Alexei Poltoranin bested the Finns (among others) in Friday's classic sprint in Muonio, but otherwise the home country claimed all the wins: Mona-Liisa Nousiainen in the classic sprint, Sami Jauhojärvi in the 15 k classic, and Kerttu Niskanen in the 8.2 k classic.
Therese Johaug did what she had to do to beat Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen on Saturday in the final women's race of 2015 World Championships: the 30 k classic mass start. She did so by inadvertently attacking around 7 k: "I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s early. I have 23 kilometers to the end,'" Johaug recalled.
Charlotte Kalla made for a happy local crowd on Tuesday with a 41-second win in the 10 k freestyle at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Two Americans joined her on the podium for a historic first in a women's distance race at a World Championships: Jessie Diggins in second and Caitlin Gregg in third.
When Norwegian Therese Johaug threw down the hammer on Mördarbacken, a.k.a. "murder-hill", in the last lap of the women's 15 k skiathlon there was no hope for the rest of the competition. Using the hill to her advantage, Johaug skied to a World Championships gold ahead of teammate Astrid Jacobsen and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden.
Whether Therese Johaug is a better skate or classic skier is more or less a moot point now that she's claimed her second win of the season in another 10 k classic. Johaug beat teammate Marit Bjørgen by more than 42 seconds again on Saturday at the Davos World Cup to quiet anyone who doubted her in that distance technique.
Therese Johaug took the fun out of fighting for first, proving herself untouchable throughout Sunday's two-lap 10 k classic on the first day of World Cup distance racing in Kuusamo. Teammate Marit Bjørgen knew the race was for second and narrowly edged Sweden's Charlotte Kalla.
Therese Johaug took a 15-second lead and literally ran with it, beating Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen by nearly 30 seconds in Sunday's 10 k freestyle pursuit to win the World Cup Finals and her first overall World Cup title.
Therese Johaug of Norway took a major stride toward her first overall World Cup title, skiing away form teammate Marit Bjørgen in the World Cup Final 15 k skiathlon to build a 15 second lead for the final pursuit on Sunday. The winner of that event will take the crystal globe.
Marit Bjørgen proved her dominance today by winning the 30 k classic at Holmenkollen by nearly two minutes ahead of second-place teammate Therese Johaug.
With three teammates skiing at the front of the women's 30 k freestyle mass start from start to finish, it was no surprise it was Norway, and it wasn't exactly stunning that they dominated the podium. However, the last several hundred meters of the race turned out to be the most exciting, with Marit Bjørgen executing in her usual fashion. The victory made her the most successful woman in Winter Olympics history.
Check out photos from Wednesday’s 10 k and 15 k classic races in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, the fourth stage of the 2013/2014 Tour de Ski.
Kerttu Niskanen proved there are plenty of others outside of Team Norge that can win Tour de Ski stages, and the 25-year-old Finnish national team member did just that on New Year's Day winning the first race of her career in the 10 k classic mass start in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
While the Norwegian women's team seized a predictable victory in the Lillehammer World Cup 4 x 5 k relay on Sunday, Finland and the U.S. duked it out for second, with a late crash taking the Americans out of the running for their best-ever relay result.
Sometimes Justyna Kowalczyk has to fight for her wins, and for others it looks almost looks easy for her. "It was a relatively easy victory today," she said in front of the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, where she won her fourth World Cup classic race in a row by 2.2 seconds on the 1.1 k city sprint course. Kowalczyk leads World Cup Finals by 7.1 seconds after the first stage.
When you’ve already got 11 World Championship golds, it takes something really special to bring you to tears for the 12th one. Marit Bjørgen was overcome with emotion after winning Saturday's 30 k classic mass start, a race she had been focusing on for the last few years.
Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg only got one shot at a U-23 World Championship title this year, since she decided to race at Norwegian nationals earlier this week. She made the most of it, skiing to a victory in her only start in Otepaa, Estonia on Monday, in the women’s 15 k pursuit. Her teammate Britt Ingunn Nydal made a late charge to take second, just ahead of Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen, who had pushed the pace...
After a day of respite, nature hit back at the U-23 Championships this morning with a four-inch dose of snow, then with the same wet fog that already plagued two of three races here. The shifty weather didn’t upset the established hierarchy in Hinterzarten, though, and it was a Finn, Kerttu Niskanen, who took the second win in a row for her country at this level. She was followed by two Russians in second and...