Women’s Ruka Triple: A Norwegian Sweep

It was another day for the Norwegian’s as the swept the women’s podium in exciting fashion. There was no doubt where Bjørgen would finish the day, but the excitement came in behind as Johaug skied an incredible race to overtake both Kalla and Skofterud  enroute to the runner-up spot for this year’s Ruka Triple.

The action began 2.5km into the race and Bjørgen had already increased her lead on Skofterud by three seconds at 2.5km.  Skofterud was doing extremely well early on and was increasing her lead on Kalla. In between 2.5km and 3.9km, Skofterud increased the gap by eight seconds.

Johaug had a big task at hand and began the day  hunting down Kalla for third place and had a 22 secon deficit to overcome. Impressively, at 5km Johaug had caught the Swede and moved right pasted her and set her sights on Skofterud. Further behind, Haag was doing quite well and had moved up from 17^th to 8^th at the halfway point.

Johaug’s tempo was extremely impressive and with every stride, Johaug was catching her teammate and at 7.5km, Johaug and Skofterud were together. Further behind, both Kalla and Kowalczyk’s fast pace early on in an attempt to close the gaps in front of them, started to backfire as they began to lose big amounts of time compared to those around them.

Johaug and Skofterud skied together for about a kilometer on the flats out of the stadium, but at the first big hill of the loop, Johaug opened up a 10 meter gap on her teammate and with 1100m left, Johaug had a 3.1 second gap. Further back, Kalla was no over a minute back, while Kowalczyk appeared to continue to go backwards as she was 1:30 behind.

With the big downhill, her bigger body compared to Johaug was a massive advantage as she was able to glide back into contention and actually overtake Johaug coming into the big uphill into the stadium. The two athletes were side-by-side and red-lining. Coming into the finishing straight, Johaug had a slight lead on Skofterud and Skofterud tried to pull along side Johaug but didn’t have enough gas in the take and slipped back into the tracks behind Johaug for third place.

FASTEST TIMES OF THE DAY

1. Therese Johaug

2. Marit Bjørgen

3. Vibeke Skofterud

RUKA TRIPLE

1. Marit Bjørgen

2. Therese Johaug

3. Vibeke Skofterud

Another brilliant day for Norway, and the result of the day for me was Johaug. Not only was she able to move up from 4^th to 2^nd on the day, she also was the fastest female on skis today by nine seconds over Bjørgen. Like Goldstrom pointed out on the British Eurosport broadcast, for the Norwegian courses, this is the best worst-case scenario they could be put in. With all their athletes in top of the world right now, you just have to encourage all the them equally. This was no more apparent when both Johaug and Skofterud were going up the big-hill into the stadium the final time. What to the coaches say to the athletes?

Norway Coach #1: “Go Therese! You can beat Vibeke!”

Norway Coach #2: “Go Vibeke! You can beat Therese!”

The Norwegians are in a class of their own and that’s all that I’m going to say about that.

I was really happy to see Saarinen have a great race today. She posted the 4^th fastest time of the day behind the three Norwegians which move her from 18^th to 7^th. It’d be nice to Saarinen return to the form she was in three years ago when her and Kuitunen ruled the women’s field. Here’s hoping…

It was another disappointing day for Kowalczyk. I was expecting a lot from her today, this type of race is and should be her bread and butter. The hunting style pursuit fits her race tactics and judging by the second half of her race today, I have to think that she let off the gas as the time gaps that opened up between her and the Norwegians were abnormally large.

It was also a poor race from Jacobsen today after such a strong showing yesterday when she finished 6^th place. She posted the 45^th fastest time today which bumped her down from 20^th to 32^nd place.

Biggest mover of the day was Russian newcomer Alevtina Tanygina who posted the 15^th fastest time of the day which moved her from 72^nd to 33^rd in the Ruka Triple standings. She had a very good U23 last year and picked up a couple 4^th places in the distance races and an 8^th in the sprint. With performance like the ones she showed this weekend, I expect her to maintain her place on the Russian team for the rest of the World Cup.

Another Russian with the name of Polina Medvedeva had a very good race and had the 10^th fastest time of the day. The 22-year old is still very raw and has only five World Cup starts to her name. Some good news for the Russian women who are starting to look more and more the part every race they enter.

That’s it for me, back early tomorrow with the men’s wrap.

Kuusamo Sprints: Gold for Norway and Sweden

Today was the start of the Ruka Triple and we got to see Bjørgen ski to her 49^th career World Cup win while the men’s race was very unpredictable as Sweden’s Teodor Peterson walked away with his first every World Cup victory. During qualification, Skofterud continued her strong start to the season and qualified in top spot while the Finn Anssi Pentsinen had a blazing fast time and was four seconds faster than everyone else during qualification.

WOMEN’S QUARTER-FINALS

The TV coverage started just as the women’s second quarter-final in which Smutna and Brodin qualified by right. The first quarter-final saw Skofterud and Kalla qualify.

