Ingvild Flugstad Østberg of Norway picked up her first World Cup distance victory by doing the unthinkable: dropping seemingly unbeatable teammate Therese Johaug on an uphill. "It was a great victory for me, in many ways," said Østberg, who now leads the Tour de Ski by 14.3 seconds.
For the second year in a row, U.S. Cross Country Championships are being hosted in Houghton, Mich. While the snow situation hasn't been ideal, organizers are optimistic for the week of races, which starts Sunday: “The conditions are really nice. ... It is really mid-season form," said Chief of Competition Jim Tervo.
Recovering from his first sprint final in a year, Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway took a while to really get going - but then collected a win in the 30 k classic mass start, plus enough bonus seconds to give him a 1:18 lead in the Tour de Ski. Canada's Alex Harvey was in podium position until "blowing up" 3 k from the finish.
If there's one word that sums up the recent performances of several members of the U.S. women's team, it's consistency. In Stage 2 of the Tour de Ski, the women’s 15 k classic mass start, Jessie Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen proved particularly consistent in their pacing, consistent in their technique, and consistent in their results.
With both Noah Hoffman (in 23rd) and Erik Bjornsen (in 30th) notching their best World Cup results of the season, the American men's team was happy at the finish line -- and now only needs one more man to score a World Cup distance point to increase its start quota next season.
Therese Johaug attacked from the gun and began to run away with the lead just 800 meters into Saturday's 15 k classic mass start in Lenzerheide. The Norwegian World Cup leader won Stage 2 of the Tour de Ski to take the lead in the Tour by 4.5 seconds over teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. Another Norwegian Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen had a scary episode at the finish.
It’s a new year, yet some things remain the same. Jan. 1 marked the opening stage of the 2016 Tour de Ski, a 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint in in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. It also marked the third World Cup sprint victory in a row for Italy’s Federico Pellegrino.
After a close call in the quarterfinals, Sophie Caldwell advanced as a lucky loser - and adjusted her strategy, going all the way to the final where she finished fourth: "Fourth is always sort of a bittersweet place to get... But this is the best result I’ve had in a long time so I’m really happy with it."
Sophie Caldwell had the best World Cup sprint qualifier of her career: "My legs felt better than they have all year." She's joined by five U.S. teammates in the heats, including Simi Hamilton, who talked to us about the pressure felt after winning this Tour de Ski stage two years ago.
Your guide to the 2016 Tour de Ski, which kicks off Friday with skate sprinting in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, and spans three nations with eight races (World Cup stages) in 10 days.
The dueling alphabet soup of binding systems is about to get a whole lot simpler. For the past decade or so it’s been two camps: Salomon’s SNS system or NNN. On Jan. 1, Salomon plans to reveal a not-so-well-kept secret.
This week's workout comes from the eastern edge of the U.S. in Fort Kent, Maine. With plenty of snow ski on, the Maine Winter Sports Center biathlon program completed a head-to-head shooting workout that can be adapted to a non-shooting interval workout for cross-country skiers.
Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, Dahria Beatty of the Alberta World Cup Academy recently packed her bags for the second period of World Cup races in Europe and is ready to represent Canada on the U25 B-Tour.
How much does competing in the Tour de Ski hurt a skier later in the season? For women, barely at all, a new study finds - but for men, there's an increase in illnesses after the Tour, a drop in results, and less of a chance to medal at championships, compared to years where the same athlete doesn't compete in the grueling race series.
Anchorage-area high-school ski coaches agreed to ban the use of fluorinated waxes in non-championship races this season, citing health, cost and time saved as the primary reasons.
It's not often that a NorAm leader turns down their start rights on the World Cup. But Kevin Sandau has a good reason to do so: he's focused on prepping for the last period of World Cups, which will happen at home in Canada.
"Game on in Houghton" is the latest message from race organizers for 2016 U.S. nationals, after snowfall in the last few days has ensured the championships will be held Jan. 3-9 on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
On Sunday, French biathlete Jean-Guillaume Béatrix knew he was the luckiest man in Pokljuka, achieving the first World Cup victory of his career in a men’s 15-kilometer mass start he hadn’t planned on racing.
Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen overcame an early penalty with three clean stages thereafter and the fastest skiing of the day to win Sunday's 12.5 k mass start the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. She bested the new overall World Cup leader, Gabriela Soukalová, by 11.8 seconds.
Therese Johaug once again dusted the women's field, this time in the 10 k classic individual start at the World Cup in Toblach, Italy. There, two U.S. women finished in the top 20, about two minutes behind her.