February 27, 2013 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – The USA’s Elizabeth Stephen raced to the best result of her career, finishing in 5th place, only 8.5 seconds off Russian bronze medalist, Yulia Tchekaleva, in women’s 10km FR Individual Start on Tuesday at the 2013 FIS Nordic World Championships in Val di Fiemme.

Taking the win was the diminutive Norwegian, Therese Johaug, who charged with her characteristic quick tempo to best her teammate Marit Bjoergen for the gold by 10.2 seconds. The win marks Johaug’s third career gold as super-star Bjoergen started to falter with fatigue in the latter stages of the race. Biathlete Miriam Goessner of Germany had an incredible day, missing the podium by only a half a second.

“I’d never skied the course as a skate course before. We always do it as a classic on the Tour de Ski, so I was psyched to be able to skate up those hills and just kept channeling the Tour de Ski energy and vibes,” said Stephen post-race. “Heck, it’s World Championships, there’s pretty good vibes here with Kikkan [Randall] and Jessie [Diggins] getting the win the other day. The mood of the team is outstanding right now – lots of energy kicking around.”

Teammate Jessie Diggins who placed 23rd, voiced her excitement to SkiTrax: “I am first and foremost super pumped for Liz! Nobody deserves it more and I’m so proud of her and excited to cheer for her at the awards ceremony tonight. As for my race, I definitely could have used an extra recovery day beforehand. The racing and emotion of the last two days has definitely left me without that extra gear, but I know I’ll be recovered in time for the relay.”

Kikkan Randall was disappointed with her 30th place, but expressed excitement over her teammate’s success. “Today was a tough one for me personally,” said Randall. “I felt like I was missing the power and capacity I had in my distance skating earlier this season. I was probably a little fatigued from the team sprint two days ago and since I haven’t done very much distance skate racing since the Tour, my aerobic system may have been a little asleep.”

“It was still, however, a spectacular day as my teammate Liz Stephen was fifth in the world, just eight seconds off the podium! I’ve been training alongside Liz for a few years now and have witnessed how hard she works. She has been reaching new levels this season, including skiing the second fastest time up the Alpe Cermis on the Tour’s final day, and she is so deserving of this amazing result. Her finish today is the best ever US women’s distance finish in a major championship. The whole team came out to the awards this evening to cheer her on.”

Coach Matt Whitcomb is pleased with Stephen’s success and after the gold medal performance by Randall and Diggins in the Team Sprint, and the team is moving ahead with excitement and confidence. “Today was just a perfect day for Liz, and one that makes pretty good sense given how our team works. Our athletes really get behind each other’s successes – they feed off of each other. And so with the gold medal from Kikkan and Jessie the other day you could feel the energy building. Liz skied an aggressive race under a lot of pressure to perform and she rose to the occasion.”

As for the Canucks, the top finish was Daria Gaiazova in 40th. “I really don’t have much to say today,” said Gaiazova. “It was not great, but I guess it was a good preparation for the relay, which I am really excited to do.”

Other North Americans included: Holly Brooks 27th, Kikkan Randall 30th, Daria Gaiazova 40th, Emily Nishikawa 57th, and Brittany Webster 68th.

The relay is up next for the women on Thursday. The Americans look to be positioned favorably. The foursome of Brooks, Diggins, Randall, and Stephen had already climbed on to the World Cup podium early in the season in Gaellivare, and they hope to carry that momentum towards World Championship gold.

January 03, 2013 (Toblach/Cortina, Italy) – The women attacked the 15k freestyle pursuit, stage 4 of the 2012/13 FIS Tour de Ski, after a well-deserved rest day. Ideal conditions met the skiers as three-time TdS champion Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) aimed to defend her lead and her closest chasers fought to gain back precious time.

Kowalczyk started 50.3s ahead of Therese Johaug (NOR), but the top Norwegian in the competition was unable to maintain her position as she was caught by 2008 TdS winner Charlotte Kalla (SWE) and Johaug’s teammate Kristin Stoermer Stiera.

