Alex Kochon – Page 49

NorAm Racers Roll with Punches, Ready for Rossland

Alex KochonDecember 16, 2011

ROSSLAND, British Columbia — The thing about competitive ski racing is, one has to be prepared for the unexpected. It’s not as if Jack Carlyle, a junior racer for Thunder Bay’s national development center (NDC), could have anticipated his bags would be stolen in the 15 minutes they were outside his house, but he dealt with it. NDC head coach Eric Bailey, who was supposed to drive him to the airport, told Carlyle to sit...

Continental Cup Racing

Alberta World Cup Academy Likes Being Front and Center

Alex KochonDecember 15, 2011

VERNON, British Columbia — Mike Cavaliere had a pretty distinct idea of what he wanted the Alberta World Cup Academy to look like when he developed the training center just over four years ago. With several AWCA athletes zipping around in the Canadian national team’s unmistakable neon jackets and four Olympians assisting them at last weekend’s NorAm opener at Sovereign Lake, things appeared to be going as planned. If anything, Cavaliere, a 2006 Olympic coach...

Continental Cup General Interviews News Racing

McMurtry, Greer ‘Fine’ After Car Accident

Alex KochonDecember 14, 2011

Brent McMurtry of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre and Foothills Nordic Ski Club said he and teammate David Greer were unhurt after his car slid off the road while driving from Silver Star to Rossland, British Columbia. The accident happened near the town of Midway, slightly more than halfway into the 370-kilometer (230-mile) trip. Several cross-country skiers and teams traveled the same route to prepare for the second set of NorAm races in Rossland this...

Other News

Limited Birkie, Korte Entries Up for Auction

Alex KochonDecember 13, 2011

While registration for the 2012 American Birkebeiner and Kortelopet met its maximum in late November with 9,000 entries, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Wisconsin Chapter has teamed up with race organizers to auction of 20 more spots. These entries will be auctioned off starting Wednesday to raise money for MS research. All proceeds benefit the National MS Society as part of the Birkie’s Skiers for Cures Program. From the here at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning)...

Continental Cup General Interviews News Racing

NorAm Notes and Quotes: Sovereign Lake (with videos)

Alex KochonDecember 12, 20111

With the first two NorAm races of the season over and done, here are a few tidbits that didn’t make it into the recaps of the classic sprints and distance races from Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in British Columbia: On coming back to Canada after racing overseas in the World Cup: “Jet lag seemed to take a big grip on me for the first couple (days),” said Kevin Sandau, who returned about two weeks ago....

Continental Cup General News Racing

Sovereign Lake Organizers Celebrate Solid Weekend

Alex KochonDecember 12, 2011

VERNON, British Columbia — In the tech center high above the stadium at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, several race organizers looked outside at the Alaska Pacific University (APU) skiers. They were doing it again. At the end of the NorAm Cup competition Sunday — after the men’s and women’s distance races, and the boys’ and girls’ junior and juvenile races — those wearing the black APU jackets went to work. According to Chief of...

Continental Cup General News Racing

Sandau Chases, Wins for First Time

Alex KochonDecember 12, 2011

VERNON, British Columbia — After five years on the NorAm Cup circuit, all Kevin Sandau needed was a little verification. Seeded first and the last to start in the men’s 15 k classic individual start on Sunday at Sovereign Lake, that meant something. The 23-year-old, who recently returned from several weeks of racing in World Cup and FIS races, had never started last in a Continental Cup race before. He had also never won one....

Continental Cup General News Racing

APU Women Uphold Winning Ways; Diggins Sweeps NorAm Opener

Alex KochonDecember 12, 20111

VERNON, British Columbia — Before the Alaska Pacific University racers stepped onto the course at Sovereign Lake, many of them sensed what it felt like to win. Their teammate and winner of Sunday’s World Cup freestyle sprint, Kikkan Randall gave them that feeling. While she won in Davos, Switzerland, the associated emotions resonated several thousands of miles to her APU counterparts in Silver Star, British Columbia. Upon hearing the news that Randall and another teammate,...

Continental Cup General News Racing

Diggins Drives to NorAm Sprint Victory

Alex KochonDecember 11, 20112

VERNON, British Columbia — Throughout Saturday’s NorAm Cup Teck Sprints, Jessie Diggins made a point to look back. There were a lot of things the current SuperTour leader and Central Cross Country (CXC) skier was working on, but keeping her distance ranked near the top. “I’ve had problems where I’ll get stepped on or pushed over or something,” said Diggins, who claimed her second classic sprint victory in the 1.2 k event in as many...

Continental Cup General News Racing

Sinnott Wins NorAm Classic Sprint

Alex KochonDecember 10, 2011

VERNON, British Columbia — As six men threaded the underpass and burst into the stadium at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, Canadian Brent McMurtry and American Mike Sinnott sent spectators running toward the finish. The men’s ‘A’ final of the 1.4-k classic Teck Sprints at the NorAm Cup opener Saturday was shaping up to be a close one, and who wanted to miss that? As he crossed the line just ahead of McMurtry, Sinnott knew he...

