World Cup Finale: A Victory Lap for Bjørgen

The last race of the season, and it was spring skiing conditions as the mercury was hovering around +7°C while the snow was a perfect at -5°C. Today’s race was more of a victory lap for Bjørgen and her amazing season since second place Kowalczyk started 74 seconds behind the Norwegian. With that said, the odds for today’s race were Bjørgen at 1.02 (sure thing) for the win while the rest of the field was 10.00.

THE RACE

With 74 seconds between Bjørgen and Kowalczyk and another 80 seconds between the Pole and Johaug, all the excitement would be for the race for fourth place.

So while Bjørgen, Kowalczyk and Johaug were skiing their own race by themselves, the race for fourth was heating up as Follis, Haag and Jacobsen had bunched together early and began to work together to close the gap between themselves and Kalla.

Going up Mörderbacken the first time, you could see that even though Bjørgen was out in front, she certainly wasn’t taking the race easy as her heart rate was at 94% of her max. At 2.8km, the gap between Kowalczyk and Bjørgen was only increased by three seconds.
Kalla was having a good day and was steadily closing the gap between herself and Johaug, while Follis and Jacobsen were closing the gap too. At 2.8km at the top of Morderbacken, Johaug’s gap between Kalla, Follis and Jacobsen was 17 seconds. Haag was dropping off the back of Jacobsen and was now sitting eight seconds behind the Norwegian.

We could see how big the gap was at the front as Bjørgen started her second lap and was going out of the stadium, Kowalczyk was coming into the stadium and sat 1:28 back, 14 seconds lost in the first 5km.

The race for fourth and to a certain extent third was heating up as Johaug was only 14 seconds ahead of the Kalla, Follis, Jacobsen trio as they continued to work well together. Haag was still along in 7th and say 22 seconds behind Jacobsen and 23 seconds ahead of Majdic and Størmer-Steira who were battling for 8th place.

The last time up Mörderbacken, the gap had stagnated on the second lap between the lead two as Kowalczyk lost only one second in the first 2.8km of the second lap. In behind them, it was a thrilling fight for third as Follis was only 15 meters behind Johaug coming into the base while Jacobsen was another 20 meters back as they had dropped Kalla. The coaches were screaming at Johaug to tell her how close Follis was and going up Morderbacken as able to find another gear and sat seven seconds ahead of the Italian, but still had 2.2km left to the finish.

In the stadium, it was all smiles for both Bjørgen and Kowalczyk as their World Cup season came to a finish and they both celebrated as they came across the finish line. The fight for third was not so laid-back as Johaug had to keep going all the way to the finish-line as Follis and Jacobsen was only 25 meters behind the Norwegian. Johaug was able to hold them off, but it was  a fight for fourth as Follis and Jacobsen were side-by-side coming up the finish hill, but the Italian did enough to hold her off.   

In behind, it was Kalla for 6th while Haag and Størmer-Steira had a sprint finish which went to the Norwegian. In 9th was the elated Majdic who had an ear-to-ear grin and as she came across the finish line and a service man put on a cooking apron on her to signify a change in lifestyle. Finally, it was a made sprint for 10th between six athletes, but it was Ingemarsdotter to out-lunge Fessel.

RESULTS

1. Marit Bjørgen

2. Justyna Kowalczyk

3. Therese Johaug

A really great feeling before the start of the race with Kowalczyk wearing a headband saying “Goodbye Petra” while Majdic had “Goodbye! I Love You” written in black tape on her butt. Shows the respect and friendship that is created over the years on the World Cup stage.

Majdic Says Goodbye

The race within today’s race was actually won by Follis who had the fastest time. The it was Norwegian’s that took 2nd-6th. Jacobsen had a great race as she worked together with Follis for the large majority to catch Johaug who had today’s 3rd fastet time. Bjørgen was next, the Kristoffersen and Størmer-Steira. The story-book ending for Størmer-Steira was so close as she was only 3.1 seconds out of 4th place today.

