HomeTag

Marit Bjørgen

Kalla Beats Bjørgen for Ruka Crown: ‘I have been waiting for this day’; Bjornsen 10th, Diggins 12th

After two days of racing in Kuusamo, Finland, the Ruka Triple turned its last page on Sunday. As it turned out, the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit was a thriller. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla came into the final day of the mini tour wearing bib 1 and with only a 2-second lead on the last person one might want skiing on their tails, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen.   The gamesmanship, the change of pace, skiing’s version of the...

Sunday Rundown: Kalla, Klæbo Take Ruka Triple Crowns; Austria, Norway Top Biathlon Relays

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): 10/15 k freestyle pursuit Men’s report Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla took down the fiercest contender women’s cross-country skiing has ever seen, challenging Norway’s Marit Bjørgen on the final lap of the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit on Sunday then successfully holding her off to the finish. Kalla entered the final day of the three-day Ruka Triple mini tour with a 2-second lead on Bjørgen out of the pursuit start. Bjørgen...

‘You Just Had to Bite Your Teeth Together,’ Bjørgen Wins Challenging Ruka 10 k; Diggins 10th

At age 37, with more than 110 World Cup wins, 18 World Championships titles and six Olympic gold medals, it’s hard to imagine Norway’s Marit Bjørgen as anything but a machine; she races, she wins, she repeats. But even the World Cup veteran, who first raced the circuit in 1999, occasionally considers the simplicity of throwing in the towel. With intermittent snow showers on Saturday in Kuusamo Finland, temperatures hovering around freezing and varying snow conditions over...

Saturday Rundown: Bjørgen, Klæbo Dominate Ruka Day 2; Diggins 10th; Fletcher Gets 2nd Top 20

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): 10/15 k classic Men’s report On Day 2 of the Ruka Triple World Cup opener on Saturday, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen collected a 17-second victory in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start in Kuusamo, Finland. Bjørgen started 30th of nearly 90 women and was contested by one other: Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in bib 44. Kalla clocked through the 3.1 and 6.2 k checkpoints faster than Bjørgen, but the Norwegian’s...

Bjørgen, Krüger Top Distance Skate Races in Beito; Hart 19th

In one weekend of racing, Anne Hart has already learned a lot, the types of things you can only learn from careful observation and reflection. And for Hart, a 25-year-old member of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, the season doesn’t truly begin until Dec. 2. After racing to 19th in the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle individual start on Sunday in Beitostølen, 2:41.9 minutes behind Norwegian winner Marit Bjørgen, Hart talked about being inspired by...

Bjørgen, Sundby Win Big in Beito Opening 10/15 k; Hoffman 29th

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Nichole Bathe.) BEITOSTØLEN, Norway — The question of whether Bjørgen or Weng will be the bigger name this season went in the favor of the former on Friday at Norway’s first big matchup of the season. Marit Bjørgen, now 37 and in her 20th World Cup season, won the first race of the three-day International Ski Federation (FIS) weekend in Beitostølen, starting last out of...

World Cup Windup: Norway

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. NORWAY Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: First, by a landslide: 13,383 points to 7,053 by runner-up Sweden. Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: First Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: First Who’s Back: Overall World Cup winners Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Heidi Weng; Sprint...

Ustiugov, Bjørgen Rule Mass Start; Newell 18th After Breaking Pole

In the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle rollerski mass start on the third day of the 2017 Blink Ski Festival in the coastal town of Sandnes in the southwest of Norway, U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Andy Newell constantly held a position in the first group, staying within a few seconds of the leaders. With two laps to go, he was in sixth place, less than two seconds back. “I felt good about the race,” Newell reflected...

