Last week, a new race format debuted on tough courses, with freezing temperatures as a backdrop. Reviews from athletes and coaches were mixed. The Ruka Triple, the three-day World Cup mini-tour in Finland? Nope. Try the SuperTour Sprint Showdown, the double qualifier held in West Yellowstone, MT, last Thursday. The event was the first of its kind in North America, and so far as anyone knows, in the world. Thus far, other countries have not...
The Russian Ski Association (FLGR) has received high praise over the last two months for its work to combat performance-enhancing drug use. After being fined more than $180,000 this spring, the country escaped a second round of penalties at meetings of the International Ski Federation (FIS) in early November, thanks to its anti-doping efforts—which included changes in officials and coaches affiliated with scandals. “We know they are on the right track,” Gian Franco Kasper, the...
You can tell that North American skiing has come a long way when a day with two men in the top 15 of a World Cup race is closer to disappointing than exciting. In the final stage of the “Ruka Triple”—a three-day mini-tour in Kuusamo, Finland—Canadian Devon Kershaw led the way for the North Americans with a 10th place in the 15 k skate pursuit. But with Alex Harvey dropping 13 places and Kris Freeman...
Leif Zimmermann is one of only two athletes in West Yellowstone with European racing experience this winter. But he’s also one of two athletes coping with the effects of a transatlantic jet flight, making a pair of sensational performances this weekend even more impressive. With his 20-second victory in Saturday’s 10 k classic, Zimmermann (BSF) won for his third time in four years in West Yellowstone, less than one week removed from racing 4,500 miles...
You had to look hard, but the signs were there. Over the past two years, Kate Fitzgerald’s results had been steadily progressing, topping out with a 14th place at last year’s U.S. Nationals. A few weeks ago, she was nearly as fast as 2010 Olympian Holly Brooks in a time trial with her club, Alaska Pacific University (APU). And in Thursday’s double sprint qualifier, she finished third and fifth. Still, no one expected Fitzgerald’s victory...
Thursday’s weather in West Yellowstone was a big improvement from earlier this week, but race timers still found themselves in a perfect storm during the season opening SuperTour races. Coaches and athletes were in the dark all afternoon Thursday, when results from the double sprint qualifier were delayed for hours due to timing snafus. Two different finish lines, a skeleton crew of volunteers due to the holiday, a tight racing schedule, and an overambitious timer...
With temperatures in the single digits for the SuperTour-opening double sprint qualifier in West Yellowstone, it was all about staying warm on Thursday. But Drew Goldsack did better than that—he was on fire. Goldsack, racing for the Canadian National Team and the Alberta World Cup Academy, skied to convincing wins in both competitions, showing that he has returned to form after a down Olympic year recovering from injury. In the morning classic race, he won...
An American team entering a winter as a favorite in a nordic sport is kind of like the Detroit Lions somehow starting an NFL season with good odds to win the Super Bowl. But here’s the U.S. Nordic Combined Team, its members entering the 2011 season with targets on their backs. After winning four medals at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the squad’s “Big Three” are back, and will headline the American presence at...
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT – The road to Oslo starts here. In this unlikely town of 1,500 people that has withstood sub-zero temperatures and nearly two feet of snow over the last few days, the 2011 SuperTour race series is scheduled to kick off Thursday morning with a double sprint qualifier. After a 24-hour postponement due to cold and the foul weather that stranded timing equipment and officials 100 miles from the competition venue, highways have...
Road closures and frigid temperatures have forced the postponement of Wednesday’s opening race at the 2010 West Yellowstone Ski Festival. The shutdown of Highway 20 has stranded timing equipment in Idaho, causing the race jury to push back the double sprint qualifier by 24 hours. Temperatures on Thanksgiving day are predicted to be milder, with highs above the legal racing limit, and an employee of the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office said that the highway was...
As snow hammers Idaho and Montana and forecasts call for frigid temperatures, the fate of Wednesday’s SuperTour-opening double sprint qualifier hangs in the balance. With road closures stranding the race timer and other officials in Idaho, and the National Weather Service (NWS) predicting a high of negative seven degrees on Wednesday, the start of the event has already been pushed back two hours, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. And since the International Ski Federation’s...
