With the pressure off, the Canadian women posted some career-best performances on Tuesday in the 10-kilometer freestyle individual start at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Emily Nishikawa took 30th, and Perianne Jones placed 32nd in what she said would probably be her final international race.
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.
Marit Bjørgen overcame the spectator roars for Sweden's Stina Nilsson to hold off the home-crowd favorite by 0.42 seconds in the women's classic-sprint final on the first official day of 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Bjørgen captured her 13th World Championships gold, Nilsson notched silver and Norway's Maiken Caspersen Falla took bronze.
American Jessie Diggins finished 17th after posting the fifth-fastest time at the 1.8-kilometer mark, while Liz Stephen -- who finished fifth overall in the 2015 Tour de Ski -- took 26th. Rosie Brennan came in 32nd and was just a few seconds from cracking the top 30, while Kikkan Randall finished 33rd.
Sweden's Charlotte Kalla won the last World Cup before 2015 World Championships by more than 36 seconds over Norway's Marit Bjørgen, leading from start to finish for the clear-cut victory. It was her first World Cup win since March 2010, and Bjørgen locked up her fourth Overall World Cup crown.
Marit Bjørgen took her 90th World Cup win in Sweden today, and the 12th of this season. Confidence boosted, she plans to start six competitions at World Championships - but says that she thinks six gold medals is a goal too many.
Not only has Norway dominated cross country World Cup podiums, but their skier have also taken home more than half of the available prize money. Marit Bjørgen alone has won 1/3 of the total money available to the women's field. How does everyone else stack up, and how does this relate to World Cup points?
The only thing that can stop Norway’s Marit Bjørgen from winning her first ever Tour de Ski title is herself. Entering Thursday’s fifth stage, a 5 k skate pursuit, in Toblach, Italy, Bjørgen had a 1.34.3 advantage over teammates Heidi Weng and a 2.16 lead over defending Tour de Ski champion Therese Johaug. If either Weng or Johaug wanted a chance to catch Bjørgen, the oppurtunities were winding down and they needed to catch her today.
American Sadie Bjornsen is done with this year's Tour de Ski ranked in seventh position after earning an eighth-place finish in the 5 k interval start in Toblach, Italy, on Wednesday. Jessie Diggins took 19th, and will finish the final three stages of the Tour.
Sophie Caldwell won a photo finish in her quarterfinal heat on the way to seventh place in Tuesday's Tour de Ski 1.4 k freestyle sprint in Val Müstair, Switzerland. Meanwhile, Kikkan Randall continues to improve on the Tour stage after taking tenth overall.
Norway’s Marit Bjørgen proved once again that she is the hands down favorite to with this year’s Tour de Ski competition by setting the fastest qualifying time in Tuesdays 1.4 k course and continuing that pace all the way to the final.
If you thought this was the year that Marit Bjørgen was beatable, think again. After being bested by Therese Johaug in every 10 k classic so far this year (at least in split time, in the case of the Lillehammer pursuit she won), the Norwegian star turned it around and dominated the Tour de Ski pursuit in Oberstdorf. Also inside: Ingvild Flugstad Østberg throws some shade on Kowalczyk about that snowplow.
Norwegian star Marit Bjørgen has never won the Tour de Ski. On the one hand, who cares - she's won everything else, mostly several times over. But she'd like a win and thinks that if she can have a minute lead on teammate Therese Johaug going into the final climb, she can do it. Read the rest of our Tour de Ski preview inside!
How much did Norway’s Marit Bjørgen have left and could anybody beat her? That was the question on Sunday in the women's 1.3 k freestyle sprint on the last day of racing before the holiday break. One young Swede came close.
Marit Bjørgen had a lot of history riding on Saturday's 10 k freestyle -- if she or any other Norwegian woman won it, their team could go down in the record books with the longest World Cup winning streak. But mostly Bjørgen was looking for her first distance win of the season.
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.
The first individual IBU World Cup race took place a week ago in Östersund and wrapped up this past Sunday. Here, we recap everything from biathlon in Sweden and at home in Canmore, to the Lillehammer mini tour and nordic-combined competitions, and second U.S. SuperTour stop in Bozeman, Mont.
As so often on the World Cup lately, it’s not a question of who will fight for the victory, but how the competition between Marit Bjørgen and Therese Johaug will unfold. Sunday held a sprint showdown between the two in the women's 10 k classic pursuit on the last day of the Lillehammer World Cup mini tour.
Therese Johaug wasn't sure if last week's 42-second win over teammate Marit Bjørgen was a fluke. While she wasn't able to dominate by as big of a margin in Saturday's 5 k freestyle, Johaug did top Bjørgen again -- this time by 0.3 seconds -- on Day 2 of the mini tour in Lillehammer, Norway.
Marit Bjørgen's gotten used to winning opening mini tours in Kuusamo, and she seems to have no problem getting off to a strong start in the first of three races in Lillehammer, either. "It is always fun to win," she told NRK after her second-straight World Cup sprint win in Friday's 1.3 k freestyle sprint.