Bjørn Dæhlie reclaimed the crystal World Cup globe which Vladimir Smirnov had won in the 1993–94 season, thus taking his third overall men's World Cup title in four seasons. Smirnov won more races, with six wins including three during the 1995 World Championships, but Dæhlie was usually the runner-up. Also, one of Smirnov's World Championship wins didn't count towards the overall standings. Silvio Fauner, Harri Kirvesniemi, Torgny Mogren and Alexey Prokurorov also registered World Cup wins during the season.
In the women's Cup, Yelena Välbe won the six first events, and eventually won nine of the 15 races including one gold at the World Championships. Russians occupied the top five spots in the women's World Cup, with multiple races having three or more Russians on top of the standings. Only the Lahti 10 km was not won by a Russian skier, and in 11 of the 15 races did Russians occupy the top two spots in the standings. According to the Norwegian publication Sportsboken, the Russian women had not been this dominant since the 1970s.[1]
Välbe won the 15-minute race with a 15-second margin, while Dybendahl took the only other podium place – it was to be the only podium place for Norway until Lahti.
After a two-week break, the skiers resumed with a Wednesday race in Tauplitz, for the first World Cup race in the Austrian resort in five years. Välbe doubled her advantage to Gavrylyuk, while Danilova took third place in Dybendahl's absence, improving from 12th place in Kiruna. Larisa Lazutina placed fourth to complete the row of Russians.
The Russians went one better than in Tauplitz, occupying the first five spots. Välbe won by 41 seconds, while Korneeva overtook both Gavrylyuk and Danilova in the longer distance, and earned the right to a relay stage for the first team the following day.
In the final race before Christmas, someone managed to come close to Välbe. It was the same podium as the 15 km three days earlier, but Korneyeva was distanced by 11 seconds. Seven Russians placed on top of the standings.[2]
Välbe won again, but Belmondo showed form by becoming the second non-Russian to make a podium place, more than 45 seconds ahead of third-placed Gavrylyuk in the longest freestyle World Cup race of the season.
The Russians struggled with worse skis,[1] allowing Norway to take the two top spots and get five women among the top eight. World Cup leader Välbe, unbeaten thus far in the season, finished 15th. Third-placed Lazutina was 3.9 seconds behind Nybråten, the smallest margin thus far in the season.
Once more four Russians occupied the four top spots, in a closer race than in Lahti; Lazutina was only 3.2 seconds behind the gold medallist. Gavrylyuk finally won a race outright, after having placed among the top four in every race up to this.
The four Russians started with an advantage from the classical race, and remained in the lead. In the dash for the finish, Välbe was well ahead of her Russian compatriots.
The traditional Holmenkollen race ended without Välbe on the podium; Moen Guidon finished strongly, but finished 19 seconds behind Lazutina. Moen caught Danilova, who started half a minute ahead, and the pair got second and third, Danilova beating World Cup leader Välbe by a couple of seconds.
A month's break followed, as the skiers acclimatised to conditions in Canada. Välbe had not recovered to her pre-January form, admitting before the Championships that Lazutina was going to win everything.[3] Indeed, Lazutina won by over a minute, the largest margin of victory per kilometre in the World Cup season. Nybråten took her second podium place of the season and what was to be her only individual international medal.
Välbe without a medal again, finishing fourth, but still clinching the World Cup overall standings. Lazutina won by 23 seconds, while the Norwegians complained of poor skis in the heat (15 °C), and Di Centa, two-time gold medallist at Lillehammer in 1994, got her first podium place of the season after recovering from surgery to the intestines.
Danilova rallied from 15th place in the 5 km to record the best time of the race, but after trailing by a minute after the classical race, it was only enough for bronze. Lazutina had the second-best time and Gavrylyuk the third, while Välbe finished 12th.
Välbe took her sixth individual World Championship gold, and her eighth win of the season, as classical-specialist Lazutina fell to fifth place. The margin of victory was more than a minute. Di Centa got her second podium place, and her 140 points from the World Championships made up 85% of her total World Cup score. Russian-born Ordina took Sweden's only individual podium place of the season.
Of the long-distance free style medallists in Thunder Bay, Di Centa didn't turn up, Ordina finished fourth, while Välbe won by half a minute in her last race of the season. It was an all-Russian podium for the seventh time this season.
Russia showed their dominance of female free-style cross-country skiing with two teams ahead of the competition; Russia I won by nearly a minute, while Norway in third place were a further 20 seconds behind.
With the relay being in classical style, Norway managed to beat the second Russian team; however, Russia's first team, made up of the top four in the previous day's race, won by a minute. The race time was slow, with Russia recording a total time of 65 minutes, nearly 20 minutes slower than in Sappada.
The second double Russian triumph in a free-style relay this season, though the distance between Russia's first team and second team was almost four times as great as that between Russia's second and Norway.
In a Tuesday show race inside the Olympic speed skating arena of Vikingskipet, Norway came closer to Russia than they had ever been, but still finished 12 seconds behind.
Russia won by 30 seconds, the closest win margin in a relay thus far in the season, while the Russian second team and the Norwegian second team followed.
Russia were dominant, winning by more than a minute and a half. Danilova went straight to the lead on the first stage, outside the classical tracks, and Norwegian leaders commented that they could have protested but did not want to. Except for Välbe, all the Russian skiers had the best stage time. Ordina pulled away from Nilsen on the third stage, winning half a minute, but Moen Guidon caught Fanqvist in the final sprint and beat her to the finish line, winning silver by one tenth of a second.
^ abcdUntil FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1999, World Championship races are part of the World Cup. Hence results from those races are included in the World Cup overall.
^ abUnofficial World Cup race inside the Olympic speed skating arena of Vikingskipet.
