OWG PyeongChang 2018 - Team Sprint preview

LADIES

PYEONGCHANG - Sweden is hoping to extend its Olympic medal run in the ladies'  team sprint on Wednesday 21 February at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre.

• Sweden (gold in 2006, silver in 2010, bronze in 2014) is the only National Olympic Committee (NOC) to have reached the podium in the team sprint (classic and free) on all three occasions this event has been on the Olympic programme.

• Finland (one silver, one bronze) is the only other NOC with multiple Olympic medals in the event. The Finns only failed to record a top-three finish in 2010, when Riikka SARASOJA-LILJA and Riitta-Liisa ROPONEN (FIN) finished in eighth position in the freestyle.

• Aino-Kaisa SAARINEN (FIN) was part of both Finland's medal winning teams, making her the only multi-medallist in the team sprint (classic and free) in Olympic history.

• BJOERGEN has won seven gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games, an outright record for a woman.
  At the Summer Games, only gymnast Larissa LATYNINA (URS, nine), canoe sprinter Birgit FISCHER (GER, eight) and swimmer Jenny THOMPSON (USA, eight) have won more gold medals among women.

• BJOERGEN has won a record-equalling 13 medals among men and women at the Winter Games, alongside biathlete Ole Einar BJOERNDALEN (NOR).

• Only one woman at the Summer Games has won at least 13 Olympic medals, LATYNINA won 18.

• Norway could become the first NOC to win six gold medals in cross-country skiing at the same Olympic Winter Games.

• Stina NILSSON (SWE), Maiken Caspersen FALLA (NOR) and Yulia BELORUKOVA (OAR) can join OESTBERG as the only women to win a medal in the individual sprint and team sprint at the same Winter Games. In 2014,

• OESTBERG won gold in the team and silver in the individual.

• Kikkan RANDALL (USA) and Yelena KOLOMINA (KAZ) are the only athletes to have appeared in all three previous Olympic team sprint events. RANDALL will compete in her 4th here in PyeongChang.

• RANDALL and Jessica DIGGINS (USA) won the freestyle team sprint event at the 2013 world championships.

• RANDALL and DIGGINS are the only non-Europeans to have won a ladies' team sprint World Cup event: the freestyle in Quebec, Canada on 7 December 2012.

• Sara RENNER (CAN) and Beckie SCOTT (CAN) are the only non-Europeans to have won a team sprint Olympic medal: the sprint classic in 2006.

MEN

PYEONGCHANG - Sweden, Norway and Finland are aiming to win their second gold medal in the men's team sprint, which is held on Wednesday 21 February at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre.

• No NOC has won multiple gold medals in this event: Sweden won in 2006, Norway in 2010 and Finland in 2014.

• NISKANEN claimed gold in 2014 alongside teammate Sami JAUHOJARVI (FIN). NISKANEN (22 years and 38 days old) and JAUHOJARVI (32 and 290) are respectively the youngest and oldest Olympic champions in the men's team sprint.

• At 21, Johannes Hoesflot KLAEBO (NOR) has already won two Olympic gold medals. He can become the fourth male athlete to win a third gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games before turning 22, after speed skater Eric HEIDEN (USA), alpine skier Toni SAILER (AUT) and then Rep. Korean short track speed skater AN Victor (KOR).

• KLAEBO can become the first Norwegian man to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Winter Games since biathlete Ole Einar BJOERNDALEN won four in 2002.

• Only three men have won a record three gold medals in cross-country skiing in a single Olympic Winter Games,

• Nikolai ZIMYATOV (URS) in 1980, Vegard ULVANG (NOR) in 1992 and Bjoern DAEHLIE (NOR) in 1992 and 1998.

• KLAEBO can become the second athlete to win the individual sprint and the team sprint at a single Olympic Winter Games, after Bjorn LIND (SWE) in 2006.

• Federico PELLEGRINO (ITA) has reached the podium in all of his six team sprint appearances (classic and free) in major competitions (World Cup, world championships, Olympic Winter Games) since an 11th place in the classic style at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

• Sweden, bronze medallist in this event in 2014, is hoping to claim its second Olympic title in the team sprint after 2006, when LIND and Thobias FREDRIKSSON triumphed.

• Sweden last claimed a men's team sprint victory in a major competition (World Cup, world championships, Olympic Winter Games) on 4 December 2011, when Jesper MODIN (SWE) and PETERSON won the freestyle World Cup race in Düsseldorf.

• Yuichi ONDA (JPN), Nikolay CHEBOTKO (KAZ), Maciej KRECZMER (POL) and Devon KERSHAW (CAN) are the only athletes to have appeared in all three previous men's team sprint events at the Olympic Winter Games.

• All previous nine Olympic medals in the men's team sprint event (classic and free) have been claimed by European NOCs.

*Statistics provided by Gracenote Sports