A year after placing third behind fellow Norwegians Eirik Brandsdal and Petter Northug, Sondre Turvoll Fossli, 22, turned the tables on his teammates and won his first World Cup -- the Ruka classic sprint -- on Friday ahead of Brandsdal and Northug, respectively. American Andy Newell had his best World Cup result since February 2013.
Jessie Diggins collected back-to-back victories in the U.S. Ski Team's first races of the season in Gällivare, Sophie Caldwell, Andy Newell and Canadian Alex Harvey all placed second, and Caitlin Gregg reached the podium as well.
Though he called his shape 'crappy', Niklas Dyrhaug led Daniel Myrmæl Helgestad and Chris Andre Jespersen in a sweep of the Bruksvallarna 15 k skate. On the women's side, Charlotte Kalla won by more than 35 seconds over Swedish teammate Stina Nilsson.
Which is worse: Petter Northug winning Friday's 10 k classic in Bruksvallarna, Sweden, while wearing the Swedish colors, or him comparing the win to a teenager beating a toddler in a footrace?
Eirik Brandsdal was a pretty happy guy after beating Petter Northug by six-tenths of a second on Sunday. "I thought, 'Do not look back. Imagine that you have the devil at your heels,' " he recalled.
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.
About a month and a half after the Norwegian ski federation said it was effectively done with Petter Northug Jr., both sides have come to agreement and, you guessed it, Northug is back on the national team.
When it comes to matters involving Petter Northug, Jr., one of Norway's greatest skiers, reactions are mixed, but the controversy surrounding the 29 year old and his decision to opt out of the national-team's terms remains. As of Tuesday, both parties were still standing their ground.
Petter Northug, Jr., is off the Norwegian national team after he denied its terms to compete for Norway on the World Cup and Tour de Ski this season. Northug has previously said he might turn to long-distance racing apart from the mainstream circuit.
The Toppidrettsveka race series opened Thursday with a grueling 5.3 k uphill run, which American climbing specialists Liz Stephen and Noah Hoffman placed third in, and continued with afternoon classic rollerski sprints, where another American Sophie Caldwell made the final and placed fifth.
Norwegians Marit Bjørgen and Petter Northug are FasterSkier's international skiers of 2015 for their dominating performances throughout this past season.
Petter Northug and Charlotte Kalla gave us the international performance's of the year at the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. With a classic sprint finish in the 50 k for Northug and a impressive snow filled, 40-second victory in the 10 k for Kalla, the two top a list of astounding performances from the 2014/2015 season.
Both Norway and Sweden announced their National Team picks for the 2015/2016 season Friday. The respective teams of the two rivals will see few changes in the upcoming year as both hope to either maintain or improve their team successes.
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.
Alex Harvey stayed at the front of the pack for most of Sunday's 50 k classic mass start, the final race of 2015 World Championships in Falun, but he couldn't quite get into the position he needed before a four-man finishing sprint -- which he was just behind. Also for Canada, Graeme Killick notched a career-best 19th, and Ivan Babikov placed 30th after leading as well.
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."
Finn Hågen Krogh and Petter Northug teamed up for Northug's second gold in three races at 2015 World Championships, winning Sunday's team sprint by more than five seconds over the Russian defending champs and Italy. Northug now has gold in every World Championships discipline.
The Canadians placed seventh in the second men's semifinal at 2015 World Championships on Sunday, missing out on a spot in the final and placing 13th overall. “Everything worked to plan, it was just we were a little bit too far back, a second or two," anchor Lenny Valjas said.
The opening race of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships saw Norway's Petter Northug out lunge Canada's Alex Harvey for victory in the 1.4 k classic sprint in Falun, Sweden. Harvey spent much of the final in last position and skied a tactical race to overcome the strong field.