Based on their recent results from Quebec City and Canmore, the USST has offered Sophie Caldwell and Skyler Davis the chance to start another World Cup in Liberec, Czech Republic, in mid January. The races there take place just before U23 Worlds at the same venue and fall just inside the selection period the USST will use to select its team for World Championships.
The Canadian and American women broke through on Friday with Rosanna Crawford's twelfth place finish and Susan Dunklee's 14th in the 7.5 k sprint. In all, two Canadians and three Americans were in the points in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
Taking herself, her coaches and the biathlon world completely by surprise, 23-year-old Gabriella Soukalova (CZE) won the 7.5 k sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, on Friday. The win is her first ever on the World Cup; prior to this she had only one top-ten on her record. Second place went to Miriam Gössner (GER) and third to Nadezhda Skardino (BLR).
On Thursday in Pokljuka, Slovenia, Burke turned in a season best fourth-place finish in the 10 k sprint even though he never reached his top speed. Lowell Bailey finished 36th on a broken toe.
Jakov Fak (SLO) earned his first regular-season victory last weekend in Hochfilzen, Austria, and on Thursday in Pokljuka, Slovenia, he built off that success in front of a home crowd. His slim 0.8-second win in the 10 k sprint over Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen was the first World Cup victory Slovenia has ever seen on home soil.
It’s been almost two weeks since the Americans competing in Canmore found out they’d earned World Cup spots as part of the nation's group. The initial excitement now abated, the athletes racing the mass start classic and skiathlon on Thursday and Sunday want to ski within themselves and not let the bright lights of the World Cup get too blinding.
Thirty Canadian men and women will be putting on World Cup bibs in Canmore this weekend. Some are old pros and some are competing in the first World Cups of their lives.
With less than a week left to go before the Canmore World Cups, Emily and Graham Nishikawa each added a NorAm win to their resumes in Sunday's 10/15 k freestyle in Silver Star.
The American nation’s group athletes in Quebec City this week are about to take the biggest stage of their athletic careers. None of them are content with just having made it, however; these athletes want to compete.
The lead nearly got away from her, but Sadie Bjornsen (APU/USST) was able to claw her way back from third to win the 10 k classic SuperTour in Bozeman by 17 seconds on Sunday. Chelsea Holmes (SVSEF) was second and Rosie Brennan (APU) took third.
Mats Resaland, a Norwegian at the University of New Mexico, won the final race in Bozeman on Sunday. The outcome separated the two major story lines of the day: the straight results, which were unusual, and the fight for the as-yet-unannounced Canmore World Cup team.
Knowing it could be his last chance to earn a trip to the biggest stage of his life, Reese Hanneman (Alaska Pacific University) pulled out his first career SuperTour win at Bohart Ranch on Saturday in the classic sprint, skiing a step ahead of the field to beat Nils Koos (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and teammate Erik Bjornsen.
With five women in the top six, Alaska Pacific University pretty much cleaned up in the classic sprint in Bozeman, Mont. Sadie Bjornsen won a close finish with teammate Lauren Fritz; Corey Stock (Dartmouth) took third.
Let it be known, there’s a new queen on the SuperTour. On a sunny morning at Bohart Ranch, Sophie Caldwell (SMS T2) handily won the freestyle sprint, putting herself on top of the sprint rankings halfway through the Quebec World Cup qualifying period. Sadie Bjornsen skated to second place and Caitlin Gregg took third.
When it was all said and done — the qualifying, the heats, the nervous skiing around between races — Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Reid Pletcher emerged on top of the freestyle sprint field in Bozeman, Mont., scraping by Erik Bjornsen (APU/USST) and Ryan Scott (SSCV Team HomeGrown) in the final meters.
If you live and train at high altitude, one of your biggest concerns probably centers on how to log sufficient intensity work without becoming overly tired. Colorado University Head Coach Bruce Cranmer talks about how to make the best of training at elevation.
Alaska Pacific University coach Erik Flora discusses the best part waking up to results like those from Gallivare and why he expects his athletes Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks to continue doing big things this year.
Despite a degree of familiarity with the top of the podium, Sophie Caldwell (SMS T2) wasn't quite expecting to win the 1.6 k skate prologue so handily in West Yellowstone. She bested runner-up Anika Miller (Payette Lake Sports) by over four seconds; Caitlin Patterson (CGRP) finished third for her second bronze this weekend.
It rained in West Yellowstone on Tuesday. There are thousands of people in town for a ski festival, and it rained. Against this backdrop, the festival organizers officially designated the South Plateau Whisky trail as the venue for the SuperTour distance race and bumped what is now a 9 k freestyle up to Friday. It wasn’t unexpected — the Rendezvous Trails have received little to no additional snow over the past few days and forecasts...
Due to the lamentable conditions in West Yellowstone, there’s a chance that the SuperTour freestyle sprint originally scheduled here this weekend will end up taking place at Bohart Ranch instead. The Bozeman venue is already set to hold a SuperTour classic sprint and mass start on December 1 and 2. Bridger Ski Foundation director and race organizer Dragen Danevski said on Tuesday that he was confident Bohart could pull off a third race, which...