Preview opening mini-tour in Ruka, FIN

FIS Cross-Country World Cup gets underway on Friday, 24th November with a three-day mini-tour. All the fun facts and statistics you need to know before the first World Cup of the season.

Ladies

Norway has a perfect record in the 3-Days Tour, claiming all previous seven overall titles.

Marit Bjørgen (NOR) won the first five editions (2010-2014), Therese Johaug (NOR) triumphed in 2015 and Heidi Weng (NOR) took last season's title.

Norway has claimed 15 of all 21 podium spots in 3-Days Tour history. Only Sweden (3), Poland (2) and Finland (1) also managed to record a top-three finish in the competition.

Four-time overall World Cup winner Bjørgen has won all four 3-Days Tours in Ruka she participated in (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).

Bjørgen (8), Johaug (6) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL, 2) are the only athletes with multiple 3-Days Tour stage wins (excluding overall).

Bjørgen claimed seven of her eight 3-Days Tour stage wins in Ruka (1 in Lillehammer).

Bjørgen is on a record 140 World Cup wins (individual, relay/team, Tour stages, overall Tour), including a personal-high 15 in Ruka (11 in Falun).

Bjørgen's total tally of 15 World Cup wins in Ruka is an all-time high for an athlete at this venue and nine more than next on the table Johaug (6).

Johaug won the last time Ruka hosted the 3-Days Tour (2015), ahead of runner-up Stina Nilsson (SWE) and third-placed Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (NOR).

Norway has won 14 of the last 15 Tours (3-Days Tour, Tour de Ski, World Cup Final, Ski Tour Canada), including each of the last 12.

The last non-Norwegian athlete to claim a Tour victory was Poland's Kowalczyk, when she won the 2013 Tour de Ski overall title.

Bjørgen is on 11 Tour wins, at least six more than any other athlete. Kowalczyk and Johaug are next with five wins each.

Nilsson, who finished in second place in the 2015 3-Days Tour in Ruka, is hoping to become the second athlete from Sweden to claim a Tour victory after Charlotte Kalla (SWE), who won the 2008 Tour de Ski.

Krista Pärmäkoski (FIN) claimed a third-place finish in last season's 3-Days Tour in Lillehammer and could become the second female Tour winner from Finland after 2007 and 2009 Tour de Ski champion and 2008 World Cup Final winner Virpi Kuitunen (FIN).

MEN

Last season's overall World Cup winner Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) has won the last four 3-Days Tours (2013-2016), including the last two held in Ruka (2013 and 2015).

The seven 3-Days Tours (Ruka and Lillehammer) have been won by just three different athletes. Sundby has claimed a record four victories, Petter Northug (NOR) is on two wins (2011 and 2012).

The last five winners of the 3-Days Tour went on to win the overall World Cup that season (including Sundby in 2014/15, who was later stripped of his 2014/15 overall World Cup title).

Matti Heikkinen (FIN) is the only non-Norwegian athlete who has reached the podium in the last three editions of the 3-Days Tour. Heikkinen claimed a third-place finish in Lillehammer last season.

Sundby, Calle Halfvarsson (SWE) and Lukás Bauer (CZE) are the only athletes to have won multiple 3-Days Tour stages, all three triumphed twice (excluding overall).

Halfvarsson is the only athlete to have claimed multiple 3-Days Tour stage wins in a single edition, as he won the sprint classic and the 3km free in Lillehammer last season.

Sundby is on a record six podium finishes in 3-Days Tour stages and is the only athlete to have record a top-three stage finish in each of the last four editions.

Sundby’s first individual World Cup victory came in Ruka as he won the 15km classic style on 30 November 2008.

Norwegian athletes have won 11 of the last 12 Tours (3-Days Tour, Tour de Ski, World Cup Final, Ski Tour Canada). Only Sergey Ustiugov (RUS) avoided Norwegian success in this span (2013-2017), as he won last season's Tour de Ski.

Of the previous 27 Tours, Sundby claimed a record eight overall wins. Northug triumphed on six occasions. Dario Cologna (SUI) recorded five wins.

Klæbo already is the youngest Tour winner, as he won the 2017 World Cup Final in Quebec at age 20.

Halfvarsson is hoping to become the first Tour winner from Sweden. Sweden has claimed four Tour podium finishes, with Marcus Hellner's (SWE) second-place finish in the 2011/12 Tour de Ski as best result.

Daniel Richardsson (SWE) is the only athlete from Sweden to have claimed a top-three finish in a 3-Days Tour, as he finished in third place in the 2010 edition in Ruka.

Alex Harvey (CAN) was runner-up in last season's World Cup Final and could become he first athlete from Canada to claim a podium spot in a 3-Days Tour.

Harvey, who also claimed a second-place finish in the 2014 World Cup Final, is aiming to become the first ever non-European Tour winner.

Northug has won 18 Tour stages (3-Days Tour, Tour de Ski, World Cup Final, Ski Tour Canada), at least nine more than any other athlete. Sundby and Cologna are in joint-second place with nine Tour stage victories each (excluding overall).