GALLIVARE, Sweden – It was a good morning for Norway’s top racers and for the U.S. women here at Hellner Stadium. Starting last of 78 racers, 2012 World Cup Champion Marit Bjørgen gobbled up the field and skied to a 13-second win over teammate Therese Johaug in the 10 k interval start skate race. Kikkan Randall surprised with a third place finish (16 seconds back), edging the home country’s best hope, Charlotte Kalla.

Holly Brooks finished an even more surprising fifth, continuing a day of strong performances for the Americans. Liz Stephen and Jessie Diggins were ranked right in with their teammates early in the race, but falls by each kept them out of the top ten. Stephen finished 21st, Diggins 32nd, and Ida Sargent 53rd.

Dasha Gaiazova led the Canadians in 61st place, followed by Chandra Crawford in 71st and Alysson Marshall in 77th.

Results

- Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla may have been feeling blue yesterday, after 23-year-old upstart Emma Wiken edged her by 2.4 seconds in the 5 k classic. But Kalla was back with a vengeance today, reminding fans that she is one of the best skaters in the world as she posted a 39.8-second win over Wiken in the 10 k freestyle at the opening weekend of FIS racing in Bruksvallarna. Smooth and powerful through the whole race, Kalla never appeared to tire, unlike the rest of the field. Ida Ingemarsdoter finished third, +58.3, and Sofia Bleckur fourth, +1:02. national team veteran Anna Haag struggled, placing ninth +1:49. Results.

- Over in Muonio, Finland, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland and Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakstan repeaed their win’s from Friday’s sprints, this time in 5/10 k classic races. Kowalczyk bested Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva by 29 seconds in the short race, while the rest of the field packed in behind her. Masako Ishida of Japan was third, seven seconds behind the Russian, while Liz Stephen was the top American woman in 13th. The men’s race was much closer, with Poltoranin eking out a five-second win over Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic; Jens Filbrich of Germany and Kris Freeman of the U.S. were 13 and 18 seconds behind the Kazakh, respectively, to place third and fourth. More to come.  Results.

- In Bruksvallarna, Sweden, Johan Olsson used smart pacing to take victory in a 15 k interval-start skate race. Yesterday’s winner in the 10 k classic, Daniel Richardsson put on an early charge to lead about halfway through the race, but faded to finish second, ten seconds back. Ivan Babikov of Canada started last out of the whole field, but skied a strong race to place third, 32 seconds behind Olsson. Top ten below; stay tuned for more on the main site.

- A few hundred kilometers west in Beitostolen, where the Norwegians are holding their own opening FIS races, Maiken Casperson Falla and Anders Glørsen took wins in the classic sprint. Falla led from start to finish after winning the qualifying by 0.73 seconds over fellow Norwegian Kjersti Bø, and then winning the final by over three seconds. The French added some excitement to the final, however, with Aurore Jean besting Norway’s  Kari Gjeitnes in a photo finish for second. Austria’s Katerina Smutna also mixed things up, finishing fifth in the final.

The same could not be said of the men’s final, which was an all-Norway affair. Qualifying winner Kent Ove Clausen did not make the final, where Glørsen narrowly edged Eldar Rønning for the win by just 0.1 seconds. But the final was marred by a disastrous crash seemingly caused by Petter Northug, who seemed to simply ski right into Eirik Brandsdal and Simen Ostensen. (“What were you doing here, Northug?” asked NRK, who posted video of the pile-up.) That left relative unknown Torjus Børsheim to cross the line in third.

— Dario Cologna and his Swiss teammates are currently training in Innsbruck, Austria, and coach Guri Hetland says the 2012 overall World Cup champion is looking as strong as ever. In an interview with Norwegian paper Adresseavisen, Hetland talked about Cologna’s summer training and his goals for the coming season.

“Our scheme is largely the same as last year, but we try to have slightly better quality of everything,” said Hetland. “We practice relatively traditionally, with lots of volume in the summer.”

“Everything has gone according to plan so far.”

Like his competitors, Cologna has his sights set on World Championships. A top-three in Val di Fiemme, Italy, would be Cologna’s first World Chamionships podium.

“Dario is very hungry” Hetland said. “He has no World Championship medals before and World Championships in Val di Fiemme as the season’s main goal. Beyond that, he will participate in the Tour de Ski, while some World Cup weekends must be removed.”

— This Sunday a rollerski race in Sunne, Sweden, is being held in honor of Inge Bråten, the accomplished Norwegian and Swedish ski coach who passed away this April. Petter Northug, Marcus Hellner, Johan Olsson, Charlotte Kalla, Anna Haag and Ida Ingemarsdotter are among those headed to Sunne to participate in the day’s events. Read more here.

— German and Norwegian junior skiers are planning to train together for three separate camps this summer and fall, reports Langrenn. German junior coach Markus Kramer and his Norwegian counterpart Brit Bardishol both agree than their respective junior skiers stand to learn a lot from each other.

“I think it was a very good idea. We can learn thoroughness and systematics of the Germans,” Baldhishol said. 

Two of the camps will be in Sjusjoen, Norway, and one in Oberhof, Germany between the end of August and October.

Cory Wubbels recently joined the U.S. Ski Team (USST) staff as a part of its World Cup service team. Wubbels has previously worked as a service tech for the Rossignol race team and the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation team.