The USA’s Kikkan Randall who started fifth couldn’t keep pace and fell back to finish eighth on the day, also causing her to slide from fifth to eighth in the overall standings. Her teammate Liz Stephen was a strong 19th while Jessie Diggins was also in the points placing 27th with Holly Brooks just behind in 34th.

The big move today came from Sweden’s Kalla who claimed second at 18.3s behind Kowalczyk who held onto her lead while Johaug took the third spot at 18.7s. Kalla now sits second overall behind Kowalczyk who is winding up to claim her 4th Tour title… but it’s not over yet.

Results HERE.
Overall standings after Stage 4 HERE.

November 29, 2012 – So here we are – at the start of another World Cup racing season with the first races in the north of Sweden in Gällivare. Last season, when there were no Olympics or World Championships races on the schedule, the races on the World Cup were the most important contests of the season and no one was really peaking for any big event, other than the Tour de Ski.

But this season, many racers are taking a different approach to their training with the Nordic World Championships in Val di Fiemme in February. By focusing on peaking for these championships, many skiers plan to train hard right through the first races of the season before Christmas. As a result, you will see that some of the top skiers do not have very good results during November and December. The other side effect is that many of the top skiers will not travel to Canada for the World Cups before the holidays, preferring to stay at home where they can train more and have less fatigue from travelling.

This could be seen in the individual race in Gällivare in the results of some of the top racers – most notably Dario Cologna (Sui), Justyna Kowalczyk (Pol) and even, I think, in the results of Canada’s Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey. Cologna was 19th, Kowalczyk was 27th, Harvey was 36th and Kershaw was 44th in the freestyle races.

But it doesn’t matter what the racing program is, or whether you are peaking or not if you are as strong as Marit Bjoergen (Nor). She and her Norwegian country woman, Therese Johaug, finished 1st and 2nd, followed by American Kikkan Randall in 3rd. Bjoergen won the first race last year, too.

Randall was on the podium for the first time in a distance race – a sign that she is continuing to improve over her stunning season last year where she won the Sprint Cup and was 5th overall in the World Cup. Randall, who has been walking around in an air cast most of this summer and fall due to a stress reaction in the bones of her foot, must be relieved that this injury has not affected her results.

Her teammate, Holly Brooks, has also kicked it up a notch or two, finishing 5th. Brooks, who is on the US B Team and is primarily self-funded, started well last year too, but a wrist injury slowed her down at the end of the year.

The American women were the talk of the XC skiing world on Sunday when they finished on the podium for the first time ever in a World Cup relay, taking 3rd. As well as Randall and Brooks, Jessie Diggins and Liz Stephen skied great relay legs to nip the 2nd Norwegian team finishing behind Norway 1 and Sweden 1.

The Canadian women’s team results were disappointing for everyone on the weekend with a best in the individual race of 61st by Dasha Gaiazova and a relay finish of 14th out of 18 teams. Three of the four women – Gaiazova, Chandra Crawford, and Perianne Jones, are primarily sprinters, so the hope is that their results will be better in the sprint that is scheduled in Kuusamo, Finland this coming weekend.

In the men’s individual race, the surprise winner was 28-year-old Martin Sundby of Norway. This was his first World Cup win, but he did win all three races at the Norwegian Championships last winter and was on the podium at two World Cups last winter at the end of the year.

Sundby finished ahead of another surprising skier, Alexei Poltoranen of Kazakhstan, and Marcus Hellner of Sweden. Perennial favourite, Petter Northug was 7th. Poltoranen has a history of doing well in the early season races and I think that Northug likely falls into the group of skiers who are training very hard right now for big races later.

It was nice to see Canada’s Ivan Babikov finishing 14th in this race. Babikov has had a couple of slow years since Vancouver, but he has re-dedicated himself to training hard and it is showing. Kris Freemen had the best US team result at 33rd and I am sure that he is looking forward to going to Kuusamo this week where he has had great results in the past.

In the men’s relay the Canadian men finished a terrific 5th just 3 seconds from 2nd place. Norway, anchored by Northug won the race followed by Sweden and Russia who out-sprinted the Swiss and Canada for the podium.

