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Kerttu Niskanen

Sunday Rundown: Ramsau, Toblach, Annecy, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

NorAm mini tour (Rossland, B.C.): 10/15 k freestyle pursuits Team Gregg ended the Rossland NorAm mini tour with another double win, with American Caitlin Gregg and her husband Brian Gregg winning the 10- and 15-kilometer freestyle pursuits, respectively, at the Black Jack Ski Club trails. Caitlin capped the long weekend with her third-straight win, a 48.28-second victory over former Canadian biathlete Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic). Caitlin started first and was first across the finish in 29:02.86,...

Bjørgen Back on Top in Toblach; Diggins, Bjornsen Repeat in Top 10

No, this was no ordinary dream. If you woke Sunday to watch the women’s World Cup 10-kilomeer classic pursuit in Toblach, Italy, it was a bit of a nightmare if you were rooting for Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla wearing the yellow bib as the Overall World Cup leader. Kalla began the day with a five-second micro-cushion as the first skier out of the gate after her She also won the gritty no-kick 10 k classic during...

Saturday Rundown: Annecy, Toblach, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

NorAm Mini Tour (Rossland, B.C.): Freestyle sprints On Day 2 of NorAm racing in Rossland, British Columbia, Julien Locke, of the Black Jack Ski Club and Canadian National U25 Team, won the men’s 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint final on his home trails by just one-hundredth of a second over Evan Palmer-Charrette, of the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay, in 2:38.13. NTDC Thunder Bay had two on the podium with Julian Smith in third, 0.4...

Sunday Rundown: Lillehammer; Östersund; West Yellowstone (Updated)

US SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Montana): 10/15 k classic mass starts The second day of SuperTour racing took place as originally planned at the Rendezvous Ski Trails in West Yellowstone, with 22-year-old Hedda Bångman, of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), and 33-year-old Brian Gregg (Team Gregg) winning the women’s 10-kilometer and men’s 15 k classic mass starts, respectively, on Sunday. Bångman, a Swedish freshman on the second in Saturday’s skate sprint) in third (+4.6). Kyle Bratrud (CXC...

World Cup Windup: Finland

Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24. FINLAND Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: Third, by just 106 points over Russia Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: Third Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: Fourth Who’s Back: World Cup overall title runner-up Krista Parmakoski, fifth-place Matti Heikkinen, and eighth-place Kerttu Niskanen; Iivo...

Finns, Russians, Norwegians & Swede Nab Early-Season Wins; Vylegzhanin Competes Despite IOC Ban

FIS races are already being contested in Finland and Sweden this weekend, with most top Scandinavian racers sitting out but a few national-team members and others picking up their first victories of the season. The competitions in Muonio, Finland, drew the most diverse field, including racers from Norway, Russia, Japan, China, Canada, Estonia, and Slovakia, among other countries. In the men’s classic sprint on Friday, the home team got a win from Ristomatti Hakola; he...

Bjørgen Owns Holmenkollen 30 k with More Than 2-Minute Win; Randall 20th

OSLO, Norway — The modernist Holmenkollbakken ski-jumping hill lords over the otherwise bucolic Holmenkollen ski venue. It’s certainly one of the wonders of the modern nordic sport world as the steel structure arcs elegantly toward the sky. At times during the men’s 50-kilometer classic mass start on Saturday at Holmenkollen, the sun glared off the jump, giving it the appearance of a polished silver spaceship. During the women’s 30 k classic mass start on Sunday, fog descended...

Norway Makes It 100 Championship Golds with Women’s Relay Win

LAHTI, Finland—The Norwegian lineup for the women’s 4 x 5-kilometer team at the 2017 Nordic World Championships on Thursday was daunting: Maiken Caspersen Falla, Heidi Weng, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Marit Bjørgen. On paper and on snow, a rundown of names and accomplishments. Here during these Lahti championships the Norse foursome have hauled; Falla and Weng with a classic team sprint gold, Bjørgen a 15 k skiathlon gold, and Jacobsen’s hardware was a bronze in the 10 k classic. On Thursday...

Thursday Rundown: Lahti Women’s Relay & PyeongChang IBU World Cup (Updated)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 4 x 5 k relay The Norwegian women’s team got a much-needed lift from Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, the third leg of its 4 x 5-kilometer relay, on Thursday, who tagged her teammate Marit Bjørgen nearly a minute ahead of anyone else. From there, Bjørgen anchored the Norwegians to a 1:01.6-minute victory for her third gold of 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland battled for...

Tuesday Rundown: Lahti and Osrblie (Updated)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 10 k classic No contest. That was the takeaway of Marit Bjørgen’s performance in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start on Monday at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland, after the Norwegian posted a 41-second victory in 25:24.9 minutes. Bjørgen started 54th of 72 starters and clocked the fastest time over every intermediate timing point on the course. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla had been the previous race leader after...

Sunday Rundown: Lahti and Osrblie (Updated x2)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Classic team sprints Defending champions Norway repeated gold in the women’s team sprint, with Heidi Weng and Maiken Caspersen Falla crossing the finish line first in Lahti, Finland. On the second-to-last loop, it looked like Russia could have something to say about that. Yulia Belorukova put in a furious sprint up the course’s biggest climb, and then beat Weng to the exchange. But her teammate Natalia Matveeva could not match the pace when Falla...

Weng Finally Claims Tour Title; Diggins 5th, and Stephen 2nd-Fastest Climber

Sweden’s Stina Nilsson didn’t fancy herself a favorite for this year’s Tour de Ski title, despite having won four stages and wearing the leader’s bib to start out today’s final race. And after about six kilometers of the 9-kilometer climb up the Alpe Cermis, everyone knew why. Heidi Weng, a Norwegian who had started 19.2 seconds behind Nilsson, had slowly gained ground on the Swede in the flat sections leading up to the climb itself....

Wednesday Rundown: Harvey Hangs Onto 3rd; 3 U.S. Women in Top 12 in Oberstdorf Pursuit

FIS Cross-Country Tour de Ski Stage 4 (Oberstdorf): 10/15 k freestyle pursuits [UPDATED] Another win for Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov (that’s four in four stage races at the 2016/2017 Tour de Ski), another second place for Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, and another third place for Canada’s Alex Harvey. That was how the podium shook out on Wednesday in the Stage 4 men’s 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit, with Ustiugov winning by 37.2 seconds after starting 4 seconds back and...

Johaug Pulls Away at 0.8 k, Wins 15 k Classic by 37.9 Seconds to Lead Tour

Therese Johaug attacked from the gun and began to run away with the lead just 800 meters into Saturday's 15 k classic mass start in Lenzerheide. The Norwegian World Cup leader won Stage 2 of the Tour de Ski to take the lead in the Tour by 4.5 seconds over teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. Another Norwegian Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen had a scary episode at the finish.