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Johan Olsson

Weekly Roundup: World Championships, Oslo, Vasaloppet

The classic races of World Championships took place in Val di Fiemme: interval start, relay, marathon. Biathletes competed in Oslo, Americans held their own in Slavic Cup action, and Swedes (and everyone else) gave it their all in the Vasaloppet. Summaries of the action, along with links to reporting and results.

After months of training and anticipation, the nordic sports opened their seasons around the world this weekend with races around the world. Established veterans had several dominating performances, but there were new faces on the podiums as well, signaling that when World Cup racing starts next weekend, things could be pretty interesting. In Bruksvallarna, Sweden, the Swedish, Canadian, and Slovenian national teams butted heads in a three-day race series. One of the biggest surprises was...

Johan Olsson Paces to Bruksvallarna Victory; Using New Tactics, Babikov Surges to Third

Devon Kershaw had a good start in Bruksvallarna, Sweden today. So did Daniel Richardsson. But in the end, for both the Swedes and the Canadians, it was steady pacing that garnered skiers a top finish: Johan Olsson bested Richardsson for the win, and Ivan Babikov placed third for Canada while Kershaw faded to tenth. At 4.6 k into the 15 k, interval-start skate race, the second competition in the opening series of FIS races, Richardsson...

Olsson, Classic Master of the Moment, Dominates 15 k in Szklarska Poreba

It isn’t all that common, these days, to see Johan Olsson on the World Cup. After a strong start to this season, Olsson took a two-month forced hiatus due to illness. Last year, after the November World Cups he didn’t return to the top level of competition until World Championships in March. In 2010, he skipped the entire month of January to prepare for the Olympics. Injury and illness are sadly par for the course...

Back from Oblivion, Olsson Jump Starts Season with WC Win, Cologna Second After Leading Break

After a two month hiatus from World Cup racing, Johan Olsson (SWE) demonstrated a complete return to form, pushing the pace from the get-go in the 30km classic mass start in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, before countering a  vicious attack from Dario Cologna (SUI), and riding fast skis to victory. Olsson couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2012 season. At the opening 15km skate in Sjusjoen, Norway, he skied to a convincing...

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:

  1. Flashback: Kuusamo Sprint
  2. TdS Classic Sprint: North Americans
  3. Odds and Ends after Otepää

Roland Clara had been second before. On Saturday in Kuusamo, Finland, the Italian looked pretty comfortable in the leader’s chair, bundled in a blanket and flashing a genuine smile. But the men’s 10 k freestyle race on the second day of the Ruka Triple mini-tour was only halfway through. With individual starts staggering the finishes, Clara could see his seat wasn’t permanent. With every checkpoint — 3.1, 6.4 and 8.1 k — his challengers closed...

Finally, the World Cup season is under way. The individual 10/15km freestyle races this past weekend had some predictable performances (the Norwegian women) and some not so predictable performances (Swedish men). Men Let’s focus on just three of the men with notable performances on Saturday: Definitely strong races for each of these guys, but there [...] Related posts:

  1. Gällivare Recap: North Americans
  2. Gällivare Recap: Europeans
  3. Kuusamo WC Recap: North Americans

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,...

Petter Northug (NOR), famed for his unmatched finishing kick, fired up the afterburners once again, accelerating out of the final stadium hairpin and into the homestretch. The seconds ticked off the clock, and it seemed impossible that Northug would overtake his challenger. But lifting off the snow with each stride, Northug ate up the final meters, lunging across the line before collapsing in a heap, just two tenths of a second ahead of Roland Clara...

The 2010/2011 Veissmann Tour de Ski is nothing if not draining. Consisting of eight events in ten days in two countries, the fifth edition begins December 31st and runs until January 9th. The Tour begins with a freestyle prologue in Oberhof, Germany, on December 31st, followed by a classic pursuit start on January 1st. The Tour then moves to Oberstorf, Germany, for a sprint on January 2nd, and a pursuit on the 3rd. After a...

Sweden Nations Cup Ranking: 3rd (6793 pts) Men: 3rd (3535 pts) Women: 3rd (3258 pts) 2010/2011 A Team Men Emil Joensson Mats Larsson Robin Bryntesson Jesper Modin Teodor Peterson Daniel Richardsson Anders Soedergren Marcus Hellner Johan Olsson Jens Eriksson Women Lina Andersson Magdalena Pajala Anna Haag Ida Ingemarsdotter Charlotte Kalla Hanna Falk Hanna Brodin Sara Lindborg What You May Have Missed Last Season Hanna Falk coming from absolute obscurity to lead a strong Swedish women’s...

In Las Vegas, where FasterSkier had the opportunity to interview Marcus Hellner, the Swedish skier was able to stay relatively undercover. At the card table, such was his anonymity that he had other players thinking he was a professional poker player, not a professional athlete. But in Europe, and especially in Sweden, Hellner is a star. At the Olympics in February, he vanquished rival Petter Northug, breaking the Norwegian’s pole on the way to winning...

The Hottest Skier – March’s Sweetest Sixteen

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...