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Norway’s Marit Bjoergen stormed to gold in the women’s 30km mass start cross-country ski race, claiming her 15th Olympic medal in the final competition of the Pyeongchang Games on Sunday. Bjoergen, the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time, broke early and kept up a relentless pace to finish almost two minutes ahead of silver medalist Krista Parmakoski of Finland, with Stina Nilsson taking the bronze for Sweden.

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PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) - Norway's Marit Bjoergen stormed to gold in the women's 30km mass start cross-country ski race, claiming her 15th Olympic medal in the final competition of the Pyeongchang Games on Sunday.

Bjoergen, the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time, broke early and kept up a relentless pace to finish almost two minutes ahead of silver medalist Krista Parmakoski of Finland, with Stina Nilsson taking the bronze for Sweden.

The 37-year-old has been superb in Pyeongchang, writing history in almost every race, and the eighth Olympic gold of her career and fifth medal overall at these Games put her into two more select band of athletes.

Bjoergen equaled the record of eight career golds at the Winter Games, matching two compatriots, biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and cross-country skier Bjoern Daehlie.

She also equaled the record of winning five medals at a single Games, something 10 athletes have done, including Bjoergen herself in 2010.

"I'm really happy and it's hard to understand what I have done from my first Olympics in Salt Lake until now," she told reporters.

Like Iivo Niskanen in Saturday's men's race, Bjoergen made an early break, gradually opening up a gap and never looking back.

The chasing group of Sweden's Charlotte Kalla, Finns Krista Parmakoski and Kerttu Niskanen and Teresa Stadlober of Austria would have hoped that Bjoergen would burn out and then fade away but instead she built up a lead of almost a minute by the halfway mark.

A change of skis saw Kalla drop out of the chase briefly but it would make little difference to her chance of a gold medal with Bjoergen, rather than tiring, continuing to increase her lead. The Swede was left battling to get on to the podium.

Kalla's cause was helped when Stadlober took a wrong turn on the tight, winding course but it was team mate Stina Nilsson who came out of the pack to battle for bronze as Niskanen also fell away.

Bjoergen had the luxury of skiing at a leisurely pace over the line, waving a Norwegian flag, while Parmakoski cruised in almost two minutes behind her to claim the silver.

Nilsson, who won the individual sprint medal and took silver in the team sprint, timed a late spurt to pass Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg, rounding her Norwegian opponent and beating her to the line for the bronze.

Bjoergen's emotions got the better of her as she crossed the line and the most successful Winter Olympic athlete of all time explained that she was thinking of her young son as she did so.

"I think my feelings were that I could do it on this distance and also that I have been a mother and I have been three weeks away from Marius, and now I knew that I'm finished and tomorrow I can see him," she said.

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Cross-country skiing: Historic Bjoergen storms to mass start gold

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PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) - Norway's Marit Bjoergen stormed to gold in the women's 30km mass start cross-country ski race, claiming her 15th Olympic medal in the final competition of the Pyeongchang Games on Sunday.

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Recent doping bans for Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Therese Johaug means the Norway-Sweden rivalry has not always been good-humored.

Sundby was banned in 2016 for over-use of an asthma medicine, while three-time Olympic medalist Johaug tested positive in September 2016 for the steroid clostebol.

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There's Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal, Real Madrid versus Barcelona, the Yankees versus the Red Sox -- and then there's Sweden versus Norway in cross-country skiing.

Which explains why Swedish reporters are attending a Norwegian press conference in a nondescript gymnasium in Pyeongchang.

Not that they've come to listen to what Norway's cross-country skiers, the best in the world in this punishing trade, have to say. Instead they have a trick up their sleeve, a prank which will later spark numerous articles and copious amounts of TV coverage in the two neighboring countries.

The journalists from Swedish newspaper Expressen have brought with them a cardboard cut-out of Norwegian cross-country great Petter Northug. This is not a spur-of-the-moment piece of mischief, the Northug cutout flew with the Expressen team from Sweden to South Korea.

Why? The two-time Olympic champion was not selected by the Norwegians for the Winter Olympics, but the 32-year-old is a figure the Swedes love to hate.

Swedish fans wanted Northug at PyeongChang 2018 and so their journalists brought the next best thing with them to the Games and placed the one-dimensional Northug in front of the microphones. Photographers clicked into action and TV crews filmed the comical scene before a Norwegian press officer took him away.

'The Norwegian media loved it'

There's history when it comes to the Swedish-Norwegian cross-country cold war.

