Wide-open World Cup season awaits cross-country’s women

The women's 2022/23 FIS Cross-Country World Cup season was often a rollercoaster drama in which several skiers enjoyed time in the spotlight. With the new campaign about to start in Ruka, Finland, the candidates to win the sprint, distance and overall crystal globes will be many.

"There are a lot of girls who are able to contend for the podium," said Katharina Hennig, Germany's Olympic team sprint champion.

"If I have to pick any, I would say Ebba Andersson is the one to beat in the distance races and Jonna Sundling is the favourite for the sprints."

The two Swedes were the main names at the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia, in February and March. Sundling claimed the sprint and team sprint gold medals, while Andersson was the big overall winner, with triumphs in the skiathlon and 30km mass start as well as two bronze medals, in the relay and 10km free.

Looking at the results from last World Cup season, however, Hennig is correct to suggest there are many skiers who could top the rankings after the final competition in Falun, Sweden, in March.

Norway's Tiril Udnes Weng, who started last season strongly enough to claim the overall World Cup title, will certainly be looking to defend it this time around. The 27-year-old emerged as the champion after 34 events despite standing on the podium’s top step only once, at the 10km classic pursuit race in Val Müstair, Switzerland, on New Year's Day.

She might not, however, be able to repeat the two podium positions in three individual races she achieved in Ruka, Finland, last year: Weng is still affected having caught Covid-19 at a pre-season camp in Italy at the end of October and could miss the first races of the campaign.

Finland's 35-year-old Kerttu Niskanen showed age is just a number after achieving the best results of her career last season. The veteran claimed the distance title, finishing third in the overall rankings, and will be aiming high this year too as the World Cup kicks off on her home snow.

She will however have to improve on her opening result this winter – in a 10km classic race in Muonio, Finland, two weeks before the first World Cup, she finished fifth, 48 seconds behind winner Hennig.

The USA's Jessie Diggins gave Niskanen a run for her money and claimed second place in the distance standings – 94 points behind the Finn – as well as in the overall. The 2021 overall champion could get an extra boost this season as the World Cup comes to North America for two stops – Canmore, Canada, and Minneapolis, USA, in Diggins's home state of Minnesota.

Sweden's Maja Dahlqvist and Switzerland's Nadine Faehndrich battled it out for the sprint globe last year, Dahlqvist emerging victorious by seven points to clinch the win for the second year in a row.

Chasing a third consecutive title, Dahlqvist will face stiff competition from Norway's 24-year-old rocket Kristine Stavaas Skistad, who won five sprint races in the last two months of the season, as well as from Weng, who finished third in the total sprint standings, just as she did in the distance ranking.

For Dahlqvist, however, much of the competition is also likely to come from within her own team. World champion Sundling showed she is World Cup-ready by winning the last pre-season sprint race in Gallivare, Sweden, beating teammates Emma Ribom and Dahlqvist, who finished second and third, respectively.

Tour de Ski champion Frida Karlsson has spent nine weeks training at high altitude before the season kicks off, hoping to defend her feat this year.

The 24-year-old, who said her fourth-place in the pre-season sprint race was "exceeding her expectations", and Johanna Hagstroem, No.4 in the sprint standings last year, will also be pushing for the sprint podium positions – making the Nordic cross-country powerhouse a constant favourite in the relays.