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2008 January

For the fourth consecutive year the SuperTour comes to the streets of Madison, WI and will bring crowds of spectators to celebrate elite cross country ski racing. The Madison SuperTour is an integral part of the Madison Winter Festival (formerly Capitol Square Sprints) which brings over 900 participants and 10,000 spectators every year. “We built Madison Winter Festival around the SuperTour races and will have a fantastic event this year. Snow and ice sculpting, sledding...

According to the Finnish Biathlon Association (FBA), a doping sample presented by biathlete Kaisa Varis has been found to contain illegal substances. The FBA was informed of the positive test by the International Biathlon Union (IBU). The FBA states, in a website communique, that none of its officials have had any part or involvement in the matter. Varis has won one biathlon World Cup competition this season, a 7.5km sprint event at Ruhpolding earlier this...

Phil Bowen: You're a student of the sport. Both in running and skiing, you seem to have a respect for those who came before you. Names like Koch, Wassberg, Svan, Mikkelsplass. Yet as a sprinter, you are definitely part of the new school – the format is hardly 10 years old. Do you feel like you're betraying (maybe too strong a word) the forefathers or are you happy to be part of the revolution? Torin...

Some of the best Noquemanon conditions in many years greeted participants Saturday in Marquette. The Factory Team's Andre Golovko edged out Zach Violett (Fischer/Craft) for the 51K classical victory, as Andre's teammate, Kristina Strandberg won the women's division. Nikolai Anikin pulled away from Matt Weier to take the mens 51K title. Paulette Niemi was crowned the 51K freestyle queen. Freestyle 25K titles went to Duncan McClean and Mindy McCutcheon, classical 25K victories for John Anderton...

Ruhpolding, Germany, January 29. Leif Nordgren (Marine-on-St. Croix MN), just 48 hours from a Bronze Medal in the Pursuit competition on Sunday, today finished 10th in the 12.5K Youth Individual competition, while Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME) finished 15th in the Junior 15k Individual at the Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships here. Ethan Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT) with just one penalty in the four-stage competition joined Nordgren in the top 20 finishers. Nordgren with three penalties, finished 3:01.6...

More than 5.000 people started the 35th edition of the Marcialonga, a 70km classic race that winds through the Italian mountains. The Marcialonga is Italy's World Loppett race, and one of the most famous. Just over three hours after leading the field of 5,000 out of the start, Anders Aukland (NOR) was all alone as he crossed the finish line in viale Mendini in Cavalese, in front of more than 10.000 people on a spring-like...

VUOKATTI, Fin. Brian McKeever took another stride forward in his goal of becoming the first winter-sport athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Fresh off competing in the Alberta World Cup where he finished amongst the top-40 against the best cross-country skiers in the world on Friday, the 28-year-old McKeever and his brother and guide Robin hopped a plane to Finland to join their Canadian mates on the Para-Nordic World Cup....

The best laid plans of mice, men, and ski race promoters don’t count much for anything when it comes to Sierra Nevada weather. And in the case of the Tahoe Rim Tour and Race, a premier new, classic technique-oriented competition in the Lake Tahoe region, flexibility and “going with the flow” is as important as fluorocarbons on a warm, snowy day. Conceived by Far West Nordic Board President Jeff Schloss, the Tahoe Rim Tour is...

Editor's Note: Mark submitted this report following Madjic's win but unfortunately the email was overlooked. We apologize for the late posting. Mark Waechter is the owner and operator of Nordic UltraTune, a full service stone-grinding shop in Winthrop, WA. He is working ski service with the Slovenian National Team at the World Cup races in Canmore, ALB. He will be posting additional updates at Madjic (2) in the A-Final on her way to victory. Astrid...

SEEFELD, Austria (Jan. 26) – Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) had the second-fastest 7.5K race Saturday to finish sixth in a nordic combined World Cup sprint. He protected his No. 2 spot in the World Cup overall standings. Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) was 19th. The day had a mix of two competitions. After jumping for the sprint, with weather forecasts predicting nasty weather, athletes took one more jump to be used as part of an...

New England New England JOQ Day Two: Chisholm Ski Club welcomed recently retired US Ski Team member Justin Freeman and current USST skier Liz Stephen to Sunday's TD Banknorth Eastern Cup Freestyle races. The course featured two times up the feared “High School Hill” for women and three times for men; for many juniors it was their first crack at a longer distance race. For the full story and complete results, NENSA New England JOQ...

On day 2 of the Telemark SuperTour weekend, featuring mass-start classic races, UAF's Marius Korthauer racked up another win, leading from the start and sprinting ahead of Fischer-Craft's Zach Violett to a one-second victory. Atomic's Bryan Cook came in alone for third followed by a close group of four skiers led by Andre Watt (CXC Team), ahead of Brayton Osgood (Fischer-Craft), Martin Banerud (NMU), and Phil Violett (NMU.) Temperatures were warmer than the previous day–around...

Ruhpolding, Germany, January 27. Leif Nordgren (Marine-on-St. Croix MN), in fourth place just 100 meters from the finish, burst past Lukas Hofer of Italy in the final 10 meters to win the Bronze Medal in the Youth 10K Pursuit competition today at the Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships. The Bronze Medal is the first medal won by the US at these Championships since 2002, when the US won two medals in the Junior Women’s category, the...

Ruhpolding, Germany, January 26. Leif Nordgren (Marine-on-St. Croix MN) led the US Biathlon Team here today with sixth place in the Youth 7.5K Sprint at the Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships. Nordgren, who had one penalty in the prone stage, finished a mere 24 seconds behind the winner, Vladimir Alenishenko of Belarus, who won in 22:53.8. The sixth place is an outstanding achievement, based on how the prone stage went for Nordgren. He had trouble bolting...

Chandra Crawford is back! The Olympic Gold Medalist captured her first ever World Cup win on her home course in Canmore. The surprise winner of the Freestyle Sprint at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Crawford struggled through a difficult season last year, unable to crack the top-20 on the World Cup circuit. That is all a distant memory now as Crawford followed up a strong 12th in the classic sprint with the victory in the...

Emil Joensson of Sweden won the first World Cup race of his career, outsprinting last year’s World Junior Sprint Champion, Ivan Ivanov of Russia. Matias Strandvall (FIN) gained his first World Cup podium in the third spot. Kuzzy talks strategy before the B-Final Andy Newell comes into the first corner during his quarter final heat “Andy went to the right and they moved him out while I went into the first lane and I had...

UAF's Marius Korthauer, who won Wednesday's SuperTour sprint freestyle in Duluth, continued to show impressive speed and strength, taking Saturday's 10km SuperTour race by 12 seconds ahead of strong efforts by NMU/Atomic's Bryan Cook and Fischer-Craft's Brayton Osgood. Former US Olympic Team standout John Bauer (Rossignol), semi-ex-retired for about the 3rd time, finished just off the podium with NMU's Martin Banerud in fifth. Conditions were reasonably fast despite some light accumulation of new snow over...

FasterSkier will be presenting expanded coverage of the freestyle sprints on the final day of the World Cup in Canmore with our World Cup blog. Once again we will do our best to bring live updates during the sprint heats. Check back often and be sure to scroll down the blog page to see if you missed anything. http://blogs.fasterskier.com/worldcup/