Rebecca "Beckie" Scott, is a Canadian retired cross-country skier. She is an Olympic gold and silver medallist, and the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the sport of cross-country skiing. She is the founder of a national organization dedicated to improving health, wellness and education outcomes for Indigenous youth through sport and play. Scott was Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Committee, and gained notoriety for her position during the Russian (2014-2019) doping scandal. She served as an International Olympic Committee member by virtue of being elected to the IOC Athlete's Commission along with Saku Koivu between 2006 and 2014. She is married to the American former cross-country skier Justin Wadsworth., and they have two children, Teo and Brynn.
Marit Bjørgen is a former Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup history, with 29 victories. She headed the medal table at the 2010 Winter Olympics by winning five medals, including three gold. A five-time Olympian, her five Olympic medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games brought her total number of medals up to a record 15, the most by any athlete in Winter Olympics history.
Justyna Maria Kowalczyk-Tekieli is a Polish cross-country skier who has been competing since 2000. Kowalczyk is a double Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier to win the Tour de Ski four times in a row and one of two female skiers to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup three times in a row. Kowalczyk holds the all-time record for wins in the Tour de Ski with 14, and had 29 podiums in total. She also won the Vasaloppet women's edition in 2015.
Kikkan Randall is an American Olympic champion cross-country skier. She has won 17 U.S. National titles, made 29 podiums on the World Cup, made five trips to the Winter Olympic Games and had the highest finish by an individual American woman at the World Championships, second in the Sprint in Liberec in 2009. She was the first American female cross-country skier to take a top ten finish in World Cup competition, to win a World Cup race and to win a World Cup discipline title. She won the silver medal in the individual sprint at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, becoming the first American woman to win a medal in cross country skiing at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, and in 2013 teamed up with Jessie Diggins to win the first ever American FIS Nordic World Ski Championships gold medal in the team sprint. She and Diggins won the United States' first ever cross-country skiing gold medal at the Winter Olympics in women's team sprint at Pyeongchang in 2018.
The Tour de Ski (TdS) is a cross-country skiing event held annually since the 2006–07 season in Central Europe, modeled on the Tour de France of cycling. The Tour de Ski is a Stage World Cup event in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup. Each Tour de Ski has consisted of six to nine stages, held during late December and early January in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. As of 2023, the prize money for the event amount to 770,000 Swiss francs (779,000 euros), shared out on both men and women. Men's and women's events are held together on the same days, with the only difference being the distance skied.
Petra Majdič is a Slovenian former cross-country skier. Her best results came in classic style races. She won twenty-four World Cup races, twenty in sprint races, but she also won a marathon in Trondheim in 2009. She is the first Slovenian cross-country skier to win a World Cup race, the first to get a medal at the World Championships and the first to get an Olympic medal. With 20 wins, Majdič is the second-most successful sprinter in FIS Cross-Country World Cup history and with 24 wins in total she's the fourth-most successful World Cup competitor of all time.
Maiken Caspersen Falla is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who specialized in sprint and short-distance races. She is the 2014 Olympic champion in the individual sprint and three-time Olympic medalist. She became the individual sprint World champion at the 2017 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and successfully defended her World title in 2019. Falla won a total of five gold, one silver and four bronze medals at the World Championships in her career and she is the most medalled skier in the individual sprint discipline in the Championship history with five medals. Winner of three consecutive Sprint World Cup crystal globes, Falla's highest finish in the overall World Cup standings was sixth-place which she achieved in 2014–15 and 2015–16 World Cup seasons.
Alex Harvey is a retired Canadian cross-country skier who competed between 2005 and 2019. Harvey is also a member of the Quebec Provincial Cycling Team.
Stina Nilsson is a Swedish biathlete and former cross-country skier. She is a five-time Olympic medalist and the 2018 Olympic champion in the individual sprint. In March 2020 she announced that she would switch to competing in biathlon.
Sadie Maubet Bjornsen is a retired American cross-country skier and former member of the United States Ski Team Nordic programs "Cross Country A Team" roster.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is a Norwegian cross-country skier who represents Byåsen IL. He holds multiple records, most notably for being the youngest male in history to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, the Tour de Ski, a World Championship event, and an Olympic event in cross-country skiing.
The women's team sprint freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 21 February 2018 at 19:00 KST at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The event consisted of 6 by 1.25km sprints alternating between 2 teammates. Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins won the event, making this the first ever Olympic medal for the United States in women's cross-country skiing. It was also the first ever Olympic gold medal for the United States in cross-country skiing. Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson came second, and the defending champion Marit Bjørgen, skiing in pair with Maiken Caspersen Falla, won the bronze medal.
Chad Salmela is a former member of the U.S. biathlon team from 1990-1998. He currently is an analyst for NBC Olympics' biathlon and cross-country skiing.
Julia Kern is an American cross-country skier.
The women’s team sprint competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 16 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. Katharina Hennig and Victoria Carl of Germany won the event. Maja Dahlqvist and Jonna Sundling of Sweden won silver medals, and Yuliya Stupak and Natalya Nepryayeva, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, bronze.
The women’s sprint competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 8 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. Jonna Sundling of Sweden became the Olympic champion. Her compatriot, Maja Dahlqvist, won the silver medal, and Jessie Diggins of the United States the bronze. For Sundling and Dahlquist, this was the first Olympic medal, and for Diggins, the first individual Olympic medal.
The women's 30 kilometre freestyle competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 20 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. Therese Johaug of Norway became the champion, thereby winning all three individual distance events at these Olympics. She was only second woman to do so after Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi in 1984. Jessie Diggins of the United States won the silver medal, and Kerttu Niskanen of Finland the bronze. For Diggins, this was her first individual Olympic medal.
August "Gus" Schumacher is an American cross-country skier. In 2020, Schumacher became the first American to win a gold medal in an individual race at the Junior World Ski Championships. He competed in the 30 kilometre skiathlon at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Schumacher won the Men's 10 km freestyle race at the 2024 Stifel Loppet Cup in Minneapolis on February 18, 2024. His win marked the first time an American male skier had won an individual distance event since Bill Koch in 1983.
The 2024 Stifel Loppet Cup was an international cross-country skiing competition held February 17–18 at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis. As one of the fifteen events in the 2023–24 FIS Cross-Country World Cup season, it featured top-ranked skiers from the global racing circuit. The event was the first World Cup cross-country ski competition held in the United States since 2001. More than 150 athletes from 21 countries competed in the races. About 40,000 spectators attended the two-day, festival-like event that was headlined by the women’s races.
