2007 February

Next up at the 2007 Nordic World Championships is the Team Sprint event. The two-skier sprint begins at 2 a.m. (ET) at the Dome. For the U.S., the two cross country teams will be Andrew Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) and Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA) in the men's event, and Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK) paired with Laura Valaas (Wenatchee, WA) in the women's race. The Team Sprint this year is skate technique. Each skier will complete 3...

Kikkan Randall In the women's competition, Kikkan Randall (U.S. Ski Team) led the way for North Americans with a 22nd overall finish just ahead of U.S. rookie Laura Valaas in 24th. Randall qualified in 21st and Valaas 23rd before each finished fifth in their respective quarterfinals. Valaas was only 1.4 seconds from the leader of her heat at the finish, while Randall finished 7.6 seconds behind Petra Majdic of Slovenia, who crossed the line first...

We caught up with Kris Freeman in Sapparo, Japan, where the US Ski team is preparing for the 2007 World Champs. With the start of the Championships only 2 days away, Kris was happy to give the US X-C skiing community some insight of what to expect the next 2 weeks in Japan.

The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships debut in Asia from 22nd February to 4th March. FIS President Gian Franco Kasper will open the Championships at the official Opening Ceremony at 18:00 (10:00 CET) today, Thursday, 22nd February. Sapporo Dome Source: FIS

Andrew Newell was first in qualifying in today's World Championship Classic Sprint at the Sapporo Dome in Japan. Four Americans made the elimination heats: Newell, Torin Koos (15th), Kikkan Randall (21st), Laura Valaas (23rd) Follow live results here: http://www.sportresult.com/sports/cc/cc.asp Stay tuned… MEN 1 9 Newell Andrew USA *17:02:15 3:04.71 0.00 Q 2 1 Hjelmeset Odd Bjorn NOR *17:00:15 3:04.93 +0.22 Q 3 10 Joensson Emil SWE *17:02:30 3:05.68 +0.97 Q 4 4 Roenning Eldar NOR...

FasterSkier.com had a chance to ask US Ski Team sprinter Torin Koos a few questions ahead of Wednesday night/early Thursday’s classic sprint race at Worlds. Read about his final preparations and how he is experiencing Japan! Torin at Otepaa World Cup Which races will you ski at Worlds? I plan on racing the sprint and the sprint relay on the 22nd and 23rd in the Sapporo Dome. On the 25th I board a plane headed...

In one day, the Nordic skiing world will converge upon Sapporo for the 2007 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships to be held there from February 22nd to March 4th. This will be the first time the championships have been held in Asia. Follow along with Fasterskier.com for daily updates and reports from Sapporo.

Anders Aukland (NOR) won the 30km classic race in Gran Fondo Val Casies in Italy on Sunday. He feels that he is (finally) getting in shape for the 50km classic race at Sapporo World Championships.

The Norwegian betting company Nordicbet doesn’t believe in World Championship gold for Petter Northug. They have more confidence in Frode Estil, Jens Arne Svartedal and the Norwegian relay team. Petter Northug isn’t considered one of the most obvious favorites in individual events, but he is given better odds at winning in the 4 x 10 kilometer relay or in the two person team sprint.