HEAT 3: Bjørgen, Kowalczyk, Randall, Saarinen, Niskanen, Fabjan

This easily could’ve been a heat for the finals, but that’s why qualifications are so important and make the heats interesting. Going down the first hill it was Saarinen in front, but Bjørgen decided to go to the front very early on and had the others fight it out between them. Coming up the big hill, Kowalczyk and Randall passed Saarinen for the fight for second. On the home stretch, Randall and Kowalczyk were side-by-side, but the double poling power of the American was too much for Kowalczyk and Randall out-lunged for

HEAT 4: Lahteenmaki, Visnar, Gaiazova, Johaug, Medvedeva

On the flats after the down-hill, Lahteenmaki overtook Gaiazova for lead and the heat remained very tight. Visnar had the lead at the bottom of the big hill and Johaug make a brilliant move and came up alongside Visnar as the two pulled away from the others. In the fight for third, Medvedeva trip over herself was on the snow out of the race. Visnar and Johaug comfortably qualified for the semi-finals.

HEAT 5: Korosteleva, Ivanova, Falla, Brun-Lie, Prochazkova, Matveeva

Brun-Lie was leading and for much of the heat until the base of the big uphill when Falla showed her quality and put on her turbo to go from fourth to first in a matter of five seconds. After Falla opened up a gap on the others, Matveeva skied into second place at the top of the hill. Prochazkova made a late charge to come third in front of Brun-Lie and Korosteleva, but it was too little too late for the Slovakian.

MEN’S QUARTER-FINALS

HEAT 1: Pentsinen, Onda, Paakkonen, Simonlatser, Hattestad, and Goering 4.3 seconds

Goering didn’t start. Pentsinen was out in  front very early and had a 10 meter gap on the others. The race was for second and after Hattestad had led the chasers, he began to fade and was overtaken by Onda on the hill up to the stadium. Coming round the tight left-hander before the home stretch, Hattestad lost his balance and fell. Onda caught Pentsinen at the beginning of the home stretch as both let off the gas and qualified comfortably.

HEAT 2: Valjas, Kummel, Legkov, Strandsvall, Peterson, Miranda

Petersen led the race out, but the race was tight as Peterson, Strandvall and Legkov were three wide going at the far end of the course. Coming into the final hill it was Peterson, Legkov, Strandvall and Kummel four abreast. Legkov put in a huge burst of speed to try and get to the tight left-hander first, but choose the inside and didn’t get the best line and was relegated to fourth. Valjas, had a brilliant piece of skiing and after hanging-back for much of the heat, took the long way round the corner and slung-shot himself from fourth to second. At the finish, Petersen and Valjas were able to qualify for the semi-finals.

HEAT 3: Brandsdal, Petukhov, Chebotko, Pettersen, Belov, Pasini

Belov and Chebotko leading the heat up to the base of the big hill and was overtaken by some great skiing from Pettersen who glided his was to the front. Going up the hill, Pettersen was able to increase the lead as Petukhov came to second. Brandsdal showed some impressive power as he was able to pull ahead of Petukhov in the home stretch to qualify second behind his teammate. The heat was very fast though so it looked very good that Petukhov would get a lucky loser spot.

HEAT 4: Modin, Einaste, Cologna, Newell, Garfarov, Harvey

It was the Estonia Einaste who lead out of the stadium and was passed by Modin as the big Swede took the lead until the base of the big up-hill. Going up the hill Cologna and Modin led the way, but they weren’t able to open a gap on the rest. Coming into the home straight, all six athletes were very close, but Modin and Cologna were able to hold off Newell and Gafarov as they lunged for third place.

HEAT 5: Kruikov, Rønning, Chernousov, Jauhojaervi, Teichmann, Northug

Kruikov led for much of the way out to the end of the course and it was Rønning to take over coming back to the base of the big hill. Then Kruikov and Teichmann were the two athletes to lead the charge up the hill. Going around the tight left-hander, Chernousov skied a great line and overtook Teichmann. On the home stretch it was Kruikov and Chernousov in the lead and it appeared Northug left it a little too late and started closing the gap on the qualifying spots but ran out of track and finished third. The heat was quite slow which meant Northug did not grab a lucky loser spot.

WOMEN’S SEMI-FINALS

HEAT 1: Kalla, Smutna, Skofterud, Brodin, Fessel, Randall

Kalla was the fastest out of the stadium and led the heat down the hill while the others tried to keep pace. Kalla continued to lead at the base of the hill while Skofterud made her way to second place and skied alongside Kalla up the hill with Randall on the tails of the Norwegian. Kalla had opened up a gap while Skofterud led out Randall to the home stretch, but Randall pulled out and showed her impressive double-poling power and went past the Norwegian to finish second.

HEAT 2: Visnar, Bjørgen, Falla, Matveeva, Johaug, Kylloenen

Visnar led the heat out the stadium and down the hill but made a huge mistake and lost her balance and fell taking out Falla with her. This left Bjørgen, Kylloenen and Matveeva to fight for the qualifying spots as Johaug was off the pace from very early on. The lead three were together at the base of the big uphill, but Bjørgen increased the pace and pulled away from the Finn and Russian. At the finish, it was Bjørgen first across the line and Kylloenen second as she was able to hold off the Russian. However, Matveeva did enough to earn one of the lucky-loser spots for the final.