Amazingly, Kowalczyk had the 18th fastest time, but that can be attributed to the victory lap syndrome and had no one to push her or no one to catch the who race while almost every athlete (except Bjørgen) were within eye shot of other athletes to keep them going.
Other performance highlights included a great race from Randall too who tied Marte Elden for the 14th fastest time today which landed her 16th overall while France’s youngster Laure Barthelemy had today’s 8th fastest time which moved her from 22nd to 17th.

The World Cup Finale was rather anti-climatic, something Capol and the rest of the FIS committee have been trying to reverse with the introduction of the min-tour. Instead of having a great last race with intensity and excitement, the race toady was more like a show loop not only for Bjørgen, but also Kowalczyk. Yes, they still worked very hard throughout the race, but the competition wasn’t there. I believe they are going in the right direction, but they need to tinker with the formula just a little more to get it right, such as adjusting the sprint bonuses or taking them out all together.

Having said that, the atmosphere today definitely had a year-end race feel to it that you could feel where ever you watched the race, whether it was in Falun or in front of your TV/computer screen. The crowds were great all along the course and many of the athletes were all smiles as they took off their skis after the race. Even service men were passing around champagne bottles in the finishing pen. The amazing weather definitely contributed to the festive mood.

I’ll be back a little later with the men’s race.

Women’s 10km Pursuit: Bjørgen Wins

The penultimate race of another great season was held today with the abbreviated pursuits for the men who went 20km and the women who were 10km. The weather took a 180 degree turn from yesterday and was perfect with the sun shining and air temperature at +2 with the snow at -3. The favourites coming into today were Bjørgen (1.70), Johaug (3.95), and Kowalczyk (4.50).

It was another very exciting race and it followed the same fashion as the pursuit from one week ago in Lahti. Within the first two minutes, Johaug tried to hop into the tracks in front of Ingemarsdotter, but caught a ski tip and went down taking Ingemarsdotter and Randall. Since it was so early, all three athletes were shuffled to the back of the pack. Amazingly, no one else was taken out. The pace was set early on by Bjørgen had a little gap between her and Kowalczyk who was leading the rest of the gap. The gaps were really opening up as early as four minutes in.

At only five minutes, it was Kowalczyk and Bjørgen up front with a gap to Follis, Størmer-Steira and Haag. There was a massive gap to the main pack of 100+ meters as Everyone else was already slipping out of contention quickly.  By the 2.5km mark, it a two-women showdown that we have seen so many times before as Bjørgen and Kowalczyk had a seven second lead on Størmer-Steira, Follis and Haag who sat third. This was the first sprint bonus

Kowalczyk and Bjørgen continued to push the pace relentlessly up front and coming into the exchange at 5km, they had a big 25 second lead on the chasing threesome.

The threesome of Haag, Størmer-Steira and Follis swelled to eight athletes as some athletes were quick through the exchange. Saarinen, Zeller, Kalla, Johaug, and Shevchenko joined the chase pack.

Coming out of the stadium, it was Johaug who took the front of the chase pack and began to pull away from the other athletes in attempt to bridge the gap to the leaders.

Coming down the hill before Mörderbacken, Bjørgen had gap of 20 meters and going up Mörderbacken, she steadily increased the gap between her and Kowalczyk. In behind, it was Johaug who was clear of the chasers and in no-(wo)man’s land while the chase pack had dropped Kalla and Saarinen.

Near the top of Mörderbacken at the 7.8km time-check, Bjørgen took the second sprint bonus and now had a 10 second gap on Kowalczyk.  With 2km left, it was time to minimize damage for Kowalczyk and holding off Johaug at the same time.In behind the top two spots, Johaug was still trying to close the gap that resulted from the fall, but it was too little too late for the diminutive Norwegian.

At the finish, it was Bjørgen across the line first and 25 seconds ahead of Kowalczyk while Johaug was only eight seconds behind second place. The battle for the wooden medal came down to Jacobsen and Follis, but the Norwegian was able to lose the Italian coming into the stadium.

RESULTS

1. Marit Bjørgen

2. Justyna Kowalczyk

3. Therese Johaug

Win #46

 

It seems that Bjørgen/Kowalczyk/Johaug are a lock for the top three position with the rest of the field to battle it out for fourth place. Regardless, a great race from Jacobsen today who has been getting faster and faster over the past couple years since her bike accident.

