Pre-competition facts Lahti

PREVIEW Ladies' SPRINT FREESTYLE – Saturday 9 Feb 2019

• Swedish female skiers have won five individual sprint events this season. Only in 2016/2017 they won more (6), all by Nilsson.

• Maiken Caspersen Falla won the last ladies' individual sprint World Cup race, the classic style in Otepää on 19 January.

• Falla has now won 17 ladies' World Cup individual sprint events, which has her tied with Bente Skari in third place all-time. Only Marit Bjørgen (40) and Petra Majdic (20) have won more.

• Falla has now won at least one individual sprint event in each of the last eight seasons. Only Bjørgen (11) has won ladies' sprint events in more different World Cup seasons.

• Falla won the last two sprint events in Lahti, in 2015/2016 and 2017/2018 (both freestyle). Only Bjørgen (4) has won more ladies' sprint events at this venue.

• Falla has won three ladies' individual sprint World Cup events on Finnish snow. She has only won more in her native Norway (5).

Dahlqvist determined to deliver missing medal in sprint events

• Maja Dahlqvist has registered four podium finishes in ladies' World Cup individual sprint events this season. She has finished second on two occasions and third on another two occasions.

• Her four podium finishes in ladies' individual sprint events are only one fewer than the five by the leader in this respect, Dahlqvist's countrywoman Stina Nilsson.

• Dahlqvist partnered with Stina Nilsson to win the only ladies' team sprint event of the season so far, on 13 January in Dresden.

• In total, Dahlqvist has claimed five podium finishes in ladies' individual sprint World Cup events without ever winning.

• Dahlqvist is the only Swedish woman to finish on the podium of at least one individual sprint World Cup event without ever winning.

Other contenders

• Russia's Yulia Belorukova is the only female skier not hailing from Scandinavia to have won a World Cup individual sprint event this season. She won this season's World Cup opener in Ruka on 24 November (classic).

• Natalia Nepryaeva finished runner-up in four of the last eight ladies' World Cup events (all disciplines), including in the sprint classic style in Otepäa on 19 January.

• Including her runner-up finish in the Tour de Ski, Nepryaeva has amassed five silver medals and seven total medals (W1-S5-B1) this season.

• Only Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (12) and Therese Johaug (10) have registered more top three finishes among women this World Cup season than Nepryaeva.

• Sadie Bjornsen, Jessica Diggins and Sophie Caldwell have all finished in the top three in ladies' World Cup individual sprint events this season.

• Diggins is the last female skier representing United States to win any World Cup event (10km free in Seefeld on 28 January 2018). Caldwell is the last female skier representing USA to win an individual sprint event in the World Cup (27 January 2018 in Seefeld)

• Among female US skiers, only Kikkan Randall has recorded more World Cup victories (14) than Diggins (6).

PREVIEW Men SPRINT FREESTYLE – Saturday 9 Feb 2019

• Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has won 12 individual sprint events in the World Cup (classic and freestyle), joint-third most all-time among men alongside Federico Pellegrino.

• Both Klæbo and Pellegrino could equal Ola Vigen Hattestad (13) in second place for most individual sprint World Cup victories among men. Only Emil Jönsson (16) has won more.

• Klæbo has won eight of the last 12 men's individual sprint events in the World Cup. No other athlete won more than two individual sprint events in this run (Pellegrino 2).

• Klæbo has won three men's individual sprint events in the freestyle this World Cup season, one short of equalling the record for most among men in a single season. Pellegrino won four individual sprint freestyle events in 2015/16.

• Athletes from Norway have won each of the last five men's individual sprint events (classic/freestyle) in the World Cup: Klæbo (4) and Sindre Bjørnestad Skar (1).

• Only twice, skiers from one country had a longer winning run in men's individual sprint events (classic/freestyle). Norwegian skiers won nine times in a row from February 2008 to January 2009 and seven consecutive sprint events from December 2004 to March 2005.

• The last non-Norwegian skier to win a men's individual sprint event in the World Cup was Federico Pellegrino in Lillehammer on 30 November 2018.

• Pellegrino (11) has won most men's individual sprint World Cup freestyle events. None of the other currently active skiers has won more than seven individual sprint events in the freestyle (Klæbo 7).

• Last season, Pellegrino won the men's individual sprint World Cup event (freestyle) in Lahti on 3 March 2018. He could become the third male skier to win multiple individual sprint events in Lahti, after Emil Jönsson (3) and Petter Northug (2).

• Pål Golberg (1 March 2014, freestyle), Eirik Brandsdal (7 March 2015, freestyle) and Emil Iversen (20 February 2016, freestyle) have also won an individual sprint event in Lahti.

• Klæbo (5), Pellegrino (3) and Alexander Bolshunov (2) are the only male skiers to finish on the podium of multiple men's individual sprint events this World Cup season.

• Bolshunov has won one individual sprint event this season, in the classic style in Ruka on 24 November. The only Russian male skier to win multiple individual sprint events (classic/free) in a single World Cup season is Sergey Ustiugov: two in 2016/17.

