Noah Hoffman was the last American left in the Tour de Ski. Bad ski choice got him off to a slow start, but he powered up the immense climb to find himself in a career-best 25th.
Jessie Diggins and Liz Stephen had a plan. Norway’s Kristin Stormer Steira was starting four seconds ahead of Diggins; Stephen was starting two seconds back in Friday’s 15-kilometer pursuit in Toblach, Italy. The result? Two top-10 performances.
Noah Hoffman was beginning to accept that the Tour de Ski was not going to work out as planned this season. That is, until today, when the American U.S. Ski Team member set the second-fastest time of the day in today’s 35-kilometer pursuit in Toblach, Italy, advancing from 69th place to 27th. Hoffman skied the course in 1:19:58.1, only 50.7 seconds slower than sixth-place finisher Johannes Dürr of Austria, who scored the day’s fastest time....
The Tour de Ski's four-time defending champion Justyna Kowalczyk was conspicuously absent on Saturday from this season’s Tour opener, the women's 3-kilometer freestyle prologue in Oberhof, Germany. Ultimately, she withdrew from the Tour because she and her coaches deem it unfair. "Everything was organized so as Justyna Kowalczyk had no chance to win the Tour de Ski," her coach said.
It was a disappointing day in Asiago, Italy, for the U.S. and Canadian men in Sunday's classic team sprint, with neither team making the final. Both Canada I, with Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey, and USA I, with Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell, were in the same semifinal -- the second one, which proved disadvantageous on a balmy 41-degree day.
About halfway through the men's quarterfinal, things were looking pretty good for the Americans. Andy Newell, who qualified in fifth, was up front behind teammate Simi Hamilton in the lead, but a troublesome downhill descent took Newell out of the running. Hamilton fell behind in the slushy conditions and placed fifth in the heat for 23rd overall and Newell ended up 26th.
Martin Fourcade (France) wins the men's World Cup Biathlon 10 k sprint after 2nd place Fredrik Lindstroem (Sweden) crashes. American Tim Burke finishes in third.
A win in today's 7.5km women's biathlon for Norwegian Ann Kristin Flatland, a solid 16th place finish for American Susan Dunklee, and exciting 22nd place finish for Megan Imrie, which completes her Olympic qualification for Sochi.
In windy conditions in Ostersund, Martin Fourcade of France skied to a 2-minute win in the men's 20 k individual while Gabriela Soukalova of Czech Republic eked out a victory over Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia. JP Le Guellec of Canada led the North Americans in fourth place.