There has been a change in the format of the men’s relay races on the World Cup level now as they have gone from 4x10km races to 4×7.5 km to make it more exciting for the fans and shorter for TV. This shorter distance will not change the results but it will get the races to the finishing sprint sooner.

Len Valjas made his World Cup debut this season in the first leg of the relay and met his goal of finishing within 20 seconds of the top skiers. Valjas skied with a cast on his hand after breaking a knuckle and should be very happy with his result.

The American men were a disappointing 15th out of 22 teams. There is a strange parallel between the US men and the Canadian women and the US women and the Canadian men. It will be interesting to watch if this changes over the winter.

So now it is off to Kuusamo in Finland for the next leg of the World Cup. There will be a 3-race mini-tour for the men and women including a sprint race, an individual start race and a pursuit race.

From there the World Cup comes to Canada for races in Quebec City on December 7 and 8 and in Canmore on December 13, 15 and 16. I am fortunate to be involved again in the broadcast of all of these races on CBC and Bold. All of the races will be telecast so check your local listings for viewing times.

April 16, 2012 (Røldal, Norway) – Kristin Stoermer Steira and Chris Andre Jespersen were the quickest in Saturday’s Haukelirennet over the 32km freestyle race. Steira won the competition in 1:21.05 and edged out the big Crystal Globe winner Marit Bjoergen and Therese Johaug.

On the men’s sides Chris Andre Jespersen was superior over Sjur Røthe and Martin Johansson.

On Sunday, April 15, an unconventional competition took place in Røldal, Norway. More than 3,000 fans turned out in the mountain resort of Røldal to see an event that combined giant slalom and then 4km free uphill climb.

Some of World’s best cross-country skiers showed up at the start, including Charlotte Kalla, Johaug, Bjoergen, Anders Gloeersen, Oeystein Pettersen, Jean-Marc Gaillard, and Petter Northug Jr.

Organizers reckoned with the advantage cross-country specialists might get, therefore 1-second behind in the giant slalom meant 20 seconds back in the cross-country skiing portion.

Former top alpine skiers Andrinne Flemmen and Lasse Arnesen won the first part of the competition. Right after the alpine leg it was time to change the skiing equipment and climb 4km up with a vertical gain of 240m.

Andrinne Flemmen kept the lead after the alpine section and came in first at the finish. Norwegian youngster Tuva Toftdal came second at 16 seconds back. As expected, Johaug was the fastest climber with 15:39.6.

On the men’s side, Nordic skiing specialists prevailed over alpine skiers as Gloeersen led the way with a 33-sec margin over Nordic Combined athlete, Mikko Kokslien. Chris Andre Jespersen had the fastest climb time of 13:54.8.

Results

Haukelirennet – 32 km free, 14. April 2012

Women
1. Kristin Størmer Steira, IL Forsøk 1:21:05
2. Marit Bjørgen, Rognes IL 1:21:19
3. Therese Johaug, Nansen IL 1:22:48
4. Martine Ek Hagen, BUL IL 1:23:00
5. Charlotte Kalla, IFK Tärendö 1:25:47
6. Pia Sofie Måbø, Stathelle og Omegn IL 1:35:39

Men
1. Chris Jespersen, Byåsen IL 1:17:19
2. Sjur Røthe, Voss IL 1:17:20
3. Martin Johanson, IFKMora ski 1:18:33
4. Vebjørn Turtveit, Voss IL 1:20:16
5. Gaute Kvåle, Røldal IL 1:20:21
6. Magnus Krog, Høydalsmo 1:22:03

More information HERE.

