As Norway blew the wax and muddled their way through their worst women's relay in recent memory, Sweden was making a different kind of history. Charlotte Kalla took over as anchor leg with a 25 second deficit to the two leaders, but skied a sensational race to win the team's first gold since 1960.
Therese Johaug became the first Norwegian to win the Tour de Ski, overtaking teammate Astrid Jacobsen on the Final Climb up Alpe Cermis for the victory in the eighth edition of the event. Heidi Weng placed third to give Norway a podium sweep.
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.
Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) will need to make room in her trophy case for yet another crystal Tour de Ski pyramid. For the fourth straight time, the Pole won the grueling stage race, besting Norwegians Therese Johaug and Kristin Stoermer Steira.
With four women starting in the top top ten spots in the 10 k classic mass start, Norway seemed to have an opportunity - albeit a slim one - to steal at least some bonus seconds from Justyna Kowalczyk. But it was to no avail as the Polish star cruised to another victory and more or less sealed her Tour title. Kikkan Randall, meanwhile, is in seventh and hoping for a better climb than she's had before.
Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) skied to a 16.5 second win in the classic prologue, winning the fifth stage of the Tour de Ski while increasing her overall lead to more than a minute. Krista Lahteenmaki (FIN) was second and Astrid Jacobsen (NOR) took third.
It didn’t look like Marit Bjørgen ever looked back Sunday in Kuusamo, Finland. It would’ve been pointless to do so; she was always more than a minute ahead, and the white-out conditions made the visibility near zero. Bjørgen won by more than a minute and 20 seconds, ahead of Justyna Kowalczyk, Heidi Weng and Therese Johaug.
Kikkan Randall (USA) continues to make history, earning her second distance podium of the young season. Randall placed second to Marit Bjørgen (NOR) in the 5k skate in Kuusamo. Yulia Tchekaleva (RUS) was third.
The reigning queen of Polish skiing is officially back on top of the world. After a slow start to her 2011-2012 campaign, Justyna Kowalczyk owned the Tour de Ski in January, then followed up that performance with her victory on Thursday in the Moscow city sprint. In doing so, she took over the yellow bib that represents the top level of World Cup success. In front of a home crowd, Russian teammates Natalia Korosteleva and...
A dispute between the Finnish ski federation and members of the national team was resolved on Monday, the federation reported, meaning that all 18 members of the team have rejoined the coaching staff and are training together in the final period before World Cup competitions begin. “Now it’s finally time to focus only and exclusively on elite sport,” a group of athletes who had been training independently while embroiled in the conflict said in a...
The North American elite racing season may be over, but there is still plenty of action to be found in Europe, including the second annual Tour de Barents, a four-stage mini-tour in the Barents region of northern Europe. While fields are not large – just 11 women and 35 men are contesting this year’s event – there is plenty of firepower. Petra Majdic (SLO) leads the women as she wraps up her farewell tour. Majdic...
Norwegians Petter Northug and Marit Bjoergen have now both sat out a race at World Championships – not Charlotte Kalla though, and the Swedish star has no plans to take a day off. In another day at the office, Kalla teamed with Ida Ingemarsdotter to win the women’s World Championship classic team sprint in Oslo, Norway, skiing away from Finland and Norway in the last lap. The team sprint features pairs of athletes, alternating laps,...
If one of the races at the 2011 World U-23 Championships was a foregone conclusion, it was probably the women’s 10 k freestyle. The top-seeded athlete on Thursday’s start list in Otepaa, Estonia was Finnish powerhouse Krista Lahteenmaki, a World Cup silver medalist—and the results were predictable. In an effort that serves as a stark benchmark for the rest of the U-23 women, Lahteenmaki skied to the win by a full minute over Russia’s Mariya...
With pursuit champion Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg and sprint champion Hanna Brodin anchoring their respective teams, today’s women’s relay race was primed for a showdown. Oestberg, a Norwegian, had proven to be one of the strongest distance skiers here at the World Junior Championships after winning the pursuit, while Brodin, a Swede had dominated the sprint. The 3.3k distance was right in between the two disciplines. They received the tag ten seconds apart, with Oestberg in...
After a strong day by the U.S. U-23 team yesterday, the American junior women said they were feeling the pressure for a strong performance today in the 5k classic. “We’ve got to step it up and show that we mean business here,” said Annie Hart. While they didn’t exactly match yesterday’s fourth place by Ida Sargent, the juniors did manage a decent show of depth today, putting three of their four women in the top...