Chelsea Little – Page 8

Starykh and Loginov Return to International Competition

Chelsea LittleDecember 27, 2016

The Russian rosters for January competition will include two names not seen in a while: Irina Starykh and Alexander Loginov. Both are returning to international competition after serving suspensions for using the blood-doping drug erythropoietin (EPO). Irina Starykh Makes a Fast Return Starykh Starykh failed an out-of-competition test in December 2013 month along with teammate Ekaterina Iourieva. 2013-2014 had been a breakout season for her so far. When asked how she had improved so much by a Russian...

Doping News Olympics Racing World Cup

FIS Suspends Six Skiers over Russian Doping, World Cup Finals Moved from Tyumen (Updated)

Chelsea LittleDecember 23, 2016

The International Ski Federation (FIS) 28 athletes being investigated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The cases were brought to light in the McLaren report, an investigation on behalf of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). “As a result of the current circumstances whereby the FIS competition season is in full swing and the competitions and sporting accomplishments of the athletes are being undermined by the shadow of the McLaren Investigation Report, the IOC has empowered FIS...

Biathlon Doping News Olympics Racing

IBU Suspends Two Athletes; Russia Gives Up World Junior Championships and World Cup (Updated)

Chelsea LittleDecember 22, 2016

After an Executive Board meeting today to discuss doping in Russia, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) has provisionally suspended two athletes. The federation opened anti-doping investigations into 29 more. Meanwhile, the Russian Biathlon Union voluntarily gave up their hosting rights for two events: 2017 Youth and Junior World Championships, slated for Ostrov, and a World Cup stage slated for Tyumen. Two Suspensions from the 30+ Cases The IOC has jurisdiction over all anti-doping activity at Olympic...

Biathlon Doping General News Racing

Czech and British Biathlon to Boycott Tyumen World Cup, Other Teams Consider Joining

Chelsea LittleDecember 20, 2016

In response to evidence of widespread doping in Russia, the Czech Biathlon Union became the first to discuss a boycott. The Czechs will not attend a World Cup stage to be held in Tyumen, Russia, in March; they have been joined by the British Biathlon Union. Several other countries say they hope that the International Biathlon Union will move the event. But the Russian Biathlon Union put out a defiant press release denying any involvement in doping. A Boycott Grows At the...

Doping News Olympics Racing World Cup

The Curious Case of Legkov and the 33 Other Skiers in the McLaren Report (Updated)

Chelsea LittleDecember 19, 2016

Note: this article has been updated to include more accurate information about Alexander Legkov’s participation at 2014 Russian Championships. At least 34 skiers are referred to in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s McLaren report, including one by name: Alexander Legkov, the 2014 Olympic champion in the 50 kilometer skate. Throughout the report’s evidentiary documents, names of athletes were scrubbed and replaced with alpha-numeric codes. But in one set of emails leaked by Grigory Rodchenkov, Legkov’s name is...

Doping News Olympics Para Nordic Racing

19 Sample Bottles from Seven Paralympic Skiers Tampered With in Sochi

Chelsea LittleDecember 16, 2016

Anti-doping sample bottles belonging to seven Russian skiers at the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games were tampered with, according to the McLaren report. Russian cross-country skiers won 12 gold medals, nine silver and 11 bronze at those Games. Some of the same athletes also helped win 12 gold medals, 11 silver and seven bronze in biathlon. The report, which was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and undertaken by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, found...

Biathlon Doping News Olympics Racing

Four Biathletes’ Names Not Scrubbed from McLaren Report; 31 Still Unnamed

Chelsea LittleDecember 15, 2016

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has received a list of 31 Russian athletes involved in doping, IBU President Anders Besseberg told Norway’s VG newspaper. The information came from Besseberg said. “I reckon that we on the board will make recommendations within a week… of those athletes who the Committee believes should be provisionally excluded.” Some information about the athletes, however, can already be gleaned from the McLaren report. For example, one document in the Evidence...

Continental Cup Interviews News Racing US Ski Team

After Hot World Cup Start, Patterson Needs Nationals to Make Lahti Team

Chelsea LittleDecember 14, 2016

Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project had a red-hot start to her World Cup season, finishing 28th in the 10-kilometer classic in Kuusamo, Finland, and thus scoring World Cup points in the very first weekend of racing. But since then, not everything has gone perfectly for last season’s SuperTour leader. In the Lillehammer mini tour, she failed to crack the top 30 in any individual races and finished the tour 42nd overall. “A lot of...

Canadian National Ski Team Doping News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

World Cup Skiers Wrestle with McLaren Report, Want Action From FIS

Chelsea LittleDecember 13, 2016

DAVOS, Switzerland — The evening before the skate sprint in Davos – Andy Newell’s last World Cup competition of 2016 – the U.S. Ski Team veteran stood in the dark outside the temporary trailer his team was using as a wax cabin and talked about doping. In particular, he talked about systematic doping in Russia and has maintained his innocence since , in her extensive investigation of retroactively-awarded Olympic medals, called this “the butterfly effect...

