Cross-country skiing, biathlon
Cross-country skiing
When Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall won the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in cross-county skiing in 2018, they turned a page and brought their country to the line next to the Nordic powerhouses of Norway, Russia, Sweden and Finland.
Diggins’ subsequent success has proved that their success wasn’t a fluke. She was the World Cup overall champion in 2021, while teammate Rosie Brennan was fourth. Randall has since retired.
Diggins and Brennan along with a revamped U.S. team head to the Beijing Games in February with a list of podium finishes and hopes for more medals.
Norway’s Marit Bjørgen, who won five medals in Pyeongchang and a total of 15 in her career for more than any other Winter Olympian, retired after the 2018 Games. Her former teammate, Therese Johaug, has won three Olympic medals and is set to add to that tally. Heidi Weng, also from Norway, will surely be in the mix.
Sweden’s top medal winner in 2018, Stina Nilsson, has switched to biathlon, but the team has dominated on the World Cup circuit this season. Maja Dahlquist has been hard to beat in the sprint races while Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson have collected medals in the distance races.
Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva is showing strong form after taking the gold in the six-stage FIS Tour de Ski, which started in Switzerland, moved to Germany and concluded Jan. 4 with a climb up an alpine ski slope in Italy.
Finland’s sister and brother team of Kerttu and Iivo Niskanen, along with Krista Pärmäkoski, have shown that they’re among the best classic skiers in the world.
RISING STAR SHINES
Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo was a rising star when he won three gold medals in Pyeongchang. He has dominated the World Cup this season and will be back to defend his Olympic titles. Klaebo’s teammates, Erik Valnes and Pål Golberg, will likely be in the mix. Klaebo’s longtime rival, Alexander Bolshunov of Russia, who brought home two silver medals and a bronze in 2018, was right behind Klaebo in the overall World Cup standings in early January and will no doubt strive for gold in China. The Russian Federation team runs deep with talent, seven of their skiers sat in the top 15 in the World Cup standings in early January. Fourth in those standings was Niskanen of Finland, who won gold in the 50-kilometer classic ski race in Pyeongchang and finished the Tour de Ski in third place. Others to watch, especially in sprint races are France’s Richard Jouve and Italy’s Federico Pellegrino.
Biathlon
A flurry of retirements since the 2018 Games left only a few athletes who will defend their Olympic biathlon titles, and the battle for gold will include a host of talented racers who have shown promise all season.
Hanna Öberg of Sweden took gold in the women’s 15-kilometer individual in Pyeongchang, while Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe won the men’s race, and both have stood on the podium during the World Cup circuit this season. But all other 2018 gold-medal winners — Martin Fourcade of France, Laura Dahlmeier and Arnd Peiffer of Germany, and Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina — have moved on.
Boe won the overall World Cup in 2020 and again in 2021, but he has yet to find his top form this season and was sitting seventh in the standings by early January.
Anything could happen with a dozen races before everyone heads to China later this month, but Norway promises to be the team to beat on both the women’s and men’s side.
PLOT TWISTS
No one nation has dominated the 2021-22 World Cup biathlon season, but several have consistently secured podium spots. On the women’s side, Norway, Sweden, Belarus and France have taken turns at the medals, and Marte Olsbu Røiseland of Norway is on fire this season, leading the World Cup standings. She won silver in Pyeongchang and is seeking gold this time. Røiseland’s teammate, Tiril Eckhoff, won bronze in 2018 and was last year’s overall World Cup winner. But, she has had a slow start to the 2021-22 season. The next races will reveal her form.
NORWAY STILL STRONG
While Boe works to find his fitness this season, his teammates have shown Norway’s strength and depth. Boe’s older brother, Tarjei, along with Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and Sturla Holm Laegreid, have secured medals in most World Cup races this season, including the team relay gold.