DH Slalom / XC Free Climb – 15. April 2012

Women
1. Andrine Flemmen
2. Tuva Toftdal Staver, +16
3. Kristin Helland Hansen, + 1.09
4. Charlotte Kalla, + 2.09
5. Karina Birkelund, + 2.54
6. Mari Eide, +3.03
7. Marit Bjørgen
8. Ingvild Skare Thygesen
9. Therese Johaug
10. Martine Ek Hagen

Top 3 fastest times
1. Therese Johaug 15:39.6
2. Charlotte Kalla 16:15.4
3. Martine Ek Hagen 16:30.8

4. Marit Bjørgen 16:42.5

Men
1. Anders ,
2. Mikko Kokslien, +33
3. Harald Astrup Arnesen, + 55
4. Vebjørn Turtveit, + 1.08
5. Stian Sverdrup Lilleeng, + 1.22
6. Jørgen Graabak, + 1.37
7. Bård Thuren Høgheim,
8. Jean-Marc Gaillard
9. Gudmund Storlien
10. Øystein Pølsa Pettersen

Other skiers
12. Sjur Røthe
14. Petter Northug jr.
15. Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset
18. Eirik Brandsdal

Top 3 fastest times

1. Chris Andre Jespersen, 13.54.8
2. Anders Gløersen, 14.33.1
3. Sjur Røthe, 14.38.7

11. Petter Northug jr. 15.45.0

January 05, 2012 (Cortina, Italy) – Marit Bjoergen (NOR) finally claimed the red leader’s bib over her closest rival Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) on Stage 7 of the 2012 Tour de Ski, a 15km free race with handicap start. The two were tied at three wins apiece before the stage, but at the end of the day, Bjoergen edged ahead grabbing the win and the leader’s bib for the first time during the nine-stage contest.

While it’s a small margin of seven seconds it’s the first time Bjoergen has ever been the Tour’s overall leader. She is now poised to become the first Norwegian to win the TdS. Team mate Therese Johaug (NOR) raced in a lonely limbo, maintaining her third place ranking and finished +3:16.9 behind.

The USA’s Kikkan Randall had a solid day, finishing fifth after starting fourth. She didn’t have the best first half but as her engine warmed up she picked up the pace. Krista Lahteenmaki (FIN) caught and passed her on the second lap to claim fourth on the day and is now 4th overall. Randall won a hard-fought race for fifth in an all-out sprint with Marthe Kristoffersen (NOR) and Charlotte Kalla (SWE), who settled for sixth and seventh, respectively.

Temperatures on race day were a comfortable minus 3 C when Kowalczyk pushed off first, 4.8s ahead of Bjoergen, who proceeded to bridge to her. Together, Kowalczyk and Bjoergen maintained their head-to-head battle over the entire 15km distance, neither able to shake the other.

When Bjoergen launched an attack on the second lap, Kowalczyk responded, refusing to be shaken. The race was decided in the final metres, when Kowalczyk made a small technical mistake, allowing Bjoergen to surge away and gain precious seconds for the win and the overall lead.

Johaug, in third place overall, now trails the leader by 3:20 and will have a hard time making up lost ground on the final two stages of the Tour. Randall also has her work cut out as she is 15 seconds from Lahteenmahki in fourth but is being hunted closely by Kristoffersen at only four-tenths of a second behind. In fact, sixth through 11th place are all within a minute of the American.

Women’s 15km FR results HERE.
Women’s 15km FR results detail HERE.
Women’s TdS Overall HERE.

April 29, 2011 (Norway) – The end of the Cross-Country season is expected to witness 12,000 cross-country skiers at the start in Geilo, Norway for the season-concluding Skarverennet on Saturday, April 30th. For most of the participants, their race time won’t matter as they will enjoy the 38km race, stopping to picnic and enjoy the views.

Yet several World Cup stars are also expected to compete. Leading the way are Norwegian stars Marit Bjoergen, Therese Johaug and Petter Northug along with Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) and the Swiss Team head coach Guri Hetland. Last year’s champion Curdin Perl (SUI) will also be challenged by Jean Marc Gaillard, Vincent Vittoz (both FRA) and biathletes Tarjei Boe (NOR) and Michael Roesch (GER).

Warm temperatures and little snow in this part of Norway at this stage of the season have provided a formidable challenge to the organizers. In higher elevations, the tracks are still in a good condition, but in several other locations, snow must be transported and distributed. However, the organizers are determined to carry out the event, claiming that cancellation is not an option!

