World Cup Racing: Season Preview
November 26, 2025In just a few short days the World Cup circuit will kick off in Ruka, Finland for a massive winter where all eyes will be on the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in the Milano-Cortina region of Italy in February. It will also be the last lap for Jessie Diggins, who announced in November that she would be retiring at the conclusion of the 2025/2026 season, which happens to take place in Lake Placid, New York this winter, just the second site to host World Cup racing stateside in the past two decades. We've got a lot of ground to cover before we land in the Empire State however, so we're helping to build up the excitement by laying out everything you can expect from this season: from changes to the events and schedule, to who to watch out for in the buildup to the big events, we've got it all, so join us as we celebrate the start of another World Cup season!
Changes for 2025
Tour de Ski
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Tour de Ski, one big change is coming to the event: the addition of a brand new racing format. Debuting during Stage 3 of the Tour de Ski, the Heat Mass Start will consist of 20-25 skiers (per gender) divided among 4-5 heats competing for the fastest time over 5K. The next heat will start immediately following the last, and seeding for the heats will be based on the overall Tour de Ski standings at that time, with higher seeded athletes getting to start in later waves with the advantage of knowing the time to beat up until that point.
Per FIS:
". . . the idea was to create a new competition format and ‘new story’ in the Tour de Ski. This format certainly delivers with essentially 10 races on the day generating great excitement. While times will go towards the overall standings, the athletes are battling to win their own races with speed, tactics and strategy playing their parts."
Back-to-Back 50K Events
Also marking a departure from the norm for this upcoming World Cup season, both the men's and women's marathon events at the Holmenkollen venue in Oslo, Norway will take place on the same day, and at times, concurrently. Already a raucous party atmosphere, the day will be that much larger in March when the women's 50K race kicks off just 45 minutes after the start of the men's, meaning that both the men's and women's fields will be competing at the same time for a portion of the day.
The Schedule
One thing that is certainly not changing this World Cup season is its standard starting location in Ruka, Finland. For over a decade the Ruka Ski Resort has helped to kick off the circuit, and this year will be no different, down to the schedule of events. Identical to last year, the season starts with an interval-start classic 10K on Friday, with classic sprints taking place the following day, Saturday. A mass-start freestyle 20K then closes out the opening weekend on Sunday.
From there on out the schedule is as follows:
Period I
Nov 28-30 - Ruka, Finland
Dec 5-7 - Trondheim, Norway
Dec 12-14 - Davos, Switzerland
Period II - Tour de Dki
Dec 28-Jan 1 - Toblach, Italy
Jan 3-4 - Val di Fiemme, Italy
Period III
Jan 17-18 - Oberhof, Germany
Jan 23-25 - Goms, Switzerland
Olympic Winter Games
Feb 4-22 - Milano-Cortina, Italy
Period IV
Feb 28-Mar 1 - Falun, Sweden
Mar 7-8 - Lahti, Finland
Mar 12 - Drammen, Norway
Mar 14 - Oslo, Norway
Mar 20-22 - Lake Placid, New York
Ones to Watch
Austria
After a meteoric rise through the rankings to achieve top-10 status in both the overall and distance World Cup standings during the 2023/2024 season, Mika Vermeulen didn't quite achieve the same stellar results in 2024/2025, falling just outside of the top-10 in the overall standings, but maintaining his achievement from the prior season in the distance standings. We're willing to attribute this past season's results to a sophomore slump, and given it's an Olympic year there should be no excuses this time around with medals on the line.
Teresa Stadlober, on the other hand, is a bit of a dark horse. Consistently in the mix in distance events, last season she equaled her best finish in the distance standings, 7th, which she last achieved in 2018. That being said, she also has only had five World Cup podium appearances going back to 2018, two of which came last season. Medals tend to do all the talking though and the last time they were up for grabs at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games she walked away with a bronze in the women's 7.K skiathlon, so you can never really count her out.
Finland
Arguably the faces of Team Finland, the Niskanen siblings, Kerttu and Iivo, will primarily be the ones to watch for the Nordic nation, with priority going to Kerttu who has consistently finished within the top-10 in the overall and distance World Cup standings the past four seasons running. Iivo has had less success when it comes to sprinting, but is undeniably one of the best distance skiers in the world when he's healthy (particularly in the classic technique), also finishing in the top-10 in the distance standings last season.
Supporting the sprinting side of the Finnish team, Jasmi Joensuu and Lauri Vuorinen deserve nods as well, with Joensuu having a breakout year last season that catapulted her to the top of the sprint standings, earning her her first crystal globe, and Vuorinen finishing another season in the top-10 in the sprint standings, his second in a row.
