Weng out to Equal Matikainen and Kowalczyk Diggins Eyeing First Crystal Globe Johaug Set to Make World Cup Comeback
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Preview Cross Country Skiing 2018/2019 World Cup - Ladies Weng out to equal Matikainen and Kowalczyk • Heidi Weng can win the ladies' overall World Cup for the third season in succession. • The only two women who have done so before are Marjo Matikainen (1986-1988) and Justyna Kowalczyk (2009-2011). • Weng can join Matikainen (3), Kowalczyk (4), Bente Skari (4), Marit Bjørgen (4) and Elena Välbe (5) as only women to have won the overall World Cup at least three times. • Weng also won the distance World Cup in the last two seasons. Kowalczyk is the only woman to have won the distance crystal globe three seasons in a row, from 2009-2011. • Weng can join Bjørgen (3) and Kowalczyk (4) as only women to have won the distance World Cup on at least three occasions. • Weng has finished in fourth place in the sprint World Cup on two occasions, in 2015/16 and 2016/17, but has never finished on the podium in the sprint standings. • Three women have won the crystal globe in the overall, distance and sprint event: Bjørgen, Kowalczyk and Virpi Kuitunen. Diggins eyeing first crystal globe • Jessica Diggins finished second in the ladies' overall World Cup last season and third in the distance World Cup. • Only two US cross-country skiers have previously won a crystal globe: Bill Koch won the men's overall in 1981/82 and Kikkan Randall won the ladies' sprint in 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14. • Diggins and Randall became the first US cross-country skiers to win a gold medal in the sport at the Olympic Winter Games, as they finished first in the ladies' team sprint event in PyeongChang earlier this year. Randall has since after the season. • Diggins her best result in the sprint World Cup standings is a sixth place in 2017/18. Johaug set to make World Cup comeback • Therese Johaug returns from a suspension. She won the ladies' overall and distance World Cup in 2013/14 and 2015/16 and finished second in both these events in 2014/15. • Johaug can join Marjo Matikainen (3), Justyna Kowalczyk (4), Bente Skari (4), Marit Bjørgen (4) and Elena Välbe (5) as only women to have won the overall World Cup at least three times. • Johaug can join Bjørgen (3) and Kowalczyk (4) as only women to have won the distance World Cup on at least three occasions. • Johaug has finished on the distance World Cup podium on six occasions: two victories, two times second and two times third. She can join Bjørgen on a record seven distance World Cup podium finishes (men and women). Falla looking to make it four sprint victories in a row • Maiken Caspersen Falla can become the third athlete to win the ladies' sprint World Cup four seasons in a row, after Bente Skari (5 from 1998- 2002) and Marit Bjørgen (4 from 2003-2006). • Skari and Bjørgen (both five) are the only cross-country skiers to have won the ladies' sprint World Cup more often than Falla (3). • Falla (5) can join Bente Skari on six podium finishes in the ladies' sprint World Cup. Only Bjørgen (8) has finished on the podium more often. OtHer contenders • Ingvild Flugstad Østberg has claimed eight podium finishes in the World Cup standings, but she has never won a crystal globe (four times second place, four times third place). • Only Katerina Neumannová (10) claimed more podium finishes in the World Cup standings without ever winning a crystal globe (men and women). • Stina Nilsson finished on the podium in the sprint World Cup in each of the last three seasons: third in 2015/16 and second in 2016/17 and 2017/18. • Krista Pärmäkoski finished second in the overall World Cup and third in the distance World Cup in 2016/17. She finished fourth in these two events last season. • The last Finnish cross-country skier to win an individual ladies' World Cup crystal globe was Virpi Kuitunen. She won the overall and distance World Cup in 2007/08. Preview Cross Country Skiing 2018/2019 World Cup - Men Klæbo out to add to last year's success • Last season, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the