While the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria are still more than a year away, both the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) have posted qualifying criteria for the event. Why so early? Entries for the Youth Olympics, which are scheduled for January 13th through 22nd, 2012, are due at the beginning of December, 2011. Since there won’t be much time for qualification events that winter, most of...
Five years ago, Sarah Konrad made history as the first U.S. woman to compete in two different sports at the same Winter Olympics. In Torino, Konrad finished 32nd in the 30 k mass start in cross country and was part of the U.S. relay team. She also contested both the individual and sprint events in biathlon. In the three-year period from 2005 to 2007, Konrad racked up some of the best results for U.S. women...
After the U.S. men’s performance in the season-opening World Cup relay in Sweden, which had Andy Newell, Kris Freeman, and Noah Hoffman hanging with the leaders through nearly three full legs, the question hung in the air: Who would be the skier to fill the void in the fourth spot? The answer seemed to lie back at home, in the form of a rising star like Tad Elliott, who could be ready in time for...
A 17th place in the sprint qualifier and a 58th place in the 15K classic on Sunday doesn’t bother Torin Koos.
Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug has changed her season preparation routine and is literally bursting with energy at the start of the season opener at Beitostølen this weekend.
Since the spring, the International Ski Federation’s website has been counting down the days until the World Cup opener. Organizers of the 2011 World Ski Championships in Oslo are quick to inform fans that there are just over three months until the start of that event. But in Alaska, there’s another clock that’s been ticking more quietly: the one counting down the days until the end of James Southam’s career. Southam, who trains in Anchorage...
For the nordic world, the highest profile issue on the agenda at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) recent executive board meeting in late October was the inclusion of women’s ski jumping in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But besides other events like the figure skating team event and a luge relay (FasterSkier isn’t sure how that works, but we want to see a hand-tag halfway down the luge track…), the IOC board also looked “favorably” towards...
Estonian Andrus Veerpalu has competed in every Olympic Games since Albertville in 1992. In Vancouver, at 39 years of age, he contested only the 50 k classic mass start, finishing sixth. Many assumed that it would be one of his last races. They were wrong. This year, Veerpalu will be focusing on the World Championships in Oslo, Norway; in particular, he plans to peak for the classic distance races. There is no reason to believe...
Swede Bjorn Ferry won his first individual Olympic medal in Vancouver, capturing gold in the pursuit race. He has three career World Cup victories and two relay medals, both from mixed relay events: gold at the 2007 World Championships in Antholz, Italy, and bronze at the 2010 World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Ferry is also the only biathlete we know who is married to a world champion arm-wrestler. Can he continue his winning ways this...
She is already one of the top female skate skiers in the world. By improving her ankle/knee flexion, Charlotte Kalla (SWE) has increased the power in her kick – and will be even more dangerous to her competitors this winter.
Ski jumpers don’t usually begin their careers at age 25. Nor do they progress from their first-ever jump all the way up to an Olympic-sized 90-meter hill in the course of one year. But that’s exactly what Australian cross-country skier Ben Sim is trying to do. There aren’t many athletes out there who have taken an approach like Sim’s and met with much success. But in the U.S., there’s one: Matt Dayton, who took up...
People’s Republic of China Nations Cup Ranking: 22nd (20 pts) Men: 22nd (8 pts) Women: 21st (12 pts) People’s Republic of China Nations Cup Ranking: 22nd (20 pts) Men: 22nd (8 pts) Women: 21st (12 pts) 2010/2011 World Cup Team (Best estimate) Men Qinghai Sun Xu Wenlong Women Li Hongxue Dandan Man What you may have missed last season: The Tour de Ski China. In the 2010 edition, the Chinese took city sprints to an...
Female ski jumpers have waited 86 years for their sport to be included at the Olympic Games, and now they will have to wait six more months. The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) executive board announced Monday that a decision about whether to add women’s ski jumping to the program for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi would not be made until next spring—quashing the hopes of athletes and supporters who had hoped for a definitive ruling....
Charlotte Kalla is Sweden’s rising star of Cross-Country skiing. The 23 year-old youngster stormed into World Cup in 2006. A year later she captured her first World Cup podium in Beitostoelen. In 2008 she won Tour de Ski. She is Olympic Champion from Vancouver over 10 km Free. FIScrosscountry.com had a chance to talk to Charlotte in Ramsau. FIS Cross-Country News: Charlotte, media reported you would be back at Tour de Ski this year. Why...
“Driven,” “opinionated,” and “uncompromising” are probably three of the best words to describe U.S. Ski Team (USST) coach Pete Vordenberg, but you can’t forget “thoughtful,” too. Vordenberg, the team’s head coach from 2006 until this spring, is one of the few ski coaches out there who can claim to have authored a book. With his blend of pragmatism and passion, he sat at the helm of USST for four years, during which the program went...
ENGERDAL, NORWAY – For as long as she can remember, Maja Solbakken wanted to do everything her older brother Martin Andersen did. Siblings of accomplished athletes often feed off the energy and determination of their brother or sister — that is true not only for those on the World Cup circuit, but also for those who are the second-tier. The youngest of three siblings, Maja, 16, grew up in the rural Norwegian community Engerdal, close...
OSLO, NORWAY – The Norwegian skiers have complained about the sprint course for the 2011 World Championships in Holmenkollen. Now the Swedes are joining the debate as well.
OSLO, Norway – Olympic champion Dario Cologna (SUI) is in Oslo to check out the courses that will be used for the upcoming World Championships in Holmenkollen.
50 days before the World Cup opener, Polish skier Justyna Kowalczyk is completing a monster training camp in Belarus: Three workouts per day for the girl who logs the most hours of any female skiers in the world.