In Antholz, Italy on Thursday, Lowell Bailey of the United States was one shot out of the top five and just two seconds away from his first World Cup top-10. As it was, he had the tenth-fastest ski time of the day, the second-fastest shooting time, two penalties, and finished 12th overall. It was the top American result of the season so far. “It was a great race for me,” Bailey told FasterSkier in an...
During the 2011 US Senior Nationals in Rumford, Maine, the US Ski Team named 12 athletes to the J1 team that will compete at the Scandinavian Cup races in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, at the end of the month. Rookie Stella Holt, Glacier Nordic, is one of them.
Disgraced Austrian ski coach Walter Mayer is still waiting for his trial on charges related to doping. Mayer made headlines in 2006 when he violated a suspension by showing up at the athlete’s village, and then fled by car, ultimately crashing into a police roadblock. Blood doping equipment was found at the house where he was staying in Italy. Mayer had been banned form the 2006 and 2010 Olympics after similar equipment was found at...
When the small town of Ruhpolding, Germany, bid to host biathlon’s 2012 World Championships, they knew they had their work cut out for them. “Preparations for the World Champs 2012 start now,” said Mayor Claus Pichler in August 2008 when Ruhpolding won the bid. “I got plenty of feedback from the delegates at the IBU Congress.” And they have been busy ever since, completely renovating and reconfiguring the area’s stadium as well as giving the...
When Len Valjas departed for Europe this past fall, he was looking for experience, and to ski well. Instead, the 22-year-old Canadian recorded his first World Cup points by finishing 29th in the sprint in the Kuusamo mini-tour, and 34th in Dusseldorf, narrowly missing a berth in the heats. Then, he punched himself a ticket to the 2011 World Championships in Oslo by finishing 17th in the skate sprint at the World Cup in Davos,...
Alex Harvey turned heads at the 2011 edition of the Tour de Ski, capping off four top-10 finishes with 10th place overall. But the 22-year-old Canadian insists that the best is still to come, later this season. “I feel really good, but I don’t feel like I’m peaked,” he said, in an interview on his way home from the Tour. “The plan was never to be in the best shape here.” Harvey’s strong results in...
A familiar and dominating form will miss this year’s U-23 World Championships. According to the website Sports.ru, 20-year-old Russian phenom does not include Sedov, and according to the report in Sports.ru, he will “most likely” miss the remainder of the season. The piece does not cite a source for its information, but nonetheless, the news spread quickly in the European ski media on Monday morning. Russian Eurosport commentator Andrey Kondrashov told FasterSkier in an e-mail...
Laura Spector led he U.S. women with a 41st-place finish, while Rosanna Crawford of Canada finished the first World Cup pursuit of her career.
It was a cold weekend in Lake Placid, but the excitement of the combined college carnival and SuperTour heated the air as nearly 800 racers hit the tracks over the two days of competition. Friday – 6/10km Classic The first race of the EISA season was an individual start classic race held at the Olympic Jumping Complex. A two kilometer loop meant repeat laps – five for men, three for women – around a course...
Ruhpolding, Germany, has been both kind and cruel to Olympic gold medalist Bjorn Ferry of Sweden. On one hand, the summer before his Olympic victory, he crashed while rollerskiing at the venue. The impact broke his collarbone and he had to have surgery and give up a period of training. But on the other, Ruhpolding is his second home. “I have trained here three times every year for the past ten years, so I have...
Norway’s Marit Bjoergen can’t have been pleased when her season-long winning streak came to an end in Liberec, Czech Republic on Saturday. But seven victories in her eight World Cup starts isn’t all that bad. After being edged out for a berth in the finals of Saturday’s freestyle sprint, everything was back to normal in the women’s field in Sunday’s classic team sprint. Led by Bjoergen and rounded out by Maiken Caspersen Falla, the Norwegian...
When U.S. biathletes left Altenberg, Germany after the pursuit race on Saturday, they were saying goodbye not only to the venue, but to the entire IBU Cup circuit. While the U.S. Biathlon Association is supporting the World Cup team for the rest of the year, no more Continental Cup races will be funded. Luckily, the team had plenty of satisfying results while in Europe, so the trip ended on a positive note. “I’m proud of...
So far this season, three Norwegian men have dominated the World Cup biathlon circuit, taking wins when it suits them and not always playing nicely together. 22-year-old Tarjei Boe currently sits atop the overall World Cup rankings, followed closely by teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen. Veteran Ole Einar Bjorndalen, who has won 92 World Cups in his career but only one this year, is third, giving the Norwegians a clean sweep of the standings halfway through...
After last week’s success at the IBU Cup races in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, U.S. biathlete and 2010 Olympian Haley Johnson was promoted to the World Cup. You might think that sending the top finisher off to Rupholding would slow down the American women racing on biathlon’s second-most prestigious circuit. But you’d be wrong. Susan Dunklee, Tracy Barnes, and Annelies Cook – who all missed qualifying for the Olympics last year – didn’t need Johnson...
To say that it was raining in Rupholding, Germany, on Thursday would be an understatement. “It was pouring rain, perhaps the worst rain I’ve ever skied in, winter or summer,” said U.S. biathlete Sara Studebaker. “It was tough out there… today was all about fighting through the conditions.” For most of the women’s World Cup field, it was a tough fight as the tracks slowed to a cement-like consistency and the downhills became rutted and...
Just before the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) named its team traveling to the 2011 World Championships in Oslo, Brian Gregg got a voicemail from U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover. Gregg, a strong domestic skier on CXC’s Team Vertical Limit, was ranked eighth nationally, and had a shot—albeit a small one—at being selected to the group heading to Worlds. But the news from Grover was disappointing: Gregg’s results had been good, but...
With Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane joining the US Nordic Combined team in Europe, the crew will split into two groups for the upcoming race weekend. One group will head to the World Cup in Seefeld (AUT) while the others aim for the COC races in Klingenthal (GER).
The Collegiate racing season will be underway this weekend for the teams of all three regions to begin vying for spots toward the March 11-16th NCAA Championships in Stowe, Vermont. Here is a rundown of schedules and teams, with the spotlight on a couple of competitive teams from each region. Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Jan. 15,16 MSU Invite @ Bohart Ranch, MT 5/10 F, 15/20 mass CL Jan. 21,22 UU Invite @ Soldier...
As the SuperTour heads to Lake Placid, the ski community can learn a lot if it just takes a minute to look around. Two-time winter Olympic venue? Check. A love of sports bordering on the insane? Check. More snow than Rumford? Check. But one of the best lessons might be about giving back to the community. Olympic biathlete Haley Johnson, who was born and raised in the Lake Placid area, returned to her hometown after...
Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway hasn’t always been the most gracious competitor. After Sunday’s mass start race in Oberhof, Germany, he told the media that he was “shocked” about how fast his teammate Tarjei Boe had become. And after the season-opening World Cups in Ostersund, Sweden, he bragged that he was “in an attacking position all of the time. I feel unstoppable, really.” Since that claim, Svendsen has indeed been stoppable, but things changed today...