JACKSON, N.H. — Two years ago, Martin Bergström quit skiing. A month ago, Petra Hyncicova took three weeks off skiing following U23 World Championships due to a painful bursa between her Achilles tendon and heel bone. Less than a week after resuming training, Hyncicova, a 22-year-old Czech Republic native and University of Colorado-Boulder (CU) junior, raced to two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Skiing Championships titles — the first of her career — in Jackson,...
OSLO, Norway — The modernist Holmenkollbakken ski-jumping hill lords over the otherwise bucolic Holmenkollen ski venue. It’s certainly one of the wonders of the modern nordic sport world as the steel structure arcs elegantly toward the sky. At times during the men’s 50-kilometer classic mass start on Saturday at Holmenkollen, the sun glared off the jump, giving it the appearance of a polished silver spaceship. During the women’s 30 k classic mass start on Sunday, fog descended...
The single mixed relay is a relatively new format, and one that is not yet contested at World Championships or the Olympics. And so when a single mixed relay (two athletes) and a ‘normal’ mixed relay (four athletes) are held on the same day, the U.S. Biathlon World Cup team’s policy has always been clear: prioritize the mixed relay, and get the World Champs and Olympic team the most practice possible for their big days....
IBU Biathlon World Cup (Kontiolahti, Finland): Single Mixed Relay In the last single mixed relay of the season, Susan Dunklee held the lead after two loops of skiing. She was looking for a top tag-off to American Lowell Bailey, but she crashed on a downhill. Nevertheless, she was able to focus on the shooting range and climb back into podium position. The leaders were gone, however: Simon Eder and Lisa Therese Hauser of Austria ran away with the...
NCAA Skiing Championships (Jackson, N.H.): 15/20 k freestyle mass starts On the final day of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Skiing Championships in northern New Hampshire, the University of Utah pulled out a 16.5-point victory over the University of Colorado-Boulder (and finished 17.5 points ahead of the University of Denver) in the team standings, and the Petra Hyncicova, achieved their second-straight titles in as many nordic races this week. On a frigid Saturday morning in Jackson,...
Over the last month, US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee has become a familiar face for competitors and spectators at World Cup medal and flower ceremonies, highlighted by her silver medal in the mass start at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria. On Friday in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint at the IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, Dunklee once again returned to the flower ceremony after finishing fifth, which, coincidentally, was her third time in...
These days at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, biathlon star Martin Fourcade of France is not as worried about his opponents on the course as he is about the imminent birth of his second child. “That’s the first thing I did when I came to the finish, I checked my phone to see if my wife called,” he told German broadcaster ZDF after the race. There was no message yet,...
IBU World Cup (Kontiolahti, Finland): Men’s & women’s sprints [UPDATED] Fifth place is becoming a habit for US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee, who shot 9/10 on Friday (1+0) and finished 34.9 seconds out of first for her third fifth-place result in the last three individual races. Twice at last week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, Dunklee placed fifth: first in the sprint and again in the pursuit. She ended her racing there...
NCAA Skiing Championships (Jackson, N.H.): 5/10 k classic The universities of Utah, Colorado and Denver occupied five of six of the podium spots between the men’s and women’s races on the first day of nordic racing at the 2017 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Skiing Championships on Thursday in Jackson, N.H. University of Utah freshman Martin Bergström won the men’s 10-kilometer classic individual start and Dag Frode Trollebø, a University of Denver (DU) junior from Norway, in second....
Drammen is one of those staples on the World Cup, appearing on the circuit late each season and remembered for its trademark uphill finish in the middle of a city of 63,000 inhabitants, just 40 kilometers west of Oslo, Norway. “It tends to be fairly predictable snow,” U.S. Ski Team Women’s Coach Matt Whitcomb told FasterSkier during an in-person interview in Drammen on Wednesday. “It’s generally clean [snow]. It’s generally some sort of klister.” But...
DRAMMEN, Norway — The stage was set around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday when a homegrown Norwegian made good in front of a spectator-lined 1.2-kilometer classic course smack-dab in the middle of Drammen’s city center. It was a day of contrast that began with blue skies and ended with a deep chill and falling snow as thumping music pounded and the gothic Bragernes Church loomed. In between, the clouds amassed and the classic tracks stayed firmed for...
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FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Drammen, Norway): Classic sprints Just three days after 2017 Nordic World Championships ended in Lahti, Finland, World Cup cross-country skiers were back to their regular-season grind with 1.2-kilometer classic sprints on Wednesday in Drammen, Norway. In the men’s race, Norway stole the day with Eirik Brandsdal notching his first World Cup win since 2015 in Drammen, but Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov broke up the team’s total domination of the final with a...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — There are several strategies for winning the Tour of Anchorage, the annual 50-kilometer freestyle marathon from one side of town to the other that is the unofficial citizens’ race championship for the State of Alaska. There is one obvious way to lose it: Go out too hard on the climbs of the first 10 k, only to lose steam and be swallowed up by a chase pack at some point in the...
The International Ski Federation (FIS) is appealing the suspension of Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug. The organization asks for a longer sanction than the-13 month ban she was initially served by the Norwegian Olympic Committee. Johaug tested positive for the banned steroid clostebol, which was an ingredient in a lip cream she used to treat a combination of sunburn and cold sore. The Norwegian Olympic Committee had decided that this wrote in a press release. “The evidence...
USSA Cross Country Junior Championships (Lake Placid, N.Y.): 5/10 k freestyle individual starts The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) Cross Country Junior Championships (a.k.a. Junior Nationals) opened Monday in Lake Placid, N.Y., with U16, U18 and U20 men’s and women’s 5/10-kilometer freestyle individual start races taking place at the Olympic Jumping Complex trails just up the road from Mt. Van Hoevenberg, where organizers had originally planned to host the weeklong event. A lack of natural...
Press release) The NNF and Lumi Experiences are partnering to offer a trip to the 2018 cross-country and nordic combined World Cup competitions in Seefeld, Austria. On this 11-day trip, designed by Olympian Garrott Kuzzy, we will ski in the Alps, cheer on our favorite athletes at the World Cup competitions and relax in three- and four-star hotels. Travelers will also have the opportunity to participate in the Dolomitenlauf Worldloppet! Scheduled for January 19 –...
LAHTI, Finland — Here’s the basics: fast and firm tracks, cloudless skies, and once again a stacked field for the final event of the 2017 Nordic World Championships: the men’s 50-kilometer freestyle mass start. Over the course of the 50 k, Canada’s Harvey had to think about one thing: be up front near the top three in order to shadow Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby’s inevitable gut punch in the last kilometer. What he didn’t have...
Twelve individual wins so far this season? No problem. And on Sunday, France’s Martin Fourcade used the 4 x 7.5 k World Cup relay in PyeongChang, South Korea, as another opportunity to demonstrate that he’s the best in the world. Starting the final leg of the relay with a 16-second advantage over Austria thanks to hard work by teammates Jean Guillaume Beatrix, Simon Fourcade (his older brother), and Simon Desthieux, Fourcade missed a startling four...
To nobody’s surprise, Germany came out on top in the women’s World Cup relay in PyeongChang, South Korea, where biathletes are checking out next year’s Olympic venue. Nadine Horchler, Maren Hammerschmidt, Denise Herrman, and Franziska Hildebrand cruised to 22.8-second win over Norway in the 4 x 6 k event, completing a clean five-for-five sweep of all the relays this season despite resting top star Laura Dahlmeier and relay regular Vanessa Hinz. Sure, France made a...