Long-distance classic races on March 11 wrapped up the racing action for the 2011 World Masters. The week was filled with impressive race performances and thrilling finishes on the world-class trail system at Sovereign Lake Nordic Center, Silver Star, BC.
Gilford, New Hampshire, March 11-13– This weekend Gunstock Nordic Association (GNA) played host to the 2011 TD Bank J2 Championships, an annual event where top skiers aged 14-15 from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and representatives from Utah, Colorado, New York and a lone skier from Australia race for three days. The event serves as a stepping stone for young high schoolers to experience higher-level competition and to further develop ski racing in New England....
There were few participants in the Tour de Ski who were still standing after the finish of that race’s final stage, the brutal ascent up the Alpe Cermis in Italy. But an even more difficult challenge may await those athletes next season: the inaugural Uphill Trophy, a new competition format tentatively slotted into the World Cup calendar in Poland next February. The race packs a whopping 500 meters of climbing into its first four kilometers—nearly...
Short courses, long courses, steep hills, flats, dicey corners: you name it, and Emil Joensson will ski it. In Lahti, Finland on Sunday, the Swede raced to his fifth World Cup sprint victory in seven starts this season, with Eirik Brandsdal (NOR) in second and his teammate Paal Golberg in third. Joensson’s win secured his second straight title in the World Cup sprint standings—which at this point is a merely a restatement of the obvious...
The 2011 Haywood Canadian National Championships began Saturday, and the drive to crown the next Canadian national champion starts now! Held in the Canadian ski mecca of Canmore, Alberta, the premiere event in Canadian skiing features seven days of intense junior and senior racing action. The racing opens with a Team Sprint on Saturday, March 12, followed by a middle-distance freestyle on Sunday, March 13. The athletes then enjoy a day of rest, and the...
For Dario Cologna, it’s better late than never. After enduring a brutal two weeks at the World Ski Championships in Oslo, where he was stymied by bad skis and bad tactics, the Swiss cross-country superstar finally got things back on track on the World Cup in Lahti, Finland on Saturday. At the finish of the men’s 20 k pursuit, Cologna outsprinted Frenchmen Maurice Manificat and Vincent Vittoz for the win—his first since his victory in...
The Russians had five times as many chances as the U.S. to win World Championships gold in the men’s mass start in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, today, but even they couldn’t beat out a dominant Norwegian squad which put three racers in the top six. With five of the field’s thirty starters, the home team had as good a shot as anyone at winning the mass start – and for a moment it looked like Evgeny Ustyugov...
Today: Rain. Patchy fog. High near 44. South wind between 10 and 13 mph. Wind gusts as high as 34 mph. The forecast for Friday’s 15 and 20k mass start classic races read like a bad joke to the coaches and athletes of this year’s second – and final – nordic race at the NCAA championships. Thankfully, the wind never did pick up. But after it started, the rain barely let up. It rained so...
Was U.S. biathlon head coach Per Nilsson enthusiastic about his team’s relay finish at World Championships on today? “BEST EVER!” he wrote in an e-mail on Friday evening. “[It’s] fun to show that we have a team that can fight on the highest level in the world.” While the entire team had a strong performance in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Friday – leadoff skier Lowell Bailey tagged off in fifth place – Leif Nordgren was again...
Today’s World Championships relay in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, was somewhat unusual, with a large number of spare rounds, quite a few penalty loops, and a small spread between teams at the finish . What wasn’t unusual? Norway finished on top, defending their Olympic gold from last year. Things got off to an inauspicious start, with at least three crashes and one broken pole in the first kilometer of racing. Lowell Bailey of the U.S. was among...
March 6, Gorham, New Hampshire– Advertised “North America’s Toughest 10 k”, the annual Ski ToThe Clouds race had a record turnout of participants despite the drizzling rain. 66 racers toed the line to ski to and up part of the Mt. Washington Auto Road for bragging rights and $1400 in cash purse for the winners. In the spirit of a true freestyle event, skiers are encouraged to use any ski discipline to ascend 700 meters...
March 5, Rangeley, Maine- On the morning of the 13th Annual Rangeley Lakes Loppet hosted by the Rangeley Lakes Trails Center, dry snowfall around a quarter of an inch, adding an element of difficulty to what is an already challenging race. About 100 freestyle and classic skiers had to change their waxing in order to adjust for the colder and dry snow conditions forecasted. Racers had the option of doing one or two laps of...
Telemark’s rebirth as a destination resort for outdoor enthusiasts will be managed by Telemark Partners, LLC. Ric Ahern and Steve Kaufman, the principals at Telemark Partners, reported that, “Putting this deal together has been a marathon much like the world famous American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race which calls Telemark home. The negotiations have had their ups and downs and seemed to be never ending. Now we have reached the finish line in the acquisition and...
What happened: Coaches were notified that the Nordic Ski program would be cut from a Varsity sport to club status on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 in a meeting between Dave Johnson, Tom Stock, and Carol Howe-Veenstra. Carol Howe-Veenstra, Tom Stock, Mary Geller, and Fr. Doug Mullin informed the athletes at 5:15pm on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011. No advanced warnings were given. No coaches or athletes were involved or informed of any discussions surrounding the decision...
Nordic skiing already claimed the talents of one dual-sport prodigy five years ago, when Canadian Alex Harvey gave up a promising mountain biking career to focus on cross-country. Now, it has gained another: American Tad Elliott says he’s also making a shift away from mountain biking, and will put more of an emphasis on skiing this coming off-season. “That’s kind of the focus now, is putting more chips into skiing, and wanting to do World...
This past weekend a contingent of American athletes hit the road, looking for racing experience. Their first stop? Rogla, Slovenia, and two races on the OPA cup circuit. Rogla is no stranger to high-level racing – the venue has hosted World Cups in the past, and is considered a tough race, as it is at altitude, sitting 1500 m above sea level. While the snow coverage was a little sparse, and as the Americans arrived,...
At Wednesday’s Junior Olympic mass-start classic races, “zeros” were the skis of choice. On race morning, coaches and athletes awoke to an inch of fresh, wet snow and temps hovering around freezing. Wet snow flurries continued throughout the day, while temps rose slightly, making for glazed tracks. Prior to the first race of the morning, the boy’s J2 races, the atmosphere around the wax trailers was frenzied. By later in the day, the level of...
NCAA 5/10 k skate race There are always a lot of questions and unknowns coming into the NCAA nordic competition every year. The best athletes and schools from one region rarely get to compete head-to-head with athletes and schools from a different region until they travel to the collegiate nationals, making NCAA’s the first time they get test their mettle against the rest of the nation’s elite. It was fitting then, that the first race...
Part of every biathlete’s job is to manage conditions on the range, which includes making adjustments for the wind. But there are days when the wind makes that all but impossible and the weather seems to be laughing in the face of the world’s best shooters. Wednesday in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, was just such a day, with only a single woman in the World Championships field shooting clean, and most shooting quite far from it. “Today...
In biathlon, the individual format is often described as a shooter’s race. With a minute of added time penalizing each missed shot, the consequences for a single mistake while shooting are even higher than in any other format. There are many great biathletes – World Cup winners and even World Champions – who have never won an individual race. In Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Tuesday, young Norwegian Tarjei Bø proved that while the individual is a...