General News Olympics

Nearly a Decade Later, Hoffmann’s Ban Prompts Thoughts

Alex KochonDecember 8, 20117

Two years ago, Austrian cross-country skier Christian Hoffmann removed himself from the international-racing scene by retiring. That didn’t keep him out of headlines. On Monday, Austria’s anti-doping agency, NADA, handed the world champion a six-year ban from the sport. The decision was retroactive from 2009, in which Hoffman had been suspended two years for being associated with a Vienna blood bank, Humanplasma. NADA most recently found the 36-year-old Hoffmann guilty of having his blood taken...

General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Athletes React to Shortened Davos Races (Updated)

Alex KochonDecember 6, 20111

For some cross-country skiers on the World Cup circuit, the news that Saturday’s individual races would be shortened wasn’t all that disheartening. Sadie Bjornsen, who made her first World Cup podium in Sunday’s team sprint with U.S. teammate Kikkan Randall, tried to contain herself. Instead of a 15 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, the women will race 10 k. The men’s skate race was cut from 30 k to 15 k. “Sadie just did a...

Other News

Birkie Pins Available to Raise Money for M.S. Society

Alex KochonDecember 6, 2011

Anyone hoping to ski with six-time Norwegian Olympian Vegard Ulvang at the 2012 American Birkebeiner can do so by raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The first 25-30 people who raise $1,000 dollars or more will have a chance to “Ski with Vegard” the Thursday before the Feb. 25 race, and have lunch with him after. For every $250 dollars raised, one can also be entered into a drawing for a trip to...

General Interviews News

Paralympian Bob Balk Looking Forward to Innsbruck

Alex KochonDecember 6, 20111

Driving his uncooperative truck about 30 miles per hour on a highway shoulder, Bob Balk kept his spirits up. Sure, he had just spent about $900 to fix the vehicle, only to have the mechanics return it scratching their heads. Maybe it was bad gas; they couldn’t tell. But the seven-time Paralympian was used to challenges, so driving three hours roundtrip from his hometown in Moravia, N.Y., to Rochester didn’t phase him. Balk could empty...

Continental Cup Other News Racing

Ryerson Meets Fellow Americans in Austria

Alex KochonDecember 6, 2011

Harvard junior Tony Ryerson jumped in a pair of FIS races in Seefeld, Austria, near where he has been training for the last semester while studying abroad. While taking classes at the Universitat Innsbruck, Ryerson has also been training at altitude, most notably with the Swedish Team Exspirit for a weekend of altitude training.

Racing World Cup

Notes and Quotes from Dusseldorf and Seefeld

Alex KochonDecember 5, 2011

While there was plenty of excitement last weekend at the World Cup sprints in Dusseldorf, Germany, not every international competitor was there. A few Americans stayed closer to Davos, Switzerland, where they have been focusing on distance training. On Sunday, U.S. Ski Team members Liz Stephen, Noah Hoffman, Kris Freeman and Tad Elliott tested themselves in an FIS race in Seefeld, Austria. Stephen won the women’s 5 k freestyle, and Hoffman was third in the...

Racing Results US Ski Team

Stephen Keeps Ball Rolling for U.S. Women; Hoffman Third in Seefeld

Alex KochonDecember 4, 2011

Seven hundred kilometers away from Dusseldorf, Germany, where the U.S. women tore up this weekend’s sprint competition, the team’s female distance skier, Liz Stephen, made waves in Austria. Stephen won the FIS women’s 5 k freestyle race in Seefeld on Sunday, just hours before teammates Kikkan Randall and Sadie Bjornsen skated to second place in the World Cup team sprint. While Randall and Bjornsen made U.S. Ski Team history with the first team-sprint podium appearance,...

Nordic Combined Racing World Cup

Demong’s Error Costs Him; Fletcher 16th in Penalty Race

Alex KochonDecember 4, 2011

Their plan had been so simple. Stay loose, ski strong and play the first World Cup penalty race by ear. The two Americans that qualified for Sunday’s competition in Lillehammer, Norway, Billy Demong and Bryan Fletcher found that worked well considering the circumstances. As they completed the first of five laps on the 10 k course, Demong and Fletcher watched dozens of skiers take their penalty loops at once. Depending on how they jumped on...

General News Nordic Combined Racing World Cup

Taylor Fletcher Climbs to Career-Best 21st

Alex KochonDecember 3, 2011

With 44 competitors in front of him and six behind at the start of Saturday’s nordic combined 10 k, Taylor Fletcher knew he had his work cut out for him. Starting 2 minutes and 14 seconds behind the leader, Germany’s Tino Edelmann, the 21-year-old Fletcher took on the massive task of catching up after his provisional jump from Friday put him in 45th. Fletcher covered the difficult course, with about 4 inches of fresh snow...

General Juniors News

NENSA Named Community Olympic Development Program

Alex KochonDecember 2, 2011

Janice Sibilia waited nearly two years for this. Most of the New England Nordic Ski Association had. Upon hearing the good word that the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) approved NENSA as a Community Olympic Development Program about two weeks ago, Sibilia wasn’t sure where to start. The competitive programs director will find out more at a phone-update meeting with USOC representatives on Tuesday. In the meantime, Sibilia could revisit all the ideas she came up...

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