Going to the final race, it is Bjørgen’s race to lose. She has a 1:14 lead on Kowalczyk. While Bjørgen skis at the front all by herself, all eyes will be on the battle for second as Kowalczyk will start 20 seconds ahead of Johaug. Kalla, Saarinen, Jacobsen, Haag and Follis all have an outside chance and will probably bunch together early on, but start 27-37 seconds behind the Pole.

One to watch tomorrow too is Størmer-Steira as it will be her final race of her World Cup career. She won’t be able to earn 4th overall, but perhaps the 4th fastest time tomorrow would be the most fitting ending to her career. She was close today and sat in 4th with only 1.5km left, but did not have enough gas in the tank to hold off the others.

I’ve thought of it for a while, but Goldstrom brought it up in the broadcast regarding the bonus “sprint” seconds and how they distort the rankings and do no help as they usually go to the athletes that are already leading the race of the set of races. Goldstrom and Dixon suggested taking them out all together, but I suggest if they keep them in, have a “sprint zone” of 200 meters which they do right now. However, instead of the first one across, to grab the 15 bonus seconds/World Cup points, give the bonus to the athlete fastest through the 200 meter zone from point A to point B. It would be easy to calculate with chip timing and would give a better chance to the sprint specialist who traditionally do poor in these events and close the gap to make it more exciting in the final races.

For example, with the current sprint bonus format, if an athlete had a 10 second lead in a mass-start race coming into a sprint bonus, their lead would automatically grow to 25 seconds in the virtual standings due to the 15 second sprint bonus. For me, that’s not really fair. Instead, that sprint bonus could go to anyone who started the race that day if they went with the format I suggested above. In my opinion, this would bring closer and more exciting competition in these Tour formats.

Be back in a bit with the men’s recap.

Women’s 30km: Another Gold to Norway in the Form of Johaug

The weather couldn’t have been better for the women’s final race. The fog that had plagued the Championships all week had finally gave way to sun and blues skies; the tracks were hard packed and fast, and the temperature was hovering around -3°C. It also had the potential of being a historic day for Norway. If Bjørgen won she would tie Valbe for five gold medals in one Championship. Would it happen? Of course it would, it’s Marit Bjørgen we’re talking about. At least that’s what everyone thought including myself before the race got underway today.

THE RACE

Kowalczyk, Roponen and Stormer-Steira led the race from the gun, but coming in for the end of the first 2km loop, the team tactics that were talked about in the pre-race press conference were starting to form as it was Bjørgen, Størmer-Steira, and Johaug in the first three positions followed by Kowalczyk. Going up the long continuous hill to 2.7km, Kowalczyk thought otherwise and came up slotted herself in front of her arch-rival.

The pace was rather pedestrian for the first 3.5km or so as the main pack was still about 25 with over 10 minutes of racing gone. Coming around the back of the stadium Størmer-Steira and Kowalczyk got tangled but no real damage was done as they only lost a couple of positions.

At 5km, it was possible for the first Ski exchange and the top skiers to go in were Fessel and Saarinen who went in and hoped for skis with better glide. Going out of the stadium, it was Johaug to take up the pacing followed closely by her teammates Størmer-Steira and Bjørgen as well as Kalla. Johaug’s pacing was doing damage on the field and quickly the lead pack was down to five (Johaug, Størmer-Steira, Bjørgen, Kalla and Kowalczyk) with Haag desperately trying to keep contact. At 7.2km, a seven athlete chase pack (Skofterud, Sachenbacher-Stehle, Zeller, Roponen, Fessel, Longa and Confortola-Wyatt) led by Skofterud was forming and now sat 14 seconds behind the lead.

After the hard work of Johaug from the stadium to 7.2km, it was Bjørgen to take up the lead and continue to turn the screw. Even though the pace was still fast, the top five remained together and Haag remained an agonizing 20 meters behind the lead in no-mans land. Behind Haag, the seven strong chase pack was now 17 seconds behind the lead at 8km.

