January 12, 2011 (Park City, UT) – World Championship silver medalist Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) will lead a strong 2011 U.S. Cross Country World Championship Team to compete at Holmenkollen in Oslo beginning Feb. 24. Randall is one of 14 athletes named Wednesday to compete in the biennial Championships. The International Ski Federation’s 2011 Nordic World Ski Championships are especially important this year, taking place in the heart of nordic skiing and in its most prestigious...
In the fourth of eight weekends of IBU Cup racing in Europe, the U.S. biathlon team proved that their successful pre-Christmas campaign was no fluke. No, the Americans are there to stay. They aren’t going anywhere…. except maybe up. Haley Johnson and Jeremy Teela were added to the World Cup roster after their performances in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic this weekend, and will race at the next three stops on biathlon’s biggest stage: Rupholding, Germany...
His coach announces Petter Northug, 25, the world champion of peaking for a major event. Just over 40 days left until the Oslo world championships.
Twelve athletes were named to the US Junior World Championships team Friday. They all bring experience and ambition to the races in Otepää, Estonia, January 25-31.
Russian cross-country skier Nikolay Pankratov has received a two-year ban from the International Ski Federation (FIS), FIS Anti-Doping Administrator Sarah Fussek said Tuesday morning. Pankratov, who was caught by Swiss customs in September with intravenous equipment and 22 vials of Actovegin—a suspicious, though legal drug—was barred from FIS competitions through September, 2012. Pankratov was sanctioned based on article 2.6 of the FIS Anti-Doping Rules, which addresses the possession of “prohibited substances” or “prohibited methods.” According to...
After going six years without qualifying a woman for a World Cup mass start, U.S. biathlon finally had its day in the spotlight in Oberhof, Germany on Sunday. “During warmup, I think people were surprised to see an American out there,” said Laura Spector, the first American woman since Rachel Steer to compete in a mass start. “But I saw a few American flags on the side of the course, and it was really motivating...
Sunday marked the final day for the Nor-Am races at Thunder Bay, Ontario, which also doubled as Canadian World trials for Junior Worlds, U23 Worlds and the 2011 World Championships in Oslo. However, both the men’s and the women’s winners had already secured their tickets earlier in the week.
Note: FasterSkier originally reported that Laura Spector was the first U.S. woman to compete in a mass start race. She is not; but she is the first since Rachel Steer, who started in three World Cup mass starts and one at World Championships between 2003 and 2005. With a 19th-place finish – her best ever in a World Cup – Laura Spector has earned something coveted by many a U.S. woman before, but seldom attained....
Winners of the NorAm sprints in Thunder Bay also secured tickets to the World Championships. The weekend series serves as World trials for U23, World Juniors and the 2011 World Championships in Oslo.
Dumped from the U.S. Ski Team (USST) after a sub-par 2010, Torin Koos (Methow ODT) clearly had something to prove coming into the 2011 U.S. National Championships—and he didn’t disappoint. With a victory in Saturday’s skate sprint, Koos collected his second title of the week, coming out on top in a frantic dash to the line with Simi Hamilton (USST) and Lars Flora (APU). Koos’s two victories in Rumford could easily serve as the opening...
At 19 years old and 5’4”, CXC’s Jessie Diggins isn’t all that big. But her performance at the 2011 U.S. National Championships this week has a lot of people expecting big things—and that was before Saturday. Diggins closed out an impressive week in Rumford, ME with a storybook finish in the women’s skate sprint, coming from behind after a fall on the last rise to top Dartmouth’s Sophie Caldwell in a lunge, with APU’s Sadie...
Bryan Fletcher posted the top American result at the World Cup in Schonach (GER), finishing in 31st place after an unfortunate turn of events on the cross-country course.
Oberhof, Germany, has been kind to the Canadian biathlon team so far this year. After the men finished 11th in the relay on Wednesday, they had a banner day on Friday with finishes of 14th, 16th, and 34th from Brendan Green, Jean-Phillipe Leguellec, and Scott Perras. With a mass start competition coming up on Sunday, the team is feeling good. “With Brendan’s 14th place, we both managed to squeeze in the mass start race this...
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association announced qualifiers for this year’s Junior World Championships (JWC) and the J1-Scando Trip (J1S) on Twitter this morning. This year’s JWC takes place in Otepaa, Estonia, while the J1S trip – an annual competition for younger juniors – is in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden. Athletes could prequalify for the JWC with outstanding finishes at SuperTour events throughout the last year; the rest of the two teams were selected, primarily, based on...
Nothing comes for free on the Tour de Ski. After six stages, attrition is becoming a major factor for the competing athletes. The difficult 10-day event can have that effect – every year, dozens of skiers drop out as illness, injury, or just plain fatigue take a steep toll. For the men, 30 have already retired. This year, the Germans have been especially hard-hit – a whopping nine of their men have pulled out of the event....
With the victories in Thursday’s distance events at the Nor-Am races in Thunder Bay, Dasha Gaiazova and George Grey secured their spots on the Canadian World Championships team.
Bryan Fletcher, who left Europe before Christmas with a career-best eighth place at the World Cup events in Ramsau (AUT), has spent the holidays polishing the details and preparing for the next events.
Interval start races don’t usually end with desperate lunges for the finish line. But that’s exactly how Thursday’s 30 k national championship concluded in Rumford—with CXC’s Tad Elliott sprawled on his back, the winner over APU’s Lars Flora. The scene may have looked ridiculous, but Elliott needed every inch. After an hour and ten minutes of racing, his winning margin over Flora was a mere tenth of a second. “I knew it was really tight,”...
After a difficult 2010 season, Morgan Smyth, 24, seems to be back in business and chasing medals. Wednesday, the former US Ski Team racer won the silver medal in the women’s 10K classic at US Senior Nationals in Rumford, Maine. But nothing has come for free.
Men racing in Thursday’s 30 k freestyle in Rumford had better hope that temperatures don’t necessitate lobster mitts. Because they’re going to need all 10 fingers to keep track of their progress. On Wednesday evening, the race jury for the U.S. National Championships chose to switch Thursday’s race format, from mass start to interval start. Men will race 11 times around the 2.7 k loop in Rumford, for a total of 29.7 kilometers, while women...