USSA Spokesman John Farra has issued a press release explaining the FIS Olympic quota allocation for the 2009 Vancouver games, which dictates how many athletes each participating country is allowed to bring. Farra explains why the US currently only has 7 spots, how this might change, and the process related to it.
Kristin Størmer Steira is a member of the norwegian national cross country ski team and recently won the 5000 meter run at the Norwegian National Track and Field Championships on Sunday. Norwegian Women's Trainer Egil Kristiansen is clear about the fact that Størmer Steira should start prioritizing strength and ski-specific training.
Believe it or not, there are people out there are just starting to get into athletics for the first time in their lives. Some of them still find ski equipment intimidating, and fields of snow cold and loney. They stand by bewildered and call us "schralpers," "nodiks," and "stick twitchers." They don't get the inside jokes on johnnyklister.com and think Team Today has something to do with Lymphoma and purple t-shirts.
In thousands of homes live many, many ski racers. Some are better than others. Some may be better than the rest. And also we have those that don't care if they are any good at all. Some are good even without caring if they are good, and can be called "irritatingly good."
"I'm still floating on the old training, says Kristen."
Ragnar Andresen Bragvin won today in the Markkleberg sprint and is now leading the Rollerski World Cup
The cycling king believes that active endurance racers go way too fast during OD sessions.
"I know that it's a long time to be away. But the "road trip" was worth it's weight in gold for morale and motivation, recalls Eirik Brandsdal after his five week long tour in the USA.
Here Here Here. There was a big mountain race named Mount Marathon last weekend on the fourth of July in Seward, AK. It was 81 degrees at mid mountain, and even hotter in the trees where there wasn’t a cooling breeze. The conditions were just right for racers to hammer to the top without realizing that they’d gone overboard, and then pass out at the bottom once they have to start running again. Two of...
Here are a bunch of pictures of Sunday’s 30K and 50K racers from Lance and Danny Parrish of Fairbanks, Alaska. Their perfectionism as photographers and interest in competitive nordic skiing make for some incredible photos. Thanks again, guys. Enjoy!
Liz Stephen yet again showed how strong and gutsy she is, coming back from a slow start in the women’s 30K to overtake a charging Morgan Arritola for the National Title. The lead pack of Kikkan Randall, Morgan Arritola, Kristina Strandberg, and Rebecca Dussault broke early from the rest of the field with no remorse from a blasting lead by Arritola. Arritola skied a phenomenal race pushing the pace several times in an attempt to...
The end of the season draws near with more exciting racing today in the Ladies’ 15K and Men’s 30K pursuit at Birch Hill in Fairbanks. The 3.5K course included plenty of challenging terrain coiling around and through the stadium area, where spectators and coaches could view the race by walking between two points along a single corridor. The races started at 5pm and 6:15, were mass-start format, and covered nearly entirely different loops for the classic and...
“So you doin’ the Oosik?” That’s the common phrase for the recreational ski racer as mid March draws near in South Central Alaska. Starting with the Wooden Ski Classic in December and running through the highly competitive Anchorage Cup series, the season always ends with the Oosik Classic in Talkeetna. In Anchorage the weather is a balmy 30F on Friday, and if you stand on the corner of Northern Lights and the New Seward Highway...
The US Ski Team’s top two teams both took first place in an extremely exciting series of evening team sprints today at Birch Hill. Liz Stephen and Morgan Smyth raced a very strong race, full of attacks, to finish just in front of CXC’s Caitlin Compton and Maria Stuber. In the mens’ race Chris Cook and Torin Koos skied to a dominating finish in the men’s final, which held a pack of 10 skiers nearly through...
Here are some reactions from the Stockholm World Cup Races for your reflecting pleasure. The World Cup Final is a series of four races that is scored like the Tour De Ski, including a sprint in Stockholm and three more races in Falun. Women’s race As many of you know, the first stage of the World Cup Final was held Wednesday in Stockholm, Sweden. It was a 1Km classical sprint race, and Petra Majdic (SLO)...
In a tight and competitive field, Sami Jauhojaervi of Finland won today’s classic 50K mass start in Trondheim, followed by German Tobias Angerer in second and Canadian Alex Harvey in third. Coming off of a World Championship 50K win in Liberec, Norwegian Petter Northug also skied well taking 5th. Taking the last podium spot, this is Harvey’s best World Cup race to date with only 6.32 points. With much success at U23’s and the NorAm Cup, Alex’s best...
Petra Majdic won today’s 30K classic race in Trondheim, Norway. With this win Majdic continues to show that she is one of the best skiers in the world, also placing first in Thursday’s sprint. After a third place on Thursday, Polish skier Justyna Kowalcyz placed second behind Majdic’s time of 1:25:22 with a time of 1:25:33, in a close finish with Japan’s Ishida Masako in 1:25:34. Majdic skied relatively slow throughout the race, falling to 10th place...
It was another day of “Name the fastest Norwegian” at the World Cup today in Trondheim at today’s 1.6K classic sprint. The North Men showed once again that they can focus and conquer a specialty of their choice placing Olga Vigen Hattestad in first, Petter Northug in second and team mate John Kirstian Dahl in third place. Hattestad: “It was again an amazing race today. I felt a bit tired but at the end I had...
9000 spectators watched Petra Majdic of Slovenia win her seventh World Cup race in 2009 today in a 1.4KM classic sprint in Granasen Ski Stadium in Trondheim, Norway. The intimidatingly tall 29 year old Majdic beat Alena Prochazkova of Slovakia in a photo finish while double world champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland took third. Never lacking a positive reaction, Petra reflects on the day: “I’m really happy – it is nearly unbelievable – the seventh victory in this season. In...