PREVIEW Ladies SPRINT CLASSIC STYLE – Saturday 24 Nov 2018 • For the 11th season in a row, Ruka will host the first sprint event of the World Cup calendar (2008-2018, all classic style). • Stina Nilsson won the ladies' sprint classic World Cup race in Ruka in each of the past two seasons. • The only athlete to win the opening ladies' sprint World Cup event in three successive seasons is Marit Bjørgen. Bjørgen did so on two occasions: in 2004-2006 (all in Düsseldorf) and in 2010-2012 (all in Ruka). • Only Bjørgen (4) and Petra Majdic (3) have won more ladies' sprint World Cup events in Ruka. Majdic won the first three sprint events held in Ruka from 2006 to 2008. • Nilsson won gold in the ladies' sprint classic event at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. The only reigning Olympic champion to win the first ladies' sprint event in the next season was Bjørgen in November 2010. • In total, Nilsson has won 12 ladies' sprint World Cup races, joint-fifth most all-time alongside Kikkan Randall. • Maiken Caspersen Falla won the ladies' overall sprint World Cup in each of the last three seasons. Only compatriots Bjørgen (5) and Bente Skari (5) have won the ladies' sprint title more often. • Falla has won 16 ladies' sprint World Cup races, one short of equalling Skari (17) in third place all-time. Only Bjørgen (40) and Majdic (20) have won more sprint World Cup races among women. • Falla has claimed 43 podium finishes in ladies' sprint World Cup races, only trailing Bjørgen (60) for most. • Falla has finished on the podium in seven of her last sprint World Cup races. The only exception was an eighth place in the World Cup final (freestyle) in Falun in March 2018. • Last season, Falla and Nilsson won both two of the four ladies' sprint classic races held in the World Cup. • The last skier other than Falla or Nilsson to win a ladies' sprint World Cup race was Anamarija Lampic in Pyeongchang on 3 February 2017. • Hanna Falk has finished on the podium at three of the six ladies' sprint World Cup races held in 2018, including winning the World Cup Final in Falun in March. • Laurien van der Graaff (2, including one shared win) and Sophie Caldwell (shared win) were the only skiers not from Sweden or Norway to win a ladies' sprint race last World Cup season. PREVIEW Men SPRINT CLASSIC STYLE – Saturday 24 Nov 2018 • For the 11th year in a row, Ruka will host the first sprint event of the World Cup season (2008-2018). • Norway has won 10 of the previous 12 men's sprint World Cup events in Ruka (all classic style). Only Teodor Peterson in 2011 and Nikita Kriukov in 2012 managed to avoid Norwegian success in this span (2006-2017). • Last season's sprint World Cup winner Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the event in Ruka on 24 November 2017. • Klæbo could become the third athlete with multiple sprint World Cup wins in Ruka, after Eirik Brandsdal (2) and Ola Vigen Hattestad (2). • Klæbo won seven of the 10 individual sprint World Cup events last season. Federico Pellegrino (2) and Sergey Ustiugov (1) won the other three. • Klæbo won all four sprint classic World Cup events last season. No skier had ever won four World Cup races in a row in this event. • Klæbo won the last men's sprint World Cup race (classic and freestyle) in Falun last season. The last time the same athlete won the last sprint World Cup event of the season and the first of the next season was Ola Vigen Hattestad in 2007/2008 (Drammen) - 2008/2009 (Ruka). • Eirik Brandsdal finished second in the last men's sprint classic World Cup in Drammen last season. • Brandsdal has won nine men's sprint World Cup events (classic and freestyle) and can become the sixth male athlete to win 10 sprint World Cup races. • Only Jens Arne Svartedal (11) and Emil Jönsson (8) have won more men's sprint classic World Cup events than Brandsdal (7). • Brandsdal can become the first ever male athlete to win three sprint World Cup races in Ruka. • Federico Pellegrino finished second in the overall sprint World Cup standings last season. • Pellegrino won two sprint World Cup races last season. He was the only other athlete than Klæbo to claim multiple victories last season in sprint World Cup races. • Pellegrino (11) has won more men's sprint World Cup races than all other Italians combined (9). • Pellegrino can win a sprint World Cup race in five different seasons, a feat no Italian has ever achieved. Cristian Zorzi also won a sprint World Cup race in four different seasons. • Pellegrino has won only one sprint classic style World Cup race in his career, in the Ski Tour Canada on 8 March 2016. No Italian has won multiple sprint classic World Cup races. • Sergey Ustiugov won one sprint World Cup race last season. His total five career sprint World Cup race wins were all in freestyle events. • Lucas Chanavat finished third in the sprint World Cup standings last season. He is looking to become the second ever male French athlete to win a sprint World Cup event. Bapiste Gros won the sprint freestyle in the Ski Tour Canada in 2015/16 .