When a race lasts for more than two-and-a-half hours, there’s bound to be a little more material than can fit inside a single race report. Below, some extra tidbits that didn’t make the first cut: –The conditions for the race could have ended up being a lot more challenging for waxers, had the temperature warmed more than it did—in the end, hard wax did the trick. While most of the lead men ended up with...
No, he probably didn’t have what it takes to beat Petter Northug—nor even Marcus Hellner, for that matter. But on Saturday in Sun Valley, Kris Freeman (USST) wasn’t racing those guys. Instead, he was pitted against the North American domestic field in the U.S. National Championship in the 50 k, with a race plan that could perhaps be best described as “don’t mess it up.” He didn’t, despite tricky waxing conditions, and one gambit that...
The SuperTour Final is turning into an international affair. With a group of Norwegians already confirmed, as well as Swedish and Japanese skiers, the Canadians are bringing some artillery as well. No fewer than four Canadian groups are headed to the United States for a final shot at high-level racing this season. Cross Country Canada (CCC) has a trip heading to Idaho. The Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) is sending a variety of athletes, both...
After winning the silver medal in the team competition during 2010 Vancouver Games and proceeding to win the US nationals summer Nationals, Brett Camerota thought he was on his way to take yet another step. But it would be a step back.
Kris Freeman (USST) will be the odds-on favorite to win Saturday’s U.S. national championship in the 50 k classic. But the way his last two seasons wrapped up, just making it to the start line in Sun Valley, ID, is a victory in and of itself. In late March, 2009, Freeman was recuperating from surgery on his legs to relieve the debilitating symptoms of exertional compartment syndrome; he had been forced to end his season...
Lars Flora’s 2011 European campaign didn’t go the way he wanted, but at least it went out with a bang. After some disappointing races at the World Championships in Oslo, and at the World Cup Final in Falun, Sweden, Flora finally put it together on Sunday, just in time for his last start before heading back to the U.S. In the 15 k handicap start in Falun, Flora was 30th, less than two minutes behind...
It may not have been the Olympics, but you couldn’t tell from the weather. Just like at Whistler Olympic Park last year, the weather for the US Biathlon Nationals at Mt. Itasca, MN had a little bit of everything, with some significant rain during the Sprint competitions on Thursday, gorgeous sunshine with firm snow during Saturday’s Pursuit, and light drizzle with heavy overcast for the Mass Start on Sunday. The athletes had good attitudes however,...
US biathletes Sara Studebaker and Haley Johnson were 20th and 21st respectively in the 10K sprint Saturday. They both had four penalties, and they both qualified for the mass start on Sunday. The difference is that while Johnson shot 1-0-1-2, Studebaker was 1-0-0-3.
In the space of one minute at the World Cup Finals, Kikkan Randall (USA) went from contender to collateral damage. Randall had had a great start to Saturday’s 10 k pursuit in Falun, Sweden—the third event of the four-stage mini-tour that ends the cross-country World Cup season—and she was among the leaders, looking for another personal distance best after her 11th-place in Finland last weekend. Enter Therese Johaug. “She decided she wanted to be right...
Stanislav Rezac (CZE) edged out competitors in a thrilling sprint finish into Birkebeiner stadium, while Seraina Boner (SUI) wins with a comfortable margin of almost a minute.
Four XC Oregon skiers are capping their international marathon season with the Norwegian Birkebeiner on Saturday.
Despite coming off of a successful World Championships in which they led the count with eight medals (including two relay golds), the Norwegian team was unable to keep their hot streak going when the World Cup landed on home turf in Oslo. At Holmenkollen Stadium on Thursday, the best the team could muster was a second-place finish by Tora Berger in the women’s 7.5 k sprint. She finished over 30 seconds behind Magdalena Neuner of...
CANMORE, Alta.—When two-time Olympic cross-country skier George Grey hits the start line for Saturday’s 50-kilometre skate-ski race at the Haywood Ski Nationals, it will be his final competitive trip around thefamed Canmore Nordic Centre. After racing on the World Cup for nearly a decade against the top athletes on the globe, and competing in the Torino and Vancouver Olympics along with five World Championships, the 31-year-old Grey, of Rossland, B.C., has decided to retire. “For...
Andy Newell has a title to defend. Having edged out Canadian Ivan Babikov at the finish of last year’s SuperTour Finals in northern Maine, the American sprinter will come into this season’s edition as the defending champion. But with the rest of the U.S. Ski Team in attendance, Newell will have his hands full this time around, in Sun Valley, ID. The full American squad will be in attendance at SuperTour Finals, which start next...
It’s not everyday you get to see World Cup skiers battling it out with historic European architecture as the backdrop. That, however, is just what happened yesterday in Stockholm, Sweden as classical sprints were contested on the snow-c0vered streets around the Swedish palace. All photos courtesy of Kellen MacFadyen.
Petter Northug believes he has to spend years restoring his image after crying publicly after the 30K pursuit during the 2011 World Championships in Oslo.
The day before Wednesday’s World Cup city sprint in Stockholm, Swedish sprinter Emil Jönsson took a phone call from one Carl XVI Gustav—his king. “It was a strange thing—it does not happen every day,” Jönsson told SVT, the Swedish television channel. “He called and told me that I should ski for king and country.” When the king tells you to go fast, you do it—especially when you’re racing around, of all places, the Royal Palace....
Andy Newell saved the best for last. After a season in which he had failed to crack the top five a single time on the World Cup, the American did just that in his final sprint of the season, finishing fifth on a tight circuit around the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday. The result wasn’t quite as good as Newell’s best in 2010, when he was third in another city sprint in Norway....
@font-face { font-family: “Times”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Great Britain doesn’t have a strong history in biathlon, and even less so on the women’s side. In 2006, Emma Fowler became the first British woman to compete in biathlon at the Olympics; in Torino, her top finish was 67th in the sprint. But things might be changing,...