Therese Johaug raced to a 1-minute-and-10-second victory in the women's World Cup 15 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, and her teammate is calling the deficit scary. “She is completely a machine," third-place finisher Heidi Weng said. "What is it exactly you're made of?”
Therese Johaug and Martin Johnsrud Sundby didn't even try to make it interesting on Saturday; they were feeling too good. The Norwegians won the Lillehammer World Cup skiathlons by 1 1/2 minutes and 44 seconds, respectively, and skied a good portion of the race completely alone.
While Therese Johaug dominated the 10 k classic pursuit to win the Ruka Triple mini-tour, that wasn't the surprise - that would be teammate Heidi Weng finishing a lap early and losing both a podium finish and a lot of World Cup points. Sprinters Stina Nilsson and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg went 2-3 are beginning to make their names as distance skiers.
After today's 5 k skate in Kuusamo, Finland, Therese Johaug laughed remembering how short races used to be such a weak point for her. Not anymore: the Norwegian skied to a dominating 17.6-second victory over Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. That's 2% back in an 11-minute race.
A Norwegian development-pipeline skier, Kari Øyre Slind spent this summer largely training alone, but it's worked for her. “I choose to think of the Beitostølen weekend as a performance out of the ordinary,” she told FasterSkier about her recent double podium. “But now I know that I can perform with the best on a good day.”
Therese Johaug proved that no amount of hand injuries (two to be precise) can derail the start to her season as she won her second-straight race in Beitostølen, Norway. "I had to dig deep the whole way, but these conditions are my advantage," she said of the heavy snowfall.
Therese Johaug rocketed to first in her first race of the season, the FIS 7.5 k classic opener in Beitøstolen, Norway. She did so with the help of perennial rival and teammate Marit Bjørgen, who is due with her first child next month.
Therese Johaug's summer of bad luck continues: after healing her left hand, which she broke earlier this summer, the Norwegian fell while trail running and broke her right hand. She has returned to Oslo for consultations about the extent of the injury and how she will need to adjust her training for recovery.
The Toppidrettsveka race series wrapped up yesterday with an exciting pursuit in Trondheim, Norway. While some of the USST racers fell or broke a pole or two, the team as a whole had another successful day and is leaving the camp knowing what they need to do to improve before winter.
The Toppidrettsveka race series continued on Friday with a 15 kilometer skiathlon. The USST had more strong results, with Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randall finishing in 6th and 7th and Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton placing in the top 30.
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.
Therese Johaug fell while running and broke her hand. She'll have surgery to insert a few screws, and will try holding a ski pole again in 10 days. Until then, it's running, strength, and one-pole skiing for the 2015 double World Champion.
The queen of cross country skiing will have an heir to her throne come December, and if all goes according to plan she will be back to ruling the World Cup by 2017.
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.
Norwegian ski star Marit Bjørgen has decided to continue racing for another season. The 35-year-old said at the end of the season that she would have to think long and hard about whether she wanted to continue racing. She was exhausted and couldn’t imagine beginning another 900-hour training year. After thinking, though, she said she’d keep skiing. “I have used the spring to think a little, and I am now sure that I’m a hundred...
It seemed crazy: the Norwegian Birkebeiner has almost 3,000 feet of total climbing. But double-poling is what Petter Eliassen trains for, so that's what he did- and he became the first man to win the legendary marathon without kickwax. Therese Johaug picked up a five-minute victory in the women's race.
Marit Bjørgen proved once again why she is the world's best, saving one last attack to skate past Norwegian teammate Therese Johaug to take victory in the Holmenkollen 30 k and make it a clean sweep of the sprint, distance, and overally World Cup titles. Astrid Jacobsen outsprinted Sweden's Charlotte Kalla for third place.
Marit Bjørgen topped Norwegian teammate Heidi Weng by 17.3 seconds to win the last classic-distance race of the season and complete her sweep of the World Cup weekend in Lahti, Finland.
Therese Johaug did what she had to do to beat Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen on Saturday in the final women's race of 2015 World Championships: the 30 k classic mass start. She did so by inadvertently attacking around 7 k: "I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s early. I have 23 kilometers to the end,'" Johaug recalled.
After a fifth-place in the 2014 Olympic relay, Norway came back with vengeance to take the 4 x 5 k relay at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden. The Swedish team, featuring Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson, overcame Finland to earn a silver medal in front of a home crowd.