"Ten to 12 years ago a guy called Petter Northug rocked up, became the best in the world, and escalated this Sweden-Norway cross-country fight," Tomas Petersson, of Expressen, explains to CNN Sport.

"He loved to win, but he loved even more to mock the Swedes and he's been doing it for 10-12 years. And this started the war in the media.

"Every time a Swedish journalist interviews Petter, he brings the hard stuff against Swedish skiers and Sweden in general.

"As a newspaper in Sweden we love Petter because he brings interest to the sport and what we write, so we brought a cut-out of him here.

"It was fun. The Norwegian leaders weren't so happy, but the skiers thought it was quite funny and the Norwegian media loved it. The article on that trick was the most read story in our newspaper that day."

The Expressen team have another stunt planned before the conclusion of the Games, but Petersson smiles when probed to reveal more.

"It's a bit more sensitive so we don't know if we can pull it off," he says.

Norway's riposte to such high-jinx? By winning gold medals. Lots of them.

Of their table-topping 13 golds, six have been won in cross-country skiing. The Norwegians have, so far, won 13 of the 30 available medals in a sport that doubles as a national obsession.

Sweden -- second to Norway in the cross-country medal table in Sochi four years ago -- have five medals, two of them gold.

"We're getting pretty used to it," says Petersson wryly of Norway's success.

"Norway has been better for some years now. We get a bit tired of it."

Over a hundred years of rivalry

To understand this battle for supremacy on the trails, we must go back to the 19th Century, to the 1880s when the two countries were in union, under the reign of one monarch. There was political conflict and rumblings of war before the coalition was peacefully dissolved in 1905.

"Sport in Norway was organized in the 1880s as a kind of war preparation against Sweden," explains Esten O. Sæther, a journalist for the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.

"Our sport association was founded in order to prepare to tackle the Swedish. Luckily, there wasn't a war, but since then it's been a struggle between Sweden and Norway and, mostly, a friendly struggle, and the most important sports struggle has been in cross-country skiing."

Thirty years of hurt for Sweden

Sweden was the dominant force in cross-country skiing in the 1980s, but then came the Norwegians, on a mission to rule the snow world.

Before hosting the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994, the Norwegians established the Olympiatoppen, their national elite sports center, and the result has been over 20 years of dominance in cross-country skiing.

At these Games, that success has broadened to other sports and the Norwegians have celebrated glory in Alpine skiing, biathlon, curling, freestyle skiing, ski jumping and speed skating.

But it is cross-country skiing, and beating their Swedish neighbors, that matters most to this country of 5.2 million people. Sweden's population is nearly twice the size of Norway's.

Their supremacy in their national sport is not all of their own doing, however. Norway has been assisted, says Sæther, by the Swedish population's shift from the countryside to the cities during the 1950s and 60s.

While interest in cross-country skiing remains high in Sweden, the number of participants in the sport is dwarfed by Norway.

In Sweden's national cross-country championships, says Sæther, there will be roughly 70 competitors in the men's and women's events. Across the border, there will be 250 athletes vying for national supremacy.

"Every child has a pair of skis and it's very common on Saturdays and Sundays to go skiing all over the country in Norway," says Sæther.

"It used to be the same in Sweden, but the main difference is that in Sweden the people moved earlier to the cities.

"They lost a lot of the population in the rural districts and the best skiers usually, or used to be, from rural districts and it's still like that in Norway.

"When you have a great part of the population in the cities then you could have a problem."

Doping bans, souring of relations

It could be argued that no sporting success story can compare to that of Norway's in cross-country skiing.

This snow nation has won 18 medals in total -- including gold in all five of the women's events -- at the 2017 World Championships in Finland, seven more than nearest rivals Germany.

It is Norwegians - Heidi Weng and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo -- who lead the current overall World Cup women's and men's standings.

In recent years questions have been raised over the ethical use of asthma medicines by Norwegian athletes.

Recent doping bans for Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Therese Johaug means the Norway-Sweden rivalry has not always been good-humored.

Sundby was banned in 2016 for over-use of an asthma medicine, while three-time Olympic medalist Johaug tested positive in September 2016 for the steroid clostebol.

Johaug, now 29, said the positive test came from the use of an ointment used to treat sunburnt lips during a training camp.

An investigation by the Norwegian Ski Federation found no wrongdoing by the team, but the 191-page report did say that the use of asthma medicines to treat temporary symptoms represented an ethical dilemma.

Sæther says: "You had a poll two years ago that shows about 40% of the Swedish population think that it's organized doping in Norwegian cross-country. That was a big story. It's the media that are raising the suspicion. It's the harsh language they use."

