Alex Kochon – Page 2 – FasterSkier.com

Biathlon Biathlon Canada General Interviews Juniors News Racing

Opening Doors: Biathlon Canada’s All-Female Coaching Staff at Youth/Junior Worlds

Alex KochonMarch 5, 2018

Think about all of the exceptional female biathletes out there. Too many to count, right? Now, if you watch biathlon at the World Cup level, think about how many women you’ve seen coaching there. None? One? There are at least a couple, according to Biathlon Canada’s High Performance Director Roddy Ward, who’s been coaching biathlon internationally since 2011. The Slovakian women’s coach is one and the Austrian team also has a female coach, he wrote...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Poltoranin Does It Again with Lahti 15 k Classic Win

Alex KochonMarch 4, 2018

You could call him a specialist. An all-around contender in classic distance races, Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakhstan has proven time and time again that he has the 15-kilometer classic individual start figured out. On Sunday in Lahti, Finland, he set a new World Cup record by winning his eighth-career 15 k classic (including both individual and mass-start formats). He had previously tied Swedish legend last 15 k classic contested in Planica, Slovenia. Three of Poltoranin’s...

Biathlon Biathlon Canada General Juniors News Racing US Biathlon

Levins 7th, Bankes 9th, Kiers 16th in IBU Junior Worlds Sprint

Alex KochonMarch 3, 2018

“There’s almost nothing I love more than being in the hunt during a pursuit,” American sixth in the junior women’s 12.5-kilometer individual on Thursday, Levins, 19, raced to seventh place in Saturday’s 7.5 k sprint, which will put her in seventh (and within 10 seconds of fourth place) for the start of Sunday’s 10 k pursuit at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. Last year, Levins raced to Megan Bankes...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

World Cup Returns: Falla Holds Off Swedes, Caldwell 8th in Lahti Skate Sprint

Alex KochonMarch 3, 2018

Eight points. That’s the number that separated Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla and Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in the Sprint World Cup standings before Saturday’s freestyle sprint in Lahti, Finland. Three sprints. That’s the number of World Cup sprint races that remained in the 2017/2018 calendar, one of which took place on Saturday. With one down and a classic sprint and skate sprint to go, Falla’s lead has grown to 28 points. It’s not much, with 150...

General News Racing

Caitlin Gregg on Her Record-Setting Fifth Birkie Title: ‘I’m trying to set the bar pretty high’

Alex KochonFebruary 25, 2018

Caitlin Gregg has raced the American Birkebeiner enough times — and won it more than anyone else — that she’s got the course down pat. Powerline, Big Bertha, High Point, Heckler’s, OO, Gravel Pit, Mosquito Brook, B*tch Hill, Hatchery, the lake, the bridge, the Main Street finish. But the conditions and the competition, that’s something that changes from year to year. The elite racers were among the first to start the 50-kilometer American Birkebeiner (“Birkie”)...

Biathlon Biathlon Canada General News Olympics US Biathlon

Swedish Biathlon Caps Best Olympics with Relay Gold; U.S. Men 6th to Tie 1972 Mark

Alex KochonFebruary 23, 2018

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Four years ago in the men’s relay in Sochi, Russia, Svendsen as Norway’s anchor had been in the medal hunt until the final shooting. There, he used all of his spares and still left a target standing, which sent him to the penalty lap. After leading by as much as 20 seconds in the middle of that race, Norway finished fourth. But as they say, that’s biathlon. And on...

General Interviews News Olympics

Bill Koch Reflects on U.S. Gold: ‘This could just be the start of an era’

Alex KochonFebruary 22, 2018

Like the rest of the U.S. cross-country skiing community with a watchful eye on the Olympics, Bill Koch had been waiting for Olympic women’s freestyle team sprint unfold via live timing on the computer — numbers rather than images — as opposed to a live broadcast. When he saw USA rank first at the finish, becoming the first Americans to do so in an Olympic cross-country race (and the first to win a medal since his...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Olympics Racing US Ski Team

Clutch Klæbo Secures Another Norwegian Gold; U.S. Men 6th, Canada 8th in Team Sprint

Alex KochonFebruary 21, 2018

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Americans Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins capture the first Olympic gold for the U.S. in cross-country skiing. It was motivating and inspiring, even confidence-boosting, Bjornsen reflected after his race in an in-person interview with FasterSkier. But he and Hamilton had their own medal hopes to tend to. Like most of the men’s finalists, they weren’t able to watch the women’s race beforehand and came out onto...

General News Nordic Combined Olympics Racing

Germany Sweeps PyeongChang Large Hill/10 k; Fletcher 17th Once More

Alex KochonFebruary 20, 2018

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Frenzel had previously taken gold and Watabe silver in the first nordic-combined event of the 2018 Olympics, the normal hill/10 k on Feb. 14. Riiber was fourth for the second-straight competition. American Bryan Fletcher Jumping |

Biathlon General News Olympics Racing

This One’s For Slovakia: Kuzmina Gets 3rd Medal of Week, and 3rd Olympic Gold, in Mass Start

Alex KochonFebruary 17, 2018

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, said when asked of her younger brother, Anton Shipulin, who was one of the Russian athletes women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Monday. Two days before that, she had finished outside the medals, 13th, in the Olympics’ opening biathlon sprint. But Kuzmina, who was born in Tyumen, Russia, and started racing for Slovakia in 2008, has been an all-around threat in the sport for some time. At her first Olympics in 2010...

