Last week, Johnny Spillane announced his retirement after well over a decade on the U.S. Nordic Combined Team. The four-time Olympian explains why he decided to call it a career before the 2014 Winter Games.
As U.S. Biathlon Hones Focus on Sochi, Small Group Named to 2014 National Team
April 15, 2013 By Chelsea Little
With the Olympics looming, the U.S. Biathlon Association cut its national team to the smallest it has been in years, with no new members and only one athlete under the age of 25; development was cut almost completely. President and CEO Max Cobb hopes that good performances in Sochi will be a rising tide that lifts all boats in his sport.
Biathlon’s First Look at Olympic Venue: Exciting, Unfinished, Unusual
March 8, 2013 By Chelsea Little
“It’s beautiful and it’s very strange,” U.S. biathlete Annelies Cook said of the new Olympic venue in Sochi, which sits just next to the cross country trails on the slopes of a steep mountain chain. From racing to the athlete village, from unusual rules about rifles to pleasant surprises with washing machines, biathletes are learning what life will be like at next year’s Games.
As Fourcade Collects Another Win, Burke Fifth in Sochi’s Biathlon Debut
March 7, 2013 By Chelsea Little
While Martin Fourcade of France joked that now he has his gold medal from Sochi, Tim Burke finished the day with important insight, too: namely, that he can ski among the fastest times on the trails that will hold Olympic competition next winter. With only one missed shot in the 20 k race, the American made the top five for the second competition in a row.
Weekly Roundup: Testing the Sochi Waters
February 4, 2013 By Chelsea Little
Skiers and jumpers tested out the Sochi trails – quite successfully for the U.S. and Canada; biathletes finished up World Youth and Junior Championships with another medal for Sean Doherty and two Canadian top-tens; Americans turned to longer marathon racing at the Boulder Mountain Tour and Craftsbury Marathon; Canadians mini-toured through Eastern Championships.
Before Sochi World Cup, National Teams Scout Olympic Venue
January 29, 2013 By Audrey Mangan
After a short break in the calendar, World Cup action begins again on Friday in Sochi, Russia, with a triple-header. More than the usual amount of intrigue surrounds the upcoming events; in addition to being the first World Cup in almost two weeks, this will be the first international cross-country event to take place at the Olympic venue for the 2014 Games.
For Anti-Doping Administrators, a Constant Battle Requiring Creativity & Strong Leadership
November 7, 2012 By Chelsea Little
Note: For more on Professor Ljungqvist’s fight against doping in Sweden, and its effect on Scandinavian sport culture, you can read our companion piece, also published this morning. STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Professor Arne Ljungvist has been fighting doping since the [...]
FIS President Concerned Sochi is Unprepared
October 16, 2012 By Audrey Mangan
If the ski arenas currently under construction in Sochi, Russia, remain at their current size, the International Ski Federation is going to be unhappy with spectator capacity for Olympic ski competitions come 2014. International Ski Federation President and International Olympic [...]
Long a Resource for Twin Cities Athletes, Bednarski Shifts Roles to Join Loppet Nordic Racing
September 24, 2012 By Chelsea Little
Coaching a college team which you yourself are part of might not seem like the best way to learn the tricks of the trade – or to become a better athlete, for that matter. And yet that was the situation [...]
WADA Moves Toward Adding Olympic Ban to Code
June 5, 2012 By Audrey Mangan
A First Look at PyeongChang’s Olympic Venue
May 31, 2012 By Audrey Mangan
In just six short years the attention of the entire world will be focused on PyeongChang, South Korea, as it hosts the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Representatives to the International Ski Federation (FIS) Congress being held at the nearby Kangwonland Resort [...]
Bucking Conventions, U.S. Biathletes Prove That College Isn’t a Barrier to Long-Term Success
Once the country’s best juniors, a handful of biathletes – including Lowell Bailey, ranked 14th in the 2012 World Cup standings – detoured through college programs before representing the U.S. at World Championships and the Olympics.
The Ghosts of 1984: In Search of Sarajevo’s Olympic Past
Today’s the day. After two days of searching through the war-scarred mountains south of Sarajevo, I am finally going to locate the cross country ski venue from the 1984 Olympics. This theoretically simple quest has not been simple at all, [...]
Interview: After Four Olympic Appearances in Two Sports, Brazil’s Mourão Hopes For One More – In Biathlon
April 18, 2012 By Chelsea Little
Jaque Mourão may be a 36-year-old Brazilian mom, but the Quebec-based endurance queen has already made history in mountain biking and cross-country skiing. With help from Sweden’s Matthias Nilsson, she now has her sights set on biathlon, and further inspiring her countrymen to pursue their dreams.
Canada’s Youth Olympians Hang Out With a Hero: Beckie Scott on her Chef de Mission Role
February 10, 2012 By Chelsea Little
YOG: Capping an Outstanding Day for North America, Canadians Fly to Bronze in Team Jumping
January 22, 2012 By David McCahill
SEEFELD IN TIROL, Austria— Despite significant recent snowfall, the Youth Olympic Games staff managed to polish the HS 75 meter jump in Seefeld Arena in time for Saturday’s Team Jumping event—the final Nordic event of the Games. The Canadian [...]
