One down, two stages to go. Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson has both the Lillehammer mini tour's early lead with a win on Friday's sprint, and an increasingly firm grip on the World Cup Overall. Canada's Alex Harvey is happy to lurk in 12th heading into tomorrow's skate distance race.
BEITOSTØLEN, Norway — Saturday’s 10-kilometer freestyle individual start was, from the start, all about Marit Bjørgen. Her previous race was 603 days earlier on March 27, 2015 in Harstad, Norway, but that didn’t seem to affect Norway’s six-time Olympic gold medalist one bit. “I’ll admit that I have had my doubts,” she told placing second to teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in Friday’s 10 k classic, Weng Dagbladet that she opened fast on Saturday, but her muscles tired as the race progressed. “It’s irritating, but...
At Norway's Blink festival, the women's winner of the 60 k classic received just one-fifth the prize money as the men's winner. Smaller women's fields present a conundrum for long-distance race organizers: how can they promote women's racing and incentivize attendance, and what constitutes enough effort toward doing so?
Friday's Stage 7 15 k freestyle skate tightened up the standings for the overall in the Ski Tour Canada. Russia's Sergey Ustiugov leads, but by only 32 seconds ahead of Norway's Petter Northug Jr. If that wasn't reason enough for Ustiugov to keep a high octane pace on Stage 8, Northug's teammate, Martin Johnsrud Sundby starts 39 seconds back from the Russian. These photos capture the action on a beautiful day in Canmore and a decisive day for the men.
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.
Photos from the third stage of the Ski Tour Canada: the men's and women's freestyle sprints in Quebec City. Local legend Alex Harvey placed second in the men's race, and American Sadie Bjornsen led the U.S. women in eighth after winning the qualifier.
Emil Iversen of Norway pulled out a victory in Stage 2 of the Ski Tour Canada, ahead of teammate Petter Northug and Sergey Ustiugov of Russia in the men's 17.5 k classic mass start on Wednesday in Montreal, Quebec. Here are a sample of photos recollecting the action.
When five out of six of the sprint finalists are Norwegian, more than one is bound for the podium. Saturday's freestyle sprint in Lahti, Finland, saw not just a top-three sweep for Norway, but Emil Iversen snag his second World Cup win of the season over teammates Petter Northug and Finn Hågan Krogh.
It's been a few years, but Nikita Kriukov wants you to know he's back. On Thursday, the Russian notched his first individual World Cup podium (and win) since December 2013 on a city sprint course in Stockholm. Canada's Alex Harvey narrowly missed the final and placed seventh for his best sprint result this season.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby won his third-consecutive Tour de Ski by a record-breaking 3 minutes and 15 seconds and another Norwegian, Finn Hågen Krogh, bested a tight chase pack for second overall. Russian Sergey Ustiugov captured third, and Alex Harvey led the North Americans in 14th at the end of the eight-stage Tour.
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.
Didrik Tønseth admits that a plan that seemed smart in the morning didn't seem so smart after the race was over - and after Norwegian teammate Petter Northug left him for dead on the trails. With just one more sprint to get out of the way, the distance specialist still hopes for a top Tour de Ski finish.
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.
Simi Hamilton was feeling his potential and his moment on Saturday. "It really comes down to what makes me super happy, and that’s skiing really fast on a sunny day and in beautiful places, with lots of great fans on a short course, skating especially," the U.S. sprinter said after notching his second World Cup podium in two years.
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.
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.
Andy Newell remembered a thing or two about the Kuusamo course, and he shared them with his U.S. teammates before the World-Cup opening classic sprint there on Friday. His calculations worked, as Newell ended up just over a second off the podium in fourth for his best result in three seasons.