overall World Cup. • Aged 21, Klæbo became the youngest winner of the overall men's standings. Gunde Svan was 22 years old when he won in 1983/84. • Klæbo sets out to become seventh man to successfully defend his overall title, after Svan (1984-1986 & 1988-1989), Bjørn Dæhlie (1992-1993 & 1995-1997), Per Elofsson (2001-2002), Tobias Angerer (2006-2007), Dario Cologna (2011-2012) and Martin Johnsrud Sundby (2016-2017). • Norwegians have won the last three overall World Cup titles: Sundby in 2015/16 and 2016/17 and Klæbo in 2017/18. • Cross-country skiers from one country can win the overall men's standings four times in a row for the fourth time. Swedes won six titles in a row from 1984-1989 (Svan and Torgny Mogren), Norwegians won five titles in a row from 1995-1999 (Dæhlie and Thomas Alsgaard) and Germans won four titles in a row from 2004-2007 (Angerer, Axel Teichmann and René Sommerfeldt). • Klæbo has won the last two sprint World Cup titles and can become the first male athlete to win this title three times in a row. • Thobias Fredriksson (2003-2004), Ola Vigen Hattestad (2008-2009) and Emil Jönsson (2010-2011) previously won the men's sprint title two years in a row. • Klæbo could join Hattestad and Jönssen on a record three sprint globes among men. Hattestad also won in 2014 and Jönsson in 2010. • Klæbo and biathlete Martin Fourcade each won a record three gold medals at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games. For Klæbo it marked his first participation at the Winter Olympics. Sundby in search of more World Cup titles • Martin Johnsrud Sundby finished third in the overall World Cup last year behind Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Dario Cologna last season. • Sundby previously won the overall World Cup in 2013/14, 2015/16 and 2016/17 and could claim his fourth overall crystal globe (Sundby was stripped of his 2014/15 overall World Cup title). • Sundby could equal Cologna on four overall World Cup victories. Only Gunde Svan (5) and Bjørn Dæhlie (6) have collected more overall crystal globes. • Sundby also won the distance World Cup in 2013/14, 2015/16 and 2016/17. Only Cologna (4) has won more distance titles, including the crystal globe in this event last season. • Cologna (6, G4-S2-B0) is also the only cross-country skier to have reached the podium more often in the men's distance World Cup than Sundby (5, G3-S2-B0). • All World Cup events combined, Sundby's number of six total crystal globes in men's events is only trumped by Dæhlie's eight and by Cologna's eight. Cologna eyeing record number of crystal globes • Dario Cologna is tied with Bjørn Dæhlie on a record eight World Cup titles among men (all events). • Cologna won the overall title in 2008/09, 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2014/15 and the distance title in 2010/11, 2011/12, 2014/15 and 2017/18. • Among women, Marit Bjørgen (12), Justyna Kowalczyk (9) and Bente Skari (9) have won nine or more World Cup titles. • Cologna (12) can join Petter Northug on 13 total podium finishes in the World Cup standings (all events). Only Dæhlie (16) has finished on the podium more often among men. OtHer contenders • Federico Pellegrino has finished on the sprint World Cup podium in each of the last four seasons: third in 2014/15, first in 2015/16 and second in 2016/17 and 2017/18. • Pellegrino can become the first Italian to win multiple crystal globes among men (all events). Pietro Piller Cottrer won the distance World Cup in 2008/09. • Pellegrino's four total podium finishes in the sprint World Cup see him only chase Tor Arne Hetland (6) and Emil Jönsson (5) for most among men. Jönsson retired earlier this year. • With his seven overall World Cup podium finishes, Petter Northug only trails Vladimir Smirnov (8), Gunde Svan (8) and Bjørn Dæhlie (10) for most among men. • Sergey Ustiugov's only World Cup podium finish was his second place in the men's overall in 2016/17. • Lucas Chanavat finished third in the men's sprint World Cup last season. Never has a French cross-country skier won a World Cup crystal globe (male or female). .