Alex Kochon – Page 46

Continental Cup General News Racing Results

Widmer, Sinnott Trail Norwegians in Scando Cup Final

Alex KochonFebruary 8, 2012

Any high-level racer will tell you experience is key, but sometimes it’s just as important to take in the moment. Ask Mike Sinnott, a member of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Gold Team who recently competed in a couple of World Cups. Six days after placing 37th in the Moscow freestyle sprints for his second-best individual World Cup result, Sinnott made his first Scandinavian Cup start this year on Wednesday in Madona, Latvia. There,...

General News Nordic Combined Racing Results US Ski Team World Cup

Demong Achieves World Cup Podium for First Time in Two Years; Fletchers Tally Career Bests

Alex KochonFebruary 6, 20121

When Friday didn’t go according to plan for all of the Americans on the Nordic Combined World Cup, they were happy to have Saturday to shoot for better results. When the team sprint went better on the second day of competition in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with the two U.S. teams cracking the top 10, the four members were even more excited for Sunday. If trial and error told them anything, they figured they’d have...

Continental Cup General News Racing Results

AWCA Men Work Together; Women Sweep Top 4

Alex KochonFebruary 5, 2012

The art and appeal of racing usually boils down to the unexpected. One can guess who will win, pick the favorites and anticipate the moves, but nothing is ever over ’til, well, it’s over. In two entirely different pursuit races Sunday in Cantley, Quebec, the odds and work ethic played out for the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA). In the men’s 30 k classic pursuit, Graeme Killick and Jesse Cockney set out to aidi teammate...

Continental Cup General News Racing Results

Nishikawa Puts on Strong Last Lap for Fifth NorAm Title

Alex KochonFebruary 4, 2012

Nearing the halfway point of the 10 k freestyle interval start at the Eastern Canadian Championships on Saturday, Emily Nishikawa heard a motivating split time: she was 10 seconds out of first. For different skiers under various circumstances, that might come as a surprise or a letdown. For Nishikawa, it told her exactly how to ski the second lap in order to beat Alberta World Cup Academy teammate Alysson Marshall. Hard. Fortunately, the 22-year-old Yukon...

Continental Cup General News Racing

Killick Leads AWCA Sweep in NorAm Distance Race

Alex KochonFebruary 4, 2012

Minutes before the NorAm freestyle interval starts on Saturday, three Alberta World Cup Academy coaches scrambled to get into position. In the women’s race as well as the men’s, they had several athletes starting one after another, many of which they knew would be competing for top spots. Earlier that morning in the wax room, AWCA head coach Chris Jeffries jokingly told sprint coach Stefan Kuhn that the men’s team had not swept a distance...

Continental Cup General News Racing Results

Cockney Nabs Third NorAm Sprint Victory (updated)

Alex KochonFebruary 4, 2012

Note: This recap has been updated to include quotes from third-place finisher Harry Seaton. Heat after heat, Jesse Cockney may have been racing around the same 1.4-kilometer sprint course in Cantley, Quebec, but in his mind, he was at the U23 World Championships on Friday. Cockney, 22, had been trying to visualize what it would be like in Erzurum, Turkey, ever since he officially qualified for the U23 trip in mid January. It helped that...

Continental Cup General News Racing Results

Marshall Opens Easterns with Another NorAm Win

Alex KochonFebruary 3, 2012

Alysson Marshall has a pretty good idea what her strengths are in any given race. Power up the hills, charge down them and conserve energy wherever possible. The 23-year-old Alberta World Cup Academy skier played Friday’s 1.4 k freestyle sprint accordingly, pacing herself to a qualifying win in 3:31.19 on the first day of the NorAm mini tour in Cantley, Quebec. She was 2.61 seconds ahead of the next fastest woman, Andrea Dupont of the...

Canadian National Ski Team Continental Cup General Interviews News Racing

After Concussion, Goldsack Ready for Another Shot

Alex KochonFebruary 3, 20121

When you start skiing at 5 and stay in the game for 25 years, odds are you’re bound to experience injury. Two-time Olympian Drew Goldsack has seen his share of setbacks, including a serious foot injury that required surgery in 2009. Seven or eight years ago, the Canadian Senior Development Team member said he crashed particularly hard on his mountain bike, hitting his head and blacking out on the spot. Goldsack eventually came to and...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing Results World Cup

Five Canadians Advance in Moscow Sprint

Alex KochonFebruary 2, 2012

For the better part of the last three months, the Canadians, like many national ski teams, have spent a lot of time together. Fortunately for the three men currently on the World Cup circuit, they seem to get along pretty well. Self-dubbed the “3 Amigos” on Twitter, Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey and Lenny Valjas spend much of their free time goofing around and posting pictures of their collective shenanigans while traveling Europe. They must fit...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing Results World Cup

Kershaw Pushes Pace in Moscow Sprint; Peterson Wins

Alex KochonFebruary 2, 20122

(Note: This recap has been corrected to include that Devon Kershaw previously made the podium in a World Cup freestyle sprint in 2006.) Maybe it was the frigid temperatures that scarcely rose above 2 degrees Fahrenheit, -17 degrees Celsius, on Thursday. Maybe it was Moscow. Maybe it was Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth’s promise of a Hawaii trip if all went well. Devon Kershaw said he wasn’t sure what possessed him on Thursday, but it...

