Pre-comp facts Falun (SWE)
Mar 14, 2019·Cross-Country
Pre-competition facts Sprint F - Saturday, 16th March 2019
Ladies
Maiken Caspersen Falla
Maiken Caspersen Falla has won three of the last four individual sprint World Cup events, as well as the world title in the sprint in Seefeld in February.
Only Marit Bjørgen (40) and Petra Majdic (20) have won more individual sprint World Cup events than Falla (19).
Falla has won the last three individual sprint World Cup events she participated in. She can now claim four straight victories for the first time since February-March 2016 (4).
Earlier this season from December to January, Stina Nilsson won four individual sprint events in a row.
Falla has yet to win a World Cup event in Falun. Her best result here is a second place in the sprint freestyle behind Nilsson in January 2017.
Stina Nilsson
Only Stina Nilsson (4) and Maiken Caspersen Falla (3) have won multiple individual sprint events on the women's side this World Cup season.
Nilsson has won 16 career individual sprint World Cup events and needs one more victory to join Bente Skari (17) in fourth place all-time on the women's side.
Nilsson has failed to finish on the podium in her last two individual sprint World Cup events. The only time she failed to reach the podium in three successive sprint event appearances was in her first nine starts, from 2012 to 2014.
Nilsson finished on the podium in both her starts in an individual sprint World Cup in Falun - she won in 2017 and finished third in 2014.
Other contenders
Russia's Yulia Belorukova and USA's Jessica Diggins are the only female athletes not hailing from Scandinavia to have won an individual sprint event this World Cup season.
Belorukova won this season's World Cup opener in Ruka on 24 November (classic style). She could become the second woman representing Russia to claim multiple individual sprint World Cup event victories after Natalia Matveeva, who won in Düsseldorf in 2007 and in Toblach in 2017.
Diggins won the sprint World Cup event in Cogne (freestyle). She could become the third skier from United States to win multiple individual sprint events, after Kikkan Randall (12) and Sophie Caldwell (2).
Maja Dahlqvist has recorded five podium finishes in individual sprint events this World Cup season, joint-most along with Stina Nilsson on the women's side. Dahlqvist has yet to claim her first individual World Cup win.
Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen finished second in the sprint in Drammen on Tuesday. It was her first podium finish in an individual sprint event in three years.
Uhrenholdt has never won an individual sprint World Cup and the only time she finished on the podium in consecutive starts was in December 2007 - second in Ruka and in Rybinsk.
Men
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
Only Emil Jönsson (16) has won more individual sprint World Cup events on the men's side than Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (14).
Klæbo is on six individual sprint victories this World Cup season. He could equal his own record for most sprint victories in a World Cup season, seven in 2017/18.
Klæbo won the freestyle sprint in Falun last year. He could become the first man to win successive individual sprint World Cup events in Falun.
Klæbo has won 20 individual World Cup races in all events, equal to Dario Cologna in sixth place among men. Martin Johnsrud Sundby is fifth on 22 wins.
Federico Pellegrino
Federico Pellegrino (13) is equal with Ola Vige Hattestad (13) in joint-third place for most individual sprint World Cup wins, behind Emil Jönsson (16) and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (14).
Of his 13 individual sprint World Cup victories, Pellegrino claimed 12 in freestyle events.
Pellegrino finished on the podium of the last two individual sprint events in Falun - he won the World Cup race in 2017 and he finished second behind Klæbo in the World Cup Final in 2018.
Other contenders
Alexander Bolshunov (1) and Sindre Bjørnestad Skar (1) are the only winners of an individual sprint World Cup this season, other than Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (6) and Federico Pellegrino (2).
Sergey Ustiugov is the only Russian man to have won multiple individual sprint World Cups in a season - two victories in 2016/17.
Lucas Chanavat has claimed six podium finishes in individual sprint World Cup events, but has yet to claim his first victory.
Baptiste Gros is France's only winner of an individual sprint World Cup race, in the Ski Tour Canada in March 2016.
Eirik Brandsdal finished second in the sprint in Drammen on 12 March. He has won nine individual sprint World Cup races, but only two in freestyle. His last win in a sprint freestyle was in Lahti in March 2015.
Francesco De Fabiani recorded his first podium finish in an individual sprint event in Cogne (2nd place). It was his second top-10 finish, after a seventh place in the sprint freestyle in the World Cup Final in Falun in March 2018.
