The IBU World Cup is back in North America with races in Canmore starting Thursday and lasting through Sunday, a week before the circuit moves east to Presque Isle, Maine. Here are some photos from official training in Canmore.
Norway's Petter Northug showed his versatility as an all-rounder, winning Wednesday's classic sprint in Drammen, Norway. His quick double pole and quicksilver skate skis won out the day. The U.S. Ski Team's Simi Hamilton placed 11th overall while Canada's Alex Harvey posted his second-best sprint result of the season in 20th.
It was another sunny one at the Canmore Nordic Centre for the final official training day before six competitions take place in a span of four days (Thursday through Sunday) at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Canmore, Alberta. Daniel S. Guay caught more of the action on Wednesday. See his complete gallery here. To watch the races live, Canadians can tune into CBC (IBU’s Eurovision website.
If you’re wondering who will be on the start line for the U.S. and Canadian teams at this week’s IBU World Cup in Canmore, Alberta, we’ve got answers: For Canada, the host, it’s a lineup of
On the final day of IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania, the Norwegian women and Russian men bested the field in the junior relays, while the U.S. women placed 12th and Canadian men finished 14th.
David Norris and Kelsey Phinney broke through on Day 1 of the Lake Placid SuperTour this past weekend in the Adirondacks of northern New York, while Caitlin Patterson rolled to another distance victory in the classic individual start on Day 2.
It was a stretch to reach the podium, but the Canadian team of Teo Sanchez, Adam Runnalls, and Zachari Bolduc were in contention until late in the youth men's 3 x 7.5 k relay at World Championships, ultimately finishing fifth. The American men placed 15th. The Canadian women were 10th in the 3 x 6 k relay and the American women 16th.
During three days of competition at the Seefeld Triple, Germany's Eric Frenzel proved he's Mr. Consistency, winning all three days for his third-straight Triple crown. In seventh overall, Bryan Fletcher led the U.S. for the third year in a row landing in the top 10 in Seefeld.
Sean Doherty's just like any 20 year old, except that he has 10 biathlon world junior titles to his name and won the last race of his junior career in Romania on Sunday. "I get nervous just like any other human,” he explained. “There’s a lot of pressure for these races I just did, and I’m really happy with how I performed with it all, but it’s something that’s not that easy to deal with.”
Sean Doherty locked up silver in Saturday's junior sprint to become the most decorated athlete ever at IBU Youth/Junior World Championships, and another American, Maddie Phaneuf landed her second-straight top seven of the week.
The Canadian biathletes are on a roll at IBU Youth World Championships with three athletes in the top 21 on Friday in the youth men's and women's sprints. Teo Sanchez led the team in 17th, Nadia Moser broke through in 19th, Adam Runnalls was 21st, and Megan Bankes 26th for Canada.
A few things are clear: athletes, in particular winter endurance and pool athletes, have a high incidence of airway hyper-responsiveness, much of which may be undiagnosed. This can be treated with inhalers, which are not banned by WADA and have been repeatedly shown not to be performance-enhancing. And - those athletes can win.
Sean Doherty reached the podium in his first race of 2016 IBU Junior World Championships, placing third in the 15 k individual. Earlier on Thursday, another U.S. biathlete Maddie Phaneuf finished fifth in the women's 12.5 k individual. "It’s a prefect day," stated US Biathlon's Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler.
Shin pain is no joke -- shin splints, bony stress injuries and exertional compartment syndrome are becoming increasingly common among cross-country skiers. Here is some help in identifying and differentiating between the three causes of lower-leg pain.
A day after besting Germany's Simon Schempp on the last loop, Anton Shipulin of Russia did so again -- this time beating the German by a second for the men's relay victory. Schempp partially blamed a lapped skier. The U.S. men ended up sixth, tying their season best from a week earlier, while Canada placed 11th with strong shooting.
The IBU World Cup women's relay podium saw three new teams on Sunday after France won the team event by 17.2 seconds over the Czech Republic, and Russia finished 21.1 seconds back in third. The Canadians ended up 13th and the U.S. settled for 17th after being lapped.
It's been a steady climb of success for the U.S. women's cross-country team. On Sunday in Nove Mesto, they took a collective step higher in the 4 x 5 k relay, placing second to a hard-charging Norway, while besting Finland by nearly 14 seconds.
The Norwegians built up what turned out to be an insurmountable lead, despite Russia coming within 6 seconds of them at the finish, to win the men's Nove Mesto World Cup relay on Sunday. The U.S. and Canada skied together throughout the race to place eighth and ninth, respectively.
American sprint specialist Andy Newell a marathon contender? After placing second in Saturday's Dolomitenlauf 42 k classic, he could be hungry for more. “I haven’t done too many of these types of marathons," Newell said. "In the future I would like to make it to some more of the [Ski] Classic races and the really big European marathons.”
Maurice Manificat has been waiting for this win all season despite being on the podium twice in the last two months. On Saturday, he beat Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby for his first World Cup victory since 2013. For Sundby, it was a small speed bump on his way to seize control of the 2015/2016 World Cup overall.