Tim Reynolds (CGRP) led a strong Craftsbury contingent in the freestyle sprint prologue on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, Minn. Reynolds edged out teammate Pat O’Brien (CGRP) by a mere 0.6 seconds on the 1.4 k course. Mark Iverson (APU) was just 0.1 seconds behind O’Brien in third. Reynolds was the first man out of the gate in the individual night sprint, and found it hard to tell what was going on out on the course....
With her second win out of three races in the Tour de Twin Cities on Wednesday, Jennie Bender (CXC) now leads the five-stage event. The 1.4 k freestyle sprint prologue was held under the lights at Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minn., and was the final race of the Mayor’s Challenge phase of the Tour. Lauren Fritz (APU) was the runner-up and Bender’s teammate Caitlin Gregg (CXC) was third. “I really wanted to get today,” said...
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It was one heck of a weekend on the World Cup in Otepää, Estonia. Dario Cologna (SUI) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) each swept both the sprint and distance classic races. Devon Kershaw (CAN) came back from an unlucky equipment malfunction in the sprint to a gutsy third-place effort in the 15 k the next day. With the conclusion of Period 2 on the World Cup, Kikkan Randall (USA) still holds onto the sprint leader bib. The...
Devon Kershaw’s rebound from a disappointing classic sprint in Otepää to a third-place finish in the 15 k the next day certainly had the Canadian excited. He’d been gunning for gold, but the World Champion found it hard to be too upset with a podium finish on what many are referring to as the toughest course on the World Cup. In a phone interview on Sunday, Kershaw was just as happy to learn that some...
On home turf with his friends and family cheering him on, Matt Liebsch (Team Strong Heart/Team Birkie) won his second race of the Tour de Twin Cities on Sunday in Wirth Park. Over the 15 k freestyle course, Tad Elliott (SSCV/USST) was 12.9 seconds behind him in second and Sylvan Ellefson (SSCV/Team HomeGrown) finished third (+16.7). After he finished, Liebsch credited skiing with Elliott for a chuck of the race as having helped him along....
Much has been said about the string of breakthrough performances by the U.S. women on the World Cup this season, but on Sunday, the entire team deserved the credit for putting together an historic day for the U.S. Led by Kikkan Randall in 15th, the U.S. placed a total of five athletes in the points in the 10 and 15 k classic races in Otepää, Estonia. Jessie Diggins, in her first distance race on the...
After landing on the podium six times so far this winter, Jennie Bender (CXC) finally skied to the very top with her win at Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minn on Saturday for the first race of the Tour de Twin Cities. In the 5 k classic, she ended up 10.3 seconds ahead of runner-up Rosie Brennan (APU); Caitlin Gregg (CXC) finished in third (+21.9). “I’m pumped to have a good start [to the Tour], but...
SuperTour racing resumed on Saturday at Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minn. with a 10 k individual classic—the first of five events in the inaugural Tour de Twin Cities. Skiing in front of friends and family on his home course, Matt Liebsch (Team Strong Heart/Team Birkie) took his first win of the season by 0.4 seconds ahead of Sylvan Ellefson (SSCV/Team HomeGrown). Karl Nygren (CXC) finished third (+3.5). This was Liebsch’s first effort above threshold since...
From the qualifier through to the A-final, recently crowned Tour de Ski champion Dario Cologna (SUI) skied a “perfect” sprint day by all accounts in Otepää, Estonia on Saturday. The current overall World Cup points leader made a statement from the word get-go, posting the fastest qualifying time by an unbelievable 4.2 seconds in a 1.4 k classic. He then went on to decisively win his quarter, semi and final heats. Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR)...
After winning the Tour de Ski, Dario Cologna (SUI) took a much-needed break from racing and skipped last weekend’s city sprints in Milan, Italy. His return to the World Cup on Saturday in Otepää, Estonia, left little doubt that the overall points leader is on top of his game. He owned the classic sprint from the qualifier to final. Cologna’s qualifying time was more than 4 seconds ahead of the next-fastest skiers, and he handily...
Highlighted by her fourth-place performance in the senior freestyle sprint at U.S. Nationals, 17-year-old Corey Stock (Cambridge Sports Union) earned her first trip to Europe with the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) World Junior Championship squad this coming February. It’s difficult to determine the most remarkable part of that statement. For starters, Stock’s age would normally make her a candidate for the J1 trip, and yet as the top junior finisher in the skate sprint in...
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After less than a week of deliberation, the International Ski Federation (FIS) Appeals Committee responded to the case Torin Koos (BSF/Rossignol) obstruction of competition. The Committee rejected his case for lack of sufficient evidence. In his appeal, Koos primarily took issue with the process by which the jury disqualified him, which he interpreted as a departure from the due process outlined in the FIS International Competition Rulebook (ICR). According to Koos, he was not allowed...
Note: This story has been updated to include quotes from third-place finisher Zoe Roy. On the final day of racing in the Haywood NorAms in Whistler, British Columbia, on Sunday, Emily Nishikawa (AWCA/CNST) won her second event of the weekend with her victory in the 10 k classic individual start race with a time of 33:03.1 on the course. Amanda Ammar (Canmore Nordic Ski Club) finished second (+13.6) and Zoe Roy (Rocky Mountain Racers/Stella Racing)...
The narrow course set up on the streets of Milan, Italy delivered yet another exciting World Cup day of racing on Sunday in the team sprint event. For the American duo of Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell, however, it was unfavorably so. Coming into the exchange zone on the third leg of the semifinal, Austria I’s Harald Wurm pushed Hamilton, sending him to the ground and ruining the Americans’ chances of advancing to the finals....
The women’s headline from Whistler on Saturday could have read exactly like the men’s. Heidi Widmer (AWCA) took gold in the Haywood NorAm freestyle sprint, leading an Alberta World Cup Academy sweep of the top three spots on the podium. Her brother Phil accomplished the same feat only minutes after the completion of the women’s A-final. “That was super special, for sure,” said Widmer of winning the same day as her brother. “It’s really great...
New-fallen snow at Whistler Olympic Park created additional excitement on Saturday during the Haywood NorAm freestyle sprints in Whister, BC. The deciding factor became who could best adjust to the slow powder while navigating the usual sprint-day tangles. Phil Widmer (Alberta World Cup Academy) led the men’s A-final from the start, and crossed the line in first to headline an AWCA podium sweep with his first victory of the season. Teammates Graham Nishikawa (AWCA) and...
Off Camber is a video series available only on FasterSkier. Conceived of and created by APU skiers Reese Hanneman and Erik Bjornsen, this series is made possible by the support of Episode 1 |
Good Gracious Almighty! What Has Atomic Gone And Done Now? Atomic is to classic marathons what Ferrari is to Formula One. For the last thirty years, the long distance events have been dominated by Atomic athletes and the tenacious Austrian ski company is not about to let that change. Atomic’s racing focus has always been on the Marathons because these are the races that have proven to be the best testing ground for equipment. For...