The Grand Finale is finally upon us. There are only two events left to be decided; the men’s 50km mass start and the men’s gold medal hockey game. It’s not a lot of sporting action but sometimes quality is better than quantity. The men will be dealing with similar conditions to the women but without the depressing spattering [...]
Great finish or greatest finish ever in a women’s distance race? That’s the big question I asked myself shortly after Kowalczyk was able to stave off Marit Bjørgen for the women’s 30km mass start title. I can’t remember a time when it came down to two of the best skiers in the world to not only battle it [...]
The final women’s race of the Olympics are upon us and the women will be skiing six 5km loops. There are two different 5km loops (red loop and blue loop) and the athletes will be alternating when they come into the stadium. It will be more like three 10km loops. The weather looks like it will be just [...]
The women’s relay was the last team event for cross country skiing of these Olympic Games and favourites in Norway won the race in grande style. Bjørgen earned her third gold of the Games and it was the first gold medal for Norway’s women’s relay team at the Olympics since 1984 in Sarajevo. Nystad was able to grab [...]
After witnessing history in the men’s relay, all attention will now focus on the women. The Norwegian women are the overwhelming favourites at 1.65 while Finland is second favourite at 4.50 and Germany at 7.00. The weather is expect to be the same as the men’s race which should make for some more tough decisions in the wax [...]
Though today’s race saw a changing of the guards of sorts, Sweden managed to win their first men’s relay at the Olympics since 1988 deny Norway of winning the relay in a major competition for Torino (since 1994 Norway has won 9 of the 12 men’s major relays). The race itself was lackluster in excitement compared [...]
The marquee event of cross-country skiing is finally upon us as the men’s 4×10km relay will run at Whistler Olympic Park under cooler conditions than we have seen over the past couple days. Spectators will be treated to a lot of action as the athletes ski a 3.3km three times. There will be different loops for [...]
Today’s races were met with some more blistering weather as the high hit +9°C while the athletes put in some cool performances. Men’s final was very cat and mouse early on, but it was a great final lap which saw Norway win in convincing fashion. There was no cat and mouse in the women’s race as they went [...]
Today the cross-country schedule resumes with the team sprints. As the races turn to team events, we should be treated to some more thrilling racing. The weather got down to -2ºC to harden up the tracks overnight, but it will be yet another blistering day as the weather office is calling for highs of +10ºC and sun. The women will [...]
If the men’s race has half the excitment that the women’s 15km pursuit did, it will still be a very exciting race. A total of 64 men will hit the start line Suprisingly, the bookies have Northug at 2.20 while Cologna is 4.50 and Bauer is 6.00. Northug has talked about how he enjoys the pressure on him [...]
The good weather continued today as the cold night meant for klister boards in the classic portion while the skate tracks held up superbly. The back drop was perfect for the most exciting race of these Olympics games. Marit Bjørgen continued her dominance as she was able to break away from the field with 2.5km [...]
Majdic’s story of heroics has sent ripples around the Olympics with her courage and perseverance and has been the talk of the town the past couple days. Unfortunately, the Olympics are now over for the Slovenian superhero and she won’t be racing in today’s pursuit, but she got a bronze that felt like “a gold medal, with little diamonds [...]
Today’s sprint race was full of surprises and talking points. First off, the weather actually co-operated and it was imacculate condition with a cold night it was all blue skies and sun for the qualifiers and heats. Then even before the races started, the biggest talking point of the day occurred when Majdic crashed during her warm-up [...]
The forecast is for a ridiculous high of +7°C and partly sunny after a cool night of -4°C. The warm weather should make it fun for the waxers in the heats. The fields are slightly smaller than I thought with 54 women and 62 men hitting the start line. Those not taking part include the men’s 15km freestyle [...]
Yesterday saw Olympic history and I’m not talking about Cologna and Kalla winning gold medals in their first ever Olympic races. I’m talking about the Norwegian’s men’s team. It was the worst collective cross-country ski race for Norwegian men in their illustrious Olympic history with their top skier Tord-Asle Gjerdalen finished a mediocre 28th. The fall-out can [...]
The weather co-operated for today’s raceand played into the favour of the women’s race as the temperature dropped below zero overnight to harden up the snow. Due to the unpredictable weather the seeded group was put in the middle of the pack so the favourites wouldn’t be caught out and eliminate any freak results. The big story was [...]
The amount of different countries in today’s race testament to how this sport is growing around the globe. We have 78 starters in the women’s 10km and 96 in the men’s 15km. The bookies have Lukas Bauer (4.25) and Charlotte Kalla (2.65) pegged as the favourites for the opening races of the cross country schedule. The tracks [...]
The opening ceremonies for the 21st Winter Olympics are less than a day away and all the nordic athletes have now arrived into the athletes village and are anticipating the start of their sport. This year in the World Cup, three names have continually risen to the top; Justyna Kowalczyk, Petter Northug, and Emil Jönsson. These three athlete [...]
The Olympics are only two days away and the cross country races start in five days. What better way to get emotionally involved – just in case you weren’t already – in the Olympics than a little betting to see who stands on the podium? So over at NX, we are having a “Pick the Podium” (originally played [...]
The sprints today could be summed up as utter dominance by the winners. World Cup fans haven’t been treated to that kind of skiing in a sprint event for a very long time, if ever. Justyna Kowalczyk proved that there is no limit to her powers as she keeps hitting the podium the majority of the races she [...]