As one of two cross-country representatives to the International Ski Federation’s (FIS’s) Athletes’ Commission, Kikkan Randall has taken the American spirit of democracy to Europe. Along with Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi, the sport’s other representative, Randall is seeking to create a committee of athletes within the sport of cross-country skiing, to better voice their opinions about changes to the sport. On Thursday, Randall and Jauhojaervi held a meeting with more than 20 skiers in Gallivare, Sweden,...
Norwegian fans looking for a good view of the finish line for the women’s relay at the 2011 World Championships might want to start staking out their seats now. Given this weekend’s performance by the Norwegian women, there’s not much doubt about who will be waving her country’s flag as the winner of the relay in Oslo. After putting six of their skiers in the top 11 in Saturday’s 10 k freestyle, the Norwegians skied...
After a half hour of skiing Saturday, Kris Freeman had earned himself $500, 29 World Cup points, and one top-10 finish. By his own account, Freeman’s ninth place in the season-opening 15 k freestyle in Gallivare was “a hell of a day,” and it was the top finish for the American men. Noah Hoffman followed with a stellar 31st, while Andy Newell and Chris Cook turned in lackluster results in 87th and 102nd, respectively. Freeman...
Swedish fans must have been crushed after Norway’s Marit Bjoergen knocked off their hometown hero Charlotte Kalla in the 10 k skate on Saturday morning in Gallivare. But they must have been equally thrilled in the afternoon, when Marcus Hellner (SWE) skied to an 11-second victory over Switzerland’s Dario Cologna—finishing in the stadium that was named for him after a double gold medal-winning performance at the 2010 Olympic Games. “I felt like I had control today,”...
If there were any doubts left after last year, they’re gone now: Marit Bjoergen has it figured out. Bjoergen, who won five medals at the Vancouver Olympics, annihilated the women’s field in the 10 k freestyle in Gallivare, Sweden on Saturday morning, winning by more than 40 seconds over Charlotte Kalla (SWE) and Italy’s Arianna Follis. “She’s the queen right now,” said Kikkan Randall, who was the top American finisher in 19th. Kalla, the winner...
American ski fans can draw a few lessons from last weekend’s season-opening races in Muonio, Finland. Kris Freeman looks to be on-form. Kikkan Randall also looks fit. Ida Sargent is the next big thing. But for two members of the U.S. Ski Team (USST), Morgan Arritola and Liz Stephen, the season still appears uncertain. Each skied to lackluster results in Saturday’s 5 k classic race, while Sunday’s 10 k skate brought results that were stronger,...
Despite two sensational weeks of racing in Europe, Ida Sargent still has to head back to Dartmouth College in December to take final exams. But thanks to her stellar results, she has added a couple of stops along the way: two weekends of World Cup racing in Scandinavia. Along with Noah Hoffman, the U.S. Ski Team (USST) gave Sargent the nod to travel to Gallivare, Sweden, where the squad will contest the season’s first World...
Russia Nations Cup Ranking: 2nd (7701 pts) Men: 2nd (4180 pts) Women: 2nd (3521 pts) 2010/2011 A Team Men Evgeny Belov Michael Devyatyarov Maxim Vylegzhanin Nikita Kriukov Alexander Legkov Alexander Panzhinsky Andrey Parfenov Alexey Petukhov Petr Sedov Sergey Shiriaev Ilia Chernousov Vasily Rochev Nikolay Morilov Alexey Moriakov Alexey Slepov Women Natalia Korosteleva Olga Savialova Evgenia Medvedeva Yulia Tchekaleva Svetlana Nikolaeva Julia Tikhonova What You May Have Missed Last Season Perhaps the biggest news about the...
The Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) has been fined €50,000. The decision has been respected by the CEO of the RBU and First Vice-President of the International Biathlon Union (IBU), Mr Sergey Kushchenko, who also finds it correct that the IBU is taking tough measures in the fight against doping. The Executive Board of the IBU had to decide at its 99th meeting in Going (Austria) the disciplinary consequences for the RBU; the IBU Anti-Doping Rules...