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.
FasterSkier caught up last month with Pete Vordenberg, the former head coach of the U.S. Ski Team. A former Olympic cross-country skier himself, Vordenberg coached with the American team for 10 years before resigning after the 2012 season.
With the Olympics starting Thursday and jam-packed week behind us, it’s almost futile to try and recap it all. But here’s the lowdown of what happened: The Junior/U23 World Champion began in Val di Fiemme, Italy, the final World Cup weekend before the Olympics took place in Toblach, Italy and NorAm racing continued at the Eastern Canadian Championships in Cantly, Quebec.
Some of Irina Starykh's competitors are defending her, saying the investigation is not yet complete; administrators and coaches from Scandinavia wonder how stupid you'd have to be to try doping in the leadup to the Olympics; a former IOC medical director believes Starykh's coach and team doctor are the last vestiges of the old Soviet doping system, and hopes they will be weeded out.
In a letter to the Russian Biathlon Union, Irina Starykh confirmed that the IBU had notified her of a positive "A" sample. She resigned from the team until the situation is clarified, and also so that she could attend the opening of the "B" sample. Meanwhile, Alexander Tikhonov points out that a doctor sacked in 2009 after a doping scandal was re-hired this year, and was present on the World Cup circuit.
The International Biathlon Union handed provisional sanctions to three athletes who tested positive for banned substances. Russian website Championat is alleging that two are Ekaterina Iourieva, a 2008 World Champion who has already served one doping ban for EPO; and Irina Starykh, currently the top-ranked Russian woman. Across the biathlon world, athletes expressed frustration and dismay.
From seven years of chemotherapy and a treatment-induced stroke, to being nominated to his first Olympic Team, Bryan Fletcher has overcome the odds to be one of the best athletes in the world. He will be joined by his brother, Taylor, in Sochi to partake in the quest to reach Olympic greatness and achieve their ultimate goal: an Olympic medal.
Days after the U.S. Nordic Ski Team officially announced its Olympic squad, several of the skiers that narrowly missed the cut have been dealing with ranging emotions -- mostly disappointment -- while U.S. Head Coach Chris Grover explains the decision to keep the team size to 14.
Following up on the Canadian Olympic team naming last week, FasterSkier caught up with four rookies who recently posted top results to earn their first trips to the Games from Feb. 7-23: Graeme Killick, Emily Nishikawa, Jesse Cockney, and Heidi Widmer.
Regardless of what happens with the official U.S. Olympic Nordic Ski Team naming on Wednesday, Caitlin Gregg says she's happy. The last four years have been about balance, Gregg explains, and a journey with her husband that she wouldn't trade for anything. "One of the greatest things though is that anticipation of not knowing that you made it," she says.
Three days ago, Matt Liebsch likened himself to ‘Where’s Waldo’. Just where would he end up next? It was anyone's guess. One of several Olympic hopefuls, Liebsch is among the top U.S. domestic skiers trying to find the best races to maximize FIS-point potential.
Sean McCann is a sports psychologist who has worked for the USOC for over 20 years - and now he's embedded with the U.S. biathlon team, traveling to over half the World Cups so far this season. We chatted about what it's like to work with the team, and why his biggest push is to let the bad races go and get ready for good races to happen, every day.
Cross Country Canada announced Tuesday the six men and five women officially nominated onto the Sochi 2014 Canadian Olympic Cross Country Skiing Team:
It was a spectacular weekend for sprinting as the World Cup continued in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic with both a individual and team sprint. FasterSkier was also on site at the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships in Midway, Ut., which concluded with a classic sprint on Friday.
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.
Bronze, silver, and now gold. Reese Hanneman of Alaska Pacific University has captured them all after his win in the 1.6 k classic sprint on the final day of the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships. En route to his first national championship, Hanneman made winning look easy despite competing against the best sprinters in the country.
Canada’s Olympic Trials kicked off on Wednesday at the Canmore Nordic Centre with the first of two freestyle sprint races. With perhaps only two spots per gender on the Olympic team up for grabs, there is little room for errors for racers wanting to qualify for the Olympics.
Canada has pared its World Cup squad down to just the men who will represent their country at the Olympics - and with qualifying off their shoulders, they can now focus on just racing. That was a relief to everyone as Canada skied and shot to a successful relay performance on Thursday.
At the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships, winning by any margin is enough to make most competitors’ day. Not so for Caitlin Gregg of Team Gregg and Madshus, who won Wednesday’s 20 k freestyle mass start by over three and a half minutes, a gap that has not been seen at the national level in recent memory.