But Expressen's Petersson says he and his compatriots are reporting Norwegian doping stories just as any other country would.

"Of course, if Norwegians are accused of cheating then we write about it," he says. "In both cases it was unlucky. I don't think they were cheating on purpose but they got caught."

Who cares the most?

Despite recent controversies, this still remains one of sport's friendliest, and often entertaining, rivalries.

Which country cares the most? The answer depends on the nationality of the narrator.

"I was in the world championship in Sweden in 1993 and at that time Sweden was really bad," says Sæther.

"I was walking behind a small boy one morning and I heard him say to his mother 'I hate Norwegians, I really hate Norwegians' because they're winning everything.

"It's quite hard when you're so interested in cross country and you lose almost every time."

But Petersson describes the relationship akin to that of siblings. Norway, the smaller, younger brother, obsessing over the big brother.

When the Expressen columnist wrote an article before the start of the Games, claiming that he did not think Norway's Marit Bjoergen would reign supreme in Pyeongchang (the 37-year-old cemented her place as the greatest ever Winter Olympian with a relay bronze medal on Wednesday), within 90 minutes he had received over 300 emails from irate Norwegians.

"Everyone was pissed with me," he says. "Sweden is like the bigger country and have influenced Norway a lot. They've always been interested in anything that happens in Sweden so they love being better than Sweden in sports.

"The Swedes don't care that much. But it's really fun and brings a lot of interest to the sport. It's really something special."

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winter olympics 2018: norway and sweden's cross-country skiing cold war - cnn

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Winter Olympics: Norway and Sweden's cold war

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There's Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal, Real Madrid versus Barcelona, the Yankees versus the Red Sox -- and then there's Sweden versus Norway in cross-country skiing. Which explains why Swedish reporters are attending a Norwegian press conference in a nondescript gymnasium in Pyeongchang.

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In order to be a good cross country skier, you must have good gear. To get good gear, you must pay the sometimes steep price. In this article, the author talks about the best equipment to buy such as skis, boots, and poles. One piece of equipment he suggests are the Fischer Twin Skin X-Lite skis which are $290.

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Cross-Country Skiing Just Got Easier-Thanks to a Gear Upgrade

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Fans of the gloriously simple sport are enjoying an influx of high-tech equipment, synthetic materials and modern construction techniques.

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German Madrazo finished last in the men's 15km free. He was welcomed by many fans holding the flag of Mexico. But in those moments after Madrazo crossed the finish line, he was the star of the show. Cologna, nearly 26 minutes removed from his gold-medal finish, came back to the finish line to to congratulate the last-place finisher. What started as a packed house full of rowdy Scandinavians had dwindled in the intervening half an hour, but the remaining fans whooped and hollered for Madrazo down the stretch and into his celebration.

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The real battle in the men's individual sprint came down to Italy's Federico Pellegrino and Alexander Bolshunov, an Olympic Athlete from Russia. Klaebo finished the finals in 3 minutes, 5.76 seconds. Pellegrino closed at 3 minutes, 7.09 seconds and Bolshunov just behind the Italian at 3 minutes, 7.11 seconds. Klaebo became the youngest male cross-country skiing gold medalist.

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There was a photo finish ... for silver, as Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the gold with ease.

The men's individual sprint Tuesday came down to a photo finish ... for the silver medal.

Because the gold medalist, yeah, that really wasn't in question.

Norwegian skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, 21, led the individual sprint finals from its start to its finish to become the youngest male Olympic cross-country skiing gold medalist in history at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea.

"I heard that one," Klaebo said of being the youngest male gold medalist in the sport. "For sure, that is cool, (but) I just try to focus on what I can do. I think, with this, a lot of pressure from the outside can come. It is even better to win when you can deal with the pressure."

The real battle in the men's individual sprint came down to Italy's Federico Pellegrino and Alexander Bolshunov, an Olympic Athlete from Russia.

Pellegrino and Bolshunov raced to a photo finish, with the Italian getting the call for the silver medal. All three skiers won their first Olympic medals in the individual sprint.

Klaebo finished the finals in 3 minutes, 5.76 seconds. Pellegrino closed at 3 minutes, 7.09 seconds and Bolshunov just behind the Italian at 3 minutes, 7.11 seconds.

Back to Klaebo, the Norwegian wonder boy who struck again.

The 21-year-old captured his first Olympic gold medal in his second event. He came in 10th Sunday in the 30km skiathlon Sunday, his first event.