Pre-competition facts 10km/15km F – Sunday, 17th March 2019
Ladies
Therese Johaug
Therese Johaug (45) needs one more individual World Cup win to surpass Justyna Kowalczyk (45) and Elena Välbe (45) in second place of most wins among female skiers. Marit Bjørgen won a record 102 events.
Johaug has won all 11 individual distance World Cup (8) and world championships (3) races in which she participated this season. The last time she did not win an individual distance race was the 10km pursuit classic style in the Ski Tour Canada on 12 March 2016.
Johaug has won 10 of the last 12 ladies' 10km classic/freestyle events in which she started, including all six this season (World Cup 5, world championships 1).
Johaug has eight victories in individual distance events on Falun's snow (World Cup + world championships), one fewer than a record nine by Bjørgen.
Ingvild Flugstad Østberg
Only Therese Johaug (8) has won more individual distance World Cup races this season than Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (4).
Østberg could win five individual distance races in a single World Cup season for the first time in her career. Last season, she won a total of four distance races.
Østberg has never won an individual race on Falun's snow in the World Cup or at the world championships.
Other contenders
Natalia Nepryaeva won the 10km free in Toblach (Tour de Ski) on 30 December.
Nepryaeva can become the first female athlete representing Russia to win multiple individual distance events in a single World Cup season since Julija Tchepalova in 2005/06 (2 victories).
Kerttu Niskanen won the 10km classic in Cogne on 17 February. It was her second win in an individual distance event after a victory in the 10km classic in Lenzerheide in the Tour de Ski on 1 January 2014.
Niskanen has never finished on the podium in a World Cup 10km freestyle or 10km pursuit freestyle.
Ebba Andersson has finished in the top-four in all eight individual distance World Cup events she participated in this season, including six podium finishes. Andersson has yet to claim her first World Cup victory (any event).
Charlotte Kallawas the last woman to hand Sweden an individual distance World Cup victory, as she won the 10km free in Toblach on 16 December 2017.
Kalla is also the last Swedish woman to win an individual distance World Cup race on home snow - the 10km freestyle in Östersund on 15 February 2015.
Kalla is the only Swedish woman to win an individual distance World Cup race in Falun - the 10km pursuit on 21 March 2010.
Men 15km F
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
Coming into the Svenska Skidspelen races in Falun, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has won eight individual World Cup races this season.
In only two seasons a male athlete won more than eight individual World Cup events - Klæbo in 2017/18 (10) and Martin Johnsud Sundby in 2015/16 (11).
Prior to the races in Falun, of Klæbo's eight wins this season two were in distance events - the 15km pursuit freestyle and the 15km classic in the Tour de Ski on 3 and 5 January respectively.
Klæbo's best result in a distance event in Falun is a 22nd place in the 15km classic at the World Cup Final on 17 March 2018.
Alexander Bolshunov
Alexander Bolshunov has won the last two individual distance World Cup races.
The last man to win three successive distance World Cup races was Sergey Ustiugov who won four in a row in the 2016/17 Tour de Ski.
Bolshunov has claimed four World Cup victories this season (all events, including Tour stages and overall Tour wins). The only Russian (incl. Soviet Union) to have won more World Cup victories in a season was Sergey Ustiugov in 2016/17 (7).
Bolshunov has claimed seven podium finishes in individual distance events this World Cup season, at least four more than any other athlete.
Other contenders
Martin Johnsud Sundby has won 22 individual distance World Cup races and needs one more win to join Petter Northug (23) in fourth place on the all-time list among men.
Sundby won the 15km classic at the world championships in Seefeld in February. It was his first win in a distance event since January 2018 when he won the 9km pursuit in the Tour de Ski.
Sjur Røthe and Alexander Bolshunov have each won a season-high three men's distance events this World Cup campaign. Last season, Dario Cologna won a season-high four distance World Cup races.
The last Norwegian man to claim more than three individual distance victories in a single World Cup season was Sundby (4) in 2016/17.
Sergey Ustiugov has won seven World Cup distance events, tied for most among Russian men alongside Alexander Legkov (7) and Maxim Vylegzhanin (7).
Iivo Niskanen won the World Cup 15km classic style race in Otepää on 20 January. All three of Niskanen's World Cup race victories have come in the 15km classic style.
Maurice Manificat could equal Vincent Vittoz on a record 11 World Cup victories among French athletes (all events, both genders).
