The fifth stage of the Tour de Ski, the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start on Wednesday, was decided by mere inches. Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin took the lead in a group of five athletes from the final descent, with several more shortly behind, and outlunged Switzerland’s Dario Cologna.
Emil Iversen lived up to his breakfast-table proclamation on Tuesday and won his first World Cup race, ahead of Russia's Sergey Ustiugov and Kazakhstan's Alexey Poltoranin in the men's classic sprint, Stage 4 of the Tour de Ski.
Canada's Alex Harvey started seventh and finished ninth to maintain his place in the top 10 of the Tour de Ski after three stages, and American Noah Hoffman posted the 17th-fastest time of the day to finish in the top 25 for the second-straight day in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby maintained his Tour de Ski lead, winning Sunday's 10 k freestyle pursuit by 1:25.2 over Norwegian teammate Petter Northug, who pulled a controversial move on another teammate, Didrik Tønseth, in the final lap of the Stage 3 race. Finn Hågen Krogh moved into third, avenging a self-inflicted crash on Saturday.
Recovering from his first sprint final in a year, Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway took a while to really get going - but then collected a win in the 30 k classic mass start, plus enough bonus seconds to give him a 1:18 lead in the Tour de Ski. Canada's Alex Harvey was in podium position until "blowing up" 3 k from the finish.
With both Noah Hoffman (in 23rd) and Erik Bjornsen (in 30th) notching their best World Cup results of the season, the American men's team was happy at the finish line -- and now only needs one more man to score a World Cup distance point to increase its start quota next season.
It’s a new year, yet some things remain the same. Jan. 1 marked the opening stage of the 2016 Tour de Ski, a 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint in in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. It also marked the third World Cup sprint victory in a row for Italy’s Federico Pellegrino.
Your guide to the 2016 Tour de Ski, which kicks off Friday with skate sprinting in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, and spans three nations with eight races (World Cup stages) in 10 days.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby double poled all 15 k of Sunday's classic race in Toblach, Italy, for his fifth win in as many World Cup distance races this season. Russia's Alexander Bessmertnykh rivaled him for most of the race, but finished 12.6 seconds back on kick wax. Canada's Alex Harvey placed 16th and Devon Kershaw was in the points in 28th.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby had to fight for at least 20 kilometers of the men's 30 k freestyle on Saturday, which wasn't easy, he explained. “This is the toughest [race] I’ve been in so far this year," Sundby said. The Norwegian had to work especially hard to hold off France's Maurice Manificat, who started 1 minute behind him.
Devon Kershaw is onto something so far this season, and on Saturday, the 32-year-old Canadian World Cup Team member rolled to his best individual result of the season. Teammate Alex Harvey finished 2 seconds behind him in 22nd.
Therese Johaug and Martin Johnsrud Sundby didn't even try to make it interesting on Saturday; they were feeling too good. The Norwegians won the Lillehammer World Cup skiathlons by 1 1/2 minutes and 44 seconds, respectively, and skied a good portion of the race completely alone.
At one point in Saturday's World Cup skiathlon, Alex Harvey wanted to give up. He didn't and ended up 10th, and what's more, Canada placed 21st, 23rd and 24th with Graeme Killick, Devon Kershaw and Ivan Babikov. Noah Hoffman rebounded from 36th at the ski change to finish 25th.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby didn't waste any time squashing the field on Sunday in the final stage of the Ruka Triple and won the men's 15 k classic pursuit by 44.7 seconds over a late-charging Petter Northug. Canada's Alex Harvey started sixth and ended up seventh for his best finish in the Kuusamo mini tour.
Alex Harvey’s second place on Saturday remains a single drop in the bucket, but it’s a reminder that his quest for the World Cup overall is for real. With "new" legs post-surgery, the 27-year-old Canadian is now a contender in strenuous skate races as well as classic sprints and distance events.
Alex Harvey enjoyed the leader's chair for quite some time during Saturday's 10 k freestyle, the second race of the Ruka Triple World Cup. He ended up second to Martin Johnsrud Sundby, but the Canadian was pleased with his podium in a hilly skate race, especially in the first distance race of the season.
Saturday's takeaway: don't tick off Martin Johnsrud Sundby. He will come back with a purpose and has the potential to win big. The 31-year-old Norwegian did so in Beitostølen's 15 k skate FIS race, and France put two in the top five after a somber evening in Paris.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby set the fastest time in the FIS-season opening 15 k classic race on Friday in Beitostølen, Norway, and did so with an injured rib, but he was ultimately disqualified for skating. His Norwegian teammate, Sjur Røthe took the win instead, beating the runner-up by 51 seconds.
It seemed crazy: the Norwegian Birkebeiner has almost 3,000 feet of total climbing. But double-poling is what Petter Eliassen trains for, so that's what he did- and he became the first man to win the legendary marathon without kickwax. Therese Johaug picked up a five-minute victory in the women's race.
Norway's Sjur Røthe studied the tapes of Holmenkollens past, including how Petter Northug has taken some of his many wins. He had a plan, and executed flawlessly, beating Switzerland's Dario Cologna by just a toe length to earn his first ever World Cup victory.