With the Sprint World Cup already in the bag, Italy's Federico Pellegrino entered the last sprint of the season in Canmore on Tuesday without any pressure. "When you realize your goals, it’s so good,” the eventual race winner said. Meanwhile, Canada's Lenny Valjas fed off his home crowd to place 11th for his second-best result of the season.
After Russia won both of the men's competition events last weekend in Sweden, Norway decided it was time to fight back. In Sunday's skiathlon, five Norwegians crossed the finish line before any other country's first competitor. "We needed to come back from three Russian victories," said race winner Martin Johnsrud Sundby.
There were no Norwegians on the podium Saturday in Falun, Sweden. Russia secured the top two with Maxim Vylegzhanin in first and Alexander Bessmertnykh in second, and France’s Maurice Manificat finished third. American Erik Bjornsen to a second-best 21st, a minute out of first.
Maurice Manificat has been waiting for this win all season despite being on the podium twice in the last two months. On Saturday, he beat Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby for his first World Cup victory since 2013. For Sundby, it was a small speed bump on his way to seize control of the 2015/2016 World Cup overall.
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.
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.
After surgery on his hand and then a knee injury, U.S. Ski Team member Erik Bjornsen recently resumed full-on training, and did so with the help of French biathlete and multiple-time world champion Martin Fourcade in France. "It's crazy to see how famous he is," Bjornsen says. "He’s just a normal guy."
Matti Heikkinen wasn't sure last fall if he still had what it took - but then his home country won the bid for 2017 World Championships, and decided to rebuild from the base up. Meanwhile, biathlete Tarjei Bø beat all of Norway's cross-country skiers to finish fourth: “It's obviously very fun... but I was supposed to have been on the podium!"
Never count Petter Northug out of a ski race. In the final race of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships, the Norwegian never cracked the top-10 of the 50 k until the last kilometer where he out-sprinted the competition to take his fourth victory of the Championships.
After missing out on a podium at the 2014 Olympics, the Norwegian men put themselves back on top in Friday's 4 x 10 k relay at World Championships in Falun, Sweden. With his characteristic finishing kick, Petter Northug outlasted Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson for gold, and France took bronze.
When the French won bronze in the Sochi relay, it was the first championships-level relay medal ever in their history. But Norway had struggled then. Today they did not, and the French were still bronze. "Maybe we have some place in the newspaper tomorrow, but a little one," Jean-Marc Gaillard said. "But that’s not the most important for us. The most important is to have fun with the team."
Johan Olsson skied to a convincing victory in Wednesday's 15 k freestyle in Falun, Sweden in front of a home crowd. The 34-year-old who focuses solely on championship race overcame what he called a "mission impossible" after facing a year of illness and time apart from his family. He was followed by Maurice Manificat who won France's first medal in 10 years. Anders Gløersen of Norway finished third.
Finn Hågen Krogh is trying to make a case for himself to race at World Championships, and he did about all anyone could ask on Saturday and Sunday, winning the last two races before the 2015 World Championships begin in Falun, Sweden, later this week.
Sweden won both the women's and men's relays at the Olympics for the first time since 1972 and the men defended their 2010 title with a miraculous first leg from Lars Nelson and dominant performances from Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson, and Marcus Hellner, respectively.
Maurice Manificat was having one heck of a flashback on Saturday in Davos, Switzerland. Two years older and more experienced than he was at his last 30 k there, the 27-year-old Frenchman could sense that he was in the hunt for another World Cup career best in the same race and place he placed second in.
Maurice Manificat wrapped up the first World Cup period with an impressive win in the men's 30km skiathlon. He was followed by Roland Clara and Sjur Roethe. North Americans Noah Hoffman, Kris Freeman, Ivan Babikov and Graham Nishikawa all factored in the race.
For the second day in a row, a Russian kept Petter Northug (NOR) off the top of the podium. Alexander Legkov won the men's 10km skate in Kuusamo by 6.8 seconds. Maurice Manificat (FRA) was third.
Continuing on from last time, we’ll single out a handful of skiers who appear to do significantly better in shorter sprint courses. Same methodology as before led me to pluck out the following three skiers: In general, the effects in this direction tended to be weaker and less dramatic, even at the extreme ends of [...] Related posts:
As Vincent Vittoz’s career drew to a close in the late 2000’s, French skiing needed a breath of life – and it found it in a group of young racers led by Maurice Manificat. A several-time junior national champion and a member of the bronze-medal relay at 2005 World Junior Championships, Manificat stepped up to earn another bronze medal in the U23 30 k in 2008 and his first World Cup podium a year later....