Read more HERE.

March 21, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – If you missed the action at this past weekend’s 2011 FIS Viessmann WCup finale in Falun, Sweden check out this great photo gallery of some of the sport’s top skiers as the season’s final champions were crowned following the 10/15km Handicap start pursuit race. Norway’s Marit Bjoergen and Petter Northug won the final mini tour while Dario Cologna (SUI) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) were crowned the overall season champions – read more here and here.

February 26, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – The Marit Bjoergen magic worked again in the women’s 15km Pursuit (7.5km CL + 7.5km FR) even on slow, new warm snow, along with yesterday’s fog, as all of Norway showed up to watch the Queen of Holmenkollen triumph once more.

In total she blazed the course in 38:08 and is the nemesis of Polish star, Justyna Kowalczyk, who was 3.5 seconds back at the ski transition, and 7.5 seconds back by the finish for the silver. Bjoergen commented that she could see from the first skate downhill that she had faster skis than her Polish shadow. Thus made this part of her tactic in the second half, initiating her attack with just under one kilometre to go on the climb before entering the stadium. Her teammate Therese Johaug had a stellar race taking the bronze at 8.8 seconds behind.

These three leaders broke away during one of Bjoergen’s attacks on the climb during the skate leg. Sweden’s top distance skier, Charlotte Kalla, chased but could not connect and finished on her own in 4th 53:9 seconds back. Italian Marianna Longa and Sweden’s Maria Rydqvist had a photo finish for 5th at 1:08:8 seconds behind the winner.

US skiers were the first North Americans with Elizabeth Stephen in at 2:54.9 minutes back for a solid 24th overall – her strong fast time in the skate of 18:23.2 put her 18th in that leg. Holly Brooks was next in 25th at 3:21.9 behind, while junior Jessie Diggins put in another a strong performance at her first major international event placing 28th at 3:25.2 back, followed by Morgan Arritola in 43rd at 5:00:9 behind.

The lone Canadian skier, Brooke Gosling was 51st and seven minutes behind. It was Brooks, Diggins and Gosling’s first World Championships – quite the baptism considering the competition at the front of the pack.

American xc head coach Chris Gover was more than pleased as the team coped with unexpected deep snow, and promising results for the future. “Conditions were different than anything we’d seen so far and from what was predicted but the wax team adjusted quickly and we had a great skis. Different teams found different kick wax solutions,” Grover told SkiTrax. “I was proud of the effort of our young skiers. A great race for Liz. Holly’s first Euro WC points. A second day in the top-30 result for Jessie.”

Veteran Stephen agreed. “It was a great day for our team for the most part, with Holly, Jessie and I all in the top 30. That’s real progress for us as a country. The race was really fun and the tracks were super fast – I had awesome skis today, both for the classic leg and the skate.

“My race had some really good parts to it, including the classic leg, which may well have been my best classic race all year. I was able to ski hard, but relaxed and hang on to the pack enough so I could be in the mix with the skate race and go out feeling strong with a goal to catch as many people as possible. I skied a pretty strong skate leg, and feel like today was a really good tune up for the rest of the week.”

Diggins continued to perform after being called up from the junior ranks following her seventh place result in the 5km skate at the Junior Worlds with as fast or faster times than many seniors. Not only was this her first senior worlds, but it was her first pursuit ever and she couldn’t overstate her enthusiasm for the race and the entire experience.

“Today was a really interesting day with all the fog…it was crazy racing because going down the hills you couldn’t see the corners until you came right up to them! But the fans were great and all the cheering really helped,” said Diggins in a post-race email to SkiTrax. “I had a great start, but did a poor job keeping hydrated and hit the wall pretty hard around 6km, and felt pretty sloppy in the skate portion of the race.

“I also tried to get a feed…twice…and every coach in the world now knows that I had the worst feed in the world! I dropped the bottle the first time around and gave myself a Gatorade face-wash the second. How embarrassing! But I’m super proud of the US girls and the coaches gave us super fast skis. It was a good day!”