Kalla Cranks Out Win in Blink’s Lysebotn Opp; Stephen 6th

There’s a little more than six months to go until the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. For the recently turned 30-year-old 2014 champion,Stephen finished sixth overall (+3:35.7) on Thursday, after  Norway’s Ragnhild Haga in fourth (+2:43.4) and Pärmäkoski in fifth (+2:47.0). Prior to winning three years ago, Stephen also placed third in the famous rollerski hill climb in 2012 (the Lysebotn Opp was Women |

Summer Success for Sundby, Wins First Race of Blink Festival

Stands crowded with 50,000 cheering spectators. Bibbed athletes clad in shorts and T-shirts clicking by on rollerskis. Competitors representing various countries dousing themselves with bottled water as they cross the finish line. These were among the sights and sounds of the world’s largest summer rollerski-race series, Norway’sjust 10 women.  Slind took the win in a time of 2:20:04.2, while fellow Norwegian Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes claimed second, 2:11.1 minutes back. Belarus’s Yulia Tikhonova completed the women’s...

FasterSkier’s International Skiers of the Year: Sergey Ustiugov & Marit Bjørgen

With the 2016/2017 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This honor goes to outstanding international skiers of the year. Previous categories: Collegiate | U.S. Continental | Biathletes | U.S. Breakthroughs | he won his first Tour...

Bjørgen Bests Weng to Finalize Unbeaten Streak; Bjornsen Fifth on the Day in Quebec

QUEBEC CITY — Generally speaking, most European-based World Cup skiers wouldn’t have picked Canada as their ideal place to end the season. It’s too far across the pond, too far from the beaches, too far from home. The other option had been Tyumen in Siberia, so that probably wasn’t a top pick, either, but team press release. “Jessie also had a measure of redemption leading a train of women and moving up four places in the...

Sunday Rundown: Harvey 2nd in Quebec Pursuit; 2nd in Distance World Cup

FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): 10/15 k freestyle pursuits Even after Sunday’s 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit, Alex Harvey had a busy day ahead of him with three different podiums to stand on: one for placing second on the day, another for placing second in the Distance World Cup, and yet one more for finishing the season in third in the Overall World Cup. It was a suitable ending for Harvey’s storybook three-day venture in...

Bjørgen Completes Undefeated Streak in World Cup Finals 10 k Classic

When it comes to distance classic events, at least this season, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen is calling the shots. She completed her undefeated streak in 10-kilometer classic competitions (in both individual or mass starts), winning her fourth in a row on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Québec City. Starting in bib No. 7, Saturday’s eventual mass-start winner was skiing just outside of the top 10 for the first kilometer, following two U.S. skiers, Sadie Bjornsen in eighth...

Saturday Rundown: Quebec City, Oslo and Lillehammer (Updated x4)

FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): 10/15 k classic mass starts During Saturday’s 15-kilometer classic mass start at World Cup Finals, Canada’s Alex Harvey was in it until the end. But so were Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Niklas Dyrhaug, and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh, to name a few. Sitting in second with a few hundred meters to go, Harvey was primed to make his move on Dyrhaug, who was leading at the time. But then...

Friday Rundown: Harvey Wins Quebec City Skate Sprint (Updated)

FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): Freestyle sprint  [UPDATED] Alex Harvey wins at home. That was the news buzzing across the Plains of Abraham on Friday in Quebec City, where Canada’s leading skier won the 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint final  on Day 1 of World Cup Finals after taking control and delighting the crowd all day. The win was the seventh of Harvey’s career and his 23rd World Cup medal, according to Cross Country Canada. Last year...

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...

Clean Podium Sweep for Norway in Lahti 30 k: Diggins Conquers 5th

LAHTI, Finland — 1, 2, 3, 4: Norway’s Marit Bjørgen, Norway’s Heidi Weng, Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Norway’s Ragnhild Haga. That’s how the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start at the 2017 Nordic World Championships ended on Saturday. Bjørgen has two previous 30-kilometer championship titles, but Saturday’s was her first in freestyle. She won the race in 1:08:36.8 hours, just 1.9 seconds ahead of a hard-charging, photo-finishing Weng for second and Jacobsen for third. Haga finished...

Saturday Rundown: Lahti & PyeongChang (Updated x2)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 30 k freestyle mass start Marit Bjørgen made it a four-peat on Saturday with her fourth gold and third individual win over the last week at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (She previously won the 15-kilometer skiathlon, 10 k classic, and 4 x 5 k relay.) The 36-year-old Norwegian closed out the championships with a 1.9-second victory in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start, finishing in 1:08:36.8...

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...