France
Only ever finishing outside of the top-10 in the sprint standings once in his ten year career, Lucas Chanavat has been the French favorite to make the finals in any sprint competition, and this season will be no different. Keep an out out for him to make a push for a medal at the Olympics, but he'll be hard-pressed to get gold against the competition from Norway.
Hugo Lapalus is a Frenchman also worthy of recognition, making great strides over the last two seasons to climb the World Cup rankings to a podium finish in the distance standings last season and a top-10 finish in the overall standings. This season will be a major test for him to see if he's hit his ceiling yet or if he can climb a little further.
Last but not least, Mathis Desloges, 23, is a bit of an unknown with only a season and a half of World Cup racing to his name, but in that time he has produced quite a few top-20 and a handful of top-10 finishes. Entering into his second full season it will be interesting to see if his current trajectory can carry him to his first World Cup podium, and potentially even an Olympic medal.
Germany
One of the major moments at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games was the shocking win in the team sprint, and subsequent second place finish in the team relay, by a group of German women who had been relatively quite up until that point. Beating out the likes of Norway and Sweden was a major turning point for the group, and ever since the German women's team has proven to be a force to be reckoned with. Victoria Carl has undoubtedly been the best of the bunch, finishing second in last season's overall World Cup standings, her best finish to date. With strong support from the likes of Katherina Hennig, Laura Gimmler, and Pia Fink, it goes without saying that the group will be looking to repeat their results from four years ago.
Friedrech Moch remains the leader of the German men's team, finishing just outside the top-10 in both the overall and distance standings last season. While you could argue his results from the season before were more promising, we'll wager that the slowdown should only leave him hungry from more.
Italy
If you had to pick one athlete to bet big on for an Olympic medal (besides he-who-will-be-named-next-from-Norway) it would have to be Italy's Federico Pellegrino. Entering his 16th season on the World Cup circuit, he has defied the odds time and time again, and at age 35 has even defied time itself proving to be a potent sprinter well beyond his prime. Last season alone he finished fourth in the overall standings and sixth in the sprint standings, proving he still has what it takes to compete against athletes almost a decade younger than himself. With the Games taking place in his backyard, you'd have to imagine that he will have home field advantage in any race he lines up for.
Norway
Earlier this year Johannes Høsflot Klæbo accomplished a feat at the World Ski Championships that will be unlikely to equaled for a very, very long time. If ever. At the age of 28, he won all six events on offer, a clean sweep.
He also won the Tour de Ski for the fourth time. And his fifth overall crystal globe. And his seventh sprint crystal globe.
Add to all that the fact that statistically speaking he has a 50% chance of winning any race he enters (and a 70% chance of at least making the podium), be it World Cup, World Championships, or Olympics, and you'd be a fool to bet against him on any given day, and especially so this season.
You'd be a fool to bet against just about any of his teammates either, as five of them also made the top-10 in the overall World Cup standings last season: Erik Valnes, Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Simen Hegsted Krueger, Andreas Fjorden Ree, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget.
The women's team has no shortage of standouts either, with the likes of Therese Johaug, 37, returning from retirement to terrorize the trails in distance races again (which she won six of last season), or Astrid Oeyre Slind, also 37, going on a generational run last season to finish fourth in the overall standings and second in the distance standings. Not to mention the ever-reliable Heidi Weng who finished eighth in both the overall and distance standings.
Rounded out by a pair of up-and-coming distance specialists, Kristin Austgulen Fosnes and Nora Sanness, and a pair of sprinters, Julie Myhre and Kristine Stavaas Skistad, who seem to be hold their own against the stellar Swedes, Norway is by far the most complete team heading into the 2025/2026 World Cup season.
Russia
Maintaining their stance since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian athletes continue to be barred from FIS sanctioned events through the 2025/2026 season, with the FIS Council explicitly voting in October "not to facilitate the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) in FIS qualification events for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games." Importantly, this means no Russian athletes will be allowed to compete in cross-country ski events at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, even as Individual Neutral Athletes which was the case at both the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Winter Games when the country was sanctioned after being found to be running a years-long, state-sponsored doping scheme.
Sweden
If any team has had a fall from grace on the World Cup recently, it's probably Sweden. After a number of seasons as the one's to beat, the women's team only placed one athlete in the top-10 in the overall standings last season, Ebba Andersson, who was without a doubt their most consistent skier. And that's not to say they don't have good skiers. Jonna Sundling, Maja Dahlqvist, Frida Karlsson, Linn Svahn, Johanna Hagstroem, and Moa Ilar all won races last season, but with the World Ski Championships on the docket the issue became a matter of what mattered most to those athletes. Ultimately for the Swedish women the decision was made to focus on the Championships, which they did sweep in impressive fashion, taking all six gold medals, but at the cost of keeping a competitive edge on the World Cup circuit. Don't be surprised if the same approach is used again this season with the Winter Olympics rapidly approaching in February.
