The most successful member the US Nordic Combined Team so far this season, Bryan Fletcher shares some insight on Kuusamo, Finland, and what went down on the second weekend of World Cup competition.
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Alex Kochon
Alex Kochon (alexkochon@gmail.com) is a former FasterSkier editor and roving reporter who never really lost touch with the nordic scene. A freelance writer, editor, and outdoor-loving mom of two, she lives in northeastern New York and enjoys adventuring in the Adirondacks. She shares her passion for sports and recreation as the co-founder of "Ride On! Mountain Bike Trail Guide" and a sales and content contributor at Curated.com. When she's not skiing or chasing her kids around, Alex assists authors as a production and marketing coordinator for iPub Global Connection.
Not This Time: Northug Edges Russian in Kuusamo Finale
Alex KochonDecember 2, 2012
Petter Northug skied his own race and hung on for dear life at the finish to edge a Russian for the first time in this weekend's Ruka Triple and defend his overall title from Kuusamo last year.
It didn’t look like Marit Bjørgen ever looked back Sunday in Kuusamo, Finland. It would’ve been pointless to do so; she was always more than a minute ahead, and the white-out conditions made the visibility near zero. Bjørgen won by more than a minute and 20 seconds, ahead of Justyna Kowalczyk, Heidi Weng and Therese Johaug.
Definitely Back, Randall Grabs Silver in Kuusamo 5 k Skate; Four U.S. Women in Top 20
Alex KochonDecember 1, 2012
Kikkan Randall led a quartet of U.S. women in the top 20 on Saturday, demonstrating that last week's third place in Sweden was no fluke. Randall set a new U.S. mark, becoming the first woman to place second in a World Cup distance race.
Perianne Jones tied her career best of 12th and Dasha Gaiazova placed 14th to give the Canadians something to celebrate on a day that was sub-par for others, including its men.
Sargent Gets Her Share of the Wealth; Leads Randall into Kuusamo Sprint Top 10
Alex KochonNovember 30, 2012
American Ida Sargent lived up to the hype surrounding her sprinting skills on Friday, placing ninth in the Kuusamo World Cup 1.4 k classic sprint just ahead of teammate Kikkan Randall in 10th. Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell made the rounds and placed 24th and 27th, respectively.
Under Pressure, Berger Keeps Cool to Hold Off Domracheva
Alex KochonNovember 29, 2012
Tora Berger set out to achieve a couple of goals Thursday in the first biathlon World Cup of the season. For one, she wanted to make every target. Check. Then, she wanted to work toward an overall World Cup title, and did so beating Darya Domracheva (BLR) by more than a minute.
Parking Lot Alternative: Biathletes Welcome New Lake Placid Rollerski Loop (with Video)
Alex KochonNovember 29, 2012
Lake Placid-based biathletes are excited about the extension of their rollerski loop at the Olympic Jumping Complex, which cost $500,000 and took about 14 weeks to complete this fall.
"Sometimes you go down in order to go higher.” That’s what Martin Fourcade said Saturday after finishing 48th in a cross-country World Cup race before resuming his winning ways in the biathlon World Cup opener 20 k individual race Wednesday.
NorAm Preview: World Cup Starts on the Line and More
Alex KochonNovember 27, 2012
While the U.S. SuperTour season has already started, the Canadians are just about to get warmed up -- and without much time to do so -- when the NorAm opener doubles as Canadian World Cup trials this weekend.
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — Friday’s distance results in the first SuperTour of the season weren’t easy for everyone to swallow, especially not Ryan Scott of Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Team HomeGrown. His coach Eric Pepper racked it up as a bad day. “He went out a little hard, blew up pretty hard [and] didn’t have great legs,” Pepper said on Saturday. Still, seeing he ranked 78th in the 9-kilometer skate individual start hurt. “That was...
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. – The distance course on the South Plateau wasn’t too bad if you didn’t think about it too much. The 9-kilometer freestyle race – the first of the 2012/2013 U.S. SuperTour series – netted a slight elevation gain of about 300 feet from start to finish. A course profile indicated that the terrain was rolling. No problem. Try racing it. The individual start began around 7,260 feet above sea level, which is...
Grooming the Plateau (Exclusive Video)
Alex KochonNovember 22, 2012
There's only one nordic groomer in West Yellowstone and that's Doug Edgerton. Founder and president of the world-famous Yellowstone Track Systems, Edgerton let FasterSkier ride along while he groomed South Plateau early Wednesday morning.
West Organizers Work Hard to Get Skiers on Snow
Alex KochonNovember 21, 2012
A week ago, Yellowstone Ski Festival organizers saw the writing on the wall and started planning ahead. They might not get much snow, but they were going to get people to the white stuff somehow. For the first time, they offered a shuttle system to the South Plateau, which required some timely logistics.
Entering his third straight season with the Canadian Para-Nordic World Cup Team, Erik Carleton has already made some big decisions this year. Among them, he had to choose whether to race the Alberta Cross Country World Cup in Canmore or go for gold at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Cup opener in Vuokatti, Finland. It must be tough to be Carleton, a competitive-nordic racer who doubles as a Para-Nordic guide for Brian McKeever, arguably the...
MSU Seeks Nordic Skiing Graduate Students
Alex KochonNovember 20, 2012
Graduate Study of Exercise Physiology in Nordic Skiing The Department of Health & Human Development (HHD) at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman, MT, is actively seeking applications for graduate study in applied exercise physiology (Masters degree only; Fall 2013). Dr Dan Heil (http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=9158 We also have lots of lab testing photos on the Facebook page for the Movement Science / Human Performance Lab (MSL): http://www.montana.edu/hhd/facultyandstaff/dheil.htm More information about our graduate program is here: http://www.montana.edu/wwwdg/apply.html...
Anyone who’s seen Liz Stephen train knew she was completely capable of doing what she did Sunday in Muonio, Finland. For cripes sakes, she challenged the guys during a US Ski Team interval trail-running session this summer. Earlier at that camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., she Hevoskuuri.fi. “Heikkinen competes to win.” Noah Hoffman led the U.S. men in 13th about 0.47 seconds ahead of teammate Kris Freeman in 14th and about 1:18 behind Heikkinen. After...
Harvey, Crawford Break Up Swedish Sweep in Bruksvallarna
Alex KochonNovember 16, 2012
In and around Scandinavia on Friday morning, several nordic races kicked off the season. While the International Ski Federation (FIS) events in Bruksvallarna, Sweden, were among some of the shortest, few likely complained about a 5- and 10-kilometer classic race at this point in the year. It’s November. The World Cup races start in a week. Let’s just get the kinks out. Several skiers across Europe tweeted about their legs feeling a little syrupy, which...
Canadian World Cup Team Preview: Even Bigger Expectations
Alex KochonNovember 15, 2012
Without a doubt, the Canadian World Cup team faced some challenges last season even though its results didn’t really show it. Sure, every team has its ups and downs and occasional tizzy, but Canada generally kept it under wraps. Devon Kershaw continued to podium one weekend after the next and ended up second overall in the World Cup. Simultaneously, most of his teammates also notched personal bests: Alex Harvey finished sixth overall, Lenny Valjas tallied three...
(Note: This article has been updated to reflect the number of competitors registered as of Friday, Nov. 16, and approximate number of red-group skiers.) With the Alberta World Cup in Canmore less than a month (more precisely, four weeks) away, Organizing Committee Chair Ken Hewitt said it’s been a whirlwind at work. The phone rings by the minute, emails are piling up in his inbox, but it’s all good. As of Friday, Hewitt wrote in...