Canadian National Ski Team News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Falla Solves Davos Sprint, Diggins Fifth; Beatty 25th in Canadian Breakthrough

Chelsea LittleDecember 11, 2016

DAVOS, Switzerland—After winning the first 15 k World Cup of her career on Saturday, Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg – long considered a sprint specialist – noted that maybe it was sprinting she actually needed to work on. One day later, there’s no doubt that she’s still got it. Østberg finished second behind teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla in the freestyle sprint, and took the overall World Cup lead from another teammate, Heidi Weng. “I will sleep...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Sprint Masters Newell and Randall Still Seeking Top Speed

Chelsea LittleDecember 11, 2016

DAVOS, Switzerland–A few years ago, there was rarely a World Cup sprint where the U.S. Ski Team’s Kikkan Randall and Andy Newell weren’t fighting for a top spot in the heats. The bread and butter of the U.S. sprint squad, the pair defined what was possible for American skiing in the modern era. But this season neither has made it into the quarterfinals of a sprint yet. On Sunday, Newell just barely missed the heats:...

Canadian National Ski Team News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Sundby Returns as Distance King in Davos; Harvey 12th, Killick 21st for Canada

Chelsea LittleDecember 10, 2016

DAVOS, Switzerland — Martin Johnsrud Sundby might not have had the fastest World Cup opener (by his standards), but two weeks later it’s clear who is king of the distance field: the same Norwegian who won the World Cup distance globe two of the last three years. “I did not feel my best the last weekend, but I was able to catch the tour victory after all,” Sundby said of won this race in 2013,...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Diggins Fourth in Davos: Now I ‘Realistically Expect to Be in the Fight’

Chelsea LittleDecember 10, 2016

DAVOS, Switzerland — Coming off a won the day. “Working on the long distances, it’s still a ways to catch up to the girls at the top,” Diggins said. “But it’s a long season, and we have a lot of belief, a lot of sparkles on our side.” By 10 k into the race, she was up into fifth place, and within a second of the time laid down by Nathalie Von Siebenthal of Switzerland....

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Østberg Tops Weng in Davos Duel, Cementing All-Around Threat

Chelsea LittleDecember 10, 2016

DAVOS, Switzerland — Ingvild Flugstad Østberg didn’t plan to start Saturday’s 15 k skate World Cup like a bat out of hell. But by 2.2 kilometers into the course, she already had a 7.9-second lead over Heidi Weng, her Norwegian teammate and the overall leader of the World Cup. That gap widened and closed and widened and closed, and at the finish Østberg had just that: a 7.9-second win over Weng, and her first World...

Doping General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Shaw on Latest McLaren Report: ‘Shocked’ But Adamant to See Justice Served

Chelsea LittleDecember 9, 2016

While reporting regarding systematic doping by Russian teams has been building up for several years, like meldonium, is a metabolic modulator which combats angina. Another athlete tested positive for “phthalates”, plasticizers which are sometimes used in IV bags and are often assumed to indicate blood transfusions. They are also, however, present in other kinds of packaging. In all of these cases the results were reported to WADA’s anti-doping test management system, ADAMS, as negative tests:...

Biathlon News Racing

With Nordgren’s Freak Injury, U.S. Men’s Biathlon Team Down to Three

Chelsea LittleDecember 8, 2016

The U.S. men’s biathlon team was already starting the World Cup season with a man down: Sean Doherty, the several-time World Youth and Junior Champion and 2014 Olympian, who had come down with mononucleosis. But the team is now down to just three men after fellow 2014 Olympian Leif Nordgren had to have surgery on his toe after an incident with a treadmill. Until January at least, that leaves just Lowell Bailey, Tim Burke and...

Biathlon News Racing

NorAm Wins Boost Moods for Phaneuf, Millar, and Schommer (With Photo Gallery)

Chelsea LittleDecember 7, 2016

By the time the first NorAm/Calforex Cup races of the season were held on Saturday and Sunday, Maddie Phaneuf and Paul Schommer had already spent considerable time in Canmore, Alberta. The two U.S. biathletes headed to “Frozen Thunder” as part of a national team training camp beginning at the end of October. Luckily, “it’s one of my favorite venues,” Phaneuf wrote. When the selected World Cup athletes left, Phaneuf and Schommer didn’t go with them. That...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

All Alone, Weng Wins First Mini-Tour Title in Lillehammer; Diggins Hangs On for 8th

Chelsea LittleDecember 4, 2016

Norway’s Heidi Weng started the 10-kilometer classic pursuit in Lillehammer, Norway, on her own, and she finished just the same: alone, and in first place. The 25 year old chalked up her first World Cup mini-tour win on Sunday, after second in the 5 k skate in Saturday. Weng started the day with a 20-second cushion separating her from second-place Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in the mini-tour standings, and extended that lead slightly by the middle...

Doping General News Racing World Cup

Anti-Doping Norway Seeks 14-Month Suspension for Johaug, Case Ongoing

Chelsea LittleNovember 29, 2016

The doping case of Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug has come to at least a temporary conclusion, with Anti-Doping Norway recommending a suspension of the star athlete for 14 months. Johaug told Reuters. “I expect they will have a hearing in February.” The proposed ban would be retroactive to Oct. 18 and last until Dec. 18, 2017, two months before the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. NRK reports that the casefile and the recommendation from Anti-Doping Norway will...

Biathlon News Racing

French Dream Team Tops IBU Single Mixed Relay; Canada 7th

Chelsea LittleNovember 27, 2016

By mid-afternoon in Östersund, Sweden, on Sunday, Norway had already claimed a win in the mixed relay. But there was another event still on the schedule: the single mixed relay, a relatively new format with just one man and one woman per team, skiing short loops of a kilometer and a half. Each athlete skis and shoots twice, then tags off, then repeats: two relay legs each for a total of eight shooting bouts. While Norway...

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