2007 December

A great day for American skiing! Congratulations to Kikkan, the USST coaches, the APUNSC coaches, the race support staff, and many many other people, fans, and supporters! Photo credit: Andy Fecteau Photo credit: Devon Kershaw

RYBINSK, Russia (Dec. 16) – Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), who posted the first U.S. women's World Cup cross country podium last January, produced the first U.S. women's victory Sunday, winning a sprint in Rybinsk. She defeated world champion Astrid Jacobsen of Norway in the final meters of a 1.2K freestyle course for the first American win since Bill Koch in 1983. “Last year [when she was third], I was too tentative to make a move...

RAMSAU, Austria (Dec. 16) – Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) turned in the second-fastest 7.5K race Sunday and moved up 14 places in a World Cup hurricane start sprint event. He was sixth behind Germany's Bjoern Kircheisen, who couldn't catch Demong as he won his third World Cup in a nordic combined individual competition a week ago. In the hurricane start, skiers form a coil at distances behind the jumping leader based on a handicap formula...

Editor's Note: FasterSkier's roving reporter Tucker Sawin is reporting from Rybinsk, Russia this weekend, giving us first-hand information on the World Cup Cross-Country races. Andy Newell had an outstanding day today, unfortunately, a tangle-up at the top of the hill in the semifinals robbed him of the chance to produce a matching result. Newell qualified 10th, but went on to dominate his quarterfinal heat, exploding out of the pack mid-way up the climb. In the...

Editor's Note: FasterSkier's roving reporter Tucker Sawin is reporting from Rybinsk, Russia this weekend, giving us first-hand information on the World Cup Cross-Country races. In a dominant display today, Kikkan Randall won the first ever World Cup for an American woman. She finished 2nd in qualifying and consistently distanced herself from the field in her heats. In the final, Randall came out of the pack on the climb and had a couple meters on Astrid...

Editor's Note: FasterSkier's roving reporter Tucker Sawin is reporting from Rybinsk, Russia this weekend, giving us first-hand information on the World Cup Cross-Country races. Much like the women’s race, the men’s race turned into a race of attrition, followed by a mad sprint to the finish, and, once again, a Norwegian sprinter came out on top. Tor Arne Hetland won out of a bunch sprint of nearly 20 skiers, with a surprise Ville Nousiainen of...

Editor's Note: FasterSkier's roving reporter Tucker Sawin is reporting from Rybinsk, Russia this weekend, giving us first-hand information on the World Cup Cross-Country races. Twenty year old, and World Sprint Champion, Astrid Jacobson of Norway won today’s women’s 15k skate out of a bunch sprint in Rybinsk, Russia. Natalia Korosteleva finished second and Liisa Roponen finished third, all three women were within 1 second of each other. The conditions were overcast and humid with a...