"It means a lot," Klaebo said. "I think it has been a lot of pressure from outside the last couple of weeks and to be able to win here is unbelievable."

Outside pressure comes with entering PyeongChang atop the FIS rankings with 1,112 overall points.

Klaebo, who received his first pair of skis from his grandfather when he was 2 years old, made his World Cup debut in the 2016-17 season, with an FIS ranking of 115th in sprint points.

This came after breaking out on the junior circuit at the 2016 Junior World Championships, where he won three gold medals, two coming in individual events.

That landed him an opportunity in a training spot with the Norwegian national sprint team in which he showed he can hang with some of the best cross-country skiers.

Then came the 2017-18 season. Klaebo won his first medal at the Worlds during the 2017 World Championships, winning the bronze medal in the sprint.

Perhaps the pre-race pressure got to him in his first Olympic competition. That's understandable for a 21-year-old on the biggest stage in sports.

But, on Tuesday, Klaebo introduced himself to the Winter Olympics. It should only get easier from here.

"For sure, it is difficult," Klaebo said. "I have not slept good for a few days. Now the shoulders are low and I can have focus on what is coming next. For sure, I am going to celebrate this one."

Klaebo and Pellegrino finished 1-2 in the first semifinal to earn a spot in the finals. Norway's Paal Golberg and Bolshunov the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers also advanced to the six-man final.

In the second semifinal, Finland's Ristomatti Hakola and Sweden's Oskar Svensson advanced. Both were over two seconds slower than the "lucky losers."

Both U.S. men Erik Bjornsen and Simi Hamilton failed to advance past the quarterfinals.

Hamilton's chances were doomed after crashing on the first downhill portion of the course. As a result, Hamilton finished his quarterfinal heat in 3 minutes, 27.89 seconds, more than 10 seconds behind the top finisher in his heat, Martti Jylhae of Finland.

"It is a really fast right-hand corner coming off that first downhill," Hamilton said. "Coming into that steep climb, I think everyone wants to be on that left side because that is what ultimately gives you the best line over the top of that hill.

"We were four big guys trying to squeeze into one really small place. My tips got skied over the last second, as we were hitting the tracks so my skis stopped dead and my body kept going and I ended up on my face."

Team USA's 42-year cross-country medal drought lives on, for at least one more event.

After a day off Wednesday, cross-country skiing picks back up Thursday with the women's 10km individual.

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Under pressure, Klaebo becomes youngest male cross-country skiing gold medalist

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There was a photo finish ... for silver, as Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the gold with ease. The men's individual sprint Tuesday came down to a photo finish ... for the silver medal. Because the gold medalist, yeah, that really wasn't in question.

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This ever-increasing interest and participation in human-powered backcountry snowsports has a significant economic impact. During the 2015/2016 winter season sales of backcountry ski and snowshoe gear surpassed $50 million, continuing a trend of increasing each year. Ski touring gear alone topped $54
million.

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They are hailed as the vanguard of a new generation of clean Russian cross-country skiers, all are under the age of 23 and all are coached by a man who was once suspended for doping offenses. Borodavko was suspended from working with the Russian national team for two years in 2010 after the Russian Cross-Country Ski Federation said he was among a group of coaches “involved in doping cases.”

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The 2018 winter Olympics concluded today with a mishap. The final event was the ladies' 30km mass start classic and Teresa Stadlober of Austria was in a good position to win a medal when she took a wrong turn. The turn took the austrain skier up a hill and before she realized it, it was too late.

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The Winter Olympics concluded on Sunday with the ladies' 30km mass start classic.

Teresa Stadlober of Austria was in a good position to win a medal when she took a wrong turn.

The wrong turn took her up a hill and by the time she figured out what happened, she fell from second to eighth and out of medal contention.

The Winter Olympics concluded on Sunday with the ladies' 30km mass start classic.

Among the skiers to compete in the event was Teresa Stadlober of Austria. It was her fourth event of the games and possibly her best shot at winning a medal.

But things went horribly wrong when she took a wrong turn, got lost, and fell from what looked like a likely silver medal to no medal at all.

After 56 minutes, everything seemed fine for Stadlober (in bib No. 4). She was more than 80 seconds behind the leader, but she was at the front of a pack in the battle for silver and appeared to be the strongest of the group.

At first, it was unclear what happened next.

NBC cut away from the chasing group to show the leader for about a minute. When they returned to Stadlober, she was all alone.

There was nobody else in sight!

The announcers were confused.

