List of Tour de Ski women's overall winners

This is a list of the Tour de Ski women's overall winners. The Tour de Ski is an annual 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.

Women's Overall standings
at the Tour de Ski
Justyna Kowalczyk, winner of four consecutive Tour de Ski titles from 2009–10 to 2012–13.
LocationFinished on the Alpe Cermis, Val di Fiemme, Italy
DatesLate December–early January annually

The skier with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears the yellow bib, representing the leader of the overall standings. There are one other bib as well: the red bib, worn by the leader of the point standings.

Justyna Kowalczyk has won the most Tours with four. She is the only skier to win four consecutive Tours. Charlotte Kalla is the youngest winner of the women's Tour; she won in 2007–08, 20 years and 168 days old. Marit Bjørgen is the oldest winner, having been 34 years, 295 days old when she won the 2015 edition.

Norwegian skiers have won the most Tours with seven; Four Norwegian female skiers have won. The most recent winner is Jessie Diggins of United States, who became the first non-European winner of the Tour de Ski after victory in 2021 edition.

History

The Tour de Ski was established in 2006 by FIS, after ideas emerging on a meeting between former Olympic gold medallist Vegard Ulvang and Jürg Capol, the International Ski Federation's (FIS) chief executive officer for cross-country competitions, in Ulvang's sauna in Maridalen, Norway.[1][2] Their idea was to create a stage competition consisting of different events which they expected would lead to several days of continuous excitement before the most complete skiers would become Tour de Ski champions.[1] Jürg Capol stated that FIS originally wished to start the race in the Alps. However, as neither Austria or Switzerland were interested, the opening two stages were to be held in Nové Město na Moravě in the Czech Republic.[3] A week before the Tour was due to start, FIS announced that snow conditions in Nové Město were not good enough, and cancelled the two races there. The first Tour de Ski therefore opened with a sprint race in Munich on 31 December 2006, and was won by Marit Bjørgen (NOR).

Skiers from France,[4] Germany[5] and Norway, among others, said that the Tour de Ski was among their targets for the 2006–07 season, with Norwegian skier Jens Arne Svartedal claiming that the winner would have "extreme respect" for winning such an extreme race.[6] Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) was the first women's overall winners of the Tour. Kuitunen won two of the six stages on her path to victory.

After the first Tour de Ski, reactions among athletes were largely positive. Norwegian athletes said "it was a good concept",[7] German winner Tobias Angerer claimed that the Tour de Ski "has a great future",[8] Oberstdorf in Bavaria was originally scheduled to host two stages, but cancelled as the German Ski Association could only arrange a race on 2 January.[9] though many of the athletes expressed concern over the final climb up an alpine skiing hill both before and after the race.[10] The director of FIS' cross-country committee, Vegard Ulvang, said the finish would be in the same place next year, but the way up could be changed.[10] Ulvang also claimed that the Tour had been a success, and a "breakthrough for FIS"[11] Ulvang did, however, admit that there would have to be some changes, as up to a third of participants in the Tour de Ski have struggled with illness or injury after the competition.[12]

Newspaper comments were divided: in Expressen's opinion, the finish was the "most enjoyable competition seen in years,"[13] while Roland Wiedemann in Der Spiegel said this "should be the future of cross-country skiing".[14] Critical commentaries appeared in Göteborgs-Posten, criticising the fact that sprinters didn't have a chance in the overall standings,[15] and Wiesbaden Kurier, describing it as a reality show and a skiing circus.[16]

In her first Tour in 2007–08, Charlotte Kalla became the second winner of the women's Tour de Ski, the first from Sweden. She also became the youngest winner of the Tour, aged 20 years, 168 days. Kuitunen became the first to win two Tours after winning the 2008–09 Tour de Ski. At a meeting in Venice, Italy, on 7 May 2009, Tour de Ski officials met with officials from the Giro d'Italia road cycle race to learn from the stage race to further improve Tour de Ski competition for the 2009–10 event.

In the early 2010s, the women's Tour was dominated by Justyna Kowalczyk, who won four consecutive Tours from 2009–10 to 2012–13. She also won three consecutive sprint competitions from 2010–11 to 2012–13. Kowalczyk's wins in 2009–10 and 2010–11 made her the first to defend a Tour de Ski title. Kowalczyk became the first skier to lead the Tour from the first stage and all the way to the finish when she won the 2010–11 Tour. Therese Johaug was the first Norwegian to win the Tour de Ski in 2013–14. By winning the 2015 Tour, Marit Bjørgen became the oldest winner aged 34 years and 295 days. Bjørgen was the second skier to lead the overall standings after every stage of the Tour. Johaug won her second Tour in 2016. Heidi Weng won the 2016–17 and 2017–18 Tours and became the second women to defend a Tour de Ski title. In 2017–18, Jessie Diggins of USA became the first non-European to achieve a podium spot in the overall standings. In 2018–19 Ingvild Flugstad Østberg won last four consecutive stages and became the fourth Norwegian female winner of the tournament. Diggins became the first non-European winner in 2021.