Biathlon Biathlon Canada General News Olympics Racing US Biathlon

Medal Matches the Rifle: Johannes Bø Captures 20 k Olympic Gold; Scott Gow 14th

Alex KochonFebruary 15, 2018

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, men’s 10-kilometer sprint, Fourcade finished eighth, missing three out of five in his first shooting stage, and Bø had the same problem with prone — missing three then shooting another penalty in standing — to end up 31st. It was the kind of result no one saw coming after those two had taken first or second in every non-relay World Cup race this season (except for one, the sprint...

Biathlon Biathlon Canada General News Olympics Racing US Biathlon

Fourcade Rebounds for Pursuit Gold in PyeongChang; Burke 17th

Alex KochonFebruary 12, 2018

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Sunday wasn’t frustrating. It was disappointing. “It was a really strange feeling,” Fourcade said after Monday’s 12.5 k pursuit. “… I was disappointed because yesterday I did not understand why I missed three, and I wanted this Olympic gold in the sprint more than any of the competitions. I worked really hard for this competition. I worked on my shooting for being good in the...

Canadian National Ski Team Continental Cup General Interviews News Olympics Racing World Cup

Proving Her Place: Browne’s Unplanned Route to the Olympics

Alex KochonFebruary 7, 2018

Since March of last year, Cendrine Browne has been waiting and trying, with all her might, for another top 30. She achieved it twice last season, placing 26th in the World Championships 30-kilometer mass start and 35th in the World Cup 10 k skate in Ulricehamn, Sweden (30th with Olympic-style scoring, which counts the top-four athletes for each nation in a given race). To meet Cross Country Canada’s (CCC) alternate qualifying criteria for the 2018...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Diggins Does It in Seefeld, Wins Last World Cup Before Olympics

Alex KochonJanuary 28, 2018

About seven minutes into the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle mass start on Sunday at the World Cup in Seefeld, Austria, Jessie Diggins made her intentions clear. She wasn’t in it for a free ride — she was willing to pull, and not just take her turn up front, but actually try to string out the field and win this thing. As she led a group of 31 within 15 seconds of her at 3.3 k, Diggins,...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Pellegrino Anchors Italy to Another Dresden Win; Late Crash Takes Out U.S. Men

Alex KochonJanuary 14, 2018

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Canada’s Bob Thompson.) Federico Pellegrino’s winning move in the men’s 6 x 1.2-kilometer freestyle team sprint on Sunday wasn’t exactly the same as yesterday when the Italian attacked on the final climb of the Saturday’s individual sprint, Locke placed 15th for a career best. The two ultimately finished seventh in the first team-sprint semifinal, just one place behind Great Britain’s James Clugnet and Andrew Young....

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

The Grandkids Will Love This: Pellegrino Beats Klæbo in Dresden; Hamilton 10th, Locke 15th

Alex KochonJanuary 13, 2018

How do you beat Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo at his competition-crushing game? Take him by surprise with minimal time to recover. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino did just that on the last uphill rise of the 1.2-kilometer sprint course on Saturday in Dresden, Germany. Dresden, a historic city in eastern Germany, debuted its brand-new course along the Elbe River on manmade snow amid damp conditions and temperatures above freezing throughout the day. Pellegrino had done what he...

General News Racing Tour de Ski US Ski Team World Cup

Iversen Wins TdS Stage 5 ‘Pack Race’; Harvey Fifth to Retain Fourth Overall

Alex KochonJanuary 4, 2018

Like ants swarming a bread crumb — skating ants — on ice. That was one image that could be conceived from the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle mass start on Thursday, which served as Stage 5 of the 2018 Tour de Ski in Obertsdorf, Germany. Aftercancellation of Stage 4 after the women’s qualifier — so organizers opted to salt the course to preserve it as much as possible for the mass starts. It was raining again on...

News Racing Tour de Ski US Ski Team World Cup

‘It Was Like Hell Today’: Østberg on Keeping the Red Bib; Diggins Up to 3rd in TdS Stage 3

Alex KochonJanuary 1, 2018

Not one of the last three days in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, were alike, with three different American women standing on the coveted podium and three vastly different conditions for the first three stages of the 2018 Tour de Ski. Technically, it wasn’t 2018 until today — with Jessie Diggins racing to third in the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit on Monday, the first day of the new year and her first podium of the season. She did...

Biathlon Biathlon Canada General News Racing US Biathlon

Dunklee Proves Her Resiliency, 10th in Annecy Sprint

Alex KochonDecember 14, 2017

Susan Dunklee’s start to another International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup season hadn’t played out as she’d hoped, specifically in terms of results. Coming off a banner winter, with a silver at 2017 World Championships (in the women’s mass start), Dunklee 31, had so far placed 53rd, 79th and 97th, respectively, in non-relay races over the last two weeks. She had yet to race a mass start, but also had yet to qualify for a...

Biathlon Biathlon Canada News Racing

Lunder Rises to 27th for Career-Best Pursuit; Kuzmina Nabs First Win in 3 1/2 Years

Alex KochonDecember 10, 2017

Emma Lunder may be aclose to zero visibility in the sprint, in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria. Despite having started more than two dozen World Cups since the 2013/2014 season, this was only her third pursuit. “I went into this race knowing that both snow and wind were expected, so I anticipated conditions similar to yesterday’s sprint,” Lunder, who had previously raced to 42nd in the sprint with 9-for-10 shooting, wrote in an...

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