"Where are the Finns?" they said, referring to the skiers from Finland who were part of the chase group. "That's a huge gap, a lot of daylight! Now where are the Finns? Are they ahead of her or behind? It almost seems unrealistic that she has opened up that kind of gap."

But then she started to look behind. Even she seemed confused.

Finally, the NBC's aerial view figured out that Stadlober had taken a right-hand turn when she was supposed to go straight.

Making matters worse, that turn was an uphill climb as the other skiers kept proceeding downhill.

She eventually figured it out and started coming back down the hill.

But at this point the damage was done. By the time she got back on the correct course, she fell from second to eighth and out of medal contention.

She ultimately finished ninth. Just crushing.

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In the final event of the Winter Olympics, an Austrian cross-country skier took a wrong turn, got lost, and blew a shot at a medal

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The Winter Olympics concluded on Sunday with the ladies' 30km mass start classic. Teresa Stadlober of Austria was in a good position to win a medal when she took a wrong turn. The wrong turn took her up a hill and by the time she figured out what happened, she fell from second to eighth and out of medal contention.

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The U.S. women's cross country skiing team benefited greatly from a customized wax truck. In December, through a massive fundraising effort and with the help of U.S. Ski and Snowboard, the American women bought a state-of-the-art wax truck that follows them to World Cup competitions. This allows the women to have fresh skis at all times.

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On this day, there were qualification races for both women and men for cross country skiing. After qualifying, the men and women had to go through 5 quarterfinals and 2 semifinals. At the end of the day, Sweden's women's team won gold, and Norway's men's team won gold.

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Cross-Country Skiing | Daily Schedule (13 Feb) - Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games

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Official 2018 Winter Olympic schedule and results for Cross-Country Skiing. View the competition schedule by day for the PyeongChang Olympics (9-25 Feb). Find results as they happen which athletes are taking home medals for which countries. Don't miss a minute of the most exciting winter sports event.

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For the cross-country skier Martin Moeller, the most difficult thing about cross country skiing isn't the intense training or the freezing cold, it's the eating. Research has shown that a typical male elite cross-country skier must consume 7,000 to 8,000 calories a day (more than three times the caloric needs of an average male) to meet the energy demands of the sport. Female elite skiers must eat about 3,500 to 4,000 calories a day (about double the calories consumed by the average woman)

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A typical elite cross-country skier will burn about 30 calories a minute during training - by comparison, a 155-pound person on an elliptical machine burns about 11 calories a minute.

Research has shown that a typical male elite cross-country skier must consume 7,000 to 8,000 calories a day - more than three times the caloric needs of an average male - to meet the energy demands of the sport. Female elite skiers must eat about 3,500 to 4,000 calories a day - about double the calories consumed by the average woman. (A Swedish study found that during the hardest training days it can reach 8,126 for men and 4,780 for women - about double the calorie needs of Kenyan marathon runners.)

What does it take to consume 8,000 calories - the equivalent of about 20 plates of lasagna or 40 scoops of ice cream - every day?

For cross-country skiers, who often have slim builds and limited stomach capacity, it means eating several times a day, and often planning their schedules around their constant meals. Many have tricks to help them fuel - they eat mashed foods, high-calorie bars, calorie-laden sports drinks; they carry backpacks full of beef jerky and almonds, and they always take dessert.

"I'm laughing about it and at myself because it feels normal," said Caitlin Patterson, 28, an American skier who finished 34th out of 62 in the 15-kilometer women's skiathlon. "It is something we think about a lot of the time," she said, as she snacked on beef jerky after a workout at the Olympic cross-country center. "It's an important part of your job because fueling is so important for your physical performance."

Patterson, who is 5-foot-9 and about 132 pounds, estimates she takes in up to 3,500 calories a day depending on her training level. Fueling starts with a breakfast of two eggs fried in butter topped with melted Vermont Cheddar, plus two pieces of toast with jam and no guilt. "It's a good combination of the nutrients that I need to get through the training," she said.

After morning training she quickly eats about 300 calories in snacks - beef jerky, almonds, a few Fig Newtons and maybe an orange. She eats lunch when she gets home. A big salad with maple-mustard dressing, a grilled cheese sandwich or quesadillas, followed by a cookie or a bowl of Ben and Jerry's milk and cookies ice cream. After a few hours rest, it's time to start thinking about eating again for her afternoon training.

Dr. Ola Ronsen, chief medical officer for the Norwegian Ski Federation, said that on many days the athletes simply cannot eat enough. Research has shown some may fall as much as 1,000 calories short of their body's daily needs. As a result, it is important that they keep up the same eating routine on their days off to make up the deficit.

