The year is not even a week old, but Team Madshus has already moved in on the podium and dominated the results both in biathlon and cross-country.
Emil Hegle Svendsen and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen have shown that they are a class of their own, owning the podium at the Oberhof World Cup this weekend.
On Friday, Super-Svendsen won the sprint by 4-tenths of a second to Bjoerndalen. On Saturday, the duo continued the party with another victory to Svendsen and second place to Bjoerndalen in the pursuit. And on Sunday, it was Synnoeve Solemdal’s (NOR) day at the races with a second place in the women’s mass.
On January 8 to 12, the IBU World Cup continues in Rupholding, Germany, with relays, individual events and pursuits for both men and women.
In the Tour the Ski, Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR) impressed everyone with her raid on the established elite from the very beginning. She posted the fastest qualifying time in the Oberhof sprint, won the sprint in Oberhof and continued with winning the sprint in Lenzerheide on December 31, then was 10th in the 10K Classic in Lenzerheide on Jan 1. Then Oestberg went home to prepare for the Olympics. (Story continues below)
But when Oestberg left, Heidi Weng (NOR) picked up the pace, working her way to a third place overall in the Tour de Ski 2014, via a 4th place in the 10K Classic in Lenzerheide, an 8th place in the 15K skate on January 3, and a 6th place in the 5K Classic on Jan 4.
Furthermore, Krista Laehteenmaeki (FIN) finished 4th overall in the Tour de Ski, posting several top-10 results on her way. Other names to note: Hanna Kolb (GER), Sara Lindborg (SWE), and Hanna Erikson (SWE), who all delivered plenty of strong performances among the top 10.
And finally, in the mens Tour de Ski, Madshus racer Didrik Toenseth (NOR) steadily worked himself up the list and finished the monster climb in Val di Fiemme in tenth place.
Now the cross-country World Cup moved on to Nove Mesto (CZE) with individual and team sprints on January 11 and 12.