HomeAuthor

Chelsea Little

Chelsea Little is FasterSkier's Editor-At-Large. A former racer at Ford Sayre, Dartmouth College and the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, she is a PhD candidate in aquatic ecology in the @Altermatt_lab at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. You can follow her on twitter @ChelskiLittle.
Germany’s Doll Takes First Win, a World Champs Gold; Seven North American Men Into Pursuit

HOCHFILZEN, Austria—On a day when the wind seemed like only a flutter, it could still throw the World Championships biathlon field into disarray. Take Martin Fourcade, the best biathlete in the world this year. He missed two shots out of ten: one in prone, and one in standing. “When I crossed the finish line, I expected to be top ten,” the Frenchman said in a press conference. “Then when I saw the race I expected...

Bailey Fourth in World Championships Sprint, Second-Best Result Ever for American

HOCHFILZEN, Austria – The U.S. men’s biathlon team got off to a slow start this year. Sean Doherty had mononucleosis. Leif Nordgren injured his toe in a freak accident and had to miss weeks of competition. And Tim Burke said he has felt “flat” all season. Many have been frustrated… “Except for Lowell!” Burke exclaimed, referring to teammate Lowell Bailey. “One of the benefits of having a strong team is that when some of us...

Johaug Receives 13-Month Ban for Positive Doping Test

The Norwegian Olympic Committee today issued its ruling on Therese Johaug, the cross-country ski star who tested positive for the steroid clostebol. “Therese Johaug… loses the right to participate in competitions and organized training, and the right to be an elected or appointed officer, for a period of 13 months, effective from the date the suspension was imposed, 18 October 2016,” the Committee posted in a statement on its website, according to a translation Johaug, Anti-Doping...

Bankes Second in IBU Junior Cup, Launching Towards World Junior Championships

The International Biathlon Union created a new competition circuit this season: the IBU Junior Cup, meant to be a season-long series leading up to World Youth and Junior Championships. Going in, it wasn’t clear how many countries would send full teams or what the level of competition would be. But in the four weekends of racing so far, the racing has been fierce. And right off the bat, Megan Bankes has set a mark Canadians...

Kazakhstan Team Raided in Doping Investigation at Biathlon Championships

Austrian police raided the lodgings of Kazakhstan’s national biathlon team outside of Hochfilzen, Austria, on Thursday morning. The Kazakh team is there to compete at World Championships, where they finished 11th in the opening competition, a mixed relay, later in the day. “Numerous medical devices and medications were seized,” the Criminal Intelligence Service of Austria wrote in a statement according to the BBC. “They found in the room of our doctor some medicine. But according to...

Smith Back to Competition After Battle with Virus

After winning a World Cup, an individual World Championships medal, and helping his Canadian teammates to World Championships relay bronze in the last two years, there were high hopes for biathlete Nathan Smith coming into the 2016/2017 season. With finishes of 43rd and 96th in the opening World Cups in Östersund, Sweden, Smith felt that something really wasn’t right. So he flew home to Canada, underwent a bevy of medical tests and has disappeared from the...

A Database of the 99 Skiing Anti-Doping Samples in the McLaren Report

99 samples and 46 skiers, including Paralympians, are mentioned in in a previous piece, they should not be considered accurate information about whether an athlete did or did not compete in a particular event in Sochi. However, an athlete’s mention in these documents indicates that they were at least competing at a level where their inclusion in the Olympics was possible. EDP1166, meanwhile, is a list compiled of tests referred to in the report and how they were...

Pellegrino is Back; Iversen Frustrated After Photo Finish in Falun Sprint; Valjas 10th

It didn’t seem likely until the last second – but last season’s star sprinter has once again arrived on the World Cup circuit. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino collected his ninth individual win on Saturday in Falun, Sweden, nipping Norway’s Emil Iversen by six-hundredths of a second in a photo finish in the freestyle sprint. The winner of last year’s Sprint World Cup, Pellegrino didn’t make his first sprint final of the season until after Christmas. However,...

Ulricehamn Sets the Standard for Nontraditional World Cup Venues

Most of the time, the FIS Cross-Country World Cup visits towns and ski trails the racers already know well. Some venues, like Norway’s Holmenkollen and Switzerland’s Davos, are visited every year. Others, like France’s La Clusaz, are on the schedule every few years but are still always popular. “I’ve been on the World Cup for ten or eleven years, and we go to the same venues all the time,” the U.S. Ski Team’s Liz Stephen said....

Norway Women Win Again, But It’s Closest Relay in Two Years; U.S. Fourth in Nailbiter (Updated)

Another women’s 4 x 5 k World Cup relay, another Norwegian win. Yawn? Not so fast. While the team of Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Heidi Weng, Astrid Jacobsen, and Marit Bjørgen may have picked up the victory, the women’s race in Ulricehamn, Sweden, was anything but dull. For one thing, it was the closest race in 23 months, going all the way back to the 2014 Olympics where Sweden took gold. The top four teams all...