The problem, said Ronsen, is that many athletes feel full before they have entirely replaced the energy loss of training. "When you train you take a lot of energy from the muscles," he said. "But when you are replacing that, you're using your stomach and gut to process the food before it's brought back via circulation to your muscles. You've filled up your stomach, but feeling full is not always a reliable signal that it's enough for the muscles to replace the glycogen."

Moeller says that eating is such a big part of his day that it can sometimes interfere with family time with his sons, ages 6 and 8. "My kids do say, 'Do you have to eat again? Now?'" he said. "When you have to go out with the kids, I often say, 'We have to wait. I have to eat.'"

Moeller, who is six feet tall and about 176 pounds, says he trains four to five hours a day and takes in about 8,000 calories a day, following a rigorous eating schedule to get it all into his body. In addition to eating a large breakfast (fried eggs, oatmeal and white beans), lunch (pasta with meat sauce, pan-fried fish and salad) and dinner (double servings of whatever his family is eating), he eats two smaller pre-training meals, two small recovery meals and a small extra meal before bedtime (any combination of oatmeal, bread, cheese, ham, honey, sports drinks and sometimes cheesecake or chocolate cake or a doughnut if he wants it.)

This summer, Moeller adjusted his diet to eliminate sugar and focus on only so-called "healthful' foods. "I lost a little weight but I was not skiing faster - I was skiing slower," he said.

He decided to go back to eating whatever and whenever he felt like. "When you have to eat a lot, you have to eat the stuff you like to eat," he said. "It's not eating cake all the time of course. You need to eat all the healthy stuff. But it's not good to say this is something I can't eat. If you want a doughnut or a Coke, you get a lot of calories like that and you recover much faster. It's better than eating less."

During weeks of strenuous training during the season, the athletes are pushing so hard that their bodies begin to release hormones that suppress appetite, making it an even bigger challenge to get the necessary nutrients. "If you come to a point where the training is so hard your desire to eat goes down, that's a critical balance," Ronsen said. "It's a delicate situation. You really have to force yourself to eat even though you don't feel like you are hungry anymore."

Susie Parker-Simmons, a senior nutritionist for the United States Olympic Committee, says that meeting the calorie demands of the sport can be especially challenging for women, who can lose their menstrual cycle and bone mineral density if their eating falls behind. "It's just so hard to get that amount of calories in," she said. During a team event in Switzerland, she worked with the athletes to help them fuel, recommending that they take in calorie-dense foods right after training like sports drinks and gels, Clif bars, smoothies and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

"They said, 'If you come look after us we'll just eat or drink what you give us,'" she said of the American skiers

Linda Bakkman, a sports nutritionist with the Swedish Olympic Committee, said that even Olympic athletes must contend with cultural biases around eating high-calorie foods. "You can't meet the energy requirement of being a cross-country skier with salad," she said. "There is an educational challenge."

The Swedish cross-country skier Daniel Rickardsson, 35, who won Bronze in the 15-kilometer event in Sochi in 2014 and who will compete in the grueling 50 kilometer on Saturday, said that fuel is a constant need. . During a race, which can last a few hours, he needs to consume about 100 grams of carbohydrates every 15 to 20 minutes. A crew member hands him a high-concentrate sports drink at regular intervals on the course.

It helps that he spends time with teammates who also eat three regular meals each day (porridge, cheese and meat sandwiches, quinoa, tuna, chicken, vegetables) plus six small meals including one before bedtime (high-protein yogurt, banana, eggs, cheese sandwiches.)

"It's breakfast, training, lunch, rest, eating, training, eating and rest and eating," Rickardsson said. "It's what we do."

For Moeller of Denmark, who finished about six minutes behind the winner in the men's 15-kilometer freestyle cross-country event, Pyeongchang is likely to be his last international competition, although he still plans to continue skiing and to run marathons. "But I'm looking forward to relaxing and not training so much," he said. "And I'll eat a lot less."

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Olympic Cross-Country Skiers Eat 8,000 Calories a Day. It's Exhausting.

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A typical elite cross-country skier will burn about 30 calories a minute during training - by comparison, a 155-pound person on an elliptical machine burns about 11 calories a minute. Research has shown that a typical male elite cross-country skier must consume 7,000 to 8,000 calories a day - more than three times the caloric needs of an average male - to meet the energy demands of the sport.

