“Get whatever you want. I’m buying.” “It’s ok. I’ve got a card with me.” “No. You’re over here working for us. The least I could do is buy you a coffee and a bun.” Conversation over. Jessie Diggins bought my cinnamon bun and cappuccino. The same Jessie Diggins who won Gold at the last winter Olympics and is a regular on World Cup podiums just refused to let me buy my own snack at the...
You may have heard that the World Cup is returning not only to North America, but also to American soil, within the next few weeks. The world’s best skiers will be contesting sprint races in Québec City on March 14 and 15; a sprint in Minneapolis on March 17; and distance races plus a mixed relay in Canmore on March 20-22. For all six races, including the five across the border, the U.S. has an...
Racing the Holmenkollen without spectators is a bit like not getting a white Christmas. It does not change the end result, here racing a 30-kilometer mass start classic race on the famed tracks above Oslo, Norway. But the experience loses some of the magic. Race organizers announced Thursday that spectators would not be allowed to attend the race due to the increased risk of spreading COVID-19. On a typical year, crowds in numbers up to...
Men’s Sprint Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Norwegian men showed up on form for today’s freestyle sprints in Konnerud, just outside the city of Drammen. As the venue was used for the Norwegian National championship at the end of January, most of the team has already had a dress rehearsal racing on the windy course. It seems that Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who sat out the national championships, did not need a dress rehearsal. He won the qualifier...
This article has been revised to reflect the correct third-place finisher in both distance races. After a NorAm/Supertour race stint in Canmore, Canada the SuperTour split off and reconfigured in Sun Valley, Idaho over the weekend. Saturday featured a classic sprint at the Lake Creek racing venue a few miles outside of town. APU skier Tyler Kornfield qualified first, and made that mark count as he won the senior men’s sprint in 3:14.837. Luke Jager (U...
FIS World Cup Falun, Sweden 10k/15k Inidividual Freestyle The sun rises. The sun sets. And Norway’s Therese Johaug won the 10-kilometer individual start freestyle in Falun, Sweden. In 25:23.9 minutes, Johaug made her winning statement. Sweden’s Ebba Andersson placed second (+18.75), with the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) Jessie Diggins in third (+30.3). Fourth place went to Ingvild Flugstad Østberg of Norway who finished 30.8 seconds back. Sadie Bjornsen (USST) raced to 12th (+1:05.7), Julia Kern...
FIS World Cup Falun, Sweden 1.4 k Freestyle Sprint On a day when sugary snow course picked off skiers trying to advance during Falun, Sweden’s 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint, Stina Nilsson, yes of Sweden, took the win. She won the final in 3:07.72 over Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla in second (+0.67). The day’s top qualifier, Maja Dahlqvist, placed third (+2.14). The Americans entered in the race were some of the key players who tumbled on course. Jessie...
The World Cup entourage gathered Tuesday at the head of the Drammensfjord in Norway. The 1.2-kilometer classic sprint in Drammen, Norway — the post-Holmenkollen sprint stop on the calendar — was held under overcast skies and within a city center jammed with fans. Coming into Tuesday’s classic sprint, Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla had claimed two individual World Cup sprint victories this season and a World Championship sprint win in Seefeld, Austria. Falla remains consistent, having...
FIS World Cup Oslo, Norway Holmenkollen 30 k Classic Beautiful sunshine. Norwegian crowds. And fine views of Oslo fjord from atop the Holmenkollen venue for the women’s 30-kilometer mass start classic. All things typical on a good weather March day in Oslo. Norway’s Therese Johuag took this fine day and turned the screws on the 47 starters on Sunday to once again ski away from the field. By the second points bonus at 8k, Johaug...
Link to mass start skate race photo gallery. Another distance race at U.S. Cross-Country Nationals in Craftsbury, Vermont and another win for Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. Count them up: eight U.S. national championships for the twenty eight year old. And in as many days at her home course, Patterson has further solidified both her legacy and the fact she is the distance racer to watch and match as the start gun...
