World Cup Finals Falun - Final Day pursuit

PREVIEW LADIES' 10KM PURSUIT – Sunday 18 Mar 2018

• Heidi Weng (NOR) could win the overall World Cup title after the races at the World Cup Final in Falun.

• Weng could become the first woman to win the overall classification in back-to-back seasons since Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) completed a three-peat in 2011.

• Last Sunday, Weng already secured the distance World Cup, her second in this discipline after also winning it in 2017.

• In the past four World Cup seasons, the ladies' overall standings was dominated by Norway as they claimed 11 of the 12 podium spots. The only exception was Krista Pärmäkoski's second place for Finland last year.

• The last non-Norwegian woman to win the overall World Cup title was Kowalczyk in 2013.

• Jessica Diggins (USA) can become third non-European woman to finish on the podium of the overall classification, after Canada's Beckie Scott in 2006 (second) and USA's Kikkan Randall in 2013 (third).

• The four ladies' pursuit races in this World Cup season were won by four different skiers, all from Norway: Weng in the Tour de Ski on 7 January (9km), Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (NOR) in the Tour de Ski on 1 January (10km), Marit Bjørgen (NOR) in Toblach on 17 December (10km) and Ragnhild Haga (NOR) in the 3-Days Tour on 26 November (10km).

• Weng can become the first woman to win back-to-back pursuit races in the World Cup since Krista Pärmäkoski in March-December 2016.

• Weng has claimed 17 pursuit podiums in the World Cup, including in each of the last eight events. Only Johaug (21) has more among women.

• Marit Bjørgen has won four World Cup races in the pursuit. Only Johaug (14) and Stefania Belmondo (ITA, 6) have won more among women.

• Since the start of the 2011/12 season, only three non-Norwegian women won a pursuit event in the World Cup (24 races in total): Charlotte Kalla (SWE) in Ruka in 2013 (3-Days Tour), Pärmäkoski in Canmore (Ski Tour Canada) and Lillehammer (3-Days Tour) in 2016 and Stina Nilsson (SWE) in Oberstdorf (Tour de Ski) in 2017.

• Teresa Stadlober (AUT) finished second behind Weng in the Tour de Ski pursuit last January, her second podium in the World Cup and the third in total for Austrian women in all events. Stadlober also finished third in the 10km classic in the 2018 Tour de Ski, while Maria Theurl (AUT) claimed third place in the 15km freestyle at the 1999 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships which also counted for the World Cup.

PREVIEW MEN'S 15KM PURSUIT

• Coming into this final weekend of World Cup action, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR) leads the overall men's standings.

• He could become the sixth Norwegian skier to win the overall men's World Cup standings. No other country has had more than four different winners (Sweden).

• Norway's 13 victories in total are already most for any country (Sweden 9).

• Klæbo (21 years) could become the youngest winner of the overall men's standings, surpassing Gunde Svan (SWE) who was 22 years old when he won in 1983/84.

• The last two men's overall World Cup standings were also won by a Norwegian, Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR). The last time a specific country won three times in a row was from 2004 to 2007 when German skiers emerged victorious four times.

• Cologna could still equal Svan on five World Cup titles in the men's overall standings, only behind Dæhlie (6).

• Coming into this weekend, Cologna leads the men's distance classification ahead of Sundby.

• Cologna (2011, 2012, 2015) and Sundby (2014, 2016, 2017) are tied on a record three titles in the men's distance standings (including middle and long distance standings).

• Coming into this weekend, Manificat has won nine individual distances races in total in the World Cup, joint-most for a French athlete together with Vincent Vittoz (FRA).

• The four men's pursuit events this World Cup season were won by four different skiers: Manificat (15km), Klæbo (15km), Cologna (15km) and most recently Sundby (9km in Tour de Ski).

• Only Bjørn Dæhlie (9) has won more men's pursuit events in the World Cup than Manificat and Sundby (both four). For Cologna and Klæbo, it was their first pursuit victory of their career.

• Manificat (three) is the only of these four skiers to win multiple 15km pursuit events in the World Cup.

• Manificat (2010) and Sundby (2014) have already won this event once during a World Cup final in Falun.

• Coming into this weekend, Sundby has won 22 individual World Cup distances races in total and needs one more win to join Petter Northug (NOR, 23) in fourth place on the all-time list among men.

• Only Northug (47) and Dæhlie (46) have won more World Cup events (individual and team, incl. Tour stages and overall Tour wins) than Sundby (43, excluding 15km classic style on Saturday).

• Coming into the weekend, Cologna has won four World Cup distance events this season, equalling his personal best for a single season from 2010/11 and 2011/12.