Heidi Weng – Page 2 – FasterSkier

Norway Leaves No Doubt in 4 x 5 k Championship Relay Win; Finland and U.S. Down to the Wire with Finland Taking Bronze.

Jason AlbertMarch 4, 2021

This World Championship coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. Tension built, tension released, as the build-up to the women’s 4 x 5-kilometer relay at the World Championships began under a partly cloudy sky, light breeze, and what we’ve...

Racing World Cup

Norway Tops Podium Once Again; US Women Finish 5th

Ella HallJanuary 24, 2021

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. It was a foggy morning for the women’s 4×5 k relay in Lahti, Finland. With temperatures above freezing and high humidity, the scene was less of a winter wonderland...

Racing World Cup

Norway Returns with Gusto, Sweeping the Women’s Podium in the 7.5/7.5 K Skiathlon; Diggins 5th

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 23, 2021

In case you missed the discussion on the Devon Kershaw podcast, the Norwegian team made its World Cup return today in Lahti, Finland after nearly two months of training and competing domestically. As predicted, neither their form nor racing gears have not been from this decision. The women in red went 1-2-3 in the 7.5/7.5-kilometer skiathlon, led by powerhouse Therese Johaug who notched her third consecutive win in the event and third career skiathlon win...

Dryland News Racing

Norway’s Blink Festival: Rollerski Racing with Some Social Distance

FasterSkierAugust 10, 2020

Times are what they are. Precautions are the name of the game. This year’s Blink Festival in Norway played to a reduced field and limited spectators due to COVID precautions. Some races, as will be noted, included modified race rules to limit close contact between athletes. Lysebotn Opp – 06/08 The Lysebotn Opp is perhaps the marquee event. It features lovely fjord views and a grueling 7.5-kilometer uphill skate switchbacking up a mountainside. In...

Racing World Cup

Norway With the Win, Finland With Its First Relay Podium on Home Turf

Rachel PerkinsMarch 1, 2020

Sports fans talk a lot about home field advantage. Which team will play at home at Game 7 of the World Series? Or in the playoffs before the Stanley Cup? Home turf and the swells of a crowd whose numbers are skewed toward the home team has an undeniable effect. Yes, the Norwegian team of Tiril Udnes Weng, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Therese Johaug, and Heidi Weng won yet another 4×5-kilometer relay with a time of...

Racing World Cup

Johaug Keeps Andersson at Bay for the Win in Lahti; Brennan 19th

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 29, 2020

In a typical season, you might expect late February in Lahti, Finland to look wintery. 61 degrees North latitude, ample snow on the ground and clinging to the trees, maybe even a reindeer? In fact, in a plug for the venue showed a woman skiing through a snow-laden town and arriving at the base of the towering ski jumps. But it was not so today. Women time-trialed through the woods for two laps on a...

Racing World Cup

Mother Nature Forces a Re-Route; Johaug Fights For the Win (updated with Diggins audio interview)

Jason AlbertFebruary 20, 2020

Nature has a lovely way of being, well, natural. In other words; marginally unpredictable, sometimes downright uncomfortable, and finicky. Prior to the Ski Tour 2020’s Stage 4 weather forecast and on-the-ground big-wind gust reality, the stage had been scheduled to pulse 38-kilometers from Storlein, Sweden to Meråker, Norway in a point to point event. Cool, right? An international border crossing during a race, with a single sanctioned coaching/feed zone for athletes around the 25 k...

Racing World Cup

Three In A Row, Johaug Wins the Hill Sprint Showdown in Åre; Diggins 11th, Caldwell 12th

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 18, 2020

When Therese Johaug wins a sprint qualifier by 4.5 seconds and Sophie Caldwell qualifies in 23rd, you know it is not your average course. Held at the Swedish national alpine ski area in Åre, today’s event seemed to blend the infamous climb up the Alpe Cermis in the final stage of the Tour de Ski with skier cross on perhaps the shortest but toughest sprint on the World Cup. A gradual uphill start led skiers...

Racing World Cup

Johaug Takes the Stage 2 Win: Brennan in 10th, Diggins 11th

Jason AlbertFebruary 16, 2020

The early evening show, under the lights of Östersund, Sweden’s ski stadium, Stage 2 of the Ski Tour 2020 – a 10-kilometer classic pursuit – got underway as the plentiful moisture falling from the sky transitioned from steady rain to big snowflakes. This was a 10 k race with three discrete tales. First, the story with the least tension. That would be Norway’s Therese Johuag’s 10 k effort. Which, despite the pursuit format, was a...

Racing World Cup

Johaug Tops an All-Norwegian Podium; Diggins 8th, Brennan 9th

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 15, 2020

Here we go again. A new Scandinavian Ski Tour takes the spot of a World Championship or Olympic Games during this off-cycle year. Six stages working east from Östersund, Sweden to Trondheim, Norway, beginning with today’s 10-kilometer individual start freestyle event. Under clear skies, light fading and shadows lengthening as the sunset looms just a few hours away, the women time trialed through the tall conifers to set the tone of the overall tour standings....