Link to Cross-Country Nationals Classic Sprint Gallery. For many, there’s no place like home. Tucked into the Northeast Kingdom, the Craftsbury Outdoor Center takes pride first and foremost for making outdoor sport accessible to the region’s children. The icing on the cake is when one of those local kids goes big, skis on the World Cup, and comes home for a classic sprint national championship. Although the in-between details are missing, that’s the short-version story...
Link to photo gallery. The attention of the domestic racing scene has focused on Northen Vermont’. Thursday was the first day of racing at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center which featured a 10-kilometer classic interval start for the women. The home club, Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), had athletes take first and third in the women’s race. Patterson won in a time of 30:44.7 minutes. At twenty-eight-years-old, Caitlin Patterson won her seventh national title on Thursday. This...
FIS World Cup Tour de Ski Stage 5 15 k/10k Freestyle Pursuit Oberstdorf, Germany Men’s Report | Women’s Report Today’s Tour de Ski (TdS) Stage 5 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit in Oberstdorf, Germany began and ended simply enough: Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo wearing the Tour’s blue leader’s bib started first with a 15 second lead over second overall skier Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov. By 2 k into the race, the pair had linked up and ceded...
“I feel like the shape was really good today,” Norway’s Therese Johaug told the International Ski Federation (FIS) after Saturday’s 15-kilometer freestyle individual start race in Beitostølen, Norway. On a day when winter felt like winter, snow fell throughout the race and temperatures hovered around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, Johaug’s shape was never in doubt. Absent two seasons from the World Cup after testing positive for banned steroids in her system, Johaug is back with...
FIS World Cup Beitostolen, Norway 15 k/30k Freestyle Individual Start Women’s Race Report | Men’s Race Report With snow falling and trees covered with fresh snow, Beitostølen, Norway’s wintery essence was on full display during the women’s 15-kilometer freestyle individual start on Saturday. Keeping her distance win-streak alive was Norway’s Therese Johaug who won her fourth World Cup distance race of the season making it four for four in 2018/2019. Johaug won in a time of...
If thirty-year-old Therese Johaug of Norway is trying to scotch the dismay of the past two years, she’s doing it with her trademark high-turnover skiing and her top-step podium ways. In April of 2018, Johaug’s 18-month ban, for having the prohibited anabolic steroid clostebol in her bloodstream, ended. Back during her last full season on the World Cup, 2015/2016, it was not uncommon for Johaug to gap the field by large margins in distance races. This...
FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer Norway: 10 k/ 15 k Freestyle Individual Start Women’s Report | Men’s Report On Saturday, the second day of World Cup cross-country racing ensued in Lillehammer, Norway with a 10-kilometer freestyle individual start race for the women. On a track of snow surrounded by green fir trees and a soggy landscape, the women skied two laps of 5 k course. Norway’s Therese Johaug was the fastest skier at every...
With the two big climbs over 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprint course, the women’s World Cup freestyle sprint course in Lillehammer, Norway packs a quad-burning punch. With lungs then legs poaching any extra oxygen, the women’s final, which featured four of six athletes from Sweden, was a primetime show. Nilsson is a finisher, known for her closeout efforts in the finishing straight. But as she and twenty-three-year-old Sundling glided into the S-turns before the final 100 meters,...
FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer Norway: Freestyle Sprint Women’s Report | Men’s Report In Friday’s women’s 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprint in Lillehammer, Norway, the first day of three successive days of World Cup racing, the women’s sprint final was stacked with Swedes, with four of six athletes sporting the yellow, blue, and white. In the final, Jonna Sundling of Sweden passed teammate Stina Nilsson meters before the finish line to take the win in 2:52.74 minutes....
The most important story within the story was the fight within Sunday’s aerobic fight during the women’s World Cup 10-kilometer classic in Kuusamo, Finland. Each of the seventy starters in the women’s field wore a pink ribbon acknowledging the global fight against breast cancer and their friend, retired U.S. athlete Kikkan Randall. The aerobic fight on the 3.3 k loop in Kuusamo wasn’t well defined until Norway’s Therese Johaug skied through the stadium to begin...