Longtime friends and teammates Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Maiken Caspersen Falla, of Norway, were out for some redemption after their fourth-place finish in the 2013 World Championships team sprint, and they got it with a sizeable win over Sweden's Ida Ingemarsdotter and Stina Nilsson, while Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk and Sylwia Jaśkowiec were thrilled with bronze.
With two Olympic Championships, countless World Cup victories, and limitless admiration from Poland and beyond, Justyna Kowalczyck has led a remarkable life, but even the most remarkable people can suffer from mental illness regardless of the number of championships under their belt.
Fog blanketed the hillsides of Szklarska Poreba, Poland, as the men of the World Cup lined up for the start of the 15 k. In a field that lacked the esteemed Scandinavian racers, the predictions of who might win were about as unclear as the visibility on course.
which FasterSkier did some interesting work on), the outspoken Pole was thoroughly dominated by Norwegian superstar Marit Bjoergen whenever the two raced head to head. The Pole won just three of those face-offs, and lost to Bjoergen all four times they raced against each other at World Championships, leaving little doubt as to who was the superior skier. She probably doesn’t care all that much, but Kowalczyk didn’t make any friends stateside after her little...
Poland Nations Cup Ranking: 8th (2264 pts) Men: 17th (109 pts) Women: 6th (2155 pts) 2010/2011 World Cup Team Men Maciej Kreczmer Mariusz Michałek Krzysztof Stec Maciej Staręga Sebastian Gazurek Women Sylwia Jaśkowiec Paulina Maciuszek Martyna Galewicz Ewelina Marcisz Agnieszka Szymańczak Justyna Kowalczyk What you may have missed last season: Well, if you tuned into elite-level cross-country skiing at just about any point last year, one thing you did not miss was Justyna Kowalczyk steamrolling...
So much for Justyna Kowalczyk’s home-field advantage. For the first time in her career, the International Ski Federation (FIS) has scheduled World Cup races in Kowalczyk’s native Poland, in February of 2012. But if officials at FIS have their way, Kowalczyk, a notoriously poor descender, will have to successfully navigate five kilometers of technical downhill before she can step onto the podium there. According to FIS Cross-Country Race Director Jürg Capol, a federation committee discussed...