Cool Race Videos

 (heavily slanted to USA)

  • 1966 VM 50k M - HERE - Gjermund Eggen emerges from the woods after a very long time and goes on to win the 50k.  Think 3 hours is a plodding pace for 50k?  Well remember they were on wood skis with bamboo poles back then.  Besides, when was the last time YOU classic skied 50k in 3 hours?  I thought so - NEVER, just like me!!! :-)

  • 1976 Oly 30k M - HERE - Bill Koch wins silver. Yes, it was a big deal.  At 20k mark HERE (will download a video file).  As we know, Bill Koch was an innovator.  He popularized and evolved skating after picking it up on the marathon circuit in the late 1970s from Finn Pauli Siitonen.  I think he also invented hairies.  However, as the vid shows, he figured out how to hammer on true double-camber fiberglass skis such as the Fischers he was on, and shorten his stride, opposite of wood ski days. Yes, he skied on Fischers through the '76 season!  For a while the IOC posted a link on YT to the entire race, but sadly it seems to be gone now.
  • 1980 Oly 15k M - HERE - Wassberg beats Mieto by .01 in the 15k at Lake Placid.  Finns like to joke that Mieto's beard was the difference, which might actually be true...  YLE commentary (Finnish)

  • 1982 VM 4 * 10k M relay - HERE - Oddvar Brå brakk staven! (more about that HERE)  Whole race (4 * 10k) is worth a watch HERE.  Mikkelsplass face plants at around 15:15 in the video.  Apparently he got death threats after that.  I will defend him until the day I die!  You know why we don't use javelin-tip classic skis anymore?  Because they were impossible to control, like the Rossis he was on.  They went everywhere.  Plus, he had those crappy 38mm Adidas boots/bindings.  It's a miracle someone wasn't impaled by a tree branch!
        Also, Juha Mieto skis the anchor leg for Finland.  Finland finished third but who cares because Juha Mieto is the coolest ever.  Plus Wassberg races for Sweden.  (A baby Gunde skied the 15km but not the relay.)

  • 1994 Oly 30k M - HERE - Alsgaard wins gold. Thomas Alsgaard is the second-coolest skier ever after Mieto.  Note - skiers are skinny, but not as skinny as portrayed in the video.

  • 1990s - Anything Bjørn Dæhlie because he was the best ever, sorry Northug fans. Dæhlie, Alsgaard etc were part of the last generation of racers who grew up skiing classic only. Over-produced coverage of him in the 10k classic at Nagano HERE.  Also this is the race where he waited for Philip Boit HERE at the end which was kind of cool.

  • 2010 Oly Large Hill / 10k - HERE - Bill Demong wins gold; Johnny Spillane bronze

  • 2017 VM Individual Biathlon M - HERE - Lowell Bailey takes gold. Moravec is a good sport. Fun starts about 1:35:00 with Bailey going in for his 4th shoot.  Whole race is fantastic because the individual is a massive all-comers event with 100+ participants.  English commentary from "those British guys" who are great to listen to.  Susan Dunklee won a silver HERE in the mass start.  She also won silver in the sprint in 2020 but I can't find that right now.
  • 2018 Oly Women's Team Sprint - HERE - Not the "here comes Diggins" call but if someone has that let me know

  • 2021 Falun 10k Interval Free W - HERE - Jessie Diggins shows she can beat Therese Johaug head-to-head, en route to her first overall world cup title.  "But the Norwegians didn't ski the whole world cup season".  Exactly - you can't win if you don't show up.  "We" did.  USA!! USA!!! ;)
  • 2023 VM 10k Free W - HERE - Jessie Diggins gull. If I am not mistaken, this is the first American cross-country individual gold in Oly or VM.  No, not nordic combined, or biathlon, but straight XC