Maxim Vylegzhanin and the Russian relay team seized the men's 4 x 7.5 k relay victory on Sunday in Lillehammer, greatly raising their team's expectations ahead of the Sochi Olympics. If Lillehammer made anything clear it's that the men's relay is now dominated by a new Norway/Russia rivalry.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby held off Russians Maxim Vylegzhanin and Alexander Legkov in the homestretch to claim victory in the Ruka Triple mini-tour.
Lukas Bauer's (CZE) masterfully paced race ousted Eldar Roenning (NOR) from the victors chair today in Kuusamo, Finland, allowing the veteran Czech to claim his first victory since 2010. Bauer's pace in the 10 k classic race saw his split times trailing throughout the first 8 k to both Roenning and Dmitriy Japarov (RUS), before accelerating in the final kilometers to best grab the victory time by 2.4 seconds.
All 2012 FIS World Cup Finals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of Complete Results Matt Voisin contributed reporting.
As a classic specialist, Eldar Roenning (NOR) can oftentimes be overlooked when contemplating race favorites. The stocky Norwegian does not race the World Cup regularly, generally only hitting the events that play to his strengths in the traditional style of skiing, but he reached the top of the ski world on Saturday when he took the victory in the famed Holmenkollen 50k, defeating World Cup leader Dario Cologna in a mad sprint to the line....
VAL DI FIEMME, Italy – Eldar Roenning (NOR) spent much of the eighth stage of the Tour de Ski working for Petter Northug (NOR), but as the final kilometer rolled around, he submitted his resignation, packed up his skis and poles, and headed out on his own. Roenning attacked on the final climb of the unforgiving Val di Fiemme 4.5 kilometer loop, opening a 10 meter gap entering the stadium, a lead he never relinquished...
TOBLACH, Italy – It took 11 races, but Alexander Legkov finally got his first win of the 2012 season in Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski on Tuesday. With the help of a new coach and the right pair of skis, the Russian powered through finicky conditions to edge Eldar Roenning (NOR) and Dario Cologna (SUI) in the 5 k individual-start classic race. Petter Northug (NOR) floundered through the slick, soft conditions in Toblach,...
Annsi Pentsinen Doogiski over at NordicXplained asked how Pentsinen’s 4.3 second win in qualification on Friday stacks up historically. Quite impressively, it turns out. That’s the second largest qualifying round winning margin for the men’s field in WC, OWG or WSC races. The only larger one was almost 10 years ago, with a 4.7 second [...] Related posts:
Even if he didn’t say it, Petter Northug presented the challenge from the onset. The first starter in the men’s 15 k classic pursuit would give his followers a fighting chance before playing the game of cat and mouse in Kuusamo, Finland. The Norwegian frontrunner in the three-day Ruka Triple mini-tour wasn’t known for charging out of the gate in those types of races anyway. As expected, he led the race with the help of...
With the Norwegian women taking the top two spots earlier in the day in the 4×5 k, the Norwegian men had the bar for success set high for their four-man relay effort. As always, Petter Northug Jr. was anchoring Norway I, supported to Eldar Roenning and Finn Haagan Krogh on classic skis, while Lars Berger, biathlete, brother of Tora Berger, and occasionally cross-country relay selection skied third in the 4×10 k race in Sjusjøen, Norway,...
where she pulled away from Marit Bjoergen and Justyna Kowalczyk to become World Champion in the 30 k skate. Most importantly, Johaug’s prowess broke up the Bjoergen-Kowalczyk club, and introduced a new power into womens skiing. With Bjoergen knocking the stuffing out of every single woman on the circuit this year, and Johaug stepping up to a new level, the Norwegians have an unbeatable 1-2 punch in women’s skiing. Add in the aging but putting...
Petter Northug Jr. won the 50K skate mass start at the Norwegian National Championships in Tromsø Saturday, despite having to make a pit stop in the woods.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Eldar Roenning, the first two skiers for Norway’s 4x10km relay team sat in the Photo Press Center, eyes glued to one of the many television screens, watching the race unfold. The tension was high – no laughing or joking, not even a smile. Tord Asle Gjerdalen was on track for Norway, and he, along with Sweden’s Anders Soedergren, had just been reeled in by the chase pack. The race was now...
At the 2009 World Championships in the Czech Republic, Finland’s Matti Heikkinen combined a well-timed peak with a great pair of skis to take bronze in the 15 k classic, on a challenging wax day. That medal was Heikkinen’s first time on the podium in an international race. Since then, he’d finished in the top three a few times more—twice on the World Cup, and also in a couple of stages of the Tour de...
Heading into Saturday’s 15 k classic race, it had been more than four years since Eldar Roenning won a World Cup distance race. But even before he left the starting gate in Otepaa, Estonia, the Norwegian knew that it was going to be a solid day. “I had a good feeling—I was feeling that I was good enough for the podium,” he said. Roenning wasn’t just good enough for the podium—he was good enough for...
OSLO, NORWAY – Norwegian national team racers object to FIS plans of introducing alpine cross-country races.
SWEDEN - Two of the biggest favorites for the Oslo 2011 World Championships are choosing different ways to peak for the events in February/March: Charlotte Kalla (SWE) chooses to race the Tour de Ski again, while rival Marit Bjoergen (NOR) chooses the same plan as she did for the 2010 Olympics and skips the Tour.
Coming straight from a national team training camp, Petter Northug Jr. (NOR) welcomes Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA), Anders Soedergren (SWE) and Jack Mae (EST) and other international racers in the 3-race Tour de Troendelag events next week.
What? Yeah, that’s right, there are lots of great reasons to be a Nordic skier, but one of them is that there are a whole lot of fit, attractive people wearing spandex. Here is a list of some of the hottest European skiers on the World Cup. We may have forgotten a few so feel free to write them into the comment section and we will add them to the list. We did not want...
One of the summer highlights for the Cross-Country skiers is the so-called Tour de Trøndelag, in Meraker (NOR). The three-day event again attracted many of the leading Cross-Country stars to test their mid-summer shape last weekend. This summer Tour included two roller ski races (mass start and pursuit) and a cross-country race on snow. Racing on his home turf, the triple world champion from Liberec 2009, Petter Northug (NOR) again demonstrated his invincibility in the...