• Each of the last five Russian victories in men's individual freestyle sprint events were claimed by Ustiugov, most recently in Lenzerheide on 30 December 2017.

• Only one male skier from France has ever won a men's individual sprint event in the World Cup: Baptiste Gros in Québec on 4 March 2016 (freestyle).

PREVIEW Ladies' TEAM SPRINT CLASSIC STYLE – Sunday 10 Feb 2019

• This will be the first ladies' World Cup classic style team sprint event since 12 January 2014, when Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Maiken Caspersen Falla teamed for the victory for Norway in Nové Mesto na Morave.

• That was the most recent victory for Norway in a ladies' team sprint event in the World Cup.

• The ladies' team sprint classic style event was staged at the 2017 Nordic Ski World Championships in Lahti, when Falla and Heidi Weng took top honours.

• The ladies' team sprint at the 2019 Nordic Ski World Championships in Seefeld will also be contested in classic style.

• Earlier this season, there was a team sprint event contested in freestyle in the ladies' World Cup. On 13 January, Stina Nilsson and Maja Dahlqvist teamed for the triumph for Sweden in Dresden.

• The only duo's to win multiple ladies' team sprint events in a single World Cup season were Marit Bjørgen and Hilde Pedersen (3) in 2003/04 and Bjørgen and Ella Berg Gjømle (2) in 2004/05.

• In total, Sweden has won five of the last six ladies' team sprint events in the World Cup (all freestyle). The only exception was a victory for Yulia Belorukova and Natalia Matveeva representing Russia in Toblach on 15 January 2017.

• Maiken Caspersen Falla has been part of four winning combinations in ladies' World Cup team sprint events. Only Marit Bjørgen (10) and Hilde Pedersen (7) were part of a victorious team sprint partnership more often. Ida Ingemarsdotter has also won four ladies' team sprint events in the World Cup.

• Norway has won 15 ladies' World Cup team sprint events, more than twice as many as Sweden (7), which is the next most prolific country in this discipline.

• Norway (5), Finland (2) and Germany (2) are the only countries that have won ladies' World Cup team sprint events contested in classic style.

• The only previous such event staged on Finnish snow, on 6 March 2004 in Lahti, was won by the Norwegian partnership of Ella Berg Gjømle and Hilde Pedersen.

PREVIEW Men TEAM SPRINT CLASSIC STYLE – Sunday 10 Feb 2019

• This will be the first men's team sprint World Cup event in the classic style since 12 January 2014, when Nikita Kriukov and Maxim Vylegzhanin won in Nové Mesto na Morave representing Russia.

• It will be the second men's team sprint event this World Cup season, after the team sprint freestyle in Dresden on 13 January 2019. Erik Valnes and Sindre Bjørnestad Skar won representing Norway, ahead of Pål Golberg and Eirik Brandsdal (second, Norway) and Artem Maltsev and Gleb Retivykh (third, Russia).

• The only pairings to win two men's team sprint events (classic/freestyle) in a single World Cup season were Giorgio Di Centa and Cristian Zorzi in 2002/2003 and Nikolay Morilov and Alexey Petukhov in 2009/2010.

• The last country to win two men's team sprint events (classic/free) in a World Cup season was Russia in 2012/13.

• In total, Norway has won 11 World Cup events in the men's team sprint (classic/free), one more than Russia (10).

• Norway (5), Russia (3) and Germany (1) are the only countries to win multiple team sprint in the classic style.

• Sergey Ustiugov and Nikita Kriukov won the world title in the men's team sprint (classic style) in 2017. The men's team sprint event at the upcoming world championships in Seefeld in 2019 will again be contested in classic style.

• Ustiugov has finished on the podium of a men's team sprint event in the World Cup only once: he won alongside Alexey Petukhov in Otepää on 18 January 2015 (freestyle).

• In 2018, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Martin Johnsrud Sundby won the gold medal in the men's team sprint (freestyle) at the Olympic Winter Games.

• Klæbo has finished in fifth place in both of his previous men's team sprint events: alongside Sindre Bjørnestad Skar in Toblach on 15 January 2017 and alongside Kasper Stadaas in Dresden on 14 January 2018.

• Federico Pellegrino and Dietmar Nöckler have won two men's team sprint events together, in Planica on 17 January 2016 and in Dresden on 14 January 2018 (both freestyle). Only Cristian Zorzi (4) and Giorgio Di Centa (3) won more men's team sprint events in the World Cup among Italian men.

• Pål Golberg and Eirik Brandsdal finished in second place in the men's team sprint event (free) in Dresden earlier this World Cup season. Both Brandsdal (7) and Golberg (4) have finished on the podium of at least four men's team sprint World Cup events without ever winning.

• Brandsdal could equal Alexey Petukhov (8), Tor Arne Hetland (8) and Tobias Angerer (8) for most podium finishes all-time in men's team sprint events in the World Cup. Angerer also failed to win a single team sprint event.