Winners
Key
Winner won the Sprint standings in the same year
  • The "Year" column refers to the years the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season.
  • The "Distance" column refers to the distance over which the race was held, excluding sprint heats.
  • The "Margin" column refers to the margin of time or points by which the winner defeated the runner-up.
  • The "Stage wins" column refers to the number of stage wins the winner had during the race.
Tour de Ski men's overall winners
Year Country Skier Distance Time Margin Stage wins Stages in lead Stages
2006–07  Finland Virpi Kuitunen 47 km (29 mi) 2:20:15.3 + 1:17.5 3 3 6
2007–08  Sweden Charlotte Kalla 56 km (35 mi) 2:43:01.0 + 36.4 2 2 8
2008–09  Finland Virpi Kuitunen 43 km (27 mi) 2:06:41.4 + 7.2 3 4 7
2009–10  Poland Justyna Kowalczyk 55 km (34 mi) 2:37:49.5 + 24.2 2 3 8
2010–11  Poland Justyna Kowalczyk 59 km (37 mi) 2:47:31.0 + 1:21.5 4 8 8
2011–12  Poland Justyna Kowalczyk 63 km (39 mi) 2:52:45.0 + 28.2 4 8 9
2012–13  Poland Justyna Kowalczyk 51 km (32 mi) 2:25:21.6 + 27.9 4 6 7
2013–14  Norway Therese Johaug 45 km (28 mi) 2:04:16.4 + 20.4 2 1 7
2015  Norway Marit Bjørgen 53 km (33 mi) 2:34:44.6 + 1:39.2 5 7 7
2016  Norway Therese Johaug 57 km (35 mi) 2:40:34.8 + 2:20.9 3 2 8
2016–17  Norway Heidi Weng 50 km (31 mi) 2:27:39.4 + 1:37.0 1 2 7
2017–18  Norway Heidi Weng 51 km (32 mi) 2:20:56.5 + 48.5 2 1 6
2018–19  Norway Ingvild Flugstad Østberg 52 km (32 mi) 2:30:31.2 + 2:42.0 4 4 7
2019–20  Norway Therese Johaug 53 km (33 mi) 2:28:18.6 + 1:11.1 3 5 7
2021  United States Jessie Diggins 63 km (39 mi) 3:04:45.8 + 1:24.8 2 6 8

Multiple winners

The following skiers have won the Tour de Ski on 2 or more occasions.

Multiple winners of the overall Tour de Ski
Skier Total Editions
 Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) 4 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13
 Therese Johaug (NOR) 3 2013–14, 2016, 2019–20
 Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) 2 2006–07, 2008–09,
 Heidi Weng (NOR) 2 2016–17, 2017–18

By nationality
Tour de Ski women's overall winners by nationality
Country No. of wins No. of winning skiers
 Norway 7 4
 Poland 4 1
 Finland 2 1
 Sweden 1 1
 United States 1 1

References
  1. "Den ble født i en badstue" [It was born in a sauna]. www.dagsavisen.no (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. 3 January 2015.
  2. "Ny æra for langrenn" [A new era in cross-country skiing]. www.dagsavisen.no (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. 25 November 2006.
  3. (in Norwegian) Jürg Capol snakker om Tour de Ski, langrenn.com quoting Le Matin, 20 November 2006.
  4. (in German) Interview mit Vincent Vittoz (FRA) zur Tour de Ski, from xc-ski.de, retrieved 19 December 2006.
  5. (in German)langläufer angerer gewinnt in la clusaz, from dpa, retrieved 19 December 2006.
  6. (in Norwegian) Tour-favoritter i kø, Tor Kise Karlsen, ANB, published 10 November 2006.
  7. (in Norwegian) –Utrolig godt fornøyd, Karin Harstensen, Østlandets Blad, 9 January 2007.
  8. (in German) "Tour de Ski hat große Zukunft" Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, ZDF, retrieved 9 January 2006.
  9. (in Norwegian) Dropper Tour i Tyskland, Kim Nystøl, NRK, published 30 November 2007, retrieved 9 December 2007.
  10. (in Norwegian) Ulvang varsler Tour-endringer, Nettavisen, retrieved 9 January 2007.
  11. (in Norwegian) Ulvang: - Touren en suksess, NTB, retrieved from vg.no, 9 January 2007.
  12. (in Norwegian) Ulvang varsler Tour-endringer, ANB-NTB, retrieved 29 January 2006.
  13. (in Swedish) Tomas Pettersson: Dags att flytta Tour de ski till Sverige - nu, Expressen, retrieved 9 January 2007.
  14. (in German) Jubel über die Tour der Leiden, by Roland Wiedemann, Der Spiegel, retrieved 9 January 2007.
  15. (in Swedish) Upplägget måste förändras i Tour de Ski Archived 2007-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Göteborgs-Posten, retrieved 9 January 2007.
  16. Ski-Zirkus Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Rolf Lehmann, Wiesbaden Kurier, retrieved 9 January 2007.
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