Coming into the stadium for the end of the second 5km loop, Bjørgen and Johaug had separated from the other three slightly and had a 10 meter lead on them; however, the lead was short-lived as they were reeled in just outside the stadium. At the same point of the course, Haag was now caught by the chase group as their deficit on the lead increased.

The first athlete to break under the Johaug-Bjørgen pace setting was their teammate Størmer-Steira as she was 9 seconds behind the leaders at 10.9km. The chase pack was now stringing out at the same part, but were now 35 seconds behind. The pace up front was break-neck and was illustrated only 900 meters down the course at 11.8km as Størmer-Steira had lost an addition 12 seconds and the chaser eight seconds which meant the top 10 were now separated by a whopping 46 seconds with just over a third of the race gone.

Going up the sprint hill at 12.6km, it was Kowalczyk who was detached, but most likely because of the downhill that preceded the steep hill. In the stadium, it was the lead four all alone and it was interesting to see that everyone except Kowalczyk went for a feed while she skied on the other side of the track. At 13.3km, all the lead four went into the ski exchange to switch boards and it was the Norwegians who did it fastest and came out in front with a four and five second lead on Kalla and Kowalczyk respectively. Further back it was Haag who had been overtaken by the chasers and find life difficult while Roponen had been dropped by them all together. A great race was being had by Liz Stephen at 13.3km as she sat alone in 16th place.

With the gap created by the ski exchange, Johaug and Bjørgen capitalized and put in a massive injection of pace so it would make life very hard for Kowalczyk and Kalla to catch them. The next time we saw them on TV, Kowalczyk was fighting tooth and nail to get back into the fight while Kalla was well off the back with about 60 meters to make up and it wasn’t looking good for the Swede.

In the lead it was Johaug and her persistence who was starting to pay dividends as she was able to open up a gap between her and Bjørgen and Kowalczyk. Kalla was now in no-mans land and no longer had visual contact on the leaders and the main chase pack was getting closer and to Størmer-Steira with every ski stride.

At 16.3km, Johaug now had an 21 second lead and was almost out of visual contact for Kowalczyk and Bjørgen. Kalla was now 56 seconds back and was skiing for fourth place now.

Coming through the stadium at 18.3km, the race was getting even more suspenseful as Bjørgen’s deficit to Johaug was now down to 14 seconds and the Norwegian had successfully separated herself from Kowalczyk who now sat five seconds behind Bjørgen. Was this the start of a comeback for Bjørgen?

Going through 19.2km, it appeared that Bjørgen’s increase in speed had been from the downhill to the stadium as both her and Kowalzcyk were now skiing together again and 20 seconds behind Johaug. In the chase pack, they were within biting distance of Størmer-Steira. In addition, Haag had recovered nicely and was skiing much more comfortably in the chase pack than we had seen before. The chase pack had also dropped their first athlete in Zeller.

Finally, Kowalcyzk downhill technique (or lack there of) had caught up to her and going down the sustained downhill before the sprint hill, Bjørgen had opened up a sizable gap on the Pole which stood at about 40 meters.

In the stadium, Johaug’s advantage was once again shrinking and she was 14 seconds ahead of her teammate. Both Johaug and Bjørgen went to change for faster skis while Kowalczyk opted not to which meant that the advantage that Bjørgen had gained over the Pole vanished before her eyes.

Going up the same part of the course where Johaug first broke away, she was continuing to increase her lead as much of the focus began to turn to the fight for silver between Bjørgen and Kowalczyk and the fight for fourth between was now between Kalla and Størmer-Steira as the Norwegian had put in a burst of speed and caught the Swede.

At the top of the long hill, the time difference was shocking as Johaug now had a massive 50 second lead over the silver medal position at 23.8km!

Bjørgen finally broke Kowalczyk on an uphill around 25.5km and was determined to make it a Norwegian double. The gaps going out for the last lap were significant with Johaug 47 seconds in front of Bjørgen and 1:06 ahead of Kowalczyk. Further behind, Kalla and Størmer-Steira were still together but 1:57 behind the lead. The chase pack was also thinning as Skofterud was off the front 2:30 behind the lead while Confortola-Wyatt, Longa, and Fessel were still together 2:39 behind and Haag just behind them 2:42 back to round out the top 10.