Harvey Tops Ulricehamn 15 k: ‘It’s the Win that Gives Me the Most Satisfaction’

It’s not like winning is a new feeling for Canada’s Alex Harvey. After all, the Quebec-based cross-country skier said in a Cross Country Canada press release. “It is nice to be able to own a statistic like that, but I do it for the result and to be the best I can be each race. If that means that I win back-to-back then that is a bonus.” With Strong Performances, Canada Looks to Relay While...

A Database of the 78 Biathlon Anti-Doping Samples in the McLaren Report

  78 samples from 38 biathletes are mentioned in in a previous piece, they should not be considered accurate information about whether an athlete did or did not compete in a particular event in Sochi. However, an athlete’s mention in these documents indicates that they were at least competing at a level where their inclusion in the Olympics was possible. Note 2: This is a deeper dive into the evidence after our initial review, on...

Suspended Vylegzhanin Won Regional Championship, Violating FIS Rules

One result of provisionally suspended six Russian cross-country skiers while it investigates possible doping at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Among the six was Maxim Vylegzhanin, who won silver medals in the team sprint, relay and 50-kilometer mass start in Sochi. Although Vylegzhanin has not been cleared by FIS, he competed in two regional championship races over the weekend, winning both. In the 15 k skate, for instance, he beat Evgeny Vakhrushev by...

Weng Finally Claims Tour Title; Diggins 5th, and Stephen 2nd-Fastest Climber

Sweden’s Stina Nilsson didn’t fancy herself a favorite for this year’s Tour de Ski title, despite having won four stages and wearing the leader’s bib to start out today’s final race. And after about six kilometers of the 9-kilometer climb up the Alpe Cermis, everyone knew why. Heidi Weng, a Norwegian who had started 19.2 seconds behind Nilsson, had slowly gained ground on the Swede in the flat sections leading up to the climb itself....

Nilsson Wins, Regains Tour Lead in Fiemme, All Eyes on Alpe Cermis; Diggins 8th

As the Tour de Ski drags on, the World Cup field is tiring. Nobody – atrial fibrillation in the Ruka, Finland, 10 k. “It is great to be on the podium again, especially after I crashed today,” she told FIS. “I had to fight my way back in the race but in the end I felt very strong.” While Kylloenen had praised her skis, one team wasn’t doing so. The Norwegians failed to reach the...

Manificat Nearly Ends Ustiugov’s Streak; Cologna Bumps Harvey in Tour Standings (Updated)

Big wins, small wins – wins of all sizes and over all sorts of rivals. That’s how Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov has built his lead, over a minute and a half now, in the FIS Tour de Ski. For his fifth consecutive victory, Ustiugov started last in the field in the 10 k freestyle in Toblach, Italy. He knew exactly what he had to do: beat the pace set ten bibs earlier by Maurice Manificat of...

Nilsson Beats Norwegians Again in Oberstdorf Pursuit; Diggins 5th, Randall 10th

The immovable object that is the Norwegian women’s ski team may finally have met an unstoppable force: 23-year-old Swede Stina Nilsson. Norway’s stars Heidi Weng and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg skied with Nilsson for most of Wednesday’s 10 kilometer freestyle pursuit, the fourth stage of this year’s Tour de Ski. But in the end Nilsson came flying off the final downhill in Oberstdorf, Germany, in exactly the same position she had the previous day: first place....

Diggins, Bjornsen Top 5 in Close-Quarters Oberstdorf Skiathlon

In the final kilometer of Tuesday’s 10-kilometer skiathlon in Oberstdorf, Germany, American cross-country skier Jessie Diggins saw a chance to grab her second World Cup win of the season. It came on the final lap up a 35-meter tall climb, just a few hundred meters from the finish. All she had to do was go over the top and ace the next downhill – a downhill where she had been flying by other racers all...

Cervenka Sweeps Youth/Junior Biathlon Trials; 15 Named to U.S. Team

The United States Biathlon Association (USBA) held three days of youth and junior biathlon trials racing in Jericho, Vermont, January 28-30. At the end of the series, USBA named this year’s team to Youth and Junior World Championships. The competitions are slated for February. But the location is pending. The Championships were scheduled to be held in Ostrov, Russia, but USBA press release) Youth Women Chloe Levins (Rutland, Vt./Mountain Top Nordic Ski Club) Amanda Kautzer (Plymouth, Minn./Loppet Nordic Racing/Michigan)...

FIS Denies Appeal by Suspended Russian Skiers For Tour de Ski

The International Ski Federation (FIS) has denied an appeal by six Russian cross-country skiers suspended under the suspicion of doping. identified at least 34 skiers mentioned in the McLaren report, an investigation into systematic doping in Russia. Content of Legkov and Belov Appeal Legkov and Belov, in German and writes on its website. Urine contains substances excreted from the body, while blood contains those integrated into the body. Testing agencies may not even test for...