OBERHOF, Germany – Kikkan Randall (USA) picked up right where she left off before the holiday break, notching another top-10 result in the opening stage of the Tour de Ski. Randall placed tenth in the 3.1km skate race with teammates Liz Stephen and Holly Brooks in 37th and 53rd respectively. For Randall this is merely a continuation of a stellar season. She was just 7.2 seconds behind winner Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) and will be in...
OBERHOF, Germany – If the Prologue is any indication, the 2012 Tour de Ski will play out as predicted by the media hype—a battle between Petter Northug (NOR) and Dario Cologna (SUI). Northug edged his rival, and defending Tour champion, Cologna, by .7 seconds in the men’s prologue in Oberhof, Germany. Maurice Manificat (FRA) placed third, four seconds off the pace. As expected, times were tightly compressed on the fast hard track. The course was...
The 2012 Tour de Ski gets underway just over an hour when the women take to the course for a 3.1km freestyle prologue, followed an hour later by a four kilometer version for the men. Cold temperatures overnight firmed up the course, and the snow is fast, if a bit dirty. The drop below freezing meant that there was no need to salt the course as discussed yesterday. Organizers spent much of the day on...
Less than 24 hours remain until the start of the 2012 Tour de Ski. The FasterSkier team (that’s right – team!) has arrived in Germany to cover the ultimate test of all-around skiing prowess for the first time in our history. It feels like the entire world of cross-country skiing has converged upon the small town of Oberhof, in the eastern part of Germany, for the first two stages of the Tour. While winter sports...
With two overall World Cup titles, two Tour de Ski victories, and an Olympic gold medal, it is hard to believe that there is anything Dario Cologna (SUI) has not won. But before today, Cologna had never stood atop the podium in a World Cup sprint race. On a short yet challenging Rogla sprint course, Cologna showed he is in good position to defend his Tour de Ski title. Cologna placed second in the 14km...
It has been three-and-a-half years since Chandra Crawford has graced the podium in an individual World Cup race, but that drought has come to an end as the 2006 Olympic Champion powered her way to second on a short yet challenging sprint course in Rogla, Slovenia. Crawford finished right on the tails of Norwegian Maiken Caspersen Falla, who laid claim to her first individual World Cup win. Ida Ingemarsdotter (SWE) finished third. Sprint Cup leader...
The 2012 World Cup season is already a month old, and there has yet to be a mass start. That changes on Saturday in Rogla, Slovenia when women ski a 10km classic and men 14k. The races feature intermediary sprints for World Cup points—once for women at 5.2k and twice for men at 5.2k and 11.2k. In a new twist, points will be awarded to the top-10 at the intermediary marks, instead of just the...
Brooks Unofficially an Official Member of 2012 Tour de Ski Team Last month FasterSkier reported that Holly Brooks (APU) had been given the opportunity to race the 2012 Tour de Ski pending continued strong results and good health. With just one weekend left in the first World Cup period, Brooks has fulfilled her end of the bargain, posting a career-best 13th in the 15km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. According to US Ski Team Head Coach...
Tarjei Boe (NOR) the overall Biathlon World Cup Champion last year finally made it to the top of the podium this season, besting Martin Fourcade (FRA) by a mere four seconds in the 10km biathlon sprint. Boe missed one target in a race impacted by weather. Heavy snow fell as the first starters took to the course, making for slow skiing conditions. As the day progressed, the snow abated, and the track sped up significantly,...
With veteran Kris Freeman on the squad, and Noah Hoffman drooling over the long Davos climbs, not many would have picked relative World Cup rookie Tad Elliott to lead the US men’s team in the 30km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. But Elliott posted a career-best result, placing 27th in a stacked field despite skiing what US Head Coach Chris Grover termed an “interesting” race. “In splits, he started quite fast, dropped off pace, then regained...
