Skiing was once again by far the most important factor to determine an athlete’s eventual World Cup rank. Not only did the two outright fastest skiers, Johannes Thingnes Bø and Tiril Eckhoff win the overall title, but out of the ten fastest skiers (per gender), eight made the World Cup top 10 on the men’s side, six on the women’s side. Let’s look at who managed to improve and whose ski speed declined season-to-season.
You can check out full season statistics for all World Cup athletes here:
For patrons, the comparisons page allows you to compare all shooting and skiing stats on your own, not only season-to-season, but also by trimester.
Note: Only athletes with at least 4 non-team races last season and 15 non-team races this winter are included in the tables. “Back from Top30 median” is the percentage back from each race’s top 30 median Course Time (arithmetic mean per season).
Men
Tuomas Harjula and Jeremy Finello were the most improved skiers this season, both roughly 3.5% faster compared to 2019–20. Erik Lesser had an injury-affected winter last year and bounced back to his previous level. Johannes Kühn, the fourth-fastest skier last season, never managed recover from a pre-season injury and ended the season with the biggest decline among regular starters.
Johannes Thingnes Bø was not as dominating as many expected after the retirement of Martin Fourcade, however, his ski speed was not to blame: he set the top ski time in 20 out of 26 races. Sturla Holm Lægreid improved a lot, albeit he only appeared in four races last winter. Percentage-wise Quentin Fillon Maillet had a big decline in his skiing performances, even though his course times ranks were only 1.9 positions lower and he he finished the season third overall. Émilien Jacquelin‘s average was heavily influenced by the WCHs mass start (+12.1%); without that one race his speed would have been roughly 0.5% better.
Women
Dzinara Alimbekava was the most improved skier in the women’s field, skiing an incredible 5.8% faster than last year and lowering her average ski rank by 49.6! Dunja Zdouc managed to improve even more than her Austrian teammate Lisa Theresa Hauser. Skiing 3.9% faster, Hanna Sola set the fastest ski time twice this winter and made her first two career podiums. After setting the fastest ski time in one of the races at the season-opener in Kontiolahti (for the first time in her career), Hanna Öberg had an abysmal final month of the season.
Tiril Eckhoff dominated the World Cup action after Christmas – not because of improved skiing however, she remained more or less at the same (high) level as last year. Dorothea Wierer‘s skiing improved slightly over the course of the season, but last year’s World Cup winner was still 1.2% slower, which gave her little chance to defend her title. Denise Herrmann, last winter’s overall fastest saw her ski speed decline considerably, even though she still remained one of the field’s top 5 skiers.
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