Pre-competition facts Ulricehamn

PREVIEW Women 10KM FREESTYLE – Saturday 26 Jan 2019

• Last Sunday, Therese Johaug won the 10km classic World Cup race in Otepää to claim her 43rd individual distance World Cup victory.

• Johaug now needs one more win to equal Elena Välbe (44) in second place all-time on most individual distance World Cup victories. Marit Bjørgen has won a record 62 individual distance World Cup events.

• Johaug has won all six individual distance World Cup races in which she appeared this season.

• Norwegian athletes have won 10 of the 11 individual distance World Cup races this season. Only Natalia Nepryaeva avoided Norwegian success when she won the 10km free in Toblach (Tour de Ski) on 30 December, 0.3 seconds ahead of Ingvild Flugstad Østberg.

• Nepryaeva, third in the 10km World Cup race in Otepää last week, can become the first female athlete from Russia to win multiple individual distance events in a single World Cup season since Julija Tchepalova in 2005/06 (2 victories).

• World Cup leader Ingvild Flugstad Østberg has won four individual distance World Cup events this season, including the last two in the freestyle.

• Østberg could win five individual distance races in a single World Cup season for the first time in her career. Last season, she also won four distance races.

• Krista Pärmäkoski has finished in the top six in each of the 11 individual distance World Cup events this season, but she has claimed only two podium spots. Pärmäkoski finished third in the 10km free in Davos and in second place in the 9km pursuit (freestyle) in Val di Fiemme.

• Pärmäkoski's five individual distance World Cup wins all came in the classic style.

• Charlotte Kalla is the last female athlete from Sweden to win an individual distance World Cup race on home snow, when she won the 10km free in Östersund on 15 February 2015.

• Kalla also was the last athlete to hand Sweden an individual distance World Cup victory, as she won the 10km free in Toblach on 16 December 2017.

• Jessica Diggins won the last individual distance World Cup event in Sweden, a 10km pursuit in the freestyle in Falun on 18 March 2018 (World Cup Final).

• Diggins claimed just one podium spot in the 11 individual distance World Cup events this season, a third-place finish in the 10km pursuit (freestyle) in Oberstdorf (Tour de Ski) on 3 January.

PREVIEW Men 15KM FREESTYLE – Saturday 26 Jan 2019

• Iivo Niskanen won the men's 15km classic style in Otepää last Sunday. It was Finland's first win in a men's World Cup event since Matti Heikkinen won the 15km pursuit classic in Lillehammer in the 3-Days Tour on 4 December 2016.

• All three of Niskanen's World Cup wins have been in the 15km classic event.

• Of Finland's 31 men's World Cup wins, 30 were in distance events. On 10 December 1997, Ari Palolahti won a sprint freestyle World Cup in Milan.

• Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has won six individual World Cup events this season (excl. overall Tour victories). Last season, Klæbo won 10 World Cup races, of which he had won eight by the end of January.

• Klæbo has won two distance events this season, a 15km pursuit in the free and a 15km in the classic style (both in Tour de Ski). Only Sjur Røthe (3) has more distance victories this season.

• Sjur Røthe has won three individual distance World Cup races this season. Last campaign, Dario Cologna won a season-high four distance World Cups.

• The last male athlete from Norway to claim more than three individual distance victories in a single World Cup season was Martin Johnsrud Sundby (4) in 2016/17.

• Røthe has won nine World Cup events and he could become the 12th Norwegian man to claim (at least) 10 World Cup victories (all events and including overall Tour wins).

• Alexander Bolshunov has claimed five podium finishes in individual distance events this World Cup season, at least two more than any other athlete.

• Bolshunov was the only athlete from Russia to win a World Cup event on Swedish snow (excl. overall Tour wins), as he won the 15km classic in the World Cup Final in Falun on 17 March 2018.

• Ulricehamn will host a cross-country World Cup for the second time, after 2017. Alex Harvey won the 15km freestyle event during that World Cup weekend, on 21 January 2017.

PREVIEW Women 4 X 5KM RELAY – Sunday 27 Jan 2019

• Norway has won 13 of the last 14 relay events in the World Cup (excluding team sprints), including each of the last 10.

• The last team other than Norway to win a relay World Cup was Italy, in Rybinsk on 6 February 2011.

• Norway is unbeaten in its last 13 relay World Cup appearances (excl. team sprints), as Norway did not participate in the relay in Rybinsk in 2011.

• The last time Norway entered a relay in the World Cup (excl. team sprints) but failed to claim the victory was in Beitostølen on 22 November 2009, when Norway finished in second place behind Sweden.

• Only Vibeke Skofterud (17) and Marit Bjørgen (20) have won more relay World Cup events (excl. team sprints) than Therese Johaug (14).

• Johaug has won each of the last 11 relay World Cup events in which she participated, since a second-place finish in Beitostølen in 2009.

PREVIEW Men 4 X 7.5KM RELAY – Sunday 27 Jan 2019

• Norway has won nine of the last 10 relay races in the World Cup (excluding team sprints), including each of the last five.

• Martin Johnsrud Sundby was part of the winning team on eight occasions in these last 10 World Cups. He also finished third once.

• Sundby has won 13 relay World Cup events in total (excl. team sprints), at least three more than any other athlete.

• Norway last failed to win a relay in the World Cup on 8 December 2013 (excl. team sprints), when Russia won the 4x7.5km in Lillehammer, 1.6 seconds ahead of Norway.

• The last time Norway failed to claim a podium spot in a relay World Cup race was on 6 February 2011 (excl. team sprints), when Russia (1st), Italy (2nd) and Germany (3rd) all finished on the podium in Rybinsk.

• Norway has not missed out on a podium spot in each of their last 17 relay appearances (excl. team sprints) in the World Cup, as Norway did not participate in Rybinsk in 2011.

• The last time Norway entered a relay World Cup race (excl. team sprints) but failed to record a top-three finish was on 9 December 2007, when Norway finished in fourth place behind Czech Republic (1st), Italy (2nd) and Sweden (3rd).

• Russia has finished on the podium in three of the last four men's relay World Cup events. The exception was a seventh place in Ulricehamn on 22 January 2017.

• Sweden's only podium finish in a men's relay World Cup in the last six years was its second place behind Norway in Ulricehamn in January 2017.

• Canada finished third in the relay in Ulricehamn in January 2017 to claim its only podium finish in the relay in the World Cup.