Sjusjøen 10km/15km Preview

In less than 48hrs, the 2011-2012 World Cup campaign kicks-off in Sjusjøen. By now, you know that the opening World Cup weekend was scheduled for Beitøstolen but the lack of snow caused the move to Sjusjøen. I’m a huge fan of starting the season in Norway because you’re always guaranteed big crowds and deep fields which makes a great atmosphere even if you’re sitting at home watching it on your computer or TV.

The first day of competition will be 10km/15km preview with almost all the big guns in attendance. For the women, it should be a question of who can beat Marit Bjørgen. Kowalczyk will surely be up there with as will Kalla who impressed last weekend in Bruksvallarna. Johaug, Haag and Khazova also have a chance to get onto the podium.

For those betting folk Bjørgen is 2/7 favourite with Kalla at 9/2 while Kowalczyk and Johaug are 10/1.

UPDATE: The start-lists have been posted and there will be 71 athletes starting tomorrow with Kowalczyk the last to start.

On the men’s side, the only notable absentee will be Bauer who has opted to not race Saturday due to a minor cold, but will be skiing the relay on Sunday. Other than that it’s a pretty stacked field. The bookies have Northug as the 4/1 favourite with Hellner 5/1, Cologna 6/1, Legkov 7/1 and Manificat 9/1. The Norwegians have added four biathletes to the field including Håfsas, Boe, Berger and Svendsen so it should be interesting to see if there will be any heroics that Håfsas showed two years ago in the season opener.

Other athletes that I will have an eye on and think have an outside chance of the podium include Piller-Cottrer who excels at this race, Harvey and Vylegzhanin.

UPDATE: The start-list have been posted and the field is quite big with 93 athletes. The last to start will be Dario Cologna.

With the start of a new season, means the start of another intense season of WhoWins over at World of XC. Just a reminder that you can get your picks in right up until the first racer breaks the wand. I believe there will be standings for each race weekend, Tour de Ski standings and a leaderboard running all season which means some serious bragging rights are at hand. Last year there was an amazing 346 people who entered at least one race with the grand champion and friend of NX, fellow ski blogger Chris from Nordic Commentary Project. If you want to try and beat me this year, my username will be NordicXplained.

That’s it for now, talk to you after the first race of the season!

#1 – Norway: On Top of the Pile

Nations Cup: 11397pts (1^st)

Men: 4722pts (1^st)

Women: 6675 (1^st)

When you name 45 athletes to the national team, you know you’re in for a good season. Norway hosted the World Championships last season and showed why they are the top ski nation in the world as they won eight of the 12 possible gold medals. In the four races that they didn’t win gold, they won silver three times and bronze once. Not too shabby…

THE DEPARTED

Long-time servant for the Norwegians, Jens Arne Svartedal finally called it a career at the end of very impressive career. The 35-year old was outside the national team the past couple years, but throughout his career he wore the Norwegian flag proudly and was one of the best all-rounders in his day. The classic specialist won 12 World Cups, was the 2007 World Sprint Champion, and earned a bronze medal with the 4x10km relay team in Torino. He was one of the more consistent skiers of the last decade and scored at least one World Cup medal in every year from 2000-2009. His rap sheet is even more impressive as he stepped on the World Cup podium 22 times in his career and hit the start line 120 times. That’s an average of one podium every six races.

Marte Elden is stepping away from the scene too, but it appears to be temporary as she plans to focus on her schooling this season. Last year, Elden had a breakout season and finished 20^th in the World Cup Overall. She is one athlete that I truly felt sorry for, truly an amazing talent and if she was from any other nation other than Norway, she would’ve been one of the top skiers, but with Norway’s current overwhelming amount of talent, Elden never even got to race at the World Champs.

MEN’S SPRINT

The Sprint Gutta (Sprint Boys) is one of the most cut-throat squads around. The amount of talent is pretty ridiculous. One or two bad races in a row and you’re out, just ask John Kristian Dahl… Ola Vigen Hattestad (2^nd ranked) led the charge for Norway, and had a great run of results leading up to the World Champs with a 1^st, 2^nd, 2^nd, but just missed the medals in front of the home crowd where he finished in 4^th.

There was also Bransdal (5^th ranked) who won his first race in Otepaa and Northug (6^th) who surprisingly didn’t win a race last season, but was runner-up once in Stockholm. John Kristian Dahl (11^th) had a great start to the season, but his form dipped when it counted the most and wasn’t selected for the World Champs team. Add in Pettersen (20^th), Gløersen (21^st), Golberg (24^th), Kjølstad (40^th) and well, you get the point. Norway has a bottomless pit of talent.

The Norwegian men had 22 different athletes score World Cup points last season. Some might argue about Norway being allowed to enter more athletes at races like Drammen due to the national team rules, but let’s remember Drammen is one of the hardest sprint races on the circuit, unlike Rybink where Russia has a handful of athletes qualifying simply because there isn’t enough athletes to round-out the top 30.