Racing World Cup

Johaug Pounces in Closing K to Win in Falun; Diggins 14th

Jason AlbertFebruary 9, 2020

As always, it was a reset: a new day at the start of a World Cup race. On Sunday, the ribbon of snow in Falun, Sweden offered an opportunity for a sixty-six women field to race head to head in a 10 k mass start freestyle race. With a course that some noted was softened in difficulty by eliminating the infamous Moderbakken climb — which has become a feared incline on the World Cup circuit...

Racing World Cup

With Arms Raised: It’s a Johaug Win in Oberstdorf – Brennan in 17th, Diggins 22nd

Jason AlbertJanuary 25, 2020

Here at FasterSkier, we do not play the odds. Some contributors we know play Noah Hoffman’s Fantasy League – but we steer clear of rolling the dice on cross-country skiing. But the women’s skiathlon events on the World Cup may not be the biggest payouts since in recent history they have been a lock. Oberstdorf in Oberstdorf, Germany — the site of next year’s Nordic Ski World Championships — required no crystal ball of an...

Racing World Cup

Johaug Sweeps the Pursuit in Nové Město; Diggins 10th

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 19, 2020

Yesterday’s snow coated Nové Město, Czech Republic, clinging to the tall pines and masking the unsettling contrast of the man made ribbon of snow. Though wintry precipitation continued to fall, cheering crowds filled the stadium, ringing bells and sounding horns as racers passed through. Picking up where they left off after the skate stage, athletes set out onto the arduous tracks for a 10-kilometer classic pursuit. Steep climbs, sharp curves, and gentler though rippling terrain...

Racing World Cup

Johaug Takes the Lead in Nové Město Pursuit; Diggins 4th

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 18, 2020

“It has everything,” Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla told FIS before the start of the 10-kilometer interval start skate in Nové Město, Czech Republic. Though she was describing the steep uphills and working downhills, found along the 5 k track, it might have also been an apt description for what the weather had in store. As athletes headed out on course, the light icy precipitation transitioned into chunky white flakes accumulating on the deteriorating ribbon of man...

Racing Tour de Ski

Back On Form, Johaug Climbs to the Overall Tour Victory; Diggins 6th, Brennan 7th in Stage (Updated)

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 5, 2020

The fateful Alpe Cermis. The 10-kilometer capstone of the Tour de Ski, athletes complete the 1.5 k sprint loop before following the river valley down to the base of the alpine hill, climbing steeply for nearly 400 vertical meters to the finish. Bodies aching with the cumulative fatigue of the tour, racers are totally spent at the finish of the event. Crossing the line, they collapse with their faces pressed into the snow gasping for...

Racing Tour de Ski

Jacobsen Shines in Stage 5 While Johaug Takes Home the Wooden Medal; Maubet Bjornsen 7th

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 3, 2020

The 100th Tour de Ski Stage in Val di Fiemme, Italy, featuring a four lap 10-kilometer mass start classic. Coupling the results in distance racing over the last 14 months since Therese Johaug returned to the world cup and those of Stage 4, it seemed like a safe bet to predict a rematch between Johaug and her teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. Another opportunity to race head-to-head over every meter of the course, and for Johaug...

Racing Tour de Ski

Johaug Retains the Overall, Østberg Takes the Stage

Jason AlbertJanuary 1, 2020

Pursuit day at the Tour de Ski. Fifty-one skiers chased the yellow Tour de Ski leaders bib of Norway’s Therese Johaug during Stage 4, a 10-kilometer classic pursuit. Start times for the day’s pursuit were based on time back in Stage 3, a 10 k interval start skate. Johaug started first, with Norwegian teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, 0.1 seconds back. A few skiers raced off with a small enough time deficit to dream of making...

Racing Tour de Ski

Stage 3 Nail Biter: Johaug takes it by 0.7 Seconds Over Østberg — Three U.S. Skiers in the Top-10

Jason AlbertDecember 31, 2019

Toblach, Italy. A stunning stadium and backdrop with the Dolomites lording over the venue and a steady cling-clang of baritone bells greeted skiers along portions of the course. Stage 3 in Toblach, a 10-kilometer interval start skate, turbocharged the 2019-2020 Tour de Ski (TDS). After two stages, a Stage 1 mass start skate and Stage 2 skate sprint, Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva sat atop the overall standings. In third overall, Norway’s imminent threat, Therese Johaug, was positioned...

Racing US Biathlon

Overall Leader Bib Changes Hands; Diggins and Bjornsen Narrow Gap to Overall Lead

Rachel PerkinsDecember 29, 2019

Day two of the Tour de Ski offered the American women the Sisyphean task of earning back time after a miss on ski and wax selection in Stage 1 prevented them from performing to their capability. This was particularly so for Jessie Diggins, a favorite for the overall tour podium who finished the first stage in 29th 1:20 behind Norway’s pace-setting Theresa Johaug. Her teammate Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, also a top all-arounder, was in the...

Racing Tour de Ski

Johaug Remains in Reach Despite a Stage 1 Tour de Ski Win

Jason AlbertDecember 28, 2019

Saturday marked the start of the 14th Tour de Ski in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Forgoing the traditional prologue start to determine time back to the leader, organizers threw in a spicy 11-kilometer mass start freestyle. Easy to follow for fans, maybe not so much for those following in the wake of Norway’s Therese Johaug. The scene was a Swiss winter ideal: plentiful snow, portions of the course dappled in sunlight, others shrouded in a drifting-in and...

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