All four U.S. women advanced to the rounds in Tuesday's Olympic 1.3 k freestyle sprint, along with Canada's Perianne Jones and Dasha Gaiazova. Andy Newell led three North American men who qualified in the 1.8 k sprint, with Alex Harvey and Simi Hamilton, respectively.
Photos of the U.S. and Canadian men on the first day of the men's cross-country races at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Two Canadians finished in the top 30, and Noah Hoffman led the U.S. in 35th.
For most, the Olympic experience goes much deeper than results, and that couldn't have been more true for several North Americans competing at the highest stage of their sport for the first time on Saturday. U.S. cross-country skier Jessie Diggins emerged in eighth and Canadian biathlete Nathan Smith tallied 13th to highlight the day.
With the Winter Olympics set to kick off in earnest with the Opening Ceremony on Friday night, the Canadian National Cross-Country Team is ready to go in the mountain village of Krasnaya Polyana, where it's been training for the last few days. This is the story of how their team grew by two just a few weeks before the Olympics, shortly after the official nomination.
The Canadian Olympic Team gave a press conference today in Sochi, discussing how their past experiences have shaped their arrival at this Olympics and what it means to be a team.
En Sochi, Alex Harvey parle de Québec et le niveau des athlètes seniors et juniors, fondeurs et biathlètes, de son province. Il est fier des résultats Québecois aux championnats mondiales juniors, et il a de grands éspoirs pour l'avenir. / In another bilingual piece, Alex Harvey talks about Quebec and the level of athletes, junior and senior, skier and biathlete, in his province.
Of the 18 North Americans that competed in Sunday’s 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprints at the Toblach World Cup, nine made the rounds. Many of them chatted with FasterSkier about the day and final race before the Olympics.
Cross Country Canada announced Tuesday the six men and five women officially nominated onto the Sochi 2014 Canadian Olympic Cross Country Skiing Team:
Four racers proved they deserve a spot on Canada’s Olympic team this weekend in the freestyle sprints and 15/30 k skiathlons. Heidi Widmer (AWCA/NST) and Jesse Cockney (AWCANST) took home top honors in the freestyle sprint, while Graeme Killick (AWCA/NST) and Amanda Ammar (Team Ninja) won the skiathlon.
The Canadian women missed out on advancing to the final by one place on Sunday, finishing seventh nearly 18 seconds behind sixth, while the top six teams made the World Cup 6 x 1.3 k classic team sprint final in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
Alex Harvey can walk away from the 2014 Tour de Ski with his head held high. After finishing fifth in the 10 k individual classic on Saturday, Harvey ranked fourth in the overall Tour standings.
After breaking a pole early in the 35 k Cortina to Toblach pursuit, Canadian Ivan Babikov was still able to move up the rankings in the Tour de Ski.
A tough wax day plagued the Canadians, but Ivan Babikov persevered and knocked off 56 places to finish 19th in Wednesday's 15 k classic mass start at Stage 4 of the Tour de Ski in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Meanwhile, Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw finished 40th and 47th.
Four Canadians made the heats on Saturday in the second stage of the Tour de Ski, with Alex Harvey placing 11th to hang onto the overall Tour lead and Devon Kershaw finishing 18th to rank third in the overall standings. Dasha Gaiazova and Perianne Jones made it to the quarterfinals, where they placed sixth for 27th and 28th on the day.
Jessie Diggins doesn't remember much from Saturday's 3 k prologue, but some familiar faces and loud cheers carried her to fifth. Both she and U.S. teammate Sophie Caldwell, whose family was among the supportive spectators, tied their respective World Cup career bests in the first stage of the Tour de Ski.
Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw topped the podium Saturday in the opening prologue of the Tour de Ski. The Canadian men, dogged by slower start to their season than they would have hoped, made history and announced that they are back on form in the difficult, drizzly conditions of Oberhof, Germany.
Alex Harvey's not a fan of The Biebs; he wishes he was because Bieber's Canadian -- but he just can't stand that kid's music. Here are several other random facts about the 25-year-old Québec native on the road to his second Olympics.
It was a disappointing day in Asiago, Italy, for the U.S. and Canadian men in Sunday's classic team sprint, with neither team making the final. Both Canada I, with Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey, and USA I, with Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell, were in the same semifinal -- the second one, which proved disadvantageous on a balmy 41-degree day.
Dasha Gaiazova was once again Canada’s lone star in today’s World Cup in Asiago, Italy. After qualifying in 28th in the classic sprint, she was the only Canadian to move on to the heats and ended her day in 14th. Despite some improvement, the Canadians are still looking for more.
The Canadian team was locked out of the quarterfinals in Sunday's World Cup sprint, leading team members and coaches to call it a "bad day". But two team members who are recovering from health issues - Lenny Valjas and Chandra Crawford, who made her season debut at this level - looked at the sprint qualifier as a way to gain fitness on their upward trajectories, regardless of results.