Drammen city sprint - Preview

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PREVIEW LADIES' SPRINT CLASSIC – Wednesday 7 Mar 2018

· Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR) could win the sprint World Cup standings.

· Falla can win the sprint World Cup overall standings for the third time, equalling Petra Majdic (SLO) and Kikkan Randall (USA) in joint-third place all-time. Only Marit Bjørgen (NOR, 5) and Bente Skari (NOR, 5) have won it more often.

· Falla won two individual sprint events this season, one in classic style and one in freestyle. Her freestyle win came in the last World Cup race in Lahti.

· The last athlete to win consecutive individual sprint events in the World Cup was Stina Nilsson (SWE) from February - November 2017 (four in a row), including a classic style sprint race in Drammen.

· No athlete has claimed more World Cup victories in individual sprint events since the start of 2012/13 than Falla (14). Nilsson (12) and Bjørgen (10) are next in this span.

· Falla finished on the podium in 25 of her last 28 individual sprint World Cup appearances.

· This season, Falla only failed to reach the final in the sprint classic in Ruka (3-Days Tour) on 24 November 2017.

· Falla has won three World Cup races in Drammen (any discipline), the most for her in a specific city.

· Stina Nilsson has won a season-high three sprint World Cup events in 2017/18. She won the sprint classic in Ruka (3-Days Tour), the sprint free in Davos and the sprint classic in Planica.

· Reigning Olympic champion Nilsson (sprint classic) has won a total of 12 individual sprint World Cup races (classic and free). She is in joint-fifth place all-time among women for most sprint World Cup victories (including Tour stages), alongside Kikkan Randall.

· Last season, Nilsson won the World Cup classic sprint race in Drammen. The only non-Norwegian to win multiple World Cup classic style races in Drammen is Virpi Kuitunen (FIN, 3).

· Laurien van der Graaff (SUI) has claimed two podium finishes in individual sprint events this World Cup season, a victory in the sprint free in Lenzerheide on 30 December 2017 (Tour de Ski) and a victory in the sprint free in Seefeld on 27 January 2018.

· Van der Graaff can become the first female athlete from Switzerland to claim at least three top-three finishes in a single World Cup season (all disciplines). Evi Kratzer (SUI) also reached the podium twice in both 1984/85 and 1986/87.

· Sophie Caldwell (USA) is hoping to become the second female athlete from United States to claim multiple sprint World Cup victories in a single season, after Randall (on four occasions, most recently in 2013/14).

PREVIEW MEN'S SPRINT

· With two more sprint races to go, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has captured the sprint World Cup crystal globe for the second season in a row.  He currently tops leaderboard on 590 points over Federico Pellegrino (ITA, 425 points) in second place.

· There are only 150 sprint points remaining in this World Cup season as Falun only counts for 50 points as part of the World Cup finals mini Tour.

· The last athlete to win the overall sprint title in back-to-back World Cup campaigns was Emil Jönsson (SWE) in 2010-2011.

· Klæbo has become only the second athlete from Norway to successfully defend his sprint World Cup title, after Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) in 2008-2009.

· Klæbo won five of the eight individual sprint World Cup events this season. Pellegrino (2) and Sergey Ustiugov (RUS, 1) won the other three.

· Only Jönsson in 2010/11 (6) and Hattestad in 2008/09 (6) won at least six sprint events in a single World Cup season. Both athletes won the sprint crystal globe that season.

· Last weekend, Klæbo finished third in the sprint freestyle event in Lahti behind Pellegrino and Gleb Retivykh (RUS). It marked his seventh top-3 finish in sprint events this season.

· Klæbo could now join Hattestad on a record eight podium finishes in sprint events in one World Cup season. Hattestad did so in 2008/09.

· Taking into account all World Cup events (individual and team events), Klæbo has won nine World Cup races this season.

· Only two men won 10 or more World Cup races in a single season: Petter Northug (NOR) won 10 in 2009/10 and 2012/13 and Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) won 16 races in 2015/16.

· With his victory in Lahti last weekend, Federico Pellegrino joined Arne Hetland (NOR, 11) and Jens Arne Svartedal (NOR, 11) in joint-third place all-time for World Cup individual sprint race victories among men (incl. Tour stages).

· Only Jönsson (16) and Hattestad (13) are on more sprint World Cup wins than Pellegrino.

· Of his 11 World Cup sprint race victories, Pellegrino claimed only one in the classic style (Ski Tour Canada, 8 March 2016).