WOMEN’S SPRINT

While the women’s team isn’t quite as deep, it’s still pretty damn impressive. Led by the woman that can do no wrong, Bjørgen finished 4^th in the Sprint Cup which is a little misrepresentative of her true quality. Youngster Falla (6^th) was a great surprise last season and really came out her shell and finished off the season extremely strong as she medalled in the final three races she entered with a 3^rd in Otepaa, 2^nd in Drammen, and 3^rd in Stockholm. Jacobsen (7^th) finally regained her form that we saw as she became the 2007 Sprint Champion and earned three podiums.

Brun-Lie (14^th) and the junior superstar Østberg (22^nd) are great supporting cast and Østberg should continue to improve this season and become a name that will be in the top 10 more often.

MEN’S DISTANCE

Over the past couple seasons, Norway’s men have been heavily criticised for their results, or lack thereof in the distance races. If you took Northug out of the picture, the distance team would’ve been feeble at best. However, last season is when they turned it all around. In addition to Northug (5^th), Norway had Rønning (11^th), Johnsrud Sundby (18^th), Gjerdalen (24^th) and Røthe (40^th) who all had very decent years.

I want to highlight Rønning  specifically as his season was exceptionally good. Of his six races that he scored points in, he finished 4^th, 8^th, 1^st, 7^th, 7^th, 5^th. That is some impressive constancy.

The highlights for the squad came from the World Champs at Holmenkollen where all the athletes skied to their full potential, something Norway wasn’t accustomed to seeing over the past couple seasons. In the 30km pursuit it was Northug who beat the Russians at the sprint with Johnsrud Sundby in 5^th and Røthe in 14^th. In the 15km classic it would’ve been a historical day for Norway if it was for Heikkinen as Rønning finished 2^nd and Johnsrud Sundby finished 5^th. There was also Eliassen (15^th) and Røthe (21^st) who had great races in the 76 skier field. On the final day of the World Champs it was truly a historical day for Norway as it was Northug who once again won an amazing sprint finish while Gjerdalen was 3^rd and Johnsrud Sudby was 4^th. It would have been an even more impressive day if Eliassen didn’t bail on the final hill and was dropped to 11^th.

There is also Finn Hågen-Krogh who surprised everyone in the World Cup Finale to finish 2^nd in the mini-tour. The kid is still young and has a lot of room to improve, but with the confidence he gained from the end of last season, expect to be very familiar with his name by the time the season ends.

So long story short, after an amazing World Championships, Norwegian ski fans will be expecting their men to continue to perform to the high bar that they set last March, the big question is will they be able to do so.

WOMEN’S DISTANCE

While the men’s team have strong competition from the likes of Russia and Sweden, the Norwegian women are in a league of their own. I’m actually surprised nobody has nicknamed their relay team “The Untouchables” yet, because that is exactly what they are. At the end of last season is appeared as though that foursome would take a hit with Størmer-Steira was retiring, but has opted to race a couple more seasons.

The 1-2 punch of Bjørgen (2^nd ranked) and Johaug (3^rd) has probably caused many sleepless nights for Kowalczyk. The world is very aware of what a very special athlete Bjørgen is, but what many skiers saw in Johaug during the 30km mas start at the World Champs was amazing. First, it proved that an athlete can beat Bjørgen even when Bjørgen is on her best form in a distance race. Second, Johaug is still only 23-years old and has potential to improve her skiing which makes her downright scary. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either Bjørgen or Johaug on every single distance podium this season.

There is also Kristoffersen (10^th) who just turned 22-years old, Jacobsen (11^th), Skofterud (17^th), Størmer-Steira (18^th) and Østberg (28^th) who all have a realistic chance of earning a spot on the relay team.

THE FUTURE

The amount of young talent that Norway has is ridiculous. The Norwegian Ski Federation have a section of the Norwegian national team named “Recruitment Team” specifically for these athletes who are Golberg, Northug, Krogh, Dyrhaug, Tønseth, Weng, Haga, Slind, Hagen, Lauvhaug. They should’ve just named that team, “The Future Superstars”. If my math serves me correct, every single athlete on that team has won at least one medal at World Juniors.

The most impressive thing is that there are athletes that won medals at World Junior last year like Fossli and Skar who aren’t even on the team! At this moment in time, Norway is a non-stop mill of world class ski talent.

THE VERDICT

There’s nothing wrong with Norway, they are strong in every single aspect of the sport, but that’s what you expect from the nation where the sport was born. Expect them to roll over the competition in the sprints and in the Nations Cup standings this season.

#2 – Sweden: Full Steam Ahead

Nations Cup: 7660 (2^nd)

Men: 4067 (3^rd)

Women: 3593 (2^nd)

THE DEPARTED

Mats Larsson decided to retire after a fairly decorated career. He raced sparingly with only 67 World Cup starts, but managed to win medal on every stage. A 4x10km relay bronze from Torino, a sprint relay silver from Sapporo and three individual World Cup medals. At the age of 31-years old, Larsson was an athlete still very much in his prime and managed to make two World Cup sprint finals in six starts during his final year.

