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Sadie Bjornsen

Nilsson Back to Winning Ways in Drammen Classic Sprint; Caldwell Top American in 9th

Drammen is one of those staples on the World Cup, appearing on the circuit late each season and remembered for its trademark uphill finish in the middle of a city of 63,000 inhabitants, just 40 kilometers west of Oslo, Norway. “It tends to be fairly predictable snow,” U.S. Ski Team Women’s Coach Matt Whitcomb told FasterSkier during an in-person interview in Drammen on Wednesday. “It’s generally clean [snow]. It’s generally some sort of klister.” But...

Best of Lahti World Champs: The Photos You Haven’t Seen

Whew, that was a whirlwind. Over the last two and a half weeks of Nordic World Championships racing in Lahti, Finland, we witnessed the U.S. and Canadian cross-country teams capture a total of four medals: silver and bronze in the women’s freestyle sprint (with Americans Sadie Bjornsen), and gold in the final race of World Championships: the men’s 50-kilometer freestyle mass start (won by Canada’s Lazenbyphoto.com. (Click each photo to enlarge)      

Norway Makes It 100 Championship Golds with Women’s Relay Win

LAHTI, Finland—The Norwegian lineup for the women’s 4 x 5-kilometer team at the 2017 Nordic World Championships on Thursday was daunting: Maiken Caspersen Falla, Heidi Weng, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Marit Bjørgen. On paper and on snow, a rundown of names and accomplishments. Here during these Lahti championships the Norse foursome have hauled; Falla and Weng with a classic team sprint gold, Bjørgen a 15 k skiathlon gold, and Jacobsen’s hardware was a bronze in the 10 k classic. On Thursday...

Thursday Rundown: Lahti Women’s Relay & PyeongChang IBU World Cup (Updated)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 4 x 5 k relay The Norwegian women’s team got a much-needed lift from Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, the third leg of its 4 x 5-kilometer relay, on Thursday, who tagged her teammate Marit Bjørgen nearly a minute ahead of anyone else. From there, Bjørgen anchored the Norwegians to a 1:01.6-minute victory for her third gold of 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland battled for...

Sweet Sixteen: Bjørgen Wins Lahti 10 k Classic for 16th World Title

LAHTI, Finland — Moments before the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start at the 2017 Nordic World Championships on Tuesday, temperatures read 35 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity hovered around 97 percent — the air nearly saturated. Earlier in the day, a near-ground fog lapped the tops of the three iconic ski jumps looming above the ski stadium. In contrast to earlier classic events at these championships — a 15 k skiathlon, and classic team sprint — the...

After The Medals: Team-Sprint Bronze Medalist Sadie Bjornsen

LAHTI, Finland — While Monday marked a rest day for skiers competing in the 2017 Nordic World Championships, FasterSkier took the opportunity to sit down and chat with Sadie Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team, one day after she earned bronze with teammate Jessie Diggins in the women’s 1.3-kilometer classic team sprint. Not only was it Bjornsen’s first-career World Championships medal, it was the first for the U.S. women’s program in a World Championships classic race....

Classic Combo: Bronze for Bjornsen & Diggins; Gold for Norway in World Champs Team Sprint

LAHTI, Finland — Statistically speaking, most might have bet on the Swede — particularly if it came down to a lunge to the line. After all, that’s how Sweden’s Stina Nilsson  2017 sprint world champion Maiken Caspersen Falla. On two other occasions, Nilsson has skate sprinted to the win in a photo finish — once during freestyle sprint in Falun, Sweden. Perhaps most memorably, it’s also how the Swede gold at the 2013 World Championships in Val...

Sunday Rundown: Lahti and Osrblie (Updated x2)

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Classic team sprints Defending champions Norway repeated gold in the women’s team sprint, with Heidi Weng and Maiken Caspersen Falla crossing the finish line first in Lahti, Finland. On the second-to-last loop, it looked like Russia could have something to say about that. Yulia Belorukova put in a furious sprint up the course’s biggest climb, and then beat Weng to the exchange. But her teammate Natalia Matveeva could not match the pace when Falla...

Setting the Scene: Pre-Competition Day at Lahti World Championships

LAHTI, Finland — Tuesday at Lahti’s venue for the 2017 Nordic World Ski Championships, the sun sets early. Although technically sunset was 5:22 p.m., the sun on this clear-sky day was still wintertime reluctant. It seemed too short a time for the sun’s transect to thaw Lahti. Temps were in the mid-to-low 20 degrees Fahrenheit. But a brisk wind called for down coats and insulated pants for those not actively skiing — in the shade, it...

