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Stina Nilsson

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, won the last World Cup distance race, a 10 k freestyle mass start, in Seefeld, Austria. That win wasn’t a surprise, rather it was an affirmation of her third overall ranking on the World Cup. So while it was an all-Scandinavian podium (or more accurately, all-Nordic nations podium) on Saturday, Diggins is knocking. During the classic portion of the skiathlon, there were moments when it appeared the U.S. Ski...

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Full report The 2018 Winter Games kicked off Saturday with the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon, which saw Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla take her second-career individual Olympic gold (third including relays) and first individual gold in eight years. Not far behind her, American Jessie Diggins achieved the best Olympic result for an American woman in cross-country skiing. After Kalla established herself as a leader early in the opening 7.5 k classic leg,...

Nilsson Nabs Another Sprint Title in Planica; Diggins 4th, Caldwell 9th

PLANICA, Slovenia — With the Julian Alps and Mount Triglav, Slovenia’s highest peak, as a backdrop, it’s suitable to say the Planica Valley nordic course can be summed up in one word: burly. A high mid-afternoon sun had illuminated the mountain range throughout the rounds for the World Cup women’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint on Saturday, but by the time the six finalists lined up for the final heat, a few shadows were being recast onto...

Saturday Rundown: Planica and Red Deer

Western Canadian Championships (Red Deer, Alberta): 10/15 k classic mass starts On Day 2 of the NorAm Western Canadian Championships in Red Deer, Andy Shields of Lappe Nordic won the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start and Annika Hicks of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) topped the women’s 10 k classic mass start. Shields won the open men’s race by 9.4 seconds in 40:14.4, while Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) placed second for the second-straight day....

Sweden Goes 1-2, U.S. Women Third in Dresden Team Sprint

DRESDEN, Germany — Just over 15,000 people gathered at the Elbe River bank on Sunday, some donned in sunnies and carrying sauce-laden brätwurst from pop-up food carts, though all took pause around 11:14:59 a.m. It wasn’t to take in the Altstadt baroque-style buildings that make up the city skyline, nor was it to bask in the bright, mid-morning sun hovering on the horizon. A new attraction had come to the capital city, and all eyes...

Sunday Rundown: U.S. 3rd in Dresden Team Sprint; Crawford 4th in Mass Start

IBU Biathlon World Cup (Ruhpolding, Germany): 12.5/15 k mass starts Kaisa Makarainen of Finland took her first win of the season and will start next weekend with the overall World Cup leader’s bib after she outsprinted Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier by 0.8 seconds to claim the win in the 12.5 k mass start. In a tight race for third, Veronica Vitkova of the Czech Republic edged out Rosanna Crawford of Canada for the final spot on the podium; the pair...

Caldwell Third in Dresden City Sprint; Falk Gets First Win Since 2010

In Sophie Caldwell’s quarterfinal heat of the World Cup skate sprint in Dresden, Germany, she led from start nearly to finish. In the final 200 meters she was passed by Sweden’s Hanna Falk, but won a photo finish for second place and advanced to the semifinals. In that quarterfinal heat, the U.S. Ski Team member had finished just 0.24 seconds behind Sweden’s Falk. As the racing got even tighter in the semifinals and final, it...

Saturday Rundown: Dresden, Ruhpolding, Kaiser Maximilian Lauf

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Dresden, Germany): Freestyle sprints Men’s report For her second-straight World Cup sprint, Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. Ski Team reached the podium in the women’s 1.2-kilometer freestyle sprint on Saturday in Dresden, Germany. Caldwell placed third in the final behind Sweden’s Hanna Falk, who won it in 2:11.02 minutes, and Maja Dahlqvist, also of Sweden, who placed second (+0.23). Caldwell and Dahlqvist both lunged in a photo finish for second,...

Nilsson Prevails in Davos, But Americans Impress with Three in Top 6

DAVOS, Switzerland — Stina Nilsson came into Saturday’s freestyle sprint looking to return to her winning ways after having a four-sprint victory streak broken last weekend in Lillehammer, Norway. The Norwegian women came into the day looking to further redeem themselves after a slow – by their standards – start to the season, with Nilsson and her Swedish teammate Charlotte Kalla combining to win four of the five races held so far. And the U.S....

Saturday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen and Sovereign (Updated)

NorAm/SuperTour (Sovereign Lake near Vernon, British Columbia): Classic sprints On the opening day of the NorAm Continental Cup series in Canada (which doubled as a U.S. SuperTour), American Kaitlynn Miller of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) started Saturday with a nearly three-second win in the classic-sprint qualifier at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, then went on to win her quarterfinal and semifinal before topping the final as well. Miller was the fastest women’s qualifier...

