LONDON, April 6, 2011 — For the first time in Olympic Winter Games history, women will participate in ski jumping, beginning in Sochi, Russia in 2014. The International Olympic Committee made the announcement today during the IOC Executive Board’s press conference in London, site of the 2012 Summer Games. “We are elated and relieved,” said Deedee Corradini, Women’s Ski Jumping USA president. “Sochi, Russia can proudly proclaim that it will be hosting the first gender-equal...
Gallium wax is apparently so powerful that wax coaches are willing to go to court to keep it from other teams. These days, Japan’s wax coach is threatening to sue Norway’s chief wax coach for letting the secret out.
On March 11th, Olga Zaitseva’s future in biathlon appeared, to all outsiders, to be bright. After competing in four events at World Championships, only the mass start and relay remained, both events in which Zaitseva had won gold in the past. She had also been elected to the International Biathlon Union’s Athlete’s Committee by her peers. With only two men and two women on the committee, it was an honor. As the weekend progressed, things...
Citing an anonymous source, Postimees, Estonia’s largest newspaper is reporting that Andrus Veerpalu, the recently-retired Olympic and world champion medalist, has tested positive for doping. In an article posted earlier this week, Postimees said that an A-sample taken from Veerpalu in January had failed an anti-doping control, but that the opening of his B-sample, which is used for confirmation, has not yet occurred. The details of the report are sketchy, though. No sources are named,...
Kris Freeman (USST) had one last chance to nail it. A type 1 diabetic, Freeman had had two straight races in Sun Valley in which his efforts had been stymied by the disease. Saturday’s freestyle hill climb up Dollar Mountain, the final race in the four-stage SuperTour Finals, was his last shot to get it right. He did, which allowed him to leave behind three other athletes on the toughest section of the four-kilometer course,...
If there was anyone who deserved a beer after Saturday’s hill climb in Sun Valley, it was Kikkan Randall. After winning four straight races here—and the first three in the four-stage SuperTour Finals—Randall (APU/USST) had a whopping 1:23 head start over her nearest challenger in the four-kilometer hill climb up Dollar Mountain, which was handicapped based on results from earlier this week. Randall could have taken it easy. But that’s not the approach that gave...
Fredrik Mandt immediately regretted having promised to eat his ski boots if Therese Johaug (NOR) would beat him in the hill climb on Saturday. Now he regrets it even more.
FasterSkier is looking for a ride back to Boise on Sunday morning for its one reporter in Sun Valley. He’s got a flight out at 12:40, so if you’re going to get there any time before 11:30, shoot us an e-mail at info[at]fasterskier.com. We’re happy to help pay for gas, and the reporter in question knows a couple of jokes, too, if necessary.
After the quarters and semifinals of Friday’s classic sprint in Sun Valley, it looked like there would be two separate races in the men’s final. The first would be for Andy Newell (USST/SMS), who had dominated his first two heats and looked to be in a class by himself. The second would be between Lars Flora (APU) and Mike Sinnott (SVSEF), who were locked in a battle for first place in the overall SuperTour sprint...
At the top of the results sheet for Friday’s classic sprint qualifier in Sun Valley, there weren’t any surprises: Kikkan Randall, Ida Sargent, and Chandra Crawford were the top three women, and Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton, and Skyler Davis were the top three men. But scanning down and looking through the rest of the top 30, one name was conspicuously absent: that of Kris Freeman, who was the overall leader of the SuperTour Finals mini-tour...
Off days are good for any number of things: big breakfasts, easy ski sessions, and watching NASCAR on TV. (Yeah, it’s been a slow afternoon at the FasterSkier regional headquarters). But they’re also good for catching up on all the things we missed from the last few days. Below is a brief selection. –Simi Hamilton’s dominating performance in the men’s prologue on Tuesday was a demonstration of what a well-trained athlete can do in a...
For Therese Johaug (NOR) the season is far from over, and this weekend she’ll be competing for a grand prize, in an uphill alpine hill race.
The way Kikkan Randall skied in Sun Valley on Wednesday, she still wasn’t beatable. But at the very least, she showed that she’s human. Randall had won Tuesday’s prologue, the opening stage of the 2011 SuperTour Finals, with a thoroughly dominating performance, putting more than 15 seconds into her nearest competitors in a seven-minute race. In Wednesday’s 10 k mass-start classic, Randall (APU/USST) was again impressive—at least, for nine kilometers. Heading out on her last...
In Tuesday’s 3.3 k prologue in Sun Valley, the top-seeded men started last. So it wasn’t that much of a surprise when Simi Hamilton finished his race with a big lead—there were 42 of the continent’s strongest skiers still to come. The surprising thing was what happened next. One by one, each of those 42 men came to the finish line and failed to touch Hamilton’s time. Andy Newell: 18 seconds down. Leif Zimmermann and...
News and information from the northern hemisphere over the Australian summer. Also of the Canberra rollerski event coming up at Easter. 2011 World Championship, Oslo, Norway, February 22 – March 6 The general feedback on the 2011 World Championship in Oslo was that it was the biggest most spectacular World Championship ever held. Over 100,000 spectators were in the stands or out around the track each day for the last weekend of competition, and even...
The cross-country ski season’s last stand begins on Tuesday, when the final domestic races of the year kick off in Sun Valley, ID. The mini-tour known as the SuperTour Finals will start with a 3.3/2.8 k freestyle prologue on a stout course, followed by three more races in four more days. The winner of both the men’s and women’s overall will be the first competitor to arrive atop a ridge on Dollar Mountain, a local...
Skarverennet in Norway, the unofficial international season finale, draws deep and competitive field of racers from both the biathlon and cross-country World Cup circuit. This year, it’s a pursuit: the men will chase the women for the overall title.
Most 19-year-old women racing in their first-ever 30 k would be satisfied just to finish. But on Sunday in Sun Valley, Jessie Diggins (CXC) did much more: she came away with a podium at the U.S. National Championships. After 91 minutes of classic skiing—three-quarters of it with the leaders—Diggins ended up in third place, with just enough gas left in her tank to hold off Morgan Arritola (USST) on her last trip up the course’s...
In the U.S. National Championship in the 30 k last year, Kikkan Randall (USST) somehow pulled off a win in northern Maine just 72 hours removed from racing in Europe. This year, with a full week to recover from World Cup Finals, at least Randall’s biological clock was set to the right time. But Sunday’s classic race presented its own challenges: the Alaskan had to overcome a brutal course, the strength-sapping effects of altitude, and,...
Petter Northug Jr. won the 50K skate mass start at the Norwegian National Championships in Tromsø Saturday, despite having to make a pit stop in the woods.