Norwegian national team cross country skiers Anders and Jorgen Aukland and Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset got a little taste of what the Tour de France participants can expect, when they test-rode a small portion of the course last week. Tour de France starts July 3 and ends 22 days later after 3395 kilometer of the hardest riding you can imagine trough a mostly burning hot France. The Norwegian skiers traveled to France to bike some of the...
VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Walter Mayer was reinstated as Austria's cross-country ski coach despite a lifetime ban following a doping scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. “It was my declared wish to have him on the team again because Walter has proven to give our team the needed boost,” said Markus Gandler, sporting director of the Austrian Nordic ski team. The International Ski Federation banned Mayer for life after the discovery of blood doping paraphernalia...
Norwegian cross country skiers are upset that skiers from several nations have not been tested out of competition the last three years. – Scary says Olympic Champion Frode Estil. The Norwegian skiers found out during a meeting with skiers from other nations that several skiers are not tested out of competition. Frode Estil is upset. – It’s scary to hear this. I was hoping that the system would work in a way that everyone was...
I was excited. As I drove up the mountain road all around me was white. It was May, early May. It rarely has this amount of snow in Australia this early. I was down in our mountain region in Australia for a job interview at one of our big alpine ski resorts. As I was doing some job research on their website, I noticed their snow cams just showed white. It was snowing. I decided...
Fasterskier.com has posted several articles this spring talking about how the training season official started May 1, (give or take a little) for elite level skiers. In case you didn’t get the point, this was meant to get everyone else like masters and juniors going as well. Gordon Lange and I didn’t stop training this spring either. For information on the training with Torbjorn and Gorden column go to: www.torbjornsport.com/tbksports/030707coaching.html) Gordon got a kick out...
Up until now, the start order of skiers in interval start races has been determined by a random draw. The start field at World Cup races has been divided into four groups, a a double random draw within each group has been used to select which bib (and start-order) each skier will get. From next season, the start order (and bib) in World Cup races will be determined by the participants' FIS points or World...
All World Cup sprint races will not count in the overall World Cup next season. The International ski Federation (FIS) also wants to test out a modification of the sprint heat format next season. All sprint World Cup races counted in the overall World Cup last season, but FIS is reducing the number of sprints that counts for this upcoming season. – Cross-Country skiing is still an endurance sport. There has been a significant increase...
The first Cross-Country competition at the 2005 Junior World Championship in Rovaniemi, Finland will be held on March 21st. The changes in event formats for this year are: – The mass-start event will be changed to a pursuit event, where the women ski 5 + 5 km (classical then skate), and the men 10 + 10 km. – The sprint event will qualify 30 skiers to the quarterfinal heats. Two skiers from each of the...
Drew, what’s your status on the Canadian team? – I am currently on Canada’s Team 2006 with team mates George Grey, Chris Jeffries, Devon Kershaw, Chandra Crawford, Milaine Theriault and Dasha Gaiazova.(Beckie and Sara are on Team 2005). This is my third year on the Senior National Team, I also spent one year on the Junior National Team. I receive almost full support from the team as far as camps go and I have what’s...
Fasterskier.com checked out San Diego, US cross country team’s choice for a low altitude and high intensity camp in September (September 18 – October 1). We also talked to head Coach Trond Nystad about this. San Diego Men’s Journal Magazine (www.mensjournal.com ) named in their 2004 June issue San Diego, California (right next to the Mexican border) their #1 “Best Big City” in USA. They used 37 variables, like cost of living, air and water...
DOPING, TV ARE TOPICS AT FIS CONFERENCE MIAMI, Fla. (June 8) — Anti-doping and TV strategy were among the key issues for the meeting of the International Ski Federation's every-second-year Congress in Miami. The FIS Congress unanimously adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and took initial steps towards implementation of a new strategy for better management of television rights. Nearly 1,000 Representatives from 102 ski and snowboard nations took part in the week of meetings. “Two...
The Perfect Skating CD-ROM is the best learning tool we have ever seen for not only learning and understanding all skate techniques, but also for seeing and leaning just about every possible drill to improve every aspect of every technique. It’s like having your own personal coach telling you how to skate better and then which drill to go and work on. A must for skaters of all ages as well as coaches. Learn new...
Bjerke surprised many after getting second place in the Norwegian National Team’s time-trial during their last training camp. The Lillehammer skier won silver in the National Championship two year’s ago, qualifying him for a spot on the National Team. However, poor results last year resulted in being taken off the team. However, he was allowed to participate with the National Team on their recent camp. – I became too focused on controlling my intensity during...