Lillehammer Skiathlon Preview

PREVIEW Ladies' 2 x 7.5km SKIATHLON – Sunday 3 Dec 2017

• Marit Bjørgen (NOR) has won the most World Cup skiathlon events (8), two more than Therese Johaug (NOR, 6) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL, 6).
• Bjørgen (13) needs one more podium finish in the skiathlon to overtake Johaug (13) for most among women.
• Bjørgen has finished on the podium in seven of her last eight participations in the skiathlon, with the only exception being her fourth place in Lahti in March 2011.
• She has not raced a skiathlon since the 2013/14 World Cup Final in Falun, where she finished second.
• Kowalczyk won the last skiathlon, in PyeongChang on 4 February 2017. She ended a winning drought of more than three years as her previous victory was in the 10km classic style in Szklarska Poreba on 19 January 2014.
• Norwegian women have won each of the last six and nine of the last 10 World Cup distance races, with the exception being the victory by Kowalczyk in PyeongChang on 4 February 2017.
• Stina Nilsson (SWE) won the only other skiathlon last season, on 3 January in Oberstdorf.
• Nilsson has won three distance events in the World Cup, all during the Tour de Ski last season.
• Charlotte Kalla (SWE) has been on the podium in 42 World Cup distance events. She needs one more to surpass Katerina Neumannová (CZE, 42) in outright ninth place all-time among women.
• Kalla is the only woman to finish on the podium in both distance races last week in Ruka.
• Heidi Weng (NOR) has finished in the top-7 in the last 19 World Cup distance events she participated in, including 14 podium finishes. This streak began at the start of last season. No other woman has more than 10 podium finishes since the start of the 2016/17 season in World Cup distance races.
• Weng has a total of 47 podium finishes in World Cup distance events, tying Kristina Šmigun-Vähi (EST) for seventh most among women.
• Of these 47 podium finishes by Weng, only five are victories. Her only skiathlon victory came during the Ski Tour Canada in Canmore on 9 March 2016.
• Ragnhild Haga (NOR) won the pursuit race last weekend, her first ever individual World Cup victory.

PREVIEW Men's 2 x 15km SKIATHLON

• Tobias Angerer (GER), Dario Cologna (SUI) and Petter Northug (NOR) have won a joint-record four skiathlons in the World Cup.
• Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) could join them as he is on three victories together with Axel Teichmann (GER) and Mathias Fredriksson (SWE).
• Sundby has finished on the podium in six skiathlon races in the World Cup, joint-third most with Teichmann and Anders Södergren (SWE). Only Angerer (11) and Cologna (8) have more.
• The skiathlon in Lillehammer in December 2015 was an all-Norwegian podium as Sundby won ahead of Niklas Dyrhaug (NOR) and Hans Christer Holund (NOR).
• This is the 12th distance event in the World Cup in Lillehammer in a men's event. Only Sundby (2) and Bjørn Dæhlie (2) have claimed multiple victories there.
• Sundby has the most top-3 finishes in distance events in Lillehammer, four.
• Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR) has won two of the last four distance events in the World Cup, both are 15km classic style events (Quebec and Ruka).
• Maurice Manificat (FRA) won the pursuit event in Ruka last week. He has won eight distance events in the World Cup, one shy of the French record for men, held by Vincent Vittoz (FRA, 9).
• Manificat (24) is two podiums shy of the French record for men in distance events as Vittoz has reached the top-3 on 26 occasions.
• Klæbo and Manificat have now won two distance events since the start of last season, only trailing Sundby (4) and Sergey Ustiugov (RUS, 4).
• Since the start of the 2015/16 season, two men have reached the podium at least 10 times in distance events as Sundby is on 28 and Ustiugov on 11. Matti Heikkinen (FIN) can join them this weekend as he is on nine podium finishes in this time span.