Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who competed from 1993 to 2012.
Anssi Einar Koivuranta is a retired Finnish ski jumper and former Nordic combined skier, best known for winning the 2008–09 FIS Nordic Combined World Cup. He won the gold medal in the 4 × 5 km team event and a bronze medal in the 15 km Gundersen race at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo. After winning a Ski Jumping World Cup competition in Innsbruck on 4 January 2014, Koivuranta became the first ever athlete in history of ski jumping to win an event in both Nordic combined and the ski jumping World Cup.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 took place 22 February – 4 March 2007 in Sapporo, Japan. It was the second time this city has hosted these championships, having previously done so in the 1972 Winter Olympics. Sapporo was selected as venue by vote at the 43rd FIS World Congress in Portorož, Slovenia, on 6 June 2002. It also marked the third time the championships were hosted outside Europe in a year that did not coincide with the Winter Olympics; it was the first championship held in Asia. The ski jumping team normal hill event was not held, as it had been in 2005.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 took place 18 February – 1 March 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic. This was the fourth time these championships were hosted either in the Czech Republic or in Czechoslovakia, having done so at Janské Lázně (1925) and Vysoké Tatry.
Pirjo Muranen is a retired Finnish cross-country skier. She won a bronze medal in the 4 × 5 km relay at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Muranen won five medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with three golds, a silver, and a bronze. She married on 30 June 2007; previously known by her maiden name of Pirjo Manninen.
Cross-country skiing was one of the three disciplines of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007, held between February 22 and March 4, 2007 in Sapporo, Japan. The sprint events were held at the Sapporo Dome and the distance races were held at the Shirahatayama Open Stadium.
The Nordic combined at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 took place at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 in Sapporo, Japan on February 23, February 25, and March 3, 2007.
Magda Genuin is an Italian cross-country skier who competed from 1997 to 2011.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 took place between 18 February and 1 March 2015 in Falun, Sweden. This was the fourth time the event is held there, having previously been held there in 1954, 1974 and 1993. In 1980, one World Ski Championship race was held there as well, to make up for its exclusion from the Olympic Games the same year.
Eva Vrabcová-Nývltová is a Czech cross country skier and marathon runner.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, twelve cross-country skiing events were held with six for men and six for women. The format of the program was unchanged since the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. For the men's events, Norway won five of the six events and a total of six medals with Petter Northug winning golds in the pursuit, 50 km and relay events. Ola Vigen Hattestad won two golds in the sprint events. The only event the Norwegians did not win was in the 15 km event, won by Estonia's Andrus Veerpalu, who became the oldest world champion ever.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, four Nordic combined were held. It also showed the biggest format changes since the introduction of the Gundersen method at the 1985 World Championships in Seefeld, Austria. In addition to the 10 km mass start event, there were changes in the Gundersen-based individual events. The 7.5 km sprint event was changed to a 10 km individual large hill event while the 15 km individual event was changed to a 10 km individual normal hill event with both being approved in September 2008. These changes also affected the Nordic combined program for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver though the mass start was excluded. The United States, which had two medals in Nordic combined prior to this championships, won a total of four medals with three golds and a bronze. Todd Lodwick, whose previous best individual finish at the world championships was 13th in the 7.5 km sprint at Oberstdorf in 2005, won golds in the 10 km mass start and 10 km individual normal hill events. His teammate Bill Demong won a gold in the 10 km individual large hill and bronze in the 10 km individual normal hill events. Germans Tino Edelmann and Björn Kircheisen each won a silver in the 4 x 5 km freestyle team event, then won individual silver medals in the 10 km mass start and 10 km individual large hills events, respectively. France's Jason Lamy Chappuis earned two bronze medals, earning them in the 10 km individual large hill and 10 km mass start. Norway's Jan Schmid won a silver in the 10 km mass start and a bronze in the 4 x 5 km freestyle event. A fourth American medal was prevented when Demong was disqualified in the ski jumping part of the 4 x 5 km freestyle team event for failing to wear his bib during competition, dropping the US to 12th and forcing their withdrawal from the cross country portion of the event. The Japanese won their first gold medal at the championships in the team event since 1995 when they edged the Germans in a photo finish. Current World Cup leader Anssi Koivuranta of Finland has a disappointing world championships, earning his best finish of fourth both in the 10 km individual normal hill and 10 km mass start events. Norway's Magnus Moan, second in the World Cup standings, also had a disappointing championships as well, with a best place finish of fifth in the 10 km individual large hill events even though he set the fastest cross-country skiing portion time in both the 10 km individual large hill and the 10 km individual normal hill events.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, four ski jumping events were held with three for men and one for women. It was the first time women's ski jumping took place and was so successful that FIS President Gian Franco Kasper hoped to include the event for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia with possible inclusion into a team event. American Lindsay Van was the first winner of the women's individual normal hill event, the first North American to medal in ski jumping at the world championship, and the first American woman to medal at the world championships. The three World Cup leaders each won a medal in the men's individual normal hill event with 2008-09 Four Hills Tournament winner Wolfgang Loitzl of Austria earning gold, the first individual of his career at the world championships. Loitzl's teammate Gregor Schlierenzauer would win silver in the same event with both teaming up to win gold in the team large hill event, given the Austrians three medals. Norway would also win three medals with a silver in the team large hill and bronzes from Anders Jacobsen and Anette Sagen. Switzerland and Germany each won two medals. Overall, six nations won medals, including Japan, who had the same team that had won the bronze medal in the team large hill at the previous championships in Sapporo, Japan.
The women's 30 kilometre classical cross-country skiing competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada was held on 27 February at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia at 11:45 PST.
For the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, a total of twelve sports venues were used. A thirteenth venue which was a reserved luge course was constructed, but never used in actual competition. Construction on all of the venues used took place between 1968 and early 1971 in time for the test events. The Tsuskisamu Indoor Skating Rink was not completed until late 1971 or early 1972 because the number of teams scheduled to compete at the 1972 Games was not known. At the actual luge venue used, a malfunctioning starting gate during the first run led to the results being cancelled and rerun being ordered. The results of this event led to the only tie in Olympic luge history. The ski jumps at Miyanomori and Okurayama served as host venues for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships thirty-five years later.
The Women's 10 kilometre classical at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 was held on 19 February 2009 at 11:30 CET. A 5 km qualifying event took place on 18 February.
The Men's 15 km classical interval start was part of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009's events held in Liberec, Czech Republic. The race went underway on 20 February 2009 at 13:00 CET. A 10 km qualifying race took place on 23 February at 11:00 CET. The defending world champion was Norway's Lars Berger
The Women's 4 × 5 kilometre relay at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 was held on 26 February 2009 at 13:00 CET. The defending world champions were the Finnish team of Virpi Kuitunen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Pirjo Manninen.
The Men's 15 km classical interval start was part of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007's events held in Sapporo, Japan. The race went underway on 28 February 2007 at 14:30 CET at Shirahatayama cross-country course in Sapporo. The defending world champion was Italy's Pietro Piller Cottrer.
The men's 4 x 10 kilometre relay was held on 2 March 2007 at 14:30 CET at Shirahatayama cross-country course in Sapporo. The defending world champions were the Norwegian team of Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Frode Estil, Lars Berger and Tore Ruud Hofstad.