With 2.5km left in the race, the lead increase between Johaug and Bjørgen stagnated, but the lead was now 1:16 to the Pole. At this point, it was all downhill to the finish except the sprint hill and unless Johaug broke a bone or a ski, she was going to win the final race of the World Championship. She probably could have even afford to break a pole (no pun intended) a kilometer out and still come across the finish line first.

With 200 meter left, the coaches handed Johaug the Norwegian flag to fly across the finish line. After Johaug it was Bjørgen and Kowalczyk who were all smiles as they came across the finish line to round out the podium. The battle for fourth between Kalla and Størmer-Steira was winding up and just as they were going up the final hill in the stadium, Kalla accidentally stepped on the Norwegians pole which yanked her to the ground. As Kalla went past and I think tried to apologize Størmer-Steira yelled what I can only imagine were choice words for her. But at the finish line, it go to see them embrace and Kalla profusely apologize for the mix up and KSS shrug with a smile and accepting the Swedes apology. The next across was Skofterud which meant all the Norwegian athletes finished top six today.

RESULTS
1. Therese Johaug
2. Marit Bjørgen
3. Justyna Kowalczyk

At first when Johaug broke away at 14km, it was almost surreal. I kept on thinking, oh they will reel her in soon. But then the gap just kept on getting bigger and bigger. Phenomenal race from the 22-year old Norwegian and fair play to her. When she came across the finish line, her face twisted as broke into tears then hit the ground and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was a pretty bone chilling/goosebumps inducing scene. I’ve never seen such raw emotion directly after a race before. I’ve rewound and watched it a couple of times and each time I get the chills. Johaug had a phenomenal World Championships with 2 gold, 2 bronze, and a fourth. Not too shabby for someone who is the second best skier for her nation.

I would really be interested in seeing how this race ranks in Joran’s “Best (Most Extreme) WC Performances” . Even though Johaug slowed down at the end for the flag, I’m sure it’ll be pretty high up the list.

For Bjørgen, she wasn’t able to tie Russia’s Yelena Välbe’s record of five gold medals in a single World Championships, but four golds and a silver, she must still be thrilled about. In addition, she beat her arch-rival Kowalczyk in every race they entered, even though the 10km classic was extremely close.

As for Kowalczyk, her gold coming in was to win every race she entered, but in the form that Bjørgen and Johaug were in, it was an extremely tall order, especially for Kowalczyk who is arguably the toughest athlete on the circuit. But two silver and one bronze is not a bad haul and we know she’ll continue to pursue gold for the rest of the season.

For Kristin Størmer-Steira (AKA Mrs. Fourth Place), she was so close to her seventh 4th place in World Championships or Olympics, before Kalla stepped on her pole. An unfortunate incident, but I don’t think there was anything malicious in it; a genuine accident at the worst part of the course for KSS.

Finally, congrats to Skofterud for her sixth place today. It was only 1.5 years ago when she was not picked for the Norwegian National Team and she had to ski her way back on it last year. So for her to come sixth in front of some extremely stiff competition, well done to her. She’s now an integral part of the team and hopefully the foursome will stick together for a couple of years yet. A tough job seeing the talent that is coming through their system right now, but possible.

For the North American watch it was Liz Stephen who led the way with an incredible 16th place; two place ahead of her team-mate Randall who was 18th and five ahead of Arritola who was 21st. The fourth USA skier was Brooks who finished the day in 25th. Amazing day from the American women who had all four athletes well within World Cup points (if they actually gave them out today).

As for Canada, there was only two athletes entered and it was Crawford (42nd) and Gosling (44th).

So that’s it for the women for the 2011 FIS Ski Nordic World Championship from Holmenkollen, Norway has to be over the hills at how well their women’s team did pulling in an impressive 5 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. Tomorrow is the last race of the Championships in the men’s 50km and it should be a cracker.

Til Then.