MEN’S SEMI-FINALS

HEAT 1: Pentsinen, Peterson, Valjas, Petukhov, Brandsdal

Similar to the quarter-final, Pentsinen went extremely fast and only Peterson was able to stay with him. The Finn and the Swede maintained their 15 meter lead on the other athletes until the up-hill when Petukhov, Brandsdal and Valjas began to close the gap and the five athletes were together going into the tight left-hander. On the home stretch, Peterson did well to overtake Pentsinen as Brandsdal was making a hard charge but ran out of track and finish third while Valjas was just behind him in fourth. The heat was very fast so it looked promising for Brandsdal and Valjas for lucky loser spots.

HEAT 2: Modin, Kriukov, Pettersen, Cologna, Chernousov, Chebotko

Modin repeated what he did in the quarters and took the lead immediately and was closely followed by Pettersen. Modin and Pettersen led the heat up the hill and Pettersen was able to overtake the Swede coming into the tight left-hander. On the home stretch, it was Pettersen in the lead while Kruikov made a late charge and was able to overtake Modin with 20 meters left to qualify for the final.

WOMEN’S FINAL

Athletes: Kylloenen, Bjørgen, Randall, Kalla, Skofterud, Matveeva

It was a really good start from Kylloenen who led Kalla going down the hill out the stadium, but Bjørgen was able to move into the lead shortly thereafter. Bjørgen continued to lead going up the big hill while Kalla was able to overtake Kylloenen. Kylloenen began to fade at the top of the hill and was passed by Skofterud and Randall. On the home stretch, the main battle was between Skofterud and Randall for third place, but unlike the semi-final, Skofterud was able to hold of the American for her first ever sprint podium.

RESULTS

1. Marit Bjørgen

2. Charlotte Kalla

3. Kikkan Randall

MEN’S FINAL

Athletes: Pettersen, Peterson, Valjas, Kruikov, Pentsinen, Brandsdal

Once again, it was Pentsinen took the lead going out of the stadium, but Kruikov took the lead from the Finn at the far end of the course. Coming back to the stadium, Pentsinen retook the lead and was followed by the Swede Peterson. Peterson was able to overtake Pentsinen at the top of the hill as the Norwegian Pettersen made a move and slipped in behind the Swede. Going round the tight left-hander before the home stretch there were five athletes in it still as Valjas had slipped off the back. In the home stretch, it was Peterson holding off Pettersen and Kruikov was making a hard charge and was able to overtake the Norwegian for the silver medal.

RESULTS

1. Teodor Peterson

2. Nikita Kriukov

3. Øystein Pettersen

ANALYSIS

Another race, another win for Bjørgen. Number 49 in her career is amazing, my only question now is if she will be able to hit win 60 before the season ends. At the current form she is in, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

While Bjørgen’s performance was impressive, the performance of the day in my eyes has to go to Skofterud who picked up her first ever sprint podium. At the age of 31 years-old, Skofterud is in the best form of her life. What is even more impressive is a couple years ago she wasn’t even selected for the national team at the beginning of the season and had to ski her way onto the team when the races started.

Keeping with the Norwegian theme, Johaug made me eat my words when I said in the preview that her sprinting abilities are less than stellar. After finishing 8^th today, she definitely surprised me today. This is the first time she has finished in the top 10 in a sprint. To be honest though, this track suited her perfectly with the big uphill where she could make her move. If the track was any flatter I think she would’ve had a much more difficult time.

I was quite happy to see the Russian women with a  much better outing today with five athletes qualifying in the top 30. Matveeva is fresh of her two-year doping ban and finished sixth today. I think it’s safe to say that however well she does for the rest of her career, every result will be taken with a grain of salt.

What about the men’s race? I can safely say that no one thought the men’s final would’ve featured the six skiers that it did. It was an amazing result by Tedor Peterson to take his first ever World Cup podium. He’s only had 19 World Cup races before today, so it was a great result.

Again, the Norwegian depth came through today as both Northug and Hattestad failed to qualify for the semi-finals, but Norway was still able to put two men in the final in Pettersen and Brandsdal.

What a great day for Anssi Pentsinen, like Peterson he’s still fairly raw and only had a dozen World Cup starts coming into today’s race. I would really like to know when the last time a male skier won the qualifier by over four seconds. Maybe Statistical Skier might be able to shine some light on that. I’ll be watching closely to see if Pentsinen can keep up this amazing form or if today’s result was just a flash in the pan.

Also, big props to Len Valjas who had a career best 5^th place today. Yet again another sprinter that has little experience as today was only his ninth World Cup start. Valjas is quality and is a huge talent for Canada. I expect a few more final appearances from him this season and if he could make it to the podium once, that would be one of the highlights of the season.

Just a weird quandary to finish up the day; doesn’t Modin look like a stork trying to do a running takeoff when he was going up the big hill. His stride is so massive and he covers so much ground it’s truly amazing.

#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.