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SKIING

Swedes claim surprise double in Nordic skiing World Cup

Sweden picked up an unexpected pair of victories in the men’s and women’s Nordic skiing World Cup competition in Estonia on Sunday.

Published: 18 January 2010 08:13 CET

On the men’s side, Sweden’s Emil Jönsson eked out a win at the men’s classic sprint after holding off a challenge from Norway’s Ola Vigen Hattestad in a photo finish.

Jönsson came home in a time of 3 minutes 16.7 seconds, but Hattestad was on his shoulder at the line and finished with the same time, but the Swede won by the narrowest of margins.

Russia’s Nikita Kriukov was third and was also in contention right until the line as he finished just 0.2 seconds behind the winner.

Norway’s Petter Northug remains the overwhelming leader in the overall World Cup rankings with 1060 points ahead of second-placed Lukas Bauer who has 763 points.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s Anna Falk claimed her second World Cup victory at the women’s classic sprint in a blanket finish.

The 20-year-old, who won the free-style sprint in Düsseldorf last December, came home first after holding off a strong challenge from Slovenia’s Petra Majdic and Finland’s Aino Kaisa Saarinen.

Falk’s winning time was 3min 6.8sec while Majdic, who is tipped for a medal at next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver, finished just 0.1 seconds behind in second while Saarinen was 0.9 seconds back.

Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, the overall world leader, was eliminated in the semi-finals and leads from second-placed Majdic in the rankings.

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SKIING

Snow report: What’s the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

Good news for skiers in France, as a mild December has given way to a cold blast in early January that's bringing some much-needed snow.

Published: 5 January 2024 14:50 CET
Snow report: What's the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

After a mostly dry and mild December, snow returned to the the Pyrenees on Friday.

Meanwhile most resorts in the Alps have been able to stay open after a promising early start to the ski season, thanks to fresh snowfalls, with more on the way this weekend.

Pyrenees

Snow has returned in the Pyrenees. Some 5cm fell overnight into Friday, January 5th in eastern parts of the mountain range, with forecasts predicting a further 15cm to 20cm to be on the ground 24 hours later. The region had not seen any snow since December 2nd.

In Angles, 20cm of snow had fallen at higher altitudes by mid-morning on Friday.

Further west, numerous resorts in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département remained closed this week after early December snow had melted in mild conditions that have dominated France in recent weeks, but significant snowfall is expected over the weekend into Monday, and resorts are hoping that they will see enough to open.

One resort, Artouste, has been unable to offer skiing since the start of the season on December 23rd due to a lack of snow. A scenic rail service – usually reserved for warmer months – has kept the resort going. It is set to stop running on Friday, amid expectations of enough snow to finally open the slopes.

READ ALSO Climate crisis: ’90 percent’ of Europe’s ski resorts face critical snow shortages

Alps 

Many ski resorts opened on time, or even a little earlier than scheduled last month, after significant early snow fall, and have enjoyed deposits in the first days of 2024. But, even here, resort managers welcomed the promise of more significant snow this weekend.

Some resorts weren’t so fortunate. Ski areas in Gérardmer, in the Vosges, were still closed in the week leading up to Christmas because of poor snow conditions, but they are hoping for enough snow to finally get started this weekend, while La Bresse-Honeck was using ‘stocked snow’ made by using snow that fell earlier in the winter months to stay open as recently as December 30th.

In the Northern Alps, resorts such as Alpe d’Huez benefited from fresh snowfall on December 22nd, while Val d’Isère had new snow on December 29th. In the Southern Alps, Les Orres’ last pre-New Year snow was on December 8th.

And the French Alps have enjoyed more snow since the start of the year. There’s at least 50cm of fresh snow on the higher slopes of Les Gets and Morzine, for example, a significant improvement on the same time last year, when the resorts were among several that had very little snow to speak of.

In Chamonix, meanwhile, snow has fallen on eight of the last 14 days, with more expected every day between Friday and Monday.

Massif Central

As the post on X / Twitter shows, the Massif Central has not had the best of winters for snow so far. But between 30cm and 50cm is expected in Le Lioran by Monday. 

READ ALSO ‘So many barriers since Brexit’: The French ski businesses no longer willing to hire Brits

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