The U.S. Nordic Ski Team is in shambles after several unusual injuries struck during the first recovery week of the season. Jessie Diggins is bedridden with a knee injury caused by repeated jumping, and the men's team has been bitten as well, with an infection stemming from a paper cut and public restroom, as well as torn ligaments from an arm-wrestling match.
The men's final distance race of the season in Craftsbury, Vt., saw APU's Erik Bjornsen stride away to his second win of the week, taking the men's 50 k classic mass start title at U.S. Distance Nationals by more than 1 1/2 minutes.
Alaska Pacific University led from start to finish, with Erik Bjornsen, Rosie Brennan, Scott Patterson, and Chelsea Holmes, to win its third-consecutive mixed relay title at SuperTour Finals on Thursday in Craftsbury, Vt. A hybrid team called Vailbury Green placed second, and Jessie Diggins brought SMST2 from sixth to third at the finish.
After nearly sweeping the podium at U.S. nationals earlier this year, the Alaska Pacific University men got the job done in Craftsbury on Tuesday, taking first, second and third with Erik Bjornsen and Reese and Logan Hanneman, respectively.
Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby won the Ski Tour Canada's brutal Stage 6 skiathlon on Wednesday, putting him third overall in the Tour, while Petter Northug remains in second despite losing precious time to Tour leader Sergey Ustiugov. Canada's Alex Harvey jumped a spot to fourth overall, and his teammates Ivan Babikov and Graeme Killick posted season-best results.
On a cold, clear day in historic Quebec City, Canada's Alex Harvey didn't take the win, but he stole the show. In an impressive run, Harvey placed second to France's Baptiste Gros in the Ski Tour Canada's Stage 3 freestyle sprint. The U.S. had three in the heats, with Simi Hamilton finishing eighth, Erik Bjornsen a career-best 20th and Andy Newell 29th. Canada's Jess Cockney notched 10th for his best result in four years.
Photos from the third stage of the Ski Tour Canada: the men's and women's freestyle sprints in Quebec City. Local legend Alex Harvey placed second in the men's race, and American Sadie Bjornsen led the U.S. women in eighth after winning the qualifier.
Norway keeps them coming. Norwegian young gun Emil Iversen took Stage 2 of the Ski Tour Canada, the men's 17.5 k classic mass start in Montreal, ahead of an all-star cast, including teammate Petter Northug, Russia's Sergey Ustiugov, and another Norwegian, Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Canada's Alex Harvey skied up to ninth for sixth overall in the Tour.
On a 1.7-kilometer technical course with hustling and jostling, U.S. sprinter Simi Hamilton proved he had the tactics and the lungs to ski with the world's best on Tuesday. He placed third in the Ski Tour Canada's opening skate sprint, 0.09 seconds behind Russia's Sergey Ustiugov in first and 0.01 behind France's Richard Jouve in second.
On Sunday, the U.S. Ski Team released its 24-athlete roster for the upcoming Ski Tour Canada, with eight stages in 12 days starting Tuesday. (Note: this article has been updated as Caitlin Patterson will not be starting due to illness.)
After Russia won both of the men's competition events last weekend in Sweden, Norway decided it was time to fight back. In Sunday's skiathlon, five Norwegians crossed the finish line before any other country's first competitor. "We needed to come back from three Russian victories," said race winner Martin Johnsrud Sundby.
With fewer than two weeks remaining until the Ski Tour Canada visits Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, and Canmore from March 1-12, we spent some time breaking down the provisional North American picks and estimated costs for Canadian nation's group skiers at the season-ending World Cups.
There were no Norwegians on the podium Saturday in Falun, Sweden. Russia secured the top two with Maxim Vylegzhanin in first and Alexander Bessmertnykh in second, and France’s Maurice Manificat finished third. American Erik Bjornsen to a second-best 21st, a minute out of first.
The Norwegians built up what turned out to be an insurmountable lead, despite Russia coming within 6 seconds of them at the finish, to win the men's Nove Mesto World Cup relay on Sunday. The U.S. and Canada skied together throughout the race to place eighth and ninth, respectively.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby won his third-consecutive Tour de Ski by a record-breaking 3 minutes and 15 seconds and another Norwegian, Finn Hågen Krogh, bested a tight chase pack for second overall. Russian Sergey Ustiugov captured third, and Alex Harvey led the North Americans in 14th at the end of the eight-stage Tour.
Finn Hågen Krogh knows a lot about ups and downs, and has formed somewhat of a pattern at this year's Tour de Ski. However, the Norwegian had one of his career-best races on Friday, winning the 10 k freestyle by 3.6 seconds ahead of teammate and overall Tour leader Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Noah Hoffman placed 19th to lead the U.S., and Canadian Alex Harvey finished 37th and is now 15th in the Tour.
The fifth stage of the Tour de Ski, the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start on Wednesday, was decided by mere inches. Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin took the lead in a group of five athletes from the final descent, with several more shortly behind, and outlunged Switzerland’s Dario Cologna.
Len Valjas double poled past Italian sprint star Federico Pellegrino at the end of the first men’s classic sprint quarterfinal to earn a spot in the semifinals and ultimately lead the North American men in 10th in the fourth stage of the Tour de Ski in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Canada's Alex Harvey started seventh and finished ninth to maintain his place in the top 10 of the Tour de Ski after three stages, and American Noah Hoffman posted the 17th-fastest time of the day to finish in the top 25 for the second-straight day in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
With both Noah Hoffman (in 23rd) and Erik Bjornsen (in 30th) notching their best World Cup results of the season, the American men's team was happy at the finish line -- and now only needs one more man to score a World Cup distance point to increase its start quota next season.