Americans Jessie Diggins and Caitlin Gregg discuss how they were able to take advantage of the opportunities in Tuesday's 10 k freestyle individual start at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. The USST also boasted a day where all of its four starters landed in the top 15 with Liz Stephen in 10th and Kikkan Randall in 15th.
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.
When Norwegian Therese Johaug threw down the hammer on Mördarbacken, a.k.a. "murder-hill", in the last lap of the women's 15 k skiathlon there was no hope for the rest of the competition. Using the hill to her advantage, Johaug skied to a World Championships gold ahead of teammate Astrid Jacobsen and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden.
American Jessie Diggins finished 17th after posting the fifth-fastest time at the 1.8-kilometer mark, while Liz Stephen -- who finished fifth overall in the 2015 Tour de Ski -- took 26th. Rosie Brennan came in 32nd and was just a few seconds from cracking the top 30, while Kikkan Randall finished 33rd.
Sweden's Charlotte Kalla won the last World Cup before 2015 World Championships by more than 36 seconds over Norway's Marit Bjørgen, leading from start to finish for the clear-cut victory. It was her first World Cup win since March 2010, and Bjørgen locked up her fourth Overall World Cup crown.
Charlotte Kalla dominated distance racing, while Hanna Falk claimed a sprint title and a place on the World Championships team. In the men's field, Marcus Hellner, Emil Joensson and Tobias Peterson made arguments that they are returning to form- but Calle Halfvarsson scored a big victory in the 15 k.
How much did Norway’s Marit Bjørgen have left and could anybody beat her? That was the question on Sunday in the women's 1.3 k freestyle sprint on the last day of racing before the holiday break. One young Swede came close.
As so often on the World Cup lately, it’s not a question of who will fight for the victory, but how the competition between Marit Bjørgen and Therese Johaug will unfold. Sunday held a sprint showdown between the two in the women's 10 k classic pursuit on the last day of the Lillehammer World Cup mini tour.
Therese Johaug wasn't sure if last week's 42-second win over teammate Marit Bjørgen was a fluke. While she wasn't able to dominate by as big of a margin in Saturday's 5 k freestyle, Johaug did top Bjørgen again -- this time by 0.3 seconds -- on Day 2 of the mini tour in Lillehammer, Norway.
Therese Johaug took the fun out of fighting for first, proving herself untouchable throughout Sunday's two-lap 10 k classic on the first day of World Cup distance racing in Kuusamo. Teammate Marit Bjørgen knew the race was for second and narrowly edged Sweden's Charlotte Kalla.
Charlotte Kalla is heading home to Sundsvall to eat some smoked salmon and prep for Kuusamo; Calle Halfvarsson survived the prologue despite breaking a pole right out of the start gate, and bested the Poland's Maciej Starega as well as his Swedish teammates for the win.
Fredrik Lindström, a biathlon World Championships medalist, hadn't done a ski race in six years. But he beat out the Swedish national ski team in the Bruksvallarna 15 k, and had them joking about adding him to a relay team. In the women's 10 k, Charlotte Kalla skied to a 52-second win over Maria Rydqvist.
Johan Olsson reigned supreme in the first FIS race of the season in Bruksvallarna on Friday, edging fellow Swedish national-team member Calle Halfvarsson by 0.4 seconds because of an announcer flub (and a self-described cocky move) at the finish. Charlotte Kalla topped the women's field by 13.4 seconds with a surprise first-year senior, Sophia Henriksson, in second.
The Craftsbury Green Racing Project traveled to Ramsau, Austria Sept. 8 for a roughly three week on-snow training camp on the Dachstein Glacier. The 12 member squad has found excellent conditions and an abundance of international skiers on the glacier's 9 k groomed loop.
Therese Johaug took a 15-second lead and literally ran with it, beating Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen by nearly 30 seconds in Sunday's 10 k freestyle pursuit to win the World Cup Finals and her first overall World Cup title.
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.
Marit Bjørgen had what she considered a perfect day in Sunday's 10-kilometer freestyle individual start in Lahti, Finland. After a strong start, the Norwegian paced herself to an even faster tempo as she ticked off the kilometers, beating the likes of Charlotte Kalla and Therese Johaug for the World Cup victory.
With three teammates skiing at the front of the women's 30 k freestyle mass start from start to finish, it was no surprise it was Norway, and it wasn't exactly stunning that they dominated the podium. However, the last several hundred meters of the race turned out to be the most exciting, with Marit Bjørgen executing in her usual fashion. The victory made her the most successful woman in Winter Olympics history.
As Norway blew the wax and muddled their way through their worst women's relay in recent memory, Sweden was making a different kind of history. Charlotte Kalla took over as anchor leg with a 25 second deficit to the two leaders, but skied a sensational race to win the team's first gold since 1960.
Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk was crying at the finish line of Thursday's Olympic 10 k, though it was unclear if they were tears of joy, or of pain. The 31-year-old had won a clear victory over Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Norway’s Therese Johaug.