On Sunday in Lahti, Finland, Petter Northug took his second individual victory of the season, this time in the classic discipline, winning in a time of 34:35.6. The margin back to second place finisher Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ) was a yawning 31.7 seconds, and to countryman Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) it was 35.1 seconds. "I was hungry again today," Northug told reporters.
The classic races of World Championships took place in Val di Fiemme: interval start, relay, marathon. Biathletes competed in Oslo, Americans held their own in Slavic Cup action, and Swedes (and everyone else) gave it their all in the Vasaloppet. Summaries of the action, along with links to reporting and results.
Johan Olsson surprised most everyone and held his own for nearly 30 k on Sunday, skiing alone with a relentless drive for gold in the World Championships 50 k classic mass start on a hot-and-slushy afternoon.
Like he always seems to do at big events, Petter Northug, Jr., made sure the men's relay came down to a final sprint on Friday at World Championships so he could win the drag race, pull a finish-line smirk out of his repertoire, and leave Sweden wanting revenge for the umpteenth time. Our photos from the day.
Petter Northug played a main role in what turned out to be a nail-biting final leg of Friday's 4x10 k relay, which didn't get interesting until the last kilometer. The Norwegian attacked and proved too strong for his contenders, beating Sweden, Russia and Italy in a sprint finish.
Coming off a disappointing team sprint, Petter Northug decided to start Wednesday's 15 k freestyle at World Championships to see what could happen. The Norwegian ended up winning the individual start, not usually his best event, to capture his eighth world title.
Petter Northug, in an impressive rebound from two disappointing races this week at World Championships, finally got the gold he was looking for on Wednesday in the 15 k individual freestyle. The effort took everything he had; he began to collapse before he even crossed the finish line to take over the lead from Johan Olsson. Our photos from the finish and the high point of the course.
Dario Cologna remained cool and collected throughout Saturday's eight-lap 30 k skiathlon in Val di FIemme, letting others charge when they wanted to and putting his head down when it counted for his first World Championships gold.
It was a feel-good day for the top three in the men's 1.5 k classic sprint at World Championships on Thursday, with Russian Nikita Kriukov claiming his first gold and Norway's Petter Northug and Canada's Alex Harvey making the podium in second and third, respectively.
Petter Northug, Jr., revealed last week that he lied about an illness in 2011 in order to get out of racing at Norwegian Nationals prior to the Oslo World Championships. The revelation sparked debate across Norway about whether nationals should move to the spring. The discussion should be a familiar one for Americans as the best U.S. athletes increasingly skip the event to focus on international races.
Dario Cologna earned his first win of the season, besting a strong group of Russians on the 2014 Olympic skiathlon course.
Petter Northug got down to business Friday at the Sochi Olympic venue's first World Cup, winning the 1.8 k freestyle sprint ahead of Dario Cologna, Italian David Hofer and best of all to him, three Russians.
Taking off near the bottom of the Alpe Cermis climb, Alexander Legkov managed to ski smoothly up the mountain and over the plateau at the top, claiming Russia's first Tour de Ski title. Dario Cologna held on for second, while Maxim Vylgzhanin kept a suffering Petter Northug off the podium.
Alexey Poltaranin (KAZ) skied to his second consecutive Tour stage win, besting the Canadian duo of Len Valjas and Alex harvey in a sprint to the line.Dario Cologna (SUI) moved into the overall Tour lead.
Alexey Poltaranin (KAZ) skied to a convincing 8 second win in the men's 5km classic prologue in Toblach, Italy. Petter Northug (NOR) added to his overall Tour lead, besting rival Dario Cologna by .2 seconds to claim second.
The days when Switzerland's Dario Cologna won Tour after Tour seemingly effortlessly have come to an end. Cologna still has a shot, but after Petter Northug of Norway defeated Cologna and Russians Alexander Legkov and Maxim Vylegzhanin in a sprint finish in stage four, he'll have to work a little harder. After today's showing Northug, meanwhile, is confident that the title is his.
While we wait for Tour de Ski action to continue, here are a few more bits and pieces from the prologue and pursuit that took place over the weekend.
Three Russians worked together to swallow Sunday's pursuit leader, Petter Northug, in the second stage of the Tour de Ski. Maxim Vylegzhanin and Alexander Legkov held the pace and secured a 1-2 finish while Northug settled for third.
Last year's Tour de Ski prologue winner, Petter Northug of Norway started the 2012/2013 Tour on another strong note, winning Saturday's 4 k freestyle prologue in Oberhof, Germany, ahead of Marcus Hellner and Alexander Legkov.
Petter Northug skied his own race and hung on for dear life at the finish to edge a Russian for the first time in this weekend's Ruka Triple and defend his overall title from Kuusamo last year.