"Did you know" Drammen City Sprints

World Cup - Sprint Classic - Drammen - 8 March 2017

Falla or Bjørgen could be first to four wins in Drammen

• A World Cup sprint classic style has been held on 12 previous occasions in Drammen. Three athletes have won a joint-record three races - Virpi Kuitunen, Marit Bjørgen and Maiken Caspersen Falla.

• Three athletes have one win each in this event in Drammen: Justyna Kowalczyk, Petra Majdic and Bente Skari.

• Falla has won the sprint in Drammen in the previous three seasons - the only athlete to win here in three consecutive seasons.

• Marit Bjørgen has finished on the podium on five occasions in Drammen, equal-most with Virpi Kuitunen. Falla and Majdic follow with three podiums each.

• Falla (512) is leading the sprint World Cup ahead of Stina Nilsson (370) and Heidi Weng (273).

• Falla can become the fifth woman to win the sprint World Cup in consecutive seasons, after Bente Skari (1998-2002), Marit Bjørgen (2003-2006), Petra Majdic (2008-2009) and Kikkan Randall (2012-2014).

• Last season, Falla won the Drammen sprint ahead of Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Natalia Matveeva.

• Norway has claimed first and second place in each of the last three World Cup sprint events in Drammen, the only time a country has managed this during the 12 ladies' events in Drammen.

• Falla has claimed 15 World Cup podiums in sprint classic, fourth-most among women behind Marit Bjørgen (27), Petra Majdic (25) and Justyna Kowalczyk (20).

• Falla has won six World Cup sprint races in classic and could surpass Virpi Kuitunen for fifth place on the all-time ladies' list. Marit Bjørgen (16), Petra Majdic (14), Bente Skari (10) and Justyna Kowalczyk (9) have more victories.

• Marit Bjørgen won four gold medals from five starts at the World Ski Championships in Lahti, missing out on the final in the sprint race.

• Bjørgen has not won a sprint race since winning the gold medal at the 2015 WSC in Falun.

• This season Bjørgen has finished 10th (Ruka) and eighth (Lillehammer) in the two sprint classic races she has participated in.

• Stina Nilsson won the first classic sprint race of this season, in Ruka in November.
  \Nilsson is the only Swedish athlete to qualify for the final in any of the last three editions of the sprint in Drammen.

• Nilsson finished third in 2014, her first ever World Cup podium. Nilsson also qualified for the final in 2015 and 2016.

• No Swedish woman has managed to win the classic sprint in Drammen. Lina Andersson finished second in 2005, while Anna Dahlberg (Olsson) finished third. Stina Nilsson claimed third place in 2014.

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Norwegian aiming for third consecutive triple in Drammen

• This event will be the 77th sprint race held in the World Cup in classical style. In the 76 races held Norway has won 52, Sweden 13, Russia seven and Italy two times. Kazakhstan and Switzerland have one win each.

• This event will be the 13th classical sprint held in the centre of Drammen. Norwegian skiers have dominated the men's races here, winning 11 of the previous 12 events. The only foreign athlete to keep the home skiers off the highest step on the podium was Emil Jönsson, who won in 2010.

• Last year, Petter Northug won ahead of Ola Vigen Hattestad and Eirik Brandsdal, making it the fourth time in 12 Drammen races that Norway swept the podium (2015, 2006, 2005).

• In total, Norway has claimed 25 of the 36 podium finishes in Drammen. The only other country with multiple podiums is Sweden with five.

• At least one Norwegian has finished on the podium in each of the 12 sprint events.

• Northug could become the first man to win back-to-back World Cup sprint races in Drammen.

• Northug could become the first man with three wins in Drammen. Two other active skiers, Ola Vigen Hattestad and Eirik Brandsdal, are also on two wins, together with Jens Arne Svartedal.

• Marit Bjørgen, Maiken Caspersen Falla and Virpi Kuitunen have three wins in Drammen in the ladies' competition.

• Hattestad is the only man with four podiums in Drammen. Brandsdal, Northug, Svartedal and Børre Næss all have three podiums.

• The only non-Norwegian with multiple podiums in Drammen is Emil Jönsson, who won in 2010 and finished third in 2008.

• It is a tight battle in the sprint World Cup, with Federico Pellegrino leading on 309 points ahead of Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (289), Finn Hågen Krogh (277), Sindre Bjørnestad Skar (265) and Sergey Ustiugov (262).

• Pellegrino could become the first athlete to win the sprint World Cup in consecutive years since Emil Jönsson in 2010 and 2011.

• Skiers from Norway and Sweden have won a combined 19 of the previous 20 editions of the sprint World Cup. The only exception is Pellegrino's win last year.

• Høsflot Klæbo, who turned 20 years last October, could become the youngest winner of the sprint World Cup. This record now belongs to Teodor Peterson who won the crystal globe in 2012 at 23 years and 318 days of age.

• Ustiugov can become the fourth Russian man to finish in the top-3 of the sprint World Cup, after Alexey Petukhov (third in 2010), Nikolai Morilov (second in 2012) and Nikita Kriukov (third in 2013).

• Norway has won 12 of the last 18 World Cup races in sprint classic. No athlete has won more than three races in this period (going back to March 2013). Petter Northug (3), Eirik Brandsdal (3) and Nikita Kriukov (2) are the only three athletes to win more than once during the last 18 races. Ten skiers have one win each.