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On Wednesday, February 21st, the U.S. ended a drought and made history. Diggins accelerated into another gear on her third lap, as she passed Norwegian skier Maiken Caspersen Falla and then out-sprinted Sweden’s Stina Nilsson to the finish line. Then, as she beat individual sprint gold medalist Nilsson to the line, she screamed and the celebration began. The 42 year long drought was ended as the U.S. won gold.

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Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall become the first American cross-country skiers to win an Olympic gold.

Jessie Diggins knew it was time to make a move if she wanted to end the United States' 42-year cross-country Olympic medal drought.

When she began her second lap Wednesday in the women's team sprint, there were too many skiers around her, and when that happens, accidents occur. Dreams are shattered. Goals go incomplete. Years of hard work go for naught. Medal droughts live in.

Diggins and her teammate, Kikkan Randall, had skied too conservatively in the semifinals - despite posting the fastest overall time. That carried over to the first lap in the finals, she said.

"It's time to start dropping people," Diggins said.

With that, the long wait was over. American cross-country skiing history was made and a 42-year Olympic medal drought ended. That moment put Diggins and Randall in the record books.

Diggins accelerated into another gear on her third lap, as she passed Norwegian skier Maiken Caspersen Falla and then out-sprinted Sweden's Stina Nilsson to the finish line. Then, as she beat individual sprint gold medalist Nilsson to the line, she screamed and the celebration began.

The U.S. ended a 42-year Olympic cross-country medal drought Wednesday as Diggins and Randall became the first American cross-country skiers to capture a gold medal by winning the women's team sprint at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea.

"Hearing it out loud," Randall said, "it still doesn't feel real. It's what I've been working on for 20 years and with this team, for the last five years and ... wow. It's just so fun to put it together."

Sweden took home the silver medal and Norway walked away with the bronze.

Diggins and Randall are the first American women cross-country skiers to win an Olympic medal and join Bill Koch as the only American cross-country skiers to earn an Olympic medal.

Koch picked up a silver medal in the men's 30km in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1976.

"Just having it happen at a team event," Diggins said, "means so much more to me than any individual medal ever would."

This moment has been one in the making, especially with the women. Five years ago, Team USA won gold in the women's team sprint at the world championships with Diggins and Randall.

In Sochi four years ago, the U.S. made the women's team sprint finals but finished eighth with Randall and Sophie Caldwell. Heading into PyeongChang, expectations were higher.

Through the first four women's events in PyeongChang, Diggins was close - oh, so close.

The Afton, Minnesota, native was 3.3 seconds away from a bronze in the 10km individual, 4.6 seconds from bronze in the 15km skiathlon and reached the individual sprint finals.

On Wednesday, there was no almost with Diggins.

"I just felt unstoppable," she said. "I am in the best shape of my life right now. That feeling of crossing the line and having Kikkan tackle me was the coolest thing ever.

"I have been working so hard for so long, the entire team has. Being so close to medals so many times this week, I knew I was in good shape and I knew it could happen."

It happened and it came in an event that Norwegian skier Marit Bjorgen acquired a new title in the Olympic record books. Bjorgen, 37, now sits alone as the most decorated Winter Olympian.

The bronze medal was Bjorgen's 14th Olympic medal, breaking the tie with fellow Norwegian and the King of Biathlon, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. It was her fourth medal of these Olympics.

With one more women's event left - the women's 30km mass start Sunday - Bjorgen has one more shot at winning her eighth Olympic gold, which would move her into a tie for most ever.

This is Bjorgen's final Winter Olympics. She confirmed that again after the team sprint.

"If someone told me (in 2002) I would be standing here, that I would be skiing here," Bjorgen said, "I would have thought it was not possible. But I am here and still fighting for medals.

"My first gold in Vancouver was special. I'd had some problems for three years and then came back again at a high level and fighting for all the medals there. That was special for me."

Bjorgen and Falla secured Norway's 12th cross-country medal of these Games, and 30 minutes later, Norway got its 13th medal with its sixth cross-country gold in the men's team sprint.

Falla's bronze was her second of these Olympics. She won silver in the individual sprint.

The silver was Swedish skier Charlotte Kalla's fourth of these Games and the third for Nilsson.

Cross-country has two days off before returning Saturday with the men's 50km mass start, but for the next 48 hours, the American women can enjoy this gold.

"I was (like), 'Did we just win the Olympics?'" Diggins recalled asking Randall after the race ended.

"And she was like, 'Yeah.' It was amazing."