Bjornsen Third in Lillehammer Classic Sprint; Falla for the Win

Sadie Bjornsen can remember watching World Cup race footage as a kid, skiers zipping across the T.V. screen moving at speeds that seemed to her at the time, superhuman. In a recent Last year in Lillehammer, Bjornsen was the fastest qualifier but did not advance past the quarterfinals. This year in Lillehammer she once again won the qualifier, completing the course in a time of 3:22.45, but didn’t stop there. She placed second in her...

Saturday Rundown: Lillehammer; Östersund; West Yellowstone (Updated)

US SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Montana): Freestyle sprints Anne Hart and Nick Michaud were the big winners on opening day of the US SuperTour season at the Rendezvous Ski Trails on Saturday, taking individual victories in the women’s and men’s freestyle sprint finals, respectively. Hart led into the finishing straight to take the win in 2:52.49 minutes, 0.88 seconds ahead of Erika Flowers, her teammate on the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, who placed second, and...

Kalla Beats Bjørgen for Ruka Crown: ‘I have been waiting for this day’; Bjornsen 10th, Diggins 12th

After two days of racing in Kuusamo, Finland, the Ruka Triple turned its last page on Sunday. As it turned out, the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit was a thriller. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla came into the final day of the mini tour wearing bib 1 and with only a 2-second lead on the last person one might want skiing on their tails, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen.   The gamesmanship, the change of pace, skiing’s version of the...

Sunday Rundown: Kalla, Klæbo Take Ruka Triple Crowns; Austria, Norway Top Biathlon Relays

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): 10/15 k freestyle pursuit Men’s report Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla took down the fiercest contender women’s cross-country skiing has ever seen, challenging Norway’s Marit Bjørgen on the final lap of the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit on Sunday then successfully holding her off to the finish. Kalla entered the final day of the three-day Ruka Triple mini tour with a 2-second lead on Bjørgen out of the pursuit start. Bjørgen...

Saturday Rundown: Bjørgen, Klæbo Dominate Ruka Day 2; Diggins 10th; Fletcher Gets 2nd Top 20

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): 10/15 k classic Men’s report On Day 2 of the Ruka Triple World Cup opener on Saturday, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen collected a 17-second victory in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start in Kuusamo, Finland. Bjørgen started 30th of nearly 90 women and was contested by one other: Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in bib 44. Kalla clocked through the 3.1 and 6.2 k checkpoints faster than Bjørgen, but the Norwegian’s...

Friday Rundown: Sadie Bjornsen Opens with Career-Best Second in Ruka

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): Classic sprints Men’s race report In the first race of the 2017/2018 cross-country World Cup season, U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Sadie Bjornsen, who turned 28 on Tuesday, raced to the best result of her career, placing second to Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in Friday’s classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland. Last season, Bjornsen notched her first World Cup podium in third place in the 5-kilometer freestyle in Toblach, Italy,...

Svensson, Nilsson Delight Home Crowd in Gällivare Sprint; Beatty, Valjas Reach Heats

For the third and final day of International Ski Federation (FIS) racing in Gällivare, the home crowd would not be let down. Both the men’s and women’s 1-kilometer classic sprints were won by Swedes, one of whom has established herself as one of the world’s best sprinters, ending last season second in the 2016/2017 Sprint World Cup at the age of 23. Stina Nilsson, now 24 and entering her fifth year of racing on the...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbpElh6gxkx/?taken-by=kalla_87 Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla. For the second day in a row, Charlotte Kalla, a name synonymous with the yellow and blue of Sweden, stood atop the podium, placing first in the women’s 10-kilometer classic International Ski Federation (FIS) race on Saturday in Gällivare, Sweden. who was recently handed down a lifetime Olympic ban by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), did not start the race. Russia...

World Cup Windup: Sweden

Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24. SWEDEN Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: Second Women’s Ranking 2016-2017: Second Men’s Ranking 2016-2017: Third Who’s Back: Stina Nilsson, second in the Sprint Cup and fourth in the World Cup overall; Hanna Falk, third in the Sprint Cup;...

Closing the Gap: Lessons in Risk Taking and VO2 ‘Maks’ Testing

Editor’s Note: The following is the fourth post in a series proposed by Maks Zechel, a 20-year-old Canadian cross-country skier embarking on his first season training abroad. He recently made the big move to Norway, where he’ll be training and racing with Team Asker for the next nine months. Through these updates, Maks hopes to share his personal “observations, stories, and lessons learned” to help close the gap between North American and Scandinavian nordic skiing. Previous...