The recent growth of the USST’s presence on the World Cup has brought a need for an expanded service crew this season. Peter Johansson, who has worked with the team since 2006, will take on additional duties as the Head of Service. Wubbels joins Randy Gibbs and Oleg Ragilo as the other World Cup servicemen.

Wubbels briefly joined the tech team this winter while recently retired USST coach Pete Vordenberg went home for the birth of his new baby.

“We are very excited to have Cory join our World Cup Service Team,” said USST head coach Chris Grover. “As the size of our World Cup Team has grown over the last several years, the need for increased coaching and service support for this Team has grown as well. Adding Cory to our staff will help us increase our strike-rate for making World Cup winning skis. Cory brings a lot of experience in the wax room to the U.S. program, including World Cup service experience with us during the 2011-12 season. Cory has the experience and know-how to help U.S. athletes ski at their absolute potential.”

U.S. Ski Team member Kris Freeman won Bend’s Pole Pedal Paddle five-sport race in a time of 1:46:00, besting previous champ Andrew Boone by 57 seconds. XC Oregon racer Zach Violett was third.

In the women’s division, Stephanie Howe of XC Oregon picked up her third consecutive win, beating teammate Mary Wellington by over five minutes.

Full report and photos to follow shortly.

Saturday morning will see the U.S. Ski Team competing in its first race of the new season – in this case a five-sport extravaganza called the Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend, Oregon. The event combines alpine and nordic skiing, biking, kayaking and running; last year roughly 1000 individuals and teams graced the results sheet.

Kris Freeman will compete as an individual, while his fellow skiers will compete in teams. In the women’s field, Kikkan Randall, Sadie Bjornsen, and Jessie Diggins will race against Ida Sargent, Holly Brooks, and Liz Stephen; the five-man team of Skyler Davis, Andy Newell, Tad Elliott, Noah Hoffman, and Erik Bjornsen will also compete. No points for guessing which leg Elliott will be contesting.

“We are really excited to enter four teams on Saturday,” U.S. Ski Team women’s coach Matt Whitcomb wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier. “It’s a great opportunity to get involved in an excited community here in Bend, and of course a chance to take a race in the off season way too seriously.  It’s created quite a buzz around our houses here at camp and the athletes are excited for a hard race.”

Other skiers will also participate, including many XC Oregon athletes such as Ollie Burruss and Stephanie Howe, who will be vying for her third consecutive title. Santi Ocariz will also compete with his brother.

Stay tuned for FasterSkier’s on-site coverage on Saturday.

FasterSkier contributor Win Goodbody points out on his blog that American President, Barak Obama, used a ski analogy in reference to comments by Vice-President Joe Biden.

Goodbody posted the follwoing screnshot form The Caucus, a New York Time political blog.

You can find the rest of Goodbody’s post here—An American political analogy the Norwegians can understand.

A worthwhile and entertaining read.

Legendary Norwegian national team coach Inge Bråten passed away on Friday morning at the age of 63 after a brief illness, reports Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Inge Bråten. Photo: Langrenn.com.

Bråten was one of the most successful coaches in Norway’s history, and is largely credited with reviving the national program in the 1990s, during which time his athletes, including Vegard Ulvang, Bjorn Daehlie, and Thomas Alsgaard, won 15 World Championship and Olympic gold medals. He left the national team after the hugely successful Lillehammer Games.

In 2005 he returned to coaching, this time for the Swedes, and led them to three Olympic golds in 2006. He left Sweden in 2007, and later joined Canada’s coaching staff for the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Afterwards Bråten became the Swiss head coach, but left after five months. Most recently, he worked as a commentator for Canal+ and Eurosport.

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In a photo finish with Magnus Frodahl (NOR), Timo André Bakken (NOR) set a 100 m world record on cross country skis in Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway on Thursday. Frodahl was initially declared the winner, but upon video review it became apparent that Bakken had gotten his toe across the line first, clocking in at 11.82 seconds.

“I knew when I crossed the finish line that I was first, but it must have been something wrong with my chip,” said Bakken to Aftenposten following his win.

Petter Northug (NOR) failed to advance to the finals, but said afterwards that he knew he wouldn’t be able to contest the win.

“I have trained a lot with Magnus (Frodahl – 2nd place) and he is much faster than me at 100 meters,” conceded Northug.

* * *

In the women’s 100 m, 18-year-old Stina Nilsson (SWE), who won the sprint at World Juniors this February, was the surprise victor and new world record-holder. Nilsson beat impressive names in the process — Marit Bjoergen (NOR), Charlotte Kalla (SWE), and Ida Ingemarsdotter (SWE).

“It went very well,” said Nilsson to Norway TV2 after the race.

When asked for an explanation for her speed, she attributed her quick reflexes to a Swedesh card game called “banka bäver,” which somehow requires fast response times.

Results: 

Men 100 m:

1. Timo André Bakken 11.82

2. Magnus Frodahl 11.84

3. Robin Bryntesson 12.55

4. Ola Vigen Hattestad 13.44

Women 100 m:

1. Stina Nilsson 13.19

2. Katja Visnar 13.44

3. Tatjana Stiffler 13.58

4. Ida Ingemarsdotter 13.87

Men 500 m:

1. Emil Jönsson

2. Ola Vigen Hattestad

3. Joeri Kindschi

4. Robin Bryntesson

Women 500 m

1. Laurien van der Graaf

2. Katja Visnar

3. Kikkan Randall