PREVIEW WOMEN'S 30KM CLASSIC STYLE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – Saturday 6 Mar 2021

Therese Johaug  has already won nine gold medals in individual distance events at the Nordic ski world championships and is only one short of equalling Elena Välbe's all-time record of 10 (men's and women's).  Johaug's total tally of 13 Nordic ski world championship medals in individual distance events (G9-S1-B3) is joint-most all-time alongside Marit Bjørgen (G8-S4-B1).  Johaug won gold in all three individual distance events at the Nordic ski world championships in 2019 and has already won the title in the skiathlon and the 10km freestyle events in this year's edition.  Johaug has won three Nordic ski world championship gold medals in the women's 20km/30km event, joint-most all-time alongside Välbe and Bjørgen. Johaug triumphed in 2011 (freestyle), 2015 (classic) and 2019 (freestyle).  Johaug can become the second cross-country skier to win the women's 20km/30km event in successive editions of the Nordic ski world championships, after Välbe in 1995 (freestyle) and 1997 (classic).  Johaug, Välbe and Bjørgen are the only three cross-country skiers to have won a Nordic ski world championship gold medal in the women's 20km/30km in both the classic and the freestyle.

Frida Karlsson  won the most recent women's 30km World Cup race in the classic style, in on 7 March 2020. She finished 1.2 seconds ahead of Therese Joahug in second place.  Karlsson can become the second cross-country skier representing to claim gold in the women's 20km/30km event at the Nordic ski world championships, after Marie-Helene Östlund in the 20km freestyle in 1987 in .  Karlsson can become the first non-Norwegian cross-country skier to win the women's 20km/30km event at the Nordic ski world championships since Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk in 2009 (30km free).  Karlsson took bronze in the women's 30km freestyle race at the Nordic ski world championships in 2019. The 21-year-old can become the eighth cross-county skier to claim a Nordic ski world championship medal in the women's 20km/30km event in both the classic and the freestyle, and the first representing Sweden.  Karlsson (21y-208d) can become the third youngest winner of the women's 20km/30km race at the Nordic ski world championships, after Elena Välbe in 1989 (20y-311d) and Marie-Helene Östlund in 1987 (20y-282d).

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Other contenders  Ebba Andersson took bronze in both the skiathlon and the 10km freestyle event at this year's Nordic ski world championships. The only cross-country skier representing Sweden to claim more than two medals in individual distance events at a single edition is in 2015 (G1-S0-B2).  Krista Pärmäkoski can become the second cross-country skier representing FInland to win the women's 20km/30km event at the Nordic ski world championships, after Virpi Kuitunen in 2007 (30km classic).  Masako Ishida has appeared in the women's 30km event in seven of the last eight editions of the Nordic ski world championships (2005-2019), with a 10th-place finish in the 30km classic in 2013 in Val di Fiemme as her best result.  The 40-year-old can become the third cross country skier to make an appearance in this event in at least eight editions of the Nordic ski world championships, after Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (8) and Valentina Shevchenko (10).

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