Francesco de Fabiani broke through an 18-year barrier for Italy with a World Cup classic-distance win in the men’s 15-kilometer individual start in Lahti, Finland. Also on Sunday, Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby clinched his second-straight Overall World Cup title.
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?
Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway overtook teammate Petter Northug at the base of the Alpe Cermis hill climb to win the final stage and secure his second Tour de Ski title in the process.
In the tightest race of the 2015 Tour de Ski, German Tim Tscharnke outsprinted four other non-Norwegian skiers to claim his best World Cup result of the season. The current Tour standings now leave the potential for a dramatic final Tour stage on Sunday.
Alexey Poltoranin proved that once in a while you just need to muscle your way to first place. He opted to use skate skis and double poled his way to the victory in Wednesday’s 10-kilometer classic race, the fourth stage of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy.
For the second sprint in a row, Italy's Federico Pellegrino came out on top of a stacked World Cup field. Petter Northug of Norway, however, finished second, and retained his overall Tour de Ski lead. “Today, one of my big dreams has come true: to beat Petter (Northug) in the sprint final,” Pellegrino said.
With the pace slowed after 2.5 k, the 15 k classic pursuit in Oberstdorf, Germany, looked more like a mass start. From the huge pack of skiers, Petter Northug threaded his way to a sprint finish win, with Alex Harvey of Canada out-double-poling Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson for second.
Anders Gløersen had planned to sit out Saturday’s World Cup 15-kilometer freestyle interval start in Davos, Switzerland in order to rest for Sunday’s sprint. However, as fate would have it, several teammates came down with illness and Gløerson was placed on the start list. It turns out fate was in the Norwegian’s favor, as he earned his first World Cup distance victory in convincing fashion.
Finn Hågen Krogh had what he called a perfect race Sunday in Davos, Switzerland. After placing third in the qualification round of the 1.3 k freestyle sprint, the Norwegian rapidly progressed through his quarterfinal, semifinal, and ultimately the final to earn his first World Cup victory and another Norwegian podium sweep.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby had 99% decided to use skate skis in today's 15 k classic World Cup race in Davos. But then at the last second, he changed his mind. The choice worked, and he earned a 6.6-second win over teammate Didrik Tønseth. Dario Cologna went with skate skis and finished third.
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.
Finn Hågen Krogh had reason to believe he cold hold off Norwegian teammate Martin Johnsrud Sundby in Sunday's 15 k classic pursuit, the final stage of the Lillehammer mini tour. And Johnsrud, who won every tour last winter, had a feeling he could catch Krogh, but got a little nervous when it took longer than he expected.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby is back in the Overall World Cup leader's bib after a 2.2-second win over teammate Finn Hågen Krogh on Saturday in the men's 10 k freestyle at the Lillehammer World Cup. For Sunday's pursuit, he'll start 20 seconds behind Krogh, who leads the mini tour after two-straight podiums.
Pål Golberg put every ounce of faith in his boards on Friday in order to overcome Norwegian teammate Finn Hågen Krogh and Russia's Alexey Petukhov and win the Lillehammer World Cup 1.5 k freestyle sprint. Two-time lucky loser, Canada's Alex Harvey found himself in contention in the final before finishing fifth on Day 1 of the mini tour.
In the big leagues this season, Finland's Iivo Niskanen, 22, not only notched his first World Cup podium on Sunday, but he won the men's 15 k classic individual start in front of a packed stadium in Kuusamo. Two Finnish skiers made the top three, and Norway's Martin Sundby took second.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby apparently doesn't need to be 100 percent on any given day to beat some of his most competitive teammates. The 30-year-old Norwegian national-team member won Saturday's 15 k skate by nearly 17 seconds despite feeling drained after a long Friday.
Defending overall World Cup champ Martin Johnsrud Sundby took it to his Norwegian teammates on Friday, winning the 15-kilometer classic FIS race in Beitostølen, Norway, by nearly 23 seconds.
Alex Harvey started Sunday’s 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit in Falun, Sweden, with one thing on his mind: a first- or second-place finish would put him on the overall World Cup podium. “I’m super stoked,” said Harvey of his podium. “That was a super-nice way to end the season."
Alex Harvey rocked the 30 k skiathlon, executing a tried-and-tested strategy to a 'T' and staying out of the way of trouble. The Canadian won the penultimate race of World Cup Finals to put himself in podium contention for the overall World Cup, which would be the icing on his most successful season to date. Devon Kershaw placed 12th, and Ivan Babikov finished 23rd for Canada.
Already forget what happened in Sunday's 50 k freestyle mass start? The photos tell a lot of the story from start to finish, including Alexander Legkov leading the way for a Russian sweep.