Falun, Sweden – The sight of Petter Northug (NOR) powering away from the field in the final meters of a race has almost become predictable. The Norwegian star once again used his brutal finishing punch to claim victory in the 20km pursuit, and gain a significant margin in the overall World Cup Finals’ standings. Northug started quickly and won the first intermediate sprint to gain 15 bonus seconds. He then dropped back in the pack,...
Andrew Johnson and Marshall Greene recently returned from Switzerland, where they placed 31st and 34th, respectively, in the Engadin Ski marathon. The Engadin, a 42km skate race, is a Worldloppet which is part of the FIS Marathon Cup series and therefore draws a very competitive field. This year’s winner was the Vancouver Olympic 15m skate champion, Dario Cologna, from Switzerland. Johnson, former Olympian and U.S. Ski team member, now competes for Steinbock Racing out of...
On Sunday Kikkan Randall finished 2nd in the freestyle sprint at the Holmenkollen Ski Stadium in Oslo, Norway. This was Kikkan’s third career World Cup podium finish along with her World Championship silver medal. Randall was coming off an excellent Olympics where she raced extremely well in every start. She took some time in the midst of a busy post-race evening to answer a few questions about the day. 1). You looked strong, relaxed and...
John Morton received this year’s EISA Service Award for the work he has done in trail design which has so positively affected many communities and nordic skiers; racers and recreational tourists alike. Many of the EISA college races are run on trails that he has designed or modified, including the new homologated race courses at Trapps Family Lodge in Stowe, VT, and The Jackson Touring Center in New Hampshire. Morton is a two-time Olympian who...
Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by XC Oregon and was not written by FasterSkier. With a third Olympic cycle in the books, the XC Oregon elite development program based in Bend, Oregon is already starting to look ahead towards the next four years. Currently highlighted by elite athletes such as Evelyn Dong, Kristina Strandberg, Marshall Greene, and Brayton Osgood — XC Oregon maintains a diverse roster of nearly 20 athletes. XC Oregon’s all-everything (Founder,...
Rebecca Dussault, a member of CXC Team Vertical Limit, won her second American Birkebeiner on Saturday. Her victory was perhaps all the more impressive considering that she came down with an upper respiratory infection 5 days before the race, and she was unsure if she would be able to race until Friday afternoon. Check out
“That was definitely a surprise.” Tadd Elliott, 2nd place 2010 American Birkebeiner 2010 Birkie Top Three This year’s 37th American Birkebeiner was won by Fabio Santus, of Milano Italy. Coming into the Birkie, Santus was ranked 2nd on the FIS Marathon Cup list after taking second at the Italian La Sgambeda and winning the Austrian Dolomitenlauf earlier this season. Santus won the Birkie with a time of 1:56:58.6. Tad Elliott finished second, in 1:57:06.7, and...
There are very few athletes in the U.S. brimming with potential like Simi Hamilton. With a national championship in the skate sprint, a win in the qualifying round of the same event at the U-23 World Championships (punctuated by an
Matt Liebsch won the 2009 American Birkebeiner by 43 seconds. This season he has been on fire, always a podium contender at the SuperTour and NorAm series, and as a result of his earned points in those events he was sent to the World Cup races in Canmore, where he placed 29th in the 15km skate. Liebsch races for team CXC and will join a number of his teammates this weekend in Hayward to race...
Even though carbohydrates continue to get a bad rap from the mainstream public, to endurance athletes they are still the gold standard of energy. “Carbo Loading” is the known term for eating more carbohydrates – such as pasta, bagels, cereal, and potatoes – in an effort to stock up energy stores before an endurance event. But how much “carbo loading” is really necessary, and how much is just an excuse to eat that extra cinnamon...
Editor’s Note: Portions of this article were removed at the request of the US Ski Team, which believed that sensitive information included in the piece could impact its medal chances. FasterSkier does not generally grant such requests and will not do so in the future, and we would not have done so if we believed the material in the article to be of critical import to the skiing community. While we did not agree that...
As far as coaching goes, Magnar Dalen has been around the block. Formerly the head coach of the Swedish team and head wax tech for the Norwegians, Dalen has been in charge of the Finnish program for the last four years. When Dalen took over Finland’s team in 2006, the women were already strong, with Virpi Kuitunen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen finishing sixth and 12th in the World Cup overall the year before. But the men’s...
The sun has come up over the mountains, warming the stadium from the overnight chill. It is another beautiful day in Canmore. We are just over 30 minutes from the start of the women’s 10km individual freestyle race. The track is firm, and the snow a bit colder than expected. 66 women are slated to start on the challenging 5km loop. The men will follow at 12:30 for the 15km event. Nat Herz checked in...
Brian Gregg picked up two podium finishes in this weekend’s SuperTour in Telemark, WI. Racing for CXC, Gregg placed third in yesterday’s classic race and then outsprinted teammate Matt Liebsch for the win in today’s mass start skate race. Gregg took a break from packing his bags (flying to the Canmore World Cups) to give the scoop on today’s race. How did the race play out – when did the field spread out and when...
Matt Liebsch, CXC, will soon be headed to the Canmore World Cup races, and in yesterday’s SuperTour race he proved he was further sharpening his speed. At last weekend’s SuperTour in Minneapolis he won the skate race and took fifth in the classic race. Liebsch was just two seconds behind Bryan Cook in the 10km individual start classic race yesterday in Telemark, Wisconsin. Liebsch gives Fasterskier a taste of the race, in which he and...
Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) won the women’s 15km pursuit at the U23 Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany today. Slind improved on her 2nd place in this same event last year, and joined her sister Kari, who was 2nd in the World Junior sprint, as medal winners for Norway.
Tomas Northug won the men’s World Junior freestyle sprint yesterday. As everyone knows, his older brother Petter is considered the best all-around skier in the world. There is also a third brother, Evan, who is still quite young. Nat Herz talked to John Northug, the father of the three boys, in Hinterzarten today.
Brian Gregg and Rebecca Dussault, both of CXC Team Vertical Limit, pulled away from the field during yesterday’s SuperTour in Minneapolis, Minnesota. FasterSkier caught up with them to ask them about their wins and what’s next. Some racers indicated yesterday that the weather was starting to make the course challenging and there were nearly 500 racers on course, so even the firmest of snow can deteriorate in such situations. How were things out there today?...
CXC Team Vertical Limit skier Matt Liebsch was able to take a few minutes between his racing and putting his kids down for bed to answer a few questions for the FasterSkier audience after winning yesterdays SuperTour in Minnesota. It sounds like the conditions were pretty sloppy out there with all of the warm and wet weather. Can you tell us a bit about the conditions; how did the weather effect things, how the trails...
Maria Stuber and Brian Gregg, teammates on CXC Team Vertical Limit both finished 2nd in today’s 5/10km freestyle SuperTour in Minneapolis. They took a few minutes to answer some questions following the race. Maria Stuber It sounds like the conditions were pretty sloppy out there with all of the warm and wet weather. Can you tell us a bit about the conditions; how did the weather effect things, how the trails held up, etc? Maria...