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Friday Rundown: Seefeld, Craftsbury, Ridnaun

Nordic Combined World Cup (Seefeld, Austria): Individual normal hill/5 k On the first of the three-day Seefeld Triple Nordic Combined World Cup, Japan’s Akito Watabe took the win and Taylor Fletcher was the top American in 28th in the individual normal hill/5-kilometer Gundersen on Friday. Watabe put himself in second in the jump portion and started the 5 k ski race 21 seconds behind Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber in first. Watabe caught Riiber and beat...

Under 23 Questions: Ben Loomis

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at next week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 19-year-old Ben Loomis, of USA Nordic, who’s representing the U.S. at his fourth Junior Worlds. Loomis is also headed to his

Under 23 Questions: Félix Longpré

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at next week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Junior/U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 19-year-old Félix Longpré, of Club Nordique Mont-Sainte-Anne, who’s representing Canada at his first Junior Worlds. *** “My full name is Félix Longpré, but you can call me anytime. I was born...

Masters World Cup: Day 5 Train Roadblock

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Masters World Cup organizers had to make a fast change on Thursday partway through its classic distance races when a train parked itself on the course. “We had a lot of plans going into this race,” 2018 Masters World Cup Chief of Competition Nels Dyste explained. “We had plans for road crossings, we had plans for snow, we had plans for low year snow, plans for high snow. Unfortunately, the railroad did not...

Under 23 Questions with Julia Kern

It’s back! In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at next week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Junior/U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 20-year-old Julia Kern, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team and U.S. Ski Team Development Team, who’s representing the U.S. at her first U23 Worlds (she’s been to Junior...

Wednesday Rundown: Masters World Cup; Open European Champs

2018 Masters World Cup (Minneapolis, Minnesota): 4 x 5 k relays Matt Liebsch, 34, anchored the winning relay of the youngest men’s age group (AG 1) at 2018 Masters World Cup on Wednesday, crossing the line in 45:57.2 minutes (the fastest relay time of the day) and teaming up with fellow Americans Christopher Harvey, Mark Johnson and Zach Varty. Two teams competed in that age group’s 4 x 5 k relay, with Italy finishing second,...

Ustiugov, Shipulin Banned from Olympics

Three notable Russian Winter Olympians, Sergey Ustiugov, Anton Shipulin and Viktor Ahn are the most recent to be banned from the upcoming 2018 Olympics, which start in just over two weeks in PyeongChang, South Korea, for their alleged involvement in systematic doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed the decisions on Tuesday, Inside the Games reported. Ahn, 32, a South Korean-born Russian speedskater (who joined the Russian...

Masters World Cup: Day 3 Snowy Doubles

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — After a dearth of snow and two days of unseasonably warm weather, winter decidedly returned to South Central Minnesota for Day 3 of the Masters World Cup. Snow started falling at Theodore Wirth Park at about 10 a.m., and continued throughout the day, with accumulations around six inches. With a close eye on the forecast, the competition jury decided Monday morning before races — which included morning classic races followed by afternoon...

Masters World Cup: Day 2 Freestyle Distance Races

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — The weather for Day 2 of the Masters World Cup on Sunday was almost a carbon copy of back-to-back races held about five hours apart), before heading back East. When asked what her ambitions were for the weekend, she said “at this point, it’s hard to beat winning.” As for Monday, Jospe said, “Whatever happens … I’m pretty happy with it. … [I’m] starting to feel a little tired at this point,...

Sunday Rundown: Planica, Chaux-Neuve, Rena, Red Deer

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Planica, Slovenia): 10/15 k classic Men’s report Just when it looked like one of those Charlotte-Kalla days, Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski swooped in and topped the Swede’s time by 3.6 seconds in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start on Sunday for her first-career outright World Cup win. Outright meaning non-stage; Pärmäkoski has two World Cup wins to her name for setting the fastest time of day in 2016 pursuit races. But...

Masters World Cup: Day 1 Classic Distance Races

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — With temperatures staying in the mid-20s overnight on Friday, it was a warm, slightly sticky start to the 2018 Masters World Cup on Saturday in Minneapolis. However, despite temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s, the 7.5-kilometer loop course at Theodore Wirth Park held up well — an important thing, as Saturday was all classic races. According to Tom Ajax, a Minneapolis-based skier who raced in the men’s 30 k classic...

Saturday Rundown: Planica and Red Deer

Western Canadian Championships (Red Deer, Alberta): 10/15 k classic mass starts On Day 2 of the NorAm Western Canadian Championships in Red Deer, Andy Shields of Lappe Nordic won the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start and Annika Hicks of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) topped the women’s 10 k classic mass start. Shields won the open men’s race by 9.4 seconds in 40:14.4, while Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) placed second for the second-straight day....

Friday Rundown: Antholz IBU World Cup; Western Canadian Championships

IBU World Cup (Antholz, Italy): Men’s 10 k sprint One prone penalty wasn’t enough to keep Johannes Thingnes Bø from his third-straight victory (and ninth this season, including relays) as the 24-year-old Norwegian won the men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Friday at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Antholz, Italy. Bø started 42nd of 109 men and had to navigate tricky wind conditions, along with the rest of the field. After missing one target...

Thursday Rundown: Eckhoff Comes Up Big in Antholz Sprint

IBU World Cup (Antholz, Italy): Women’s 7.5 k sprint So far this season, Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff had yet to crack the top 20 outside a relay in the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup. That all changed Thursday when she won the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint in Antholz, Italy. She did so by hitting all 10 targets and besting the time of Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier by 12 seconds at the finish. “I was very nervous for...

Closing the Gap: Head Games

Editor’s Note: The following is part of a series proposed by Maks Zechel, a 20-year-old Canadian cross-country skier embarking on his first season training abroad. In August, he made the big move to Norway, where he’ll be training and racing with Team Asker for the entire winter. Through these updates, Maks hopes to share his personal “observations, stories and lessons learned” to help close the gap between North American and Scandinavian nordic skiing. Previous posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. ...

Sunday Rundown: U.S. 3rd in Dresden Team Sprint; Crawford 4th in Mass Start

IBU Biathlon World Cup (Ruhpolding, Germany): 12.5/15 k mass starts Kaisa Makarainen of Finland took her first win of the season and will start next weekend with the overall World Cup leader’s bib after she outsprinted Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier by 0.8 seconds to claim the win in the 12.5 k mass start. In a tight race for third, Veronica Vitkova of the Czech Republic edged out Rosanna Crawford of Canada for the final spot on the podium; the pair...

Saturday Rundown: Dresden, Ruhpolding, Kaiser Maximilian Lauf

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Dresden, Germany): Freestyle sprints Men’s report For her second-straight World Cup sprint, Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. Ski Team reached the podium in the women’s 1.2-kilometer freestyle sprint on Saturday in Dresden, Germany. Caldwell placed third in the final behind Sweden’s Hanna Falk, who won it in 2:11.02 minutes, and Maja Dahlqvist, also of Sweden, who placed second (+0.23). Caldwell and Dahlqvist both lunged in a photo finish for second,...

MSA NorAm Trials: Notes and Quotes

The third NorAm of the season in Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA), Québec, was also a Canadian selection event for next month’s Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, as well as Junior and U23 World Championships, which start later this month in Goms, Switzerland. The original schedule of racing from Saturday, Jan. 6, to Tuesday, Jan. 9, with a backup race day on Wednesday had to be modified when Saturday and Sunday were colder than International Ski Federation...