"Did you know" Tour de Ski stage 4

World Cup – Tour de Ski Stage 4 – Oberstdorf – 4 January

LADIES - 10 km Pursuit F

Odd year means leader after pursuit holds on to Alpe Cermis

• The fourth stage of the Tour de Ski is a 10km free pursuit race in Oberstdorf.

• Stina Nilsson is leading the overall Tour, four seconds ahead of Heidi Weng. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg is third, 12.4 seconds behind.

• A pursuit race has been held in the middle of the Tour in the last seven editions of the TDS (in 2008/2009 edition the pursuit was already in the second stage). In the even years the leader after the pursuit did not win the overall Tour: Arianna Follis (2010), Marit Bjørgen (2012), Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (2014) and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (2016).

• In the odd years the leader after the pursuit also won on Alpe Cermis: Justyna Kowalczyk (2011 and 2013) and Marit Bjørgen (2015). When the pursuit was already in the second stage, the same happened, as Virpi Kuitunen led after the pursuit in 2009.

• When Justyna Kowalczyk won the overall in 2010 and 2012 she was never more than four seconds behind the leader after the pursuit. The biggest deficit by an athlete after the freestyle pursuit stage who still went on to win the Tour was 39 seconds, by Therese Johaug behind Jacobsen in 2014.

• Stina Nilsson has won two stages in this season’s Tour de Ski. One more stage victory and she will equal Charlotte Kalla on three stage wins for most victories by a Swede in the Tour. Kalla won all her three stages in the 2007/2008 Tour, when she also won overall.

• Only two athletes have won more than two stages in a Tour de Ski without winning overall: Marit Bjørgen (4) in 2012, and Petra Majdic (3) in 2010.

• A 10km free pursuit was last held in the Ski Tour Canada in March. Stina Nilsson lost 1:28.7 to Heidi Weng in that stage. Nilsson lost 34.5 seconds to Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in that stage.

• Heidi Weng finished on the podium again in the skiathlon-stage. Weng has finished on the podium in five of her seven stages in Oberstdorf (0-3-2). Weng is now leading the all-time list of Tour de Ski podiums in Oberstdorf, one ahead of Marit Bjørgen. Bjørgen has the most wins here with three, ahead of Petra Majdic with two victories.

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MEN - 15 km Pursuit F

Ustiugov looking to follow up on first ever Tour hat-trick

• The fourth stage of the Tour de Ski is a 15km free pursuit race in Oberstdorf.

• Sergey Ustiugov is leading the Tour, 29.5 seconds ahead of Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Alex Harvey is third, +1:09.3 behind the leader.

• Ustiugov won the first three stages of this Tour, becoming the first man to win three consecutive stages in a Tour de Ski.

• The only other male athlete to win more than two Tour-stages in a single edition is Martin Johnsrud Sundby, who won four stages in 2016. Ustiugov could equal him if he wins today.

• Ustiugov's three stage wins are a record for Russian athletes in the Tour de Ski. Alexander Legkov won two.

• Legkov still has the most stage podium finishes by a Russian (9). Ustiugov currently has five podiums.

• Eleven Tour de Ski stages have been held previously in Oberstdorf, with Petter Northug the only male athlete to win more than once as he won in 2012 (skiathlon) and 2015 (pursuit).

• Dario Cologna finished third in the skiathlon yesterday. Cologna has the most TDS podium finishes in Oberstdorf (6). Petter Northug (3) is the only other athlete with more than two stage podium finishes in Oberstdorf.

• Currently the top five athletes overall represent five different countries. Norway is the only country with more than one athlete (4) inside the top 10.

• The “record” for most countries in the top 10 in a Tour de Ski is eight, in 2009 and 2010.

• In 2014 and 2016 only four different countries finished with a skier inside the top 10, the lowest number together with 2007.

*Statistics provided by gracenote