Ruka preview - 10/15 km classic
Nov 24, 2018·Cross-Country
PREVIEW ladies 10km C – Sunday 25 Nov 2018
• Krista Pärmäkoski has won each of the last three ladies' 10km classic style World Cup races.
• The two skiers to have won most ladies' 10km classic World Cup races, Marit Bjørgen (16) and Justyna Kowalczyk (15), both retired at the end of last season.
• The only active skiers to have won at least three ladies' 10km classic races in the World Cup are Therese Johaug (5) and Pärmäkoski (3).
• Johaug could claim her 20th podium finish in a 10km classic event, equalling Virpi Kuitunen in third place all-time among ladies. Only Bjørgen (33) and Kowalczyk (22) have more.
• Johaug has won 50 ladies' distance events in the World Cup, only trailing Bjørgen (82) for most all-time.
• Heidi Weng won both the ladies' overall World Cup title and the ladies' distance World Cup title in both 2016/17 and 2017/18.
• Weng has claimed 13 podium finishes in this event, joint-fourth most alongside Bente Skari, but won only twice both in Val di Fiemme on 9 January 2016 and 6 January 2018.
• Charlotte Kalla has finished on the podium of 10 ladies' 10km classic races, but never won a World Cup race in this discipline.
PREVIEW Men 15KM CLASSIC STYLE – Sunday 25 Nov 2018
• Last season, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the first men's distance World Cup race of the season, also in Ruka (15km classic).
• The only athlete to win multiple men's 15km classic style World Cup races in Ruka is Iivo Niskanen, who won in 2014 and 2016.
• Klæbo won three distance World Cup races last season. Only Dario Cologna (4) won more men's distance races in the 2017/18 season.
• Cologna won the overall distance World Cup last season for the fourth time in his career, after 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2014/15.
• Alexander Bolshunov won the last 15km classic World Cup race in Falun last season.
• Alexey Poltoranin has won three of the four 15km classic World Cup races in 2018. His total of eight 15km classic World Cup race wins are already a record among men in the World Cup.
• Alex Harvey won the last men's distance World Cup race as he won the 15km pursuit in the World Cup Final last season. He has never won consecutive distance World Cup races.
• Martin Johnsrud Sundby can win his sixth 15km classic World Cup race, equalling Lukáš Bauer, Bjørn Dæhlie and Vladimir Smirnov in third place all-time.