For the USA’s Brooks it was a day for the record books. “Yes it was a great day for the US – three women in the top 28 – and my first WC points in Europe. The past weekend at the WCup in Drammen I had a rough start in my weakest disciplines after not having raced in over a month.

“We had great skis – thanks to our techs and my coach, Erik Flora. The first time up the big sprint hill before entering the stadium I looked up and saw bib 6 – Italy’s Arianna Follis was in front of me. That was extra motivation to ski fast!  It was super fun to be skiing with the skier who took the silver medal only two days before in the sprint and I hope our momentum carries through to the guys on Sunday! Despite the fog, the crowd was fantastic.”

Arritola felt the stress of competition. “I had a rough day in the pursuit but I’m happy for my teammates who skied well. I just have to figure some things out and get ready for the 30km.”

Team leader Kikkan Randall was impressed with the US women in the 15km pursuit emailing SkiTrax her observations, “I’m super psyched and impressed to see three of our women in the top 30 today. It looked like a tough race and it’s great to see the shift in performance on our team.  We used to dream of one result in the top 30 and now we got three in. I know Morgan didn’t have her best day so she could have possibly been in there too. Jessie skied an impressive race, not afraid to go up and ski with some fast girls. I am really excited for the future of this group.

“I think my fall in the sprint the other day, while it was definitely disheartening, has made us all appreciate the hard work we’ve done together as a team to prepare for these championships and we know that the most important thing is to put ourselves out there and go for it.  The door has been opened on what is possible and we want more of it!”

We caught up Canadian Head Coach Justin Wadsworth for his take on the pursuit. “For sure it was a tough one out there for Brooke with the new (hard) courses here at Holmenkollen, and the huge crowds. This is a tough place to cut your teeth for your first high level racing in Europe. Brooke showed some guts out there on the skating leg today, so I look for better things to come from her as the championships continue.”

But not everyone was happy about that situation. Kowalczyk noted that on four different occasions Johaug blocked her from chasing Bjoergen. When asked whether she thought it was fair play, Kowalczyk replied, “It’s cross-country skiing.”

Johaug denied trying to block Kowalczyk and Bjoergen said she had no knowledge of it – as all had taken place behind her, but she was sure Johaug would not do that.

Instead, she said, her tactic to “…not do too much work in the classic part, but I was first in. Then I knew I had very good skis [in the skate leg] and Therese was in front; I wanted to be behind, because I knew I had better skis than Kowalczyk. I attacked and got a gap, and I knew I could go. I wanted Kowalczyk in front but Kowalczyk wanted Therese in front.”

Kowalczyk had little to say. It is difficult to ski against strong teams like the Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Italians and Finns when the other members of the Polish team while good, were not there to work for her.

Bjoergen admitted Johaug played a part in her victory. “A big thank you to Therese who wore out Kowalczyk.”

Johaug, meanwhile, said the biggest “thank you” went to the “boys in the cabin” meaning the wax crew who waxed skis to perfection. “My goal was to reach an individual medal at these Games,” she said, “and now I have reached my goal. It was a big thing for me. The people in the track were great. At the last world championships I was 6th, so it is my best place at the world championships and the Olympics.

“I knew they [Bjoergen and Kowalczyk] would be strong in the end. I would fight to the last lap – all the way. When I was skating, I thought I could go hard all the time – I thought there was a chance. I did the best I could and it was a bronze today.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Norway commented, in a slight nudge to the competition and the rivalry between Norway and Sweden, “It is very typical Norwegian to perform as well as Marit Bjoergen did today.”

Full results HERE.

January 10, 2011 (Alpe Cermis, Italy) – Here are some more fantastic photos from the 9km uphill handicap start pursuit women’s race in Alpe Cermis, Italy, the final stage of the 2011 TdS. The stage was won by Therese Johaug (NOR), but it was Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) who won the overall Tour to claim her second consecutive TdS title. Kikkan Randall (USA) was the first North American woman to successfully complete the TdS. She finished 21st overall – read more on the final stage HERE.

