Norway has never delivered a worse traditional cross-country skiing World Cup season on the women’s side than this winter. And Sweden has never done better.

In eighth place, Heidi Weng was Norway’s only skier among the top 10 in the World Cup overall this winter. It is the worst ever for Norway since the World Cup was established in the 1981/1982 season. Sweden had five skiers in the top ten in the traditional cross-country skiing World Cup this season, including two in the top three. 

Also Read – 2023/2024 World Cup: Final Standings after Falun

The last time we saw a similar dominance from a nation on the women’s side was when the Norwegian women quickly gained traction almost ten years ago: Norway had five skiers among the top ten in the 2015/2016 season. The year before, Norway had as many as six skiers at the top of the World Cup. (We see a similar trend on the men’s side now – more on that in the following article about this topic).

But how has the World Cup developed in the last decade? Are there more nations represented in the top ten now? Langrenn.com has taken a deep dive into the statistics; these are the numbers. 

After the last race of the winter World Cup season, Jessie Diggins from the USA was the overall winner. But the Swedish Linn Svahn was hot on her heels until the last competition. Svahn’s second place is Sweden’s best on the women’s side since Marie-Helene “Billan” Östlund was second overall in the World Cup in the 1987/1988 season.

Frida Karlsson finished third overall this winter. Thus, the Swedes have taken third place overall in three of the last four seasons (Ebba Andersson was third overall in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons).

Also Read – 2023/2024 World Cup Standings: Ski Brands’ Championship

Langrenn.com has reviewed the overall standings in the World Cup for the last ten seasons. Here are the ten skiers who have made it into the top ten in each season.  

However, it is worth noting that the 2019/2020 season ended a couple of weeks early due to the pandemic that broke out in the winter of 2020. Furthermore, athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned since March 1, 2022, due to the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 of the same year. 

Read More: Diggins pays an extremely high price for success

HERE ARE THE RESULTS SEASON BY SEASON

SEASON 2023/2024

World Cup overall

1. Jessie Diggins, USA
2. Linn Svahn, Sweden
3. Frida Karlsson, Sweden

Total number of skiers top-10 per nation:  Sweden 5, USA 2, Norway, Finland and Germany 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Heidi Weng 8
Swedish skiers top-10:  Linn Svahn 2, Frida Karlsson, 3, Jonna Sundling 6, Emma Ribom 9, Ebba Andersson

SEASON 2022/2023

World Cup overall

1. Tiril Udnes Weng, Norway
2. Jessie Diggins, USA
3. Kerttu Niskanen, Finland

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 3, Sweden and USA 2; Finland, Germany and Switzerland 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Tiril Udnes Weng 1, Lotta Udnes Weng 9, Heidi Weng 10
Swedish skiers top-10:  Frida Karlsson 6, Maja Dahlqvist 8

SEASON 2021/2022

World Cup overall 

1. Natalia Terenteva, Russia
2. Jessie Diggins, USA
3. Ebba Andersson, Sweden

Total number of skiers top-10 per nation:  Sweden 3, Norway and Finland 2, USA, Russia and Slovenia 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Therese Johaug 5, Heidi Weng 6
Swedish skiers top-10:  Ebba Andersson 3, Jonna Sundling 9, Maja Dahlqvist 10

SEASON 2020/2021

World Cup overall

1. Jessie Diggins, USA
2. Yulia Stupak, USA
3. Ebba Andersson, Sweden

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Russia 3, Sweden and USA 2 each; Norway; Switzerland and Slovenia 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Therese Johaug 9
Swedish skiers top-10:  Ebba Andersson 3, Linn Svahn 7

SEASON 2019/2020

World Cup overall 

1. Therese Johaug, Norway
2. Heidi Weng, Norway
3. Natalia Terenteva, Russia

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 4, USA 2, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Russia 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Therese Johaug 1, Heidi Weng 2, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen 4, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg 5
Swedish skiers top -10:  Ebba Andersson 7 

SEASON 2018/2019

World Cup overall

1. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Norway
2. Natalia Terenteva, Russia
3. Therese Johaug, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Sweden and Norway 3, Russia 2, Finland and USA 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Ingvild Flugstad Østberg 1, Therese Johaug 3, Maiken Caspersen Falla 10
Swedish skiers top-10:  Stina Nilsson 5, Ebba Andersson 7, Maja Dahlqvist 9

SEASON 2017/2018

World Cup overall

1. Heidi Weng, Norway
2. Jessie Diggins, USA
3. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 4, Finland and USA 2, Sweden and Austria 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Heidi Weng 1, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg 3, Marit Bjørgen 5, Ragnhild Gløersen Haga 9
Swedish skiers top-10:  Charlotte Kalla 7

SEASON 2016-17

World Cup overall 

1. Heidi Weng, Norway
2. Krista Pärmäkoski, Finland
3. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation: Norway 4, Finland 3, Sweden 2, USA 1
Norwegian skiers top-10: Heidi Weng 1, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg 3, Marit Bjørgen 5, Maiken Caspersen Falla 7
Swedish skiers top-10: Stina Nilsson 4, Charlotte Kalla 9

SEASON 2015/2016

World Cup overall 

1. Therese Johaug, Norway
2. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Norway
3. Heidi Weng, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 5, Finland 3, Sweden and USA 1
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Therese Johaug 1, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg 2, Heidi Weng 3, Maiken Caspersen Falla 6, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen 7
Swedish skiers top-10:  Charlotte Kalla 5

SEASON 2014/2015

World Cup overall

1. Marit Bjørgen, Norway
2. Therese Johaug, Norway
3. Heidi Weng, Norway

Total number of top-10 skiers per nation:  Norway 6, Germany 2, Sweden and USA 1 
Norwegian skiers top-10:  Marit Bjørgen 1, Therese Johaug 2, Heidi Weng 3, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg 4, Ragnhild Gløersen Haga 5, Maiken Caspersen Falla 6
Swedish skiers in the top 10:  Charlotte Kalla 7

Total number of positions in the top 10 World Cup in the last ten seasons

• Norway 33 (nine different skiers)
• Sweden 21 (eight different skiers)
• USA 15 (four different skiers)
• Finland 14 (three different skiers)
• Russia 7 (three different skiers)
• Germany 4 (four different skiers)
• Austria 2 (Teresa Stadlober, both)
• Switzerland 2 (Nadine Fähndrich, both)
• Slovenia 2 (Anamarija Lampic, both)

The following skiers have been top-10 in the World Cup in the last ten years

Norway

• Therese Johaug
• Heidi Weng
• Tiril Udnes Weng
• Lotta Udnes Weng
• Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen
• Ingvild Flugstad Østberg
• Maiken Caspersen Falla
• Marit Bjørgen
• Ragnhild Gløersen Haga

Sweden

• Linn Svahn
• Frida Karlsson 
• Jonna Sundling
• Emma Ribom
• Ebba Andersson
• Maja Dahlqvist
• Stina Nilsson
• Charlotte Kalla

USA

• Jessie Diggins
• Rosie Brennan
• Sadie Maubet Bjornsen 
• Elisabeth Steven 

Finland

• Kerttu Niskanen
• Krista Pärmäkoski 
• Laura Mononen

Russia

• Natalia Terenteva
• Yulia Stupak
• Tatiana Sorina

Germany

• Nicole Fessel
• Denise Herrmann
• Katharina Hennig 
• Victoria Carl 

Austria

• Teresa Stadlober 

Switzerland

• Nadine Fähndrich

Slovenia

• Anamarija Lampic

(Source: FIS)