XC-Predictions: Ready for new season!
The World Cup season 2012/2013 starts in Gällivare in Sweden on Saturday November 24th with 10 km Free for women and 15 km Free for the men. The World Cup opening is always special for the skiers – as they are unsure about how their shape is compared to their competitors.
- Set up your predictions for the 10/15 km Free in Gällivare here. Deadline 2012-11-24 10:30:00
The course in Gällivare is a technical course with a lot of curves and short up- and downhills (see course map at the bottom of this preview).
First for Johaug on 10 km free?
The big three on a 10 km Free the last seasons have been Marit Bjørgen (Norway), Justyna Kowalczyk (Poland) and Charlotte Kalla (Sweden). Bjørgen won the last two international season openings ahead of Kalla, while Kowalczyk on the other hand is usually not in top shape in the first races. The Polish superstar often uses the first races of the season to get in shape ahead of Tour de Ski, and finished only 10th and 7th in the World Cup openings in Sjusjøen and Gällivare the two last seasons.
However, for the first time in a long, long time, the main favourite in a World Cup race for women is not one of the big three. Instead Therese Johaug (Norway) is the big name. In the national season opener in Beitostølen last weekend Therese Johaug showed that she is capable of climbing all the way to the top after beating Marit Bjørgen twice. Even if 10 km Free has not been Johaug’s favourite discipline in the World Cup (7th and 9th from the last two international season openers), she is now counted as the big favourite.
In the 10 km free season opener in Bruksvallarna Kalla took the victory ahead of new Swedish surprise Emma Wiken and Ida Ingemarsdotter. The corresponding race in Muoni (Finland) saw Kowalczyk on top ahead of Elizabeth Stephen and Yulia Tchekaleva – Riita-Liisa Roponen was best Finn in fourth. In Beitostølen Johaug won with nearly a minute ahead of Bjørgen and Heidi Weng.
Open among the men
In the mens class it is more open, but Petter Northug, Marcus Hellner and Dario Cologna are surely three of the biggest favourites along with Johan Olsson and Maurice Manificat. Johan Olsson – the winner in the World Cup opening in Sjusjøen last year – showed great shape by winning the Swedish season opening in Bruksvallerna. Northug was second in Sjusjøen last year – and looked very confident in the Norwegian season opener in Beitostølen last weekend. The Russians will be strong again – and also look out for Daniel Richardsson and Dario Cologna.
In the 15 km free season opener in Bruksvallarna last weekend Johan Olsson took the victory ahead of Daniel Richardsson and Ivan Babikov. Matti Heikkinen took the Muoni 15 km free opener ahead of Lukas Bauer and Jens Filbrich. Beitostølen saw Petter Northug on top with Maurice Manificat in second and Finn Haagen Krogh in third. There was also an international FIS race in Gällivare with a small, strong startfield which Dario Cologna won ahead of Alexander Legkov and Curdin Perl.
Name | 2011 Sjusjoen 2011-11-19 15 km F |
2010 Gällivare 2010-11-20 15 km F |
2010 Whistler Olympic Park 2010-02-15 15 km F |
2010 Canmore 2010-02-05 15 km F |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
COLOGNA Dario | 7th | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | |
HELLNER Marcus | 9th | 1st | 4th | 6th | |
OLSSON Johan | 1st | 32nd | 11st | 7th | |
DI CENTA Giorgio | 27th | 10th | 1st | ||
PILLER COTTRER Pietro | 34th | 39th | 2nd | 2nd | |
BAUER Lukas | 8th | 3rd | |||
NORTHUG Petter jr. | 2nd | 41st | |||
CLARA Roland | 3rd | 20th | 27th | ||
RICKARDSSON Daniel | 30th | 3rd | 22nd | 23rd | |
JESPERSEN Chris Andre | 23rd | 4th | |||
LIVERS Toni | 28th | 12nd | 12nd | 4th | |
VITTOZ Vincent | 28th | 5th | |||
HALFVARSSON Calle | 4th | 50th | |||
LEGKOV Alexander | 11st | 6th | 15th | 15th | |
SEDOV Petr | 59th | 5th | 26th | 8th | |
FISCHER Remo | 6th | 18th | 15th | 16th | |
BERGER Lars | 8th | ||||
MANIFICAT Maurice | 17th | 17th | 6th | ||
TEICHMANN Axel | 47th | 37th | 44th | 5th | |
ANGERER Tobias | 14th | 44th | 7th | 14th | |
ROETHE Sjur | 36th | 7th | |||
HARVEY Alex | 5th | 34th | 21st | 62nd | |
POLTORANIN Alexey | 10th | 22nd | |||
BABIKOV Ivan | 42nd | 54th | 8th | 10th | |
MORIGGL Thomas | 43rd | 24th | 9th | ||
JOHNSRUD SUNDBY Martin | 13rd | 10th | 33rd | ||
VYLEGZHANIN Maxim | 16th | 15th | 9th | 49th | |
FREEMAN Kris | 55th | 9th | 59th | 20th |
Name | 2011 Sjusjoen 2011-11-19 10 km F |
2010 Gällivare 2010-11-20 10 km F |
2010 Whistler Olympic Park 2010-02-15 10 km F |
2010 Canmore 2010-02-05 10 km F |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BJOERGEN Marit | 1st | 1st | 3rd | ||
SMIGUN-VAEHI Kristina | 2nd | ||||
KALLA Charlotte | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | |
KOWALCZYK Justyna | 10th | 7th | 5th | 2nd | |
FOLLIS Arianna | 3rd | 11st | 10th | ||
SKOFTERUD Vibeke W | 3rd | 6th | 22nd | ||
BERGER Tora | 4th | ||||
STEIRA Kristin Stoermer | 5th | 4th | 8th | ||
HAAG Anna | 15th | 8th | 4th | 5th | |
KHAZOVA Irina | 44th | 20th | 3rd | ||
SHEVCHENKO Valentina | 17th | 32nd | 9th | 4th | |
MEDVEDEVA Evgenia | 7th | 17th | |||
GOESSNER Miriam | 21st | 7th | |||
KRISTOFFERSEN Marthe | 6th | 5th | 48th | ||
NYSTAD Claudia | 16th | 8th | |||
RUPIL Silvia | 19th | 24th | 14th | 6th | |
ROPONEN Riitta-Liisa | 21st | 23rd | 6th | ||
JOHAUG Therese | 7th | 9th | |||
VALBUSA Sabina | 17th | 9th | |||
MALAHOVA-SHISHKINA Svetlana | 10th | 12nd | |||
RANDALL Kikkan | 8th | 19th | 44th | ||
OESTBERG Ingvild Flugstad | 9th | 35th | |||
FESSEL Nicole | 47th | 9th | 28th |