Sunday Rundown: World Champs Silver for Dunklee, Bailey 6th in Hochfilzen (Updated x2)

IBU World Championships (Hochfilzen, Austria): Women’s & men’s mass starts Silver medal for Susan Dunklee. That’s the big news coming out of Hochfilzen, Austria, on the final day of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships after the American finished second, just 4.6 seconds out of first, in the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start. Dunklee started in bib 17 in the mass start and cleaned all 20 targets to put herself in the hunt for gold....

Nilsson Cements Sprint-Favorite Status; Diggins 5th in Otepää Skate Sprint

At 23, Sweden’s Stina Nilsson has nailed a business-like approach to World Cup starts. Standing 5-foot-9, she appears to tower over most of her competitors, and before her signature races (sprints) she appears deep in contemplation, definitely in the zone. During those races, she’s usually the one setting the pace, and afterward, she’s almost always celebrating at the finish. So far this season, Nilsson has won seven World Cup races — including today’s freestyle sprint in Otepää,...

Falun Extras: Bonus Quotes

We’re a couple days out from last weekend’s World Cup in Falun, Sweden, with several top racers taking a two-week breather now to prepare for World Championships, but several more are headed to PyeongChang, South Korea, to preview the 2018 Olympic course at this coming weekend’s three-day World Cup, Friday through Sunday. Here is a final wrap of some of the North American comments from Falun that didn’t make it into the race reports. Saturday’s freestyle sprints...

Win No. 105 for Bjørgen; U.S. Put 4 in Top 30 in Falun 15 k Classic

*Note: this article has been updated to include comments from U.S. women’s head coach Matt Whitcomb as of Monday, Jan. 30.  After sealing her 105th individual World Cup victory on Sunday, and her yesterday’s sprint winner — and Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski. Also within firing range was American Jessie Diggins, skiing in seventh, along with Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen and Maiken Caspersen Falla, and Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla. However, within another four kilometers, the Norwegians had broken away, a close...

Sunday Rundown: Falun, Duszniki-Zdrój, & The Marcialonga (Updated x4)

FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Falun, Sweden): 15 / 30 k classic mass start Men’s report In the women’s 15-kilometer classic mass start on Sunday, Norway swept the podium with Marit Bjørgen taking the win in a time of 41:28.8 in Falun, Sweden. Crossing just half a second behind her was her teammate, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in second place. Rounding out the podium was Heidi Weng in third (+8.1). American Jessie Diggins was the first to cross the line...

Saturday Rundown: Falun & Duszniki-Zdrój (Updated x2)

FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Falun, Sweden): Men’s & women’s freestyle sprints Men’s report [UPDATED] Kikkan Randall reached the final for the first time since March 2015 on Saturday in the women’s 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint at the World Cup in Falun, Sweden. The American qualified 26th and went on to advance in second out of her quarterfinal and semifinal to reach the six-woman final, where she ended up fifth. Sweden’s Stina Nilsson won the final by one-hundredth of...

Norway Women Win Again, But It’s Closest Relay in Two Years; U.S. Fourth in Nailbiter (Updated)

Another women’s 4 x 5 k World Cup relay, another Norwegian win. Yawn? Not so fast. While the team of Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Heidi Weng, Astrid Jacobsen, and Marit Bjørgen may have picked up the victory, the women’s race in Ulricehamn, Sweden, was anything but dull. For one thing, it was the closest race in 23 months, going all the way back to the 2014 Olympics where Sweden took gold. The top four teams all...

Sunday Rundown: Ulricehamn, Antholz, Chaux-Neuve, Whistler, & Truckee (Updated x3)

FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Ulricehamn, Sweden): 4 x 5 k and 4 x 7.5 k Relays Women’s report Norway notched back-to-back team victories in the women’s and men’s relays on Sunday at the World Cup in Ulricehamn, Sweden, with Finn Hågen Krogh securing a win in the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay by 0.5 seconds over Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson and Canada’s Lenny Valjas. With two kilometers remaining, nine teams were within 3.8 seconds of first. Krogh...

After Five Weeks Away, Bjørgen Back on Top in Ulricehamn; Four Americans in Top 25

There are a lot of things Marit Bjørgen is not. She is not the only woman on Norway’s national team who knows how to win. She is not in the early stages of her cross-country career — her first World Cup debut came in December 1999. In comparison to many of her Norwegian teammates, she is not young. The average age of Norway’s women competing in Saturday’s 10-kilometer freestyle individual start in Ulricehamn, Sweden, (Bjørgen not included)...

Saturday Rundown: Ulricehamn, Antholz, Chaux-Neuve, Zuoz, Whistler, & Truckee (Updated x6)

U.S. SuperTour (Truckee, Calif.): Classic sprints [UPDATED] Less than a week after being men’s 30 k classic mass start champion at this year’s U.S. nationals — won Saturday’s SuperTour classic sprint as well. Lustgarten, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, raced to a 1.58-second victory in the men’s A-final at the Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif., finishing in 3:03.4. Ben Saxton, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, placed second, and Reese...