On the women’s side it was Lina Andersson who called it quits after an illustrious career. She had medals from the Olympics, World Champs and eight individual World Cup medals. Last year she did have a very good 5^th place in Otepaa, but her consistently good results were something we didn’t see. However, after 12-years on the circuit, Andersson was on the down swing of her career with her best days behind her and with the new generation of sprinters arriving it was the right time to step aside.

MEN’S SPRINT

What’s their not to like about the Swedish sprint team? They have the best and most consistent sprinter in the world, Mr. Emil Jönsson. Here’s he sprint results from last year (8^th, 1^st, 1^st, 1^st, 4^th, 1^st, 1^st, 1^st). It’s not perfect but it’s pretty damn close. However, some ski fans will contest he still has not done it at the Olympics or World Champs as he was bested by Hellner and Northug and finished 3^rd.

In 3^rd place in the Sprint Cup is the towering Jesper Modin. I don’t want to take anything away from Modin because 3^rd place in the Sprint Cup is a great feat, but when you look at his results, there is a familiar pattern; 6^th places and he racked up five of them last season. This meant that he would make it into the final, but finish last in the heat. Something the giant Swede will look to improve on this season, something an increased aerobic capacity should remedy. Also, he’ll be looking to finish on the podium at least once this season, something he didn’t do last season.

Add another superstar into the mix by the name of Marcus Hellner (15^th ranked); you might have heard of him before, and a healthy Robin Bryntesson and the sprinting core should be strong yet again. Youngster Calle Halfvarsson has a year of World Cup racing under his belt and should move up from his 29^th ranking from last year; as does Teodor Peterson (42^nd).

What surprised me was how well Rickardsson did in the sprints last season. He finished 23^rd in the Sprint Cup last year and included a 5^th in the Otepaa sprints.

WOMEN’S SPRINT

By winning the sprint relay gold at the World Champs, Kalla skied one of the most impressive final legs this blogger has ever seen. But away from the big show, it was sophomore skier Hanna Falk (10^th) who led the Swedish sprinters. There was also Kalla (12^th), Brodin (15^th) who is a future superstar and Ingemarsdotter (16^th) who was only one of two athletes to finish in the top 10 of the final three sprint races of the year. Who is the other skier? Bjørgen of course.

This sprint team that Sweden will put on snow this season is possibly the strongest team they’ve every fielded. Add in Haag (38^th) and that’s five athletes that can fight for the medal on any given day. The biggest problem for the coaches is deciding which two athletes they select to ski the team sprint, not a bad problem to have at all.

MEN’S DISTANCE

After being mocked by Northug and finishing runners up in the 4x10km at the World Champs, the fire to beat Norway in a team event must be at an all-time high. They have the tools, now they must execute. Rickardsson (2^nd), Hellner (7^th), Södergren (27^th) and Olsson (33^rd) are the foursome that are the core of the men’s distance. Rickardsson had a career year, same can be said of Hellner with his triumph’s at the World Champs. Södergren had an average year for him while Olsson took a step backwards after a great 2009-2010 season.

While the core is strong, the talent dips heavily outside those four. Next on the pecking for the first part of the season is 38-year old veteran Mattais Fredricksson who earned a start at the season opener in Sjosjøen with a strong result in Bruksvallarna. Jens Eriksson (68^th) is the other distance athlete that will be World Cup action this year.

WOMEN’S DISTANCE

Like the men, the women were defeated in the team relay by the rivals Norway. With Kalla (6^th) and Haag (8^th) the two main distance skiers, I believe that the relay team is one that its sum is greater than its parts. The other half of the relay team last year was Ingemarsdotter who skied the lead-off leg and did extremely well for a primarily sprint specialist while Johansson Norgren skied the third leg and did well too. Johansson Norgren has always been touted as a talented skier but has always struggled with consistency. In fact, she won’t be making the trip to Sjosjøen this weekend. In her place will be

Maria Rydvist (22^nd) was the surprise athlete of the year on the World Cup. She came out of nowhere and skied her way onto the national team, but her form faltered was replaced on the relay team by Johansson Norgren.

Marathon skier Jenny Hansson will join the Swedish team for the first weekend of racing, but I don’t expect that she’ll be with the team for long after that.

THE FUTURE

Saying the Swedish juniors are looking bleak would be a little strong, but the quality of skiers at World Juniors was lagging behind Russia and Norway by a large gap. The only bright spot was Jennie Öberg who won bronze in the sprint at U23’s. She should have a few World Cup starts this season, but as we know the step from U23’s to World Cup is pretty substantial.

THE VERDICT

All facets of the Swedish team at the top seem to be going full-bore right now. Their feeder system is dwindling, but that shouldn’t matter for the next couple years with their current crop of super-talented athletes.