Alaska Pacific University's first and second teams overcame deep, new snow to claim the top two spots in Tuesday's 4 x 5 k mixed relay at the 2015 SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Stratton Mountain School T2 skied to third behind the two APU teams.
Sadie Bjornsen (APU/USST) claimed her second victory in two days in the 1.2 k freestyle sprint at the 2015 SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. She was followed by a strong performance from Middlebury College's Kelsey Phinney, who earned her first podium at the domestic elite level.
Stratton Mountain School T2 teammates Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton overcame changing conditions and a flat course to go 1-2 in Sunday's 1.2 k freestyle sprint at the 2015 SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Rounding out the podium was Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess in third.
Sadie and Erik Bjornsen accomplished a mutual goal to both land on the top of the podium on the same day after winning their respective races at the first competition of the 2015 SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. They each won their respective 10/15 k races by roughly a minute.
NMU's Fredrik Schwencke skied to victory in Friday's 20 k classic mass start, avoiding a crash in the final meters of the race which took out Colorado's Rune Malo Ødegård and New Mexico's Aku Nikander. In the women's 15 k New Mexico's Emilie Cedervaern double-poled past Utah's Veronika Mayerhofer to her first NCAA victory.
Excitement was high in upstate New York as the 2015 NCAA Skiing Championships kicked off in Lake Placid with the men's 10 kilometer and women's 5 k freestyle interval starts. Dartmouth's Patrick Caldwell claimed his first national title, while the University of Utah's Veronika Mayerhofer led a western sweep in the women's race.
After more than three decades, the NCAA Skiing Championships are back in Lake Placid, N.Y. While the a lot has changed since 1983, the week's competitions promise to be the most exciting collegiate races of the season as Colorado, Utah, Denver, and Vermont battle for the title of 2015 national champion.
German biathlete Erik Lesser earned his first victory in Sunday's 12.5 k pursuit at the 2015 IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. Canadian Nathan Smith was the top North American in 13th after placing second in Saturday's 10 k sprint.
The world's best biathletes battled blowing snow and variable conditions in the women's 7.5 k sprint at the 2015 IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. In the end it was France's Marie Dorin Habert who walked away with the victory while Canada's Megan Heinicke was the first North American in 23rd.
"Slushfest" was the word that best described the opening race of the 2015 IBU World Championships. Despite the challenging conditions, both the U.S. and Canadian mixed relays skied and shot their way to match their best World Championships results, with eighth- and 12th-place finishes, respectively.
Never count Petter Northug out of a ski race. In the final race of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships, the Norwegian never cracked the top-10 of the 50 k until the last kilometer where he out-sprinted the competition to take his fourth victory of the Championships.
Whether it was Sadie Bjornsen leading the race at 5 k, Liz Stephen scoring the best result ever for a U.S. woman in a World Champs 30 k by finishing 11th, or Rosie Brennan outsprinting Justyna Kowalczyk for 16th, the American women ended World Championships on a high note.
Canada and the U.S. men's teams battled for a close 10th and 11th positions in Friday's 4 x 10 k relay at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships in Falun, Sweden. While both teams acknowledged a desire for improvement, they were pleased with their respective efforts.
After a fifth-place in the 2014 Olympic relay, Norway came back with vengeance to take the 4 x 5 k relay at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden. The Swedish team, featuring Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson, overcame Finland to earn a silver medal in front of a home crowd.
Johan Olsson skied to a convincing victory in Wednesday's 15 k freestyle in Falun, Sweden in front of a home crowd. The 34-year-old who focuses solely on championship race overcame what he called a "mission impossible" after facing a year of illness and time apart from his family. He was followed by Maurice Manificat who won France's first medal in 10 years. Anders Gløersen of Norway finished third.
Americans Jessie Diggins and Caitlin Gregg discuss how they were able to take advantage of the opportunities in Tuesday's 10 k freestyle individual start at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. The USST also boasted a day where all of its four starters landed in the top 15 with Liz Stephen in 10th and Kikkan Randall in 15th.
The U.S. Ski Team finished Sunday's team sprint in the middle of the pack, as the defending world championship team of Sophie Caldwell and Jessie Diggins skied to eighth and the American men's team of Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton notched seventh.
When Norwegian Therese Johaug threw down the hammer on Mördarbacken, a.k.a. "murder-hill", in the last lap of the women's 15 k skiathlon there was no hope for the rest of the competition. Using the hill to her advantage, Johaug skied to a World Championships gold ahead of teammate Astrid Jacobsen and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden.
Liz Stephen was the top North American in Saturday's 15 k skiathlon after she raced to 11th behind winner Therese Johaug. She said the result was unexpected given remaining fatigue from the prior week's training.
The start lists are out and it's official: Sophie Caldwell and Jessie Diggins will be representing the U.S. women in Sunday's freestyle team sprint at World Championships. While it was a tough decision to leave Kikkan Randall off the team, U.S. head coach Chris Grover explains the reasoning behind it.