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.
Ingvild Flugstad Østberg outshone her fellow Norwegians in Tuesdays freestyle sprint race in stage 3 of the Tour de Ski. Setting the fastest qualifying time around the 1.5 k course, she continually proved her speed throughout the day to seize the coveted red leaders bib of the Tour de Ski.
Missed the start to the Tour de Ski? Find out this year's biggest winners and losers in the first two stages. Plus, read about the biathlon World Team Challenge. Catch all the action here with the Weekend Roundup.
Hanna Erikson of Sweden won her first World Cup race today in an impressive victory that demonstrated both her strength and tactical acumen.
Photos from yesterday's opening to the Tour de Ski in Oberhof, Germany, where racers faced warm, wet, and slushy conditions in the prologue to the Tour, which consisted of a 3 k for the women and a 4.5 k for the men.
Justyna Kowalczyk's out and Marit Bjørgen's on top. That was the biggest news of the day coming out of the Tour de Ski's prologue opener in Oberhof, Germany, on a rainy afternoon that was slow for everybody. The Americans weren't complaining, with fast skis that helped Jessie Diggins and Sophie Caldwell tie career bests in fifth and ninth, respectively.
The Tour de Ski's four-time defending champion Justyna Kowalczyk was conspicuously absent on Saturday from this season’s Tour opener, the women's 3-kilometer freestyle prologue in Oberhof, Germany. Ultimately, she withdrew from the Tour because she and her coaches deem it unfair. "Everything was organized so as Justyna Kowalczyk had no chance to win the Tour de Ski," her coach said.
Marit Bjørgen might be the best skier in the world (although Justyna Kowalczyk would have something to say about that). Kikkan Randall might be the best sprinter. But after a tight photo finish in the Davos freestyle sprint today, both realized they will need to get even better if they want go into the upcoming Olympics feeling confident about gold.
"So I tried to do my own race and not think about the other ones being in front of me," said Norway's Marit Bjørgen after her win in Davos today. She wasn't kidding around - not only was she the last starter in the 15 k freestyle, but she also wasn't winning at the early checkpoints. But if anyone can turn the tables, it's Bjørgen.
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 ran away with another 10 k classic victory on Saturday, beating Sweden's Charlotte Kalla by 12.4 seconds at the Lillehammer World Cup. This time, Kowalczyk did so in Norway -- where she's never won a distance race before.
Marit Bjoergen (NOR) overcame a 25 second deficit to rival Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), before holding off Charlotte Kalla (SWE) and Therese Johaug (NOR) on the final day of the Ruka Triple.
Sadie Bjornsen (USA) continued a strong start to the season, placing a career-best 7th in the 5km classic in Finland.
The U.S. women closed out their weekend in Beitostølen on top, with Kikkan Randall winning Sunday's 1.2 k skate sprint ahead of two Slovenians and three Norwegians, including Marit Bjørgen. Ida Sargent placed 13th and three other Americans made the top 20.
Upon returning to Park City from her recent training trip to Norway and Sweden, Liz Stephen spoke about the experience of training with Marit Bjørgen and Therese Johaug, overcoming the fear of new things, and how she plans to carry confidence into next season, where she wants to be on the podium at the Sochi Olympics.
Norwegian superstars Marit Bjørgen and Petter Northug, Jr., skied away with this year's top honors in the International category.
Looking back on last season, anyone who watched Johan Olsson ski away from the pack and win the 50 k classic mass start at World Championships would be hard-pressed to forget it. Other inspiring performances include Marit Bjørgen's 30 k win, Therese Johaug's Holmenkollen domination, Petter Northug's individual-start victory, and Alexander Legkov making history at the Tour de Ski.
It wouldn’t quite be accurate to call Marit Bjørgen’s World Cup Finals pursuit performance on Sunday a formality. Sure, Norway’s 12-time World Champion started the 10-kilometer freestyle race a full minute and 20 seconds ahead of the field, with teammate Therese Johaug being the only one that could potentially test her. And yes, chances were Johaug would never catch her, but there’s always several races within a race – and Bjørgen had one going from the start.
Marit Bjørgen stuck with Justyna Kowalczyk during her typical attack on the last lap, and went on to drop Kowaczyk and the rest of the women in Saturday's 10 k classic mass start at World Cup Finals. Norway swept the podium, and a deflated Kowalczyk decided to call it quits.
Despite an uncertain start to the morning of the second stage of World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden, on Friday, the day ended with a very familiar name at the top of the results. Marit Bjørgen resumed her usual position on the podium and won the 2.5 k freestyle prologue by 4.4 seconds over Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla. Kikkan Randall, who spend the better part of the last 24 hours engaged in debate with FIS over the safety of the race course, finished a comfortable third in the individual start race.