News Other News

Rikert Nordic Center Women’s Day Canceled

Alex KochonFebruary 1, 2012

Press release RIPTON, Vt. (Feb. 1, 2012) Due to marginal snow conditions, Women’s Ski Day at Rikert Nordic Center will not be held on Sunday, Feb. 5, as planned. “Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get the weather to cooperate. Since this was the first Women’s Ski Day at Rikert, we wanted conditions to be ideal. Especially with another warm up in the forecast, it seemed the best option was to look ahead to next season and...

Continental Cup General Interviews Lifestyle News Racing

Self-Described ‘Late Bloomer,’ Thomas Embarks on First OPA Trip

Alex KochonFebruary 1, 2012

When the phone rang and Alana Thomas answered to hear the voice of Tom Holland, Cross Country Canada’s high-performance director, she had a sense of what was coming. The 23-year-old Nakkertok racer, who lives and trains in Ottawa, had been waiting for a similar call since she started skiing competitively more than seven years ago. With a considerably better-than-average start to her season this year, Thomas knew this might be her best chance to earn...

Continental Cup General Job Postings News

Alberta World Cup Academy Seeks Senior Coach

Alex KochonFebruary 1, 2012

The Alberta World Cup Academy in Canmore, Alberta, recently posted a job listing for a “Senior Coach.” Program director Mike Cavaliere explained in an email that this is not a head coaching position and Chris Jeffries is not leaving. Rather, the Academy wants to add to its elite team with talented coaches looking to further enhance the program. Job notice from the www.albertaworldcup.com Applications should be in the form of a letter of application with...

Continental Cup General Interviews News Racing Training Workouts

Now in Green, Stuber and Cook Settling into Vermont

Alex KochonJanuary 30, 2012

BENNINGTON, Vt. – Inside an organic lunch spot in downtown Bennington, two Wisconsin natives glanced at an oversized chalkboard filled with sandwich options. A moment later, they turned to each other to confirm they had made up their minds. Maria Stuber and Bryan Cook hadn’t lived in the area long, yet they already figured out the basics. Bennington, southern Vermont’s largest city, wasn’t huge, but it had more going on than the hamlet of North...

Continental Cup Racing Results

Bender Nabs Another Victory, in Top Spot for Pursuit

Alex KochonJanuary 28, 2012

Jennie Bender wasn’t sure what the noise was, but she remembered it from watching the men’s race before the women’s 5 k classic mass start at Green Acres Park in Lake Elmo, Minn., on Saturday. As far as she knew, the horn meant go. And so, in the fourth of five stages at the Tour de Twin Cities SuperTour event, Bender reacted. The multi-stage leader from Central Cross Country (CXC) skied to a commanding lead,...

Canadian National Ski Team Continental Cup General Interviews News Racing

Once Burnt Out, Ammar Finds New Fire for Racing

Alex KochonJanuary 25, 20122

When Amanda Ammar first saw the start list at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, British Columbia, she couldn’t help but think it was comical. Next to her name where her points total should have been was nothing – zero, zilch, nada – as if she had never raced before. Six years earlier, the Alberta native was one of the best cross-country skiers in Canada, making the 2006 Torino Olympics at age 19 and...

Other News

Despite Below-Zero Temps, 645 Participate in BirkieTour

Alex KochonJanuary 23, 2012

Press release HAYWARD, WI, January 21, 2012 – A frosty -18 degrees below zero [Saturday] morning may have slowed the start of the third-annual BirkieTour, but did not deter more than 645 cross country skiers from enjoying a day on the Birkie Trail with friends and family. The BirkieTour, hosted by the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation, is an untimed “open-field” cross country ski event. Originally scheduled to start from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m., the time...

Canadian National Ski Team Continental Cup General News Racing Results

Sandau Rallies to Overcome Deficit, Beat McMurtry (updated)

Alex KochonJanuary 22, 2012

Note: This story has been updated to include quotes from third-place finisher and overall NorAm leader Brent McMurtry. If there’s one thing an athlete dreads besides injury, it’s sickness. Kevin Sandau felt the latter coming on Saturday in Canmore, Alberta, the night before the last race of the Western Canadian Championships. With most other NorAm races, the Alberta World Cup Academy and Senior Development Team skier would have found it easier to simply sit one...

Continental Cup General News Racing Results

Marshall Holds Off Nishikawa in 10k Pursuit

Alex KochonJanuary 22, 2012

There was no hiding in Canmore, Alberta, on Sunday. The first to start the 10 k pursuit on the last day of the NorAm mini tour, Alysson Marshall knew she’d have her work cut out for her. Mostly, it was her Alberta World Cup Academy teammate she’d have to worry about. Emily Nishikawa started 16 seconds behind Marshall in the Western Canadian Championships finale, and by the first major climb on the first of two...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing Results World Cup

Cologna Sweeps Otepää; Kershaw Channels Frustrations for Third

Alex KochonJanuary 22, 2012

Devon Kershaw had it in his head. He wanted redemption. The Canadian National Team veteran hadn’t been entirely pleased with his season so far despite finishing fourth in the Tour de Ski two weeks ago. After several top 10 performances this season, Kershaw took a big hit on Saturday, finishing 40th in the World Cup classic sprint after his pole shattered in his hand and he struggled to find a replacement. With one chance to leave...

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