January 9, 2010 (Alpe Cermis, Italy) – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) claimed her second consecutive Tour title on Sunday but all eyes were on Norway’s Therese Johaug who put on a show of force as the fastest woman up Alpe Cermis this morning, dominating the final stage of the 2011 Tour de Ski.

Johaug flew up the 9km uphill handicap start pursuit course to take the win by over a minute ahead of second place finisher, teammate Marte Elden. Third place completed the Norwegian sweep, going to Marthe Kristoffersen.

Kowalczyk finished 4th on the day, good enough to become the first person to defend the overall title. Johaug’s stellar performance earned her 2nd overall, atop Italy’s Marianna Longa who finished 3rd.

Overall winner Kowalczyk started cautiously compared to Johaug, who started strong at 3:21 behind the leader in the handicap start race.   Johaug picked off racer after racer, passing Slovenia’s Petra Majdic by 3.5km. By 5.6km Johaug had overtaken Italy’s Arianna Follis to claim 3rd.  Her charge continued up the mountain, taking 2nd away from Longa by 7.4kms.

Closing in on the finish she was taking huge chunks out of Kowalczyk’s lead but wasn’t able to close the final 1:21 gap, though certainly not for lack of effort. Though she wasn’t able to take the overall away from Kowalczyk, Johaug still put in a 100,000 Swiss Frank performance, her prize for 2nd overall. Kowalczyk takes home 150,000 for the win and Longa got 50,000 for her trouble.

“It is a really good victory to me,” said Kowalczyk post-race in a FIS XC interview. “It has been 10 tough days. I am very happy about being on top of Alpe Cermis, and next week will be all about resting.”

Johaug was triumphant with second place. “I had a dream about finishing second today – my shape is really good and I had great skis. This is the best I have done in my career so far. It will be good to come home and take a break – Oslo is of course my dream of the season.”

With large chunks of change on the line, considering the shocking attrition rate for a race like this, it’s safe to say the winners earned it. Of the 58 women who began the Tour, only 32 finished.

Among them was top American sprinter, Kikkan Randall, who became the first American woman to complete the Tour de Ski, finishing 23rd on the day and 21st overall. Completing the Tour was a landmark in Randall’s career and her strong effort on the final Stage 8 up Alpe Cermis was uplifting compared to yesterday’s 10km classic.

“Yesterday was pretty disappointing so for sure I wanted to have a strong day to finish the Tour,” Randall told SkiTrax in a phone interview. “This is by far the toughest, hardest, steepest climb I’ve ever done – nothing compares. And to complete it after the last seven stages…whew – I’ve got a lot of respect for the women at the front.”

“Kikkan felt like she missed a few opportunities out there today,” said US head coach Chris Grover. “But overall she’s satisfied. The whole Tour has been a learning experience us. It’s the first time these guys have attempted it.”

Randall said she thinks the Tour is cool – she loves the different stages and the concept. In fact she told us the rest days were almost an intrusion. “I like the back-to-back racing and felt good each stage. It was hard to get going again after the rest days and almost felt like it was better not to have them. Now that I’ve completed the Tour I know what it takes. The mental element is huge – you need to dig in when you’re really tired – that’s the biggest part of the experience that I’m taking away from Tour.”

Randall, teammate Andy Newell and Grover will stay on in Val di Fiemme preparing for the upcoming WCup skate sprint in Liberec next weekend transferring there on Monday. She said she’ll take it easy over the next few days in preparation and looks forward to it and the possible match up against Norway’s Marit Bjoergen who sat out the Tour.

“I’m looking forward to the Liberec sprints after some rest. The next 2-3 sprints are all skating which is my strongest suit so I’ll be ready. Haven’t heard if Bjoergen will be in Liberec or not. But if I do get the chance to race her it will be sweet practice for Oslo!! Hope Follis and Majdic will be there too.”

Women’s 9km Pursuit Results HERE.
Women’s 9km Pursuit finishing order HERE.
Final Overall HERE.
Final Overall detail HERE.