Falun, Sweden – She wasn’t completely unbeatable, but for the past two months, Marit Bjoergen (NOR) was pretty darn close. Starting with her three golds, a silver, and a bronze at the Olympics, Bjoergen streaked to the end of the season with 10 victories in 14 starts (including relays). And the other four races? All either 2nd or 3rd. Starting with a 50 second lead on rival Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), Bjoergen easily maintained the gap...
The distance of the first race of the World Cup finals may have been unfamiliar, but the pair of names atop the results sheet on Friday were anything but. Though rarely raced on the World Cup, the 3.3/2.5k prologue was just right for Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk and Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, as each skied to a convincing victory in the first of three races held in Falun, Sweden. Men Cologna finished five seconds ahead of Mats...
Oslo, Norway – Marit Bjoergen (NOR) has been nigh on unstoppable since the beginning of February, and has won every World Cup race since the Olympics. Today was no different though Kikkan Randall nearly pulled off the upset, leading the Norwegian star into the homestretch of the freestyle sprint in Oslo. Bjoergen won both races at the famed Holmenkollen Ski Stadium, and showed no ill effects from yesterday’s 30km. The sprint victory did not come...
Lahti, Finland – The Olympics have come and gone, but there is still plenty of racing to be done. The World Cup did not miss a beat, restarting less than a week after the Olympic 50k with a 15/30km pursuit as part of the annual Lahti Ski Games. The fields were competitive, but lacked many of the top skiers who are taking some time to recover after the Games. In the women’s event, the “Queen...
Whistler, British Columbia – A combination of relatively extreme weather and the ability to switch skis mid-race led to an interesting wax day in the women’s 30km classic. Wax techs were kept busy during the races testing skis, while racers were faced with tactical decisions of whether or not to take the time to switch. Skiers were allowed to switch up to three times during the race, and could do so only in the “pit”...
Whistler, British Columbia – Pouring rain, heavy snow, back to pouring rain, classic Whistler weather, and no one was more happy than Justyna Kowalczyk. She plowed her way through the muck to earn the first Polish gold in Olympic cross-country ski history. Kowalczyk’s Olympics to date had hardly been poor. She won the silver in the sprint, bronze in the pursuit, and skied well in the 15km, and has made no bones about the fact...
Two days after winning the 100th gold medal in Norway’s Winter Olympic history, Marit Bjoergen wasn’t ready to stop. She added to that tally Friday, skiing to an impressive victory in the women’s 15km Pursuit at Whistler Olympic Park. Bjoergen put on a powerful move on the second-to-last climb of the race, leaving her competition in the dust. She was able to celebrate down the finish stretch in front of the cheering crowd while the...
If those pesky NBC producers were still searching for that perfect feel-good story, they sure got it today. After a horrifying crash in her warm-up for the women’s classic sprint at the Vancouver Olympics, Slovenia’s Petra Majdic was in so much pain that she could barely breath. But somehow, she still found the strength and courage to stay with the best skiers in the world, winning a bronze medal behind Norway’s Marit Bjoergen and Poland’s...
The first cross-country races of the 2010 Olympics – the 10/15km individual start freestyle – may represent the best chance for medals – for both the US and Canada. Kris Freeman (USA) has twice finished 4th at the World Championships in this distance, and while he has had more success in classic, he has raised his skating to a similar level in recent years, and should be better positioned in the individual start format. While...
In the men’s classic sprint in Canmore on Saturday, there were all kinds of tactics in play. In the women’s version, there was just one: go like hell, and leave everyone else in the dust. That was Justyna Kowalczyk’s M.O. today. Using the massive engine she’s developed by racing every event in her path, the Polish dynamo crushed her competition in every single heat she skied on Saturday. In the final, she had more than...
For the last few weeks, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland has been training five to six hours a day. Seriously. We asked her four times, just to be sure. Granted, she said that only three to four of those hours were skiing—the rest were in the gym. But it’s still a lot of volume in advance of a World Cup. Kowalczyk’s approach to her training underscores athletes’ varying strategies during this final period leading up to...
Canmore, Alberta – Tune-up? Small field? Sure, but it’s still the World Cup. In front of hundreds of fans in Canmore, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla gave her Olympic hopes a boost by winning the women’s 10k freestyle here on a course tailored to her strengths. She finished ten seconds up on Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland today, with Russia’s Irina Khazova in third. Kalla excels on steep uphills and through transitions, and she said afterwards that she...