We haven’t seen the last of Magnar Dalen. After eight years as head coach of the Finnish National Ski Team, Dalen, 50, is moving on to coaching marathon skiers on a private team, he explained in an email.
Finnish skier Tero Similä has tested positive for the blood-doping drug EPO. While the case will likely put Finland back in the spotlight again after the 2001 disqualifications of six top athletes at World Championships for the same offense, Similä wasn't on the national team and one possibility is that he turned to doping to try to make the Olympic team (he did not).
With three teammates skiing at the front of the women's 30 k freestyle mass start from start to finish, it was no surprise it was Norway, and it wasn't exactly stunning that they dominated the podium. However, the last several hundred meters of the race turned out to be the most exciting, with Marit Bjørgen executing in her usual fashion. The victory made her the most successful woman in Winter Olympics history.
We've heard about disappointment - but what about amazing, unexpected success? 22-year-old Iivo Niskanen of Finland almost held onto bronze in the Olympic men's 15 k classic. "In my 26-year career in coaching, the best thing is to see a star be born," coach Magnar Dalen told FasterSkier.
TOBLACH, Italy – Stage 7 of the Tour de Ski, which took place Thursday, is the event’s crown jewel: a 35-kilometer point-to-point race that sent competitors up an over a mountain pass, with the craggy Dolomites as a stunning backdrop. Or, to be more precise, it sent male competitors up and over a mountain pass, with the craggy Dolomites as a stunning backdrop. The women, meanwhile, skied three laps of a standard five-kilometer course on...
As far as coaching goes, Magnar Dalen has been around the block. Formerly the head coach of the Swedish team and head wax tech for the Norwegians, Dalen has been in charge of the Finnish program for the last four years. When Dalen took over Finland’s team in 2006, the women were already strong, with Virpi Kuitunen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen finishing sixth and 12th in the World Cup overall the year before. But the men’s...