Marit Bjørgen had a lot of history riding on Saturday's 10 k freestyle -- if she or any other Norwegian woman won it, their team could go down in the record books with the longest World Cup winning streak. But mostly Bjørgen was looking for her first distance win of the season.
The 2014 Olympics in Sochi were an unmitigated disaster for German cross country skiing and biathlon. We look back on why, using our own observations and a 235-page Germany Olympic committee analysis of the country's performance in Sochi. With problems identified, the question becomes: what about now?
When it comes to opening distance races, Therese Johaug is a gamer. On Friday, she won the first 10 k classic of the season for the fourth year in a row and third-straight Beitostølen distance opener -- once again ahead of Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen.
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.
It’s not easy being Justyna Kowalczyk — always breaking trail, always having the weight of Poland on her, and in a classic distance race at home on her birthday without any Scandinavians in the field? Forget about it. She was easily the favorite for Sunday’s World Cup 10 k classic mass start in Szklarska Poręba, Poland. That didn’t make winning any easier.
Germany Nations Cup Ranking: 6th (4308 pts) Men: 4th (2453 pts) Women: 8th (1855 pts) 2010/2011 A Team Men Tobias Angerer Jens Filbrich Axel Teichmann Tim Tscharnke Women Stefanie Boehler Nicole Fessel Evi-Sachenbacher Stehle Miriam Goessner Katrin Zeller What you may have missed last season: Tim Tscharnke rising to German sprinting domination. The 21 year-old kid with no previous World Cup points cruised onto the circuit and took home over 100 World Cup points, looking...
Olympic gold medalist Claudia Nystad has announced she has stepped down from professional cross-country skiing. Nystad’s career marked a very succesful period for the German Ski Association, as she captured not only five Olympic medals but also five from World Championships. Eventually, the 32-year-old felt her triumph at the Olympic Games in Vancouver turn into another sensation. “The Games in Vancouver were a highlight of my career,” said Claudia Nystad. “I’ve been thinking a lot...
Lightning. Bears. Concrete walls. Those are a few things that might be able to stop Norway’s Marit Bjoergen right now. Mere mortals from Italy, Finland, and Germany? Fat chance. Taking the tag from Kristin Stormer Steira with Italy hot on her heels, Bjoergen laid down a blazingly fast final leg, dropping Sabina Valbusa on the very first climb. She skied away, uncontested, to her third gold medal of these Games—Norway’s first in the women’s relay...
The prolonged, brutal physical demands of the team sprint make the event a fickle friend. Just ask Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag. After blowing the doors off the eight other teams in their semifinal, the Swedish women came into the gold-medal round as an irresistible force. But they ran head on into the immovable object of Claudia Nystad and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, a pair of veteran German women without the speed for the first round, but...