Warm and sunny conditions characteristed the Nalati distance race, stage 4 of the China Tour de Ski this year. Victory went to Norway's up-and-coming Petter Reistad in the men's race, whereas Man Dandan was an impressive first in the women's.
A windy Xiwuqi ski sprint saw an American victory today as Peter Kling beat overall leader Sun Qinghai with a clear margin. As both Bob Impola and Shang Jincai got eliminated in the 1/4 final, the Chinese ace now has a more comfortable lead. Man Dandan was the fastest woman.
In another impressive team performance, Sun Qinghai and Ma Qinghua grabbed the stage victory in the Xiwuqi distance race today, the second official stage of China Tour de Ski. As in Changchun, Chinese women occupied the entire podium leaving 2013 champion Lisa Svensson in their shadow.
No new victory for Anders Hoegberg in Changchun today, as his Swedish compatriot Bob Niemi Impola beat the odds and took the first official stage of the 2015 China Tour de Ski by outsprinting Chinese skier Shang Jincai by 1.8 seconds after 50km of classic style skiing around Jingyuetan Park. Another domestic athlete, Tang Jinle completed the podium of the 13th Vasaloppet China.
For the 3rd consecutive year, China Tour de Ski will cover all the northern parts of China, travelling from east to west. The tour will start out in Changchun, Jilin Province in northeast China before moving on to Xiwuqi in the province of Inner Mongolia. The last 2 stages will be held in Nalati, Xinjiang Province in the very western parts of China.
2013 female China Tour de Ski champion Lisa Svensson is only one outstanding name of another class field for the upcoming edition of China's greatest ski event. In fact, the Chinese Ski Association is entering its most talented skiers to oppose the assembled group of Europeans and Northern Americans with a view to next year's Winter Olympics 2022 election.
Traditions are there to be upheld and so Nordic Ways begins also 2015 with the popular professional China Tour de ski stage race in northern China. Six stages feature on this year's programme in three distinct regions: Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.
Nordic Ways want to take the opportunity and join in the congratulations and celebrations to all the Cross country Olympic Sprint Medalists in Sochi 2014 and especially we want to congratulate the previous participants and winners in the China Summer Ski Sprint Tour, Maiken Caspersen Falla to her Olympic gold medal and Teodor Peterson to his Olympic silver medal. Women gold medalist, Maiken Caspersen Falla, won all the stages in 2009 edition of the Summer Ski Sprint Tour and Men silver medalist, Teodor Peterson, was the winner in 2010.
After an exciting Ski Sprint at the Nalati Ski Arena Swedish skiers Adam Steen and Ida Lindkvist became the champions of the 2014 China Tour de Ski. Both turned a deficit into an advantage on the sixth and final stage of the tour, as Anders Hoegberg stranded in the semi finals and the ill-stricken Astrid Bruland was particularly unlucky after dominating the early stages of the women's competition.
New Zealander Nils Koons scored the first ever non-European stage victory in the China Tour de Ski at the Nalati Ski Arena near the border with Kazakhstan in China's Xinjiang region today. Koons finished well ahead of overall classification contenders Anders Hoegberg, Adam Steen and Viktor Gustafsson. Ida Lindkvist took her second consecutive stage win as she narrowly outsprinted last year's Nalati queen Lisa Svensson.
Sweden's Adam Steen turned the China Tour de Ski upside down this morning with as much convincing as surprising a win in the Xiwuqi Ski Sprint today. What's more, Steen saw overall leader Anders Hoegberg struggle to only 8th place and takes over as overall leader of the Tour! In the women's Isa Lindkvist rose to the occasion and outsprinted Lisa Svensson and Astrid Bruland.
The third stage of this year's China Tour de Ski in Inner Mongolia's Xiwuqi Ski Arena went surprisingly to Lukas Johansson, the younger brother of two-time champion Adam Johansson. Lukas managed to stay just ahead of Anders Hoegberg in the 5km medium distance race, while the latter grabs the lead in the overall classification. Astrid Bruland on the other hand grabbed her second stage win and is firmly in charge of the women's competition.