Three months may not seem like a long time, but Alysson Marshall couldn’t wait much longer. Since her first race of the season on Nov. 13, the Alberta World Cup Academy and Canadian Senior Development Team member had aimed for the top spot on the podium. Maybe she didn’t expect it in Europe, especially at World Cup races in Kuusamo, Finland, and Düsseldorf, Germany, but she wanted it at home. In six of eight NorAm...
The fifth man at the top of the last hill leading down into the stadium, Jesse Cockney was fairly confident he’d win the final. The 22-year-old Canadian Senior Development Team member had a few things going for him – knowledge of the course, confidence in himself and confidence in his skis. Cockney’s calculations played out, as the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) skier slingshot past his competitors and kept the lead to the finish of...
Justyna Kowalczyk didn’t have to say a word. Marit Bjørgen knew it was on. Kowalczyk, the three-time defending Tour de Ski champion from Poland, had spent the better part of the last two weeks recovering from her most recent Tour victory. Bjørgen, the Tour de Ski runner-up, had done the same, skipping last weekend’s races in Milan, Italy, to prepare for Otepää, Estonia. While the two rivals didn’t face off until the final of Saturday’s...
It’s not as if one of the top two men on this year’s NorAm circuit really had an advantage. While Kevin Sandau had more recently heaved himself up the grinding hills at the Canmore Nordic Centre with his Alberta World Cup Academy teammates, both he and Brent McMurtry (Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre) spent plenty of time training there with the Canadian National Ski Team. Both Senior Development Team members, Sandau and McMurtry also grew up...
She had come so far. Nearly 85 miles to be exact, yet in the larger scheme of things, Jennifer Caldwell’s progress in the 2011 Prouty century ride meant so much more. A cancer patient since 1999, the former U.S. Ski Team member epitomized the body’s limits in its lowest moments. She was not weak; anyone who knew Caldwell, who died on Dec. 27 in Wolfeboro, N.H., could attest to that. Participating in the July benefit...
Since coming down with a whopper of a sinus infection nearly five months ago, Skyler Davis hadn’t felt like himself. In his first year on the U.S. Ski Team’s development squad, the 20-year-old tried to shake it. He tried at the U.S. Ski Team’s dryland camp in Lake Placid, N.Y, but he had to leave early to recover at home in Jericho, Vt. Afterward, Davis rallied and put forth the effort needed to earn his...
Standing at the starting gate in bib No. 107 on Sunday, Brent McMurtry of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) looked out and saw only space in front of him. Numbers 106 and 105 weren’t present, leaving empty race spots and more time waiting for the countdown. While some would view not having someone to chase in an interval start as a disadvantage, McMurtry liked it. On the last day of NorAm competition in Whistler,...
In some ways, starting off average works well for Billy Demong. It’s not that he would prefer to rank 21st out of 54 athletes, although for some nordic combined athletes, that would be a good jump in the World Cup. For Demong, a four-time Olympian and gold medalist, that result meant he was about 20 spots away from where he wanted to be. On Sunday, the 31-year-old attacked the afternoon 10 k Gundersen start as he...
A day after Alessandro Pittin became the first Italian to win a nordic combined World Cup event, the Olympic bronze medalist repeated his success, edging Jason Lamy Chappuis of France on Saturday in Chaux-Neuve, France. After ranking 22nd of 54 athletes in the 118-meter large hill jump, Pittin went on to catch the leaders in the 10 k Gundersen start and pulled out the victory in a photo finish with Lamy Chappuis and Fabian Riessle...
Despite not feeling it in the beginning, Kevin Sandau had time to figure his body out in the Haywood NorAm men’s 30 k skiathlon on Thursday at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia. For the first half of the eight-lap race, Sandau, a member of the Alberta World Cup Academy and Canadian National Ski Team, decided to let others lead. By others, that mostly meant Brent McMurtry of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH)....
American Birkebeiner press release CABLE, Wis. — At the public hearing held last night, January 11, by the Bayfield County Forestry Committee (BCFC) at the Cable Community Center, the BCFC passed a motion to postpone a decision on the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation’s proposal for a new trailhead at the Highway 63 – Leonard School Road location (east of hwy 63). A decision by the Bayfield County Forestry Committee is required because constructing the proposed...
Press release SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Kelly Brush Foundation awarded $100,514 in grants for spinal cord injury prevention at the end of 2011 enriching the lives of those with spinal cord injuries and furthering the foundation’s mission to improve ski racing safety, Kelly Brush Foundation President Charlie Brush announced. The foundation granted $53,442 in Ski Racing Safety Grants to ski clubs and race teams across the country, including two grants to Vermont organizations. In...
RUMFORD, Maine – Swirling around the Black Mountain venue was news that Justin Freeman was done. After 16 consecutive U.S. Cross Country Championships, including his recent appearance at this year’s nationals, the 35-year-old Olympian, national champion and brother of current U.S. Ski Team veteran, Kris, wouldn’t be back. Of course, that all depended, Freeman said in phone conversation on Saturday. “It’s my last consecutive nationals,” he clarified. “It’s unlikely that I won’t be back.” Soon...
RUMFORD, Maine — Since the 2012 U.S. Nationals kicked off Tuesday, there was plenty of action and comments to go around throughout the weeklong event, which ended Sunday. Here’s a look at what didn’t make it in print: On the week (which included freestyle sprints, 10/15 k freestyle individual starts, 20/30 k mass starts and classic sprints): “I’m just really thrilled, it was kind of unexpected so I’m just really happy with it.” — Jessie Diggins...
RUMFORD, Maine – Dasha Gaiazova had been around the block at least a few times before. Heck, the Canadian Olympian skied the Rumford course in 2004 during her junior racing years and placed second in a 5 k there in 2003. It had been a while, but the 28-year-old hadn’t lost touch with western Maine. In fact, Gaiazova found it suited her perfectly. Five-foot-10 and with plenty of World Cup sprinting experience, she soared ahead...
RUMFORD, Maine — After the final sit-ski and stand-up distance events of the 2012 U.S. Adaptive Cross Country Championships on Saturday, athletes and coach John Farra reflect on their week (with three total races, including the 0.8 k sprint and 5/10 k) at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine.
RUMFORD, Maine – As the men’s and women’s adaptive skiers at the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Championships crossed the finish line in a spread-out finish, they did what many racers often don’t think to do – they waited. After their longest races of the week — 6 k for most women and 12 k for most men in the sit-ski category –several were noticeably cold. But they were also a family, joint by backgrounds of personal challenges...
ONE WAY will offer skiers Nordic skis, boots, bindings (in partnership with the Salomon SNS System), soft goods/gloves/hats, eyewear, footwear, rollerskis, accessories and we will of course continue with XC and Nordic walking poles. With ONE WAY we have you covered for year round training with everything from rollerskiing, to trail running with our Vibram soled Nordic specific shoes, to finally on snow skiing and racing. Our product line will cover all segments of the...
RUMFORD, Maine – There was no sugarcoating it. U.S. Ski Team member Noah Hoffman wasn’t happy with his performance on Thursday at the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Championships. The 22-year-old had gone out too hard in the men’s 15 k freestyle individual start at Black Mountain. The definitive race leader for the first two laps, Hoffman dealt with the consequences of his pacing – or lack thereof – on the last two. With the fourth-place...
RUMFORD, Maine – On the second day of competition at the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Championships, a longer course and a massive hill made for some spent athletes in the women’s 10 k and men’s 15 k freestyle individual starts at Black Mountain on Thursday. Here are a few quotes that didn’t make the recaps: On the course: “It was a really fast course so it was really hard, too, not a lot of recovery.”...