out she's exceptionally prepared this year. Then there was Ida Ingemarsdotter, 25 seconds back, and the biggest surprise of the day: Sofia Henriksson in third after nearly a year away from racing.
Petter Northug and Charlotte Kalla gave us the international performance's of the year at the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. With a classic sprint finish in the 50 k for Northug and a impressive snow filled, 40-second victory in the 10 k for Kalla, the two top a list of astounding performances from the 2014/2015 season.
Both Norway and Sweden announced their National Team picks for the 2015/2016 season Friday. The respective teams of the two rivals will see few changes in the upcoming year as both hope to either maintain or improve their team successes.
Marit Bjørgen proved once again why she is the world's best, saving one last attack to skate past Norwegian teammate Therese Johaug to take victory in the Holmenkollen 30 k and make it a clean sweep of the sprint, distance, and overally World Cup titles. Astrid Jacobsen outsprinted Sweden's Charlotte Kalla for third place.
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 a fifth-place in the 2014 Olympic relay, Norway came back with vengeance to take the 4 x 5 k relay at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden. The Swedish team, featuring Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson, overcame Finland to earn a silver medal in front of a home crowd.
Just how anomalous was the podium in the women's 10 k freestyle at FIS World Championships on Tuesday? We find that FIS points still provide a great overall correlation to the results - and that while the five unseeded early starters had an advantage, the biggest losers in terms of snowstorm effects appeared to be the Germans, not the Norwegians.