The World Champs Continue in Sweden

Vail/Beaver Creek has been in the sun for the 2015 FIS Alpine World Championships. Now it’s Falun’s turn. The Swedish town is set to host the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships from Feb. 18 to March 1.

A hotbed of skiing in Scandinavia, Sweden often plays forgotten middle child to Norway’s boisterous clamoring at the top of the World Cup podium. The Swedes, however, know how to steal a show. Witness Johan Olsson’s heroic 50K victory in Val di Fiemme in 2011, among the gutsiest races ever skied.

Here are a few things to expect from the Nordic World Champs. But don’t hold your breath for the doses of vitamin D bestowed on Vail/Beaver Creek. Writer Jim Harrison once described Sweden as “a dour place without sunshine or garlic.”
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All Norway — Almost

If you had enough of Deflategate, and the overwhelming strength (and luck) of the New England Patriots had you reaching for the remote control during this year’s Super Bowl, then you likely have had your fill of the Norwegian season. In the first 42 possible World Cup podiums, Norway won 37 of them.

Norway also took the top spots in both the men’s and women’s Tour de Ski, and even when most of Norway stayed home to participate in the Scandinavian championships during the Rybinsk World Cup weekend, a Norwegian still won the women’s event. There is hope, however, that Norway will take a powder when it comes to the biggest days. It’s a very long season, and in the country with the most competition for spots just to arrive at the World Championships, coming in razor sharp has its costs. In the weeks ahead, Norway’s racers will fade — but not all of them, and not out of podium contention.

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Kikkan’s Stand

Notice this isn’t Kikkan’s last stand. The skier who’s done more to lift the American prospects in World Cup competition has suffered a recession in her own results this year, lacking the high-end gear that saw her win sprints at will and take three crystal sprint globes consecutively. Just why Kikkan has been so un-Kikkan-like is up for debate, though journalists and critics have pointed to the let-down of the Sochi Games; time in the off season spent shoring up sponsor dollars and the inevitability of aging. Randall has spent three weeks on Alaskan snow, her first time away from the World Cup in nearly a decade. Where she’ll land in Falun is everyone’s guess, though history would suggest it unwise to bet against the sprinter accented in pink.

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Even Stephen

Liz Stephen’s progress through the World Cup has often gone unnoticed because of the sharper results of her teammates and the less publicized nature of the distance events at which she excels. This year, however, the forward progress has been too much to ignore. After notching the best ever finish by an American at the Tour de Ski with some impressively consistent racing, Stephen followed up that effort with her first podium and the best distance result by an American, finishing second in the Rybinsk World Cup in the 10K freestyle race. “I’ve put more time into the mental preparation,” Stephen said after Rybinsk. That’s a smart strategy as the pressure and expectation of the World Championships are unmatched by anything short of any Olympic competition.

Matt Gelso. Credit Sarah Brunson/U.S. Ski Team

A New Hope

This year’s U.S. World Championship team has a number of familiar faces. Kris Freeman and Kikkan Randall will both partake of their eighth world championships. Simi Hamilton, Andy Newell, Ida Sargent and Sophie Caldwell bring high hopes to the sprint events. But interestingly, this year’s team includes four skiers without world championship experience: Rosie Brennan (Alaska Pacific University), Dakota Blackhorse von Jess (Bend Endurance Academy), Matt Gelso (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) and Kyle Bratrud (Northern Michigan University).

Brennan has already proved one to watch, having finished well at her first World Cup in Otepaa, Estonia, right after a string of victories at the National Championships. She partnered with Ida Sargent for a strong sixth-place finish in the team sprint competition. After winning at the National Championships, Blackhorse von Jess told members of the media that he felt he could ski with the “top 30 in the World.” Gelso has been a national contender since skiing to an NCAA championship five years ago, and Kyle Bratrud, a senior at Northern Michigan University, surprised most of the domestic racing scene by winning the 15K freestyle national title in Houghton. The new blood is needed in U.S. skiing, and promise comes to those who ski events like this early. Jessie Diggins broke out after a trip as a junior skier to the Holmenkollen World Championships in 2011.