Interestingly enough, one athlete who did stick out most of the season, much to their benefit, was Edvin Anger of the men's team, who finished second in the overall World Cup standings and third in the sprint standings. Being only 23 years of age, the sky is just about the limit for the him heading into this season with his chief competition being the latest incarnation of a Norsk god, but in that case maybe we'll finally get an answer to what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
Oh, and let us not forget about William Poromaa. Not always the flashiest competitor, he did reach the podium on two occasions last season, once on top and once a step down, which was enough to earn him a top-10 finish in the distance standings.
Switzerland
A perennial favorite among the sprinters, the Swiss team will again be led by Nadine Faehndrich who has been especially consistent over her career spanning 10 seasons. Just this past season she finished second in the sprint standings, equaling her best result from the 2021/2022 and 2023/2024 seasons, and earned a bronze medal to boot in the freestyle sprint at World Championships. With the Olympic Winter Games taking place just a hop, skip, and a jump away, it would be of little surprise to see her make an appearance on the podium there where the result might mean more to her than most.
United States
There is a bittersweet bite to the air heading into this World Cup season for the US Ski Team. On the one hand, Jessie Diggins has looked as good as ever, coming off of a season in which she won her third overall and distance crystal globes. On the other hand, there is the elephant in the room: that this will also be her last lap on the circuit, an admittedly bitter pill for most of us to swallow after the incredible 14-year journey she's taken us on. That journey has not quite reached it's end though, and there is still an entire World Cup season and Olympic Winter Games ahead before we reach it in Lake Placid next March.
With that in mind, Diggins will be going out on top as she enters her final season, and possibly with something to prove. It's no secret that the World Ski Championships last season didn't go entirely as planned for the US Ski Team, and so the Winter Olympics in February will likely be a chance at redemption for the team, with the ultimate payoff being one last shot at medals for Diggins.
Diggins won't be the only US athlete vying for medals though. Her partner in crime, Julia Kern, has gradually been making her way back into the fold, making her first podium appearance since 2020 last season, and will undoubtedly be Diggins' first choice should a team sprint arise. Also, after a particularly rough season in 2024/2025, Rosie Brennan will be looking to get back to the from she found the season prior when she finished fourth in the overall World Cup standings, with plenty of opportunities along the way. Likewise, Sophia Laukli, facing several injury setbacks, will be looking to do much of the same after spending the summer rebuilding herself from the ground up through a different approach to training.
Aside from Diggins, the men's team is probably the best positioned to capture a medal at the upcoming Games as Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher have both hit their stride the past two years with a podium appearance apiece each season, plus a top-10 finish in the overall standings by Ogden this last outing. And while he didn't quite reach the podium this past season, JC Schoonmaker was the one to do it first between the three, ending up within striking distance quite a few times since then.
These seven individuals do not comprise the full list of the athletes competing on the US Ski Team at any given time however, of which the complete pool of US athletes available for Period I is as follows:
Men
Kevin Bolger
John Hagenbuch
Luke Jager
Zak Ketterson
Murphy Kimball
Zanden McMullen
Ben Ogden
JC Schoonmaker
Gus Schumacher
Jack Young
Women
Luci Anderson
Erin Bianco
Rosie Brennan
Jessie Diggins
Lauren Jortberg
Julia Kern
Kendall Kramer
Sophia Laukli
Sydney Palmer-Leger
Sammy Smith
Alayna Sonnesyn
An especially exciting lineup for supporters from the Midwest, seven athletes hailing from the region will be on call for Period I, Including Kevin Bolger (Minocqua, WI), Zak Ketterson (Bloomington, MN), Luci Anderson (Golden Valley, MN), Erin Bianco (Ely, MN), Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN), and Alayna Sonnesyn (Plymouth, MN).
Where to Watch
Skiandsnowboard.live will once again be the go-to streaming service for live broadcasts of World Cup racing action all season long. The site is strictly subscription-based now, with the lowest priced option continuing to be the $11.99/month option for all Nordic World Cup competitions.
Sticking to tradition, this year’s World Cup season kicks off in Ruka, Finland for three days of racing:
Friday, Nov 28th - Interval-Start Classic 10K
3:30 am CST - Women's Race
6:15 am CST - Men's Race
Saturday, Nov 29th - Classic Sprints
1:55 am CST - Qualification
4:25 am CST - Heats
Sunday, Nov 30th - Mass-Start Freestyle 20K
3:00 am CST - Men's Race
4:45 am CST - Women's Race