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Friday Rundown: Seefeld, Craftsbury, Ridnaun

Nordic Combined World Cup (Seefeld, Austria): Individual normal hill/5 k On the first of the three-day Seefeld Triple Nordic Combined World Cup, Japan’s Akito Watabe took the win and Taylor Fletcher was the top American in 28th in the individual normal hill/5-kilometer Gundersen on Friday. Watabe put himself in second in the jump portion and started the 5 k ski race 21 seconds behind Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber in first. Watabe caught Riiber and beat...

Earlier this week it was announced that cross-country skier Sergey Ustiugov and biathlete Anton Shipulin were among the Russian athletes excluded from the 2018 Olympic Games coming up in PyeongChang, South Korea, next month. The question arose: just who would be representing Russia? The list of the 169 athletes on the “Olympic Athletes of Russia” team (which is not supposed to be confused with the Russian Olympic Team, which has been banned) has now been...

Under 23 Questions: Ben Loomis

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at next week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 19-year-old Ben Loomis, of USA Nordic, who’s representing the U.S. at his fourth Junior Worlds. Loomis is also headed to his

Under 23 Questions: Félix Longpré

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at next week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Junior/U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 19-year-old Félix Longpré, of Club Nordique Mont-Sainte-Anne, who’s representing Canada at his first Junior Worlds. *** “My full name is Félix Longpré, but you can call me anytime. I was born...

Masters World Cup: Day 5 Train Roadblock

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Masters World Cup organizers had to make a fast change on Thursday partway through its classic distance races when a train parked itself on the course. “We had a lot of plans going into this race,” 2018 Masters World Cup Chief of Competition Nels Dyste explained. “We had plans for road crossings, we had plans for snow, we had plans for low year snow, plans for high snow. Unfortunately, the railroad did not...

Cross-Country Skier Klaus Jungbluth, Ecuador’s First Ever Winter Qualifier, Trains with ThoraxTrainer

(Press release) Cross country skier Klaus Jungbluth will be Ecuador’s first ever winter athlete to compete in the world’s most celebrated event next month. His story is a fascinating one of determination and perseverance. The ThoraxTrainer was created by Dr.Ulrich Ghisler, MD and Jonas Thor Olsen, Engineer, both of whom have competed in skiing at the highest levels internationally. “As members of the Danish cross-country skiing team, we wanted to create a fitness machine that...

Under 23 Questions with Julia Kern

It’s back! In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at next week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Junior/U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 20-year-old Julia Kern, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team and U.S. Ski Team Development Team, who’s representing the U.S. at her first U23 Worlds (she’s been to Junior...

Wednesday Rundown: Masters World Cup; Open European Champs

2018 Masters World Cup (Minneapolis, Minnesota): 4 x 5 k relays Matt Liebsch, 34, anchored the winning relay of the youngest men’s age group (AG 1) at 2018 Masters World Cup on Wednesday, crossing the line in 45:57.2 minutes (the fastest relay time of the day) and teaming up with fellow Americans Christopher Harvey, Mark Johnson and Zach Varty. Two teams competed in that age group’s 4 x 5 k relay, with Italy finishing second,...

Heart Back in Rhythm, Reid is PyeongChang-Bound

After making her debut in the World Cup points last season, Joanne Reid had a bumpier ride than expected on her way to being named to U.S. Biathlon’s Olympic Team. Maybe twice as bumpy. In March, a heart problem Reid had been dealing with came to the fore. “Hindsight is 20/20,” she said in an interview from Italy this week, guessing that she might have started having symptoms in 2014 or even earlier. But she...

Western Canadian Champs: Notes and Quotes

The NorAm series moved west to Red Deer, Alberta, for Western Canadian Championships last week from Friday, Jan. 19 to Sunday, Jan. 21, with freestyle sprints, classic mass starts and relays at the River Bend Recreation Area trails. Each year, the NorAm circuit features both ‘Westerns’ and ‘Easterns’, which are intended to be regional championships so that the younger athletes have the opportunity to experience high-level racing closer to home. Easterns has been hosted by...

Ustiugov, Shipulin Banned from Olympics

Three notable Russian Winter Olympians, Sergey Ustiugov, Anton Shipulin and Viktor Ahn are the most recent to be banned from the upcoming 2018 Olympics, which start in just over two weeks in PyeongChang, South Korea, for their alleged involvement in systematic doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed the decisions on Tuesday, Inside the Games reported. Ahn, 32, a South Korean-born Russian speedskater (who joined the Russian...

Masters World Cup: Day 3 Snowy Doubles

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — After a dearth of snow and two days of unseasonably warm weather, winter decidedly returned to South Central Minnesota for Day 3 of the Masters World Cup. Snow started falling at Theodore Wirth Park at about 10 a.m., and continued throughout the day, with accumulations around six inches. With a close eye on the forecast, the competition jury decided Monday morning before races — which included morning classic races followed by afternoon...

While those of us in the US were ramping up our New Year’s Eve celebrations, the first race of the China Tour de Ski (CTDS) was underway at the new Changbaishan Luneng four-season resort. Located in the rolling hills of Jilin Province – less than 50km from the North Korean border – the resort offers Alpine skiing, a nature park, and a Manchurian cultural village. It also enjoys cold winter temperatures and reliable snow. Maybe...

The first Great Bear Chase took place in 1981 and Richard Clark was there. This year marks the 36th annual ski marathon and Richard Clark plans to be there, just as he has for every Great Bear Chase. (A note that, if you are doing the math, the event was cancelled twice – once because of no snow and once because a huge wind storm toppled a number of trees onto the trail on the...

Masters World Cup: Day 2 Freestyle Distance Races

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — The weather for Day 2 of the Masters World Cup on Sunday was almost a carbon copy of back-to-back races held about five hours apart), before heading back East. When asked what her ambitions were for the weekend, she said “at this point, it’s hard to beat winning.” As for Monday, Jospe said, “Whatever happens … I’m pretty happy with it. … [I’m] starting to feel a little tired at this point,...

Pärmäkoski’s Day; Diggins 10th, Patterson 20th in Planica

PLANICA, Slovenia — Move over Norway and Sweden, there’s a another skier scouting and snagging World Cup wins — and she’s just over 5 feet tall and Finnish. Krista Pärmäkoski set out on a rugged 10-kilometer classic course on Sunday located directly in the Julian Alps, the highest mountain range in Slovenia. Any challenge the course summoned, however, the 27-year-old Pärmäkoski dished twice as hard in return. Though a bluish early morning light cast a...

Poltoranin Owns Planica 15 k Classic; Klæbo Second

Sunday’s World Cup 15-kilometer classic in Planica, Slovenia was a coupling of efficiency, power transfer and patience. Three laps of the course on which skiers climbed roughly 650 feet per 5 k cycle required the low-revving thump-thump-thump of a diesel engine and just the right timing for speed bursts to close time gaps. Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin covered the 15 k distance in 36:45.7 and won the race by 13.2 seconds over overall World Cup leader,...

Domracheva, Fourcade Build Momentum Winning Final Pre-Olympic World Cups in Antholz

On Saturday, Darya Domracheva watched as second place in the World Cup pursuit skied away from her. She had stepped on competitor Dorothea Wierer’s pole in the final corner of the 10 k pursuit in Antholz, Italy, and felt it unsportsmanlike to try to beat Wierer to the finish when the Italian had only one ski pole. So she in a press conference of the abundant fresh snow that had fallen overnight and continued to...