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U.S. ends 42-year Olympic cross-country medal drought with historic gold

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Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall become the first American cross-country skiers to win an Olympic gold. Jessie Diggins knew it was time to make a move if she wanted to end the United States' 42-year cross-country Olympic medal drought.

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Cross country skiing is the oldest type of skiing. Back in the old days, skiing was a very popular way of traveling far distances. Men have cross country events such as 15km, 15km +15km skiathlon, and 50km. Women have cross country events such as 10km, 30km, 4x5km relay.

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Access official Olympic Cross Country Skiing sport and athlete records, events, results, photos, videos, news and more.

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The training for a cross country skiers is very extraneous and long. The main parts of the body that you must strengthen are your legs and your core. These parts of the body are what keeps you going. Endurance is also very important, you have to be able to travel far distances without becoming tired. All this training is a huge opportunity cost for skiers.

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Nordic skiing, whether classic or skate, is one of the few activities that works both the upper and lower body, pulling and pushing every major muscle and most of the small ones too.

With so much going on, cross-country skiing cranks the heart and respiration rates, exactly what the heart and lungs need to become strong and healthy, and burns more calories than just about any other sport-up to 1,000 per hour. No surprise, it can leave you pooped quickly.

Avoid burning out on day-one by building a solid base, says Andrea Stapff, a former national team rower and the coach of the Strathcona Nordics cross-country ski team. "The biggest mistake I see is the weekend warrior who goes hard every time they work out," she says. "Nothing advantageous to performance is happening when you do that." Instead, she has her skiers do lots of long, slow mileage and intense intervals and strength and balance work. Together, they build the fitness to glide on skinny skis for hours and still have the power and lungs to chug up the brutal hill back to the lodge.

Aerobic

How: Low Heart-Rate Endurance

Why: This is the base that everything else builds on. Invest the training hours on wheels, feet or even swimming and it will pay off on snow. The key is keeping it slow-you should be able to comfortably talk. "People are often surprised just how slow it is," says Stapff.

What: Two to three times per week, head out for a long effort, keeping your heart rate at 65 to 75 per cent of maximum. Use a heart rate monitor or the conversation test. Run or hike for an hour or longer. Road bike for 1.5 to two hours. (Mountain biking tends to be too variable in effort.) Swim for 30 to 45 minutes.

Anaerobic

How: Intervals

Why: "You need higher than race-pace to improve every system," explains Stapff. That means pushing your effort beyond what's comfortable, over and over. Any kind of interval will do. Trying different lengths will help with pacing later on, teaching you how long you can sustain varying levels of work.

What: Try three 10-minute efforts; six three-minute efforts; and eight one-minute efforts, with one minute of rest between efforts. The key is consistency between bouts. Work as hard as you can-your heart rate should be in the 85 per cent or higher range-but aim to finish each interval in about the same amount of time.

Core

How: Trunk Circuits

Why: Of cross-country skiing's three fundamentals-balance, weight shift and timing-the first two are dependent on solid core strength. To hold the proper body position, a quiet upper body that stays stable over the legs as they stride back and forth, requires a solid core.

What: Hold each of the following positions for 30 seconds, working up to a minute, with a 30-second rest in between. Concentrate on a straight spine and engaging all the abs from the belly-button to the back. To work the entire trunk, Stapff recommends: plank, side plank, bridge, airplane and Superman.

Upper Body

How: Gym-Free Workout

Why: Poling takes arm and shoulder strength. You'll be sore and slow if you ignore these muscles.

What: Do three sets of 10 pushups, dips and inverted rows. For pushups, start on your knees, progressing to normal pushups with one hand on a ball, rolling the ball from hand to hand before going down again. For dips, start with your hands on a bench, feet on the ground, progressing to feet elevated. And for inverted rows, head to a playground and find a bar that is about three to five feet off the ground. Grab the bar with both hands, keep your back and legs straight and pull your chest to the bar.

Leg Strength

How: Single Leg Squats

W hy: Whether skating or classic, one of the fundamental movements in cross-country is balancing on one moving ski. In other words-standing on one leg in an unstable place. The single leg squat is one of the best ways of replicating the instability and strength required.

What: Stand on one leg and put the other foot behind you on a box, step or ball. Lower into a squat until your knee is bent 90 degrees. Keep your ankle, knee and hip in line; don't let your knee dip inside. Try three sets of 10. Progress to eliminating the box.

More

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With so much going on, cross-country skiing cranks the heart and respiration rates, exactly what the heart and lungs need to become strong and healthy, and burns more calories than just about any other sport-up to 1,000 per hour. No surprise, it can leave you pooped quickly.