The FIS Cross Country World Cup season finally opens this week, with Classical-style races in Ruka (FIN):
∙ Men: Sprint/Classical and 15 km Classical
∙ Women: Sprint/Classical and 10 km Classical
This is once again one of the most grueling seasons in sport, with 29 individual and four relay events scheduled through March.
The 2017-18 seasonal leaders in the Sprint and Distance categories:
Men/Sprint:
1. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR)
2. Federico Pellegrino (ITA)
3. Lucas Chanavat (FRA)
Men/Distance:
1. Dario Cologna (SUI)
2. Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR)
3. Hans Christer Holund (NOR)
Women/Sprint:
1. Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR)
2. Stina Nilsson (SWE)
3. Sophie Caldwell (USA)
Women/Distance:
1. Heidi Weng (NOR)
2. Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg (NOR)
3. Jessica Diggins (USA)
The 2017-18 season produced a lot of familiar World Cup winners. Klaebo won his second straight Sprint title and Cologna won his fourth seasonal Distance World Cup crown. Falla won the women’s Sprint championship for the third consecutive year and Weng won her second straight Distance title.
Klaebo won both the Sprint and 15 km last season in Ruka, while Sweden’s Nlsson won the Ruka Sprint a year ago and Marit Bjoergen (NOR) won the 10 km Classical race.
One of the stories of last season was the strong showing by the U.S. women, including two seasonal medalists in Caldwell in the Sprints and Diggins in Distance. The American women also had Sadie Bjornsen in the top 10 in the Distance standings (10th) and Caldwell, Diggins (6th) and Bjornsen (8th) in the final Sprint standings. More to come this season?
Look for results from Ruka here.
