In no-snow Oberhof, there were a lot of "ski stopper" rocks on the trails - and U.S. biathlete Tim Burke hit one at the worst possible time, right as he was accelerating towards a top-5 finish on the last few climbs of the race. He regrouped for ninth place overall, behind race winner Martin Fourcade of France.
21-year-old Macx Davies had his first World Cup start on Friday - and promptly placed 42nd, qualifying for Saturday's pursuit. It perfectly illustrated Biathlon Canada's strategy for the weekend, resting their current Olympic team while giving some experience to the athletes it is grooming for the next Olympics.
Tim Burke would rather just forget about placing 61st in Friday's sprint; Annelies Cook was embarrassed to get lapped in the pursuit (to be fair, she had her work cut out for her starting last). Leif Nordgren called his results in the 40's "nothing special" and Lowell Bailey didn't even race because he had a cold. For the U.S., Susan Dunklee's finishes of 32nd and 25th were the bright spots.
Both Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) and Darya Domracheva (BLR) hung on to their sprint wins from Friday and turned them into pursuit victories on Saturday, but not without a little bit of trouble from Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR) and Kaisa Makarainen (FIN).
Both Darya Domracheva of Belarus and Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway - last year's runners-up in the World Cup overalls standings - finally picked up their first wins of the new biathlon season, suggesting that maybe the favorites will be in shape in time for the Olympics after all. Susan Dunklee (USA) placed 32nd and Macx Davies (CAN) 42nd to lead the North Americans.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby took off like a rocket on Friday and never looked back. The 29-year-old Norwegian had a 32 second headstart in the 5th stage of the Tour de Ski, a 35 k freestyle pursuit race, and he took full advantage of it.
Most studies of how climate change will impact the ski industry focus on downhill skiing, and on losses like tourism dollars and jobs at ski resorts. But what about welfare and happiness? In Oslo, a team of researchers explored how much skiers were willing to pay, in time and money, to reach trails under different weather conditions - and determined that skiing has a very high value, indeed.
A tough wax day plagued the Canadians, but Ivan Babikov persevered and knocked off 56 places to finish 19th in Wednesday's 15 k classic mass start at Stage 4 of the Tour de Ski in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Meanwhile, Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw finished 40th and 47th.
Check out photos from Wednesday’s 10 k and 15 k classic races in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, the fourth stage of the 2013/2014 Tour de Ski.
Check out photos from Tuesday’s freestyle sprint in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, the third stage of the 2013/2014 Tour de Ski.
Head coach of Rouge et Or nordic team at Laval University, Luc Germain shares part of his athletes' training plan during the holidays. "On January 1st, some of my athletes will be tired after a good celebration of the New Year, so I suggest them to come back to the basics ... and do only the first part of this super session, but if they can handle more, then the whole workout will leave them tired and happy!" he writes.
Simi Hamilton had to look behind him inches before the finish to make sure it was actually happening. Yet the 26-year-old U.S. Ski Team (USST) member hadn’t fully realized what he’d accomplished two hours after his freestyle sprint victory on Tuesday in the third stage of the Tour de Ski.
After three trials races in Presque Isle, Maine - which will also host the big event itself - the U.S. has selected a team for World Youth and Junior Championships in biathlon.
Missed the start to the Tour de Ski? Find out this year's biggest winners and losers in the first two stages. Plus, read about the biathlon World Team Challenge. Catch all the action here with the Weekend Roundup.
The Tour de Ski kicked off in miserable fashion in Saturday, with rain and minimal snow in Oberhof, Germany. But 3 1/2 hours away in Gelsenkirchen, there was a more fun solution. For the 12th time, fans packed a soccer stadium to watch World Cup athletes do a relay race around a small artificial course. For the first time since the inaugural race in 2002, an all-German team won.
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.
We know, you’ve been on the edge of your seat since the release of “The Adventures of Gregg and Liebsch: Part I,” and you can’t wait to find out what happened to the two Midwest pals in their quest to qualify for the Olympics. Picking up where we left off: the plane ride from Washington state to Bozeman, Mont.
A follow-up article regarding the improvements ORDA has made to its Mt. Van Hoevenberg property, specifically its lodge, in the last two years and what could still be in store for the Olympic cross-country facility in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Brendan Green may have missed last season with a back injury, but as Canada's top biathlete in the 2012 season it's still not a surprise that he made the Olympic squad. Though he didn't compete at the Sochi warmup event last year, he was on hand to train and help with skis, so he has an idea of what he's up against.
Of the three nations with two teams in the women's final on Sunday, the U.S. was one of them. After qualifying in second and third in the same semifinal (despite a collision between teammates), the Americans were a factor early in the classic-team sprint final -- before Finland and Norway broke away.