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.
American Ida Sargent lived up to the hype surrounding her sprinting skills on Friday, placing ninth in the Kuusamo World Cup 1.4 k classic sprint just ahead of teammate Kikkan Randall in 10th. Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell made the rounds and placed 24th and 27th, respectively.
With three straight days of racing in the only the second weekend of the World Cup, there were plenty of comments to go around. Here’s a look at what didn’t make it into the Ruka-Triple recaps from Kuusamo, Finland. (Note: It’s pretty heavy on the men’s side, especially with the Canadians, probably because they were chatty about their performances on Sunday.) On why athletes shouldn’t get too worked up about sub-par performances: “If you really...
Overall men’s results. World Cup standings.
Even if he didn’t say it, Petter Northug presented the challenge from the onset. The first starter in the men’s 15 k classic pursuit would give his followers a fighting chance before playing the game of cat and mouse in Kuusamo, Finland. The Norwegian frontrunner in the three-day Ruka Triple mini-tour wasn’t known for charging out of the gate in those types of races anyway. As expected, he led the race with the help of...
Sweden’s Teodor Peterson wasn’t the only one knocking at the World Cup’s “Ruka Triple” mini-tour opener in Kuusamo, Finland, on Friday. Another 23 year old, Lenny Valjas of Canada was right there with him. After cutting it relatively close in the men’s 1.4-k classic sprint qualifier, making the top 30 in 24th and 8.86 seconds behind leader Anssi Pentsinen (FIN), Peterson was one of two to advance from the quarterfinals. There, Valjas edged out four...
You can tell that North American skiing has come a long way when a day with two men in the top 15 of a World Cup race is closer to disappointing than exciting. In the final stage of the “Ruka Triple”—a three-day mini-tour in Kuusamo, Finland—Canadian Devon Kershaw led the way for the North Americans with a 10th place in the 15 k skate pursuit. But with Alex Harvey dropping 13 places and Kris Freeman...