Holly Brooks (USA) continued her meteoric rise from participant to contender on the World Cup circuit, skiing to 13th place in the 15km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. With teammates Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randall placing 21st and 27th respectively, the US women finished the day with an unprecedented three skiers in the top-30. Brooks started quickly, clocking as the race leader at the two kilometer mark when she came through as the 31st starter. And...
No Alex Harvey, no Devon Kershaw, no problem for the Canadian men’s team as Ivan Babikov toyed with the top-5 and ultimately placed seventh in the men’s 30km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday. With Kershaw and Harvey sitting out in preparation for the Tour de Ski, it was up to Babikov to pick up the slack. Circumstances seemed ideal for the distance specialist. The length of the race, the challenging hilly course, and the...
With Devon Kershaw returning to Italy to join Alex Harvey, the defending World Champions in the Team Sprint turned to Drew Goldsack and Len Valjas to represent the nation of Canada. And represent they did. The pair may not have reprised Harvey and Kershaw’s gold medal performance, but they certainly surpassed expectations, advancing to the finals in Dusseldorf and remaining in contention for the podium in the final before settling for fifth place. “Most would...
In addition to Kikkan Randall (USA) and Chandra Crawford (CAN) who placed 1st and 4th respectively in the freestyle sprint on the streets of Dusseldorf, Germany, six other North American women raced, with Canadian Perianne Jones and American Sadie Bjornsen just missing out on the heats. Jones, in 32nd was just .23 seconds out of a spot in the heats. “It went by really fast,” Jones told FasterSkeir after the qualification round. “I have a...
It was a big day for the two North American teams in Dusseldorf, Germany, with Kikkan Randall taking the victory for the United States, and Chandra Crawford just missing out on the podium and finishing fourth for Canada. There was plenty of other action out there for ski fans from the west side of the Atlantic. In addition to Randall and Crawford, nine North American skiers took to the streets of Dusseldorf for the fast...
Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST) has her eyes set on bigger and better things down the road, but that has not stopped her from turning in an impressive series of races in West Yellowstone. On a cold, sunny morning in Montana, Diggins hammered through the 5km classic race in a time of 14:58.2, good for a 13.7 second victory over Kate Fitzgerald (APU). Jennie Bender (CXC) concluded the opening SuperTour weekend with another strong race, taking third,...
Leif Zimmermann (BSF/Madshus) made it three in a row by winning the 15-kilometer freestyle race in West Yellowstone, Montana. The 28-year-old from Bozeman, Montana weathered an intense snow squall and a strong challenge by Sylvan Ellefson (Team Homegrown) to earn a 23 second victory on the three lap course. Ellefson claimed second, closely followed by Wednesday’s Sprint Showdown winner Mike Sinnott (SVSEF). Sinnott barely edged out teammate Matt Gelso for the final podium spot, claiming...
The World Cup season kicked off last weekend in Sjusjoen, Norway with a 10/15km freestyle and a 4×5/10km relay, but in terms of a true “opener,” the now-annual Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland provides for more drama, and a robust test for the athletes. Action starts on Friday with the first sprint of the season—a 1.4 kilometer classic affair, that give sprinters a chance to see how they measure up after a summer of training....
Whomever came up with the overused aphorism “no guts, no glory,” certainly was not referring to cross-country ski racing. But Saturday’s SuperTour Sprint Showdown provided plenty of images that would do just fine adorning the front of a cheap tee-shirt. There was some measure of glory (albeit in the first race of the season), and fortunately, the guts were of the figurative sense—though given the sounds coming out of many skiers in the finish corral,...
Petter Northug (NOR), famed for his unmatched finishing kick, fired up the afterburners once again, accelerating out of the final stadium hairpin and into the homestretch. The seconds ticked off the clock, and it seemed impossible that Northug would overtake his challenger. But lifting off the snow with each stride, Northug ate up the final meters, lunging across the line before collapsing in a heap, just two tenths of a second ahead of Roland Clara...
