The penultimate day of the ski championships in Liberec, Czech Republic was one of ebullient hope for the future of American skiing with the races and results from the young women’s performances in the 30 kilometer mass start skate. This day also demonstrated the heights nordic sports the U.S. is reaching with Billy Demong’s win in big hill, single jump 10 kilometer (a.k.a. the Gundersen HS134/10.0), capping off three individual nordic combined gold medals in...
LIBEREC, Czech Republic – Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) stunned the field with a massive second jump Friday to become her sport’s first world champion. Van, tied for fourth after the first jump, soared 97.5 meters to take a strong win over first round leader Ulrike Graessler of Germany in the debut of women’s ski jumping at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Liberec. “This is for everyone. This is for all the women...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) won the first gold of the 2009 World Championships, skiing to victory in the women’s 10km classic. Sarah Renner placed 9th for Canada, and Kikkan Randall led the US in 26th. Saarinen started fast and maintained the pace, leading at both intermediate check points. This was the first World Championship medal of her career and first gold in either the World Championships or the Olympics. She did...
DOBBIACO, ITALY – Military athletes from 12 Nations gathered together at Dobbiaco, Italy on February 1-6 for the 61st CaSTA international military ski competition. Hosted by the Italian Army’s Alpini Corps, this competition includes the combined results from alpine, Nordic and biathlon races for a Friendship Trophy among friend and allied nation’s armies in the spirit of Partnership for Peace. The USA was represented by U.S. Army and National Guard athletes and finished in 3rd...
Video of the 2009 Craftsbury Marathon, including winner Kris Freeman (USST), third place finisher Eli Enman (Rossignol) and fourth place finisher Brayton Osgood (Fischer/Craft). The video was shot within 1km of the finish. The shots of Osgood are not for the faint of heart – Brayton battled valiantly to stay with the Freemans’ early, was unable to hold on, and died hard in the last 10km. Anyone who has bonked in a ski marathon can...
This past weekend 260 young skiers enjoyed the fourth Annual Tippmann Paintball Biathlon thanks to the staff and volunteers of the Mountain Top Inn in Chittenden, Vermont.
VUOKATTI, Fin.—Canada made two trips to the podium at the IPC Cross-Country Skiing World Championships on Monday. Brian and Robin McKeever teamed up to win a gold medal, while Jody Barber stepped onto the international podium for the first time ever by winning a bronze medal in Vuokatti, Finland. Brian, along with his guide, Robin McKeever, have won nearly everything available in Para-Nordic sport. The brother tandem destroyed the field by winning the men’s 20-kilometre...
American Kikkan Randall and Canadians Perianne Jones, Stefan Kuhn, and Phil Widmer participated in an FIS sprint race in Grenoble, France last Thursday. The video shows a fair amount of action, though it is a bit difficult to follow. The first section shows highlights. Following an interlude of French commentary, both the women's and men's A-finals are shown. Interviews in English with both winners wrap things up. http://www.jeuxdeneige.fr/anglais/SKIDEFOND/page/Univers-Ski-de-Fond.html
American Kikkan Randall and Canadians Perianne Jones, Stefan Kuhn, and Phil Widmer participated in an FIS sprint race in Grenoble, France. The freestyle sprint served as a tune-up for the athletes as no World Cup sprint will be held this weekend. Earlier today FasterSkier erroneously reported that this event would be a team sprint. We apologize for the mistake. Kikkan Randall sent the following after the race. “It was a sweet venue. Grenoble is trying...
The 43rd Annual Turkey Day Relays, sponsored by Beaver Sports, saw a record field of 105 teams (315 skiers) register, and all but one registered team participated. In the past seven days, a total of nearly 800 competitors have entered the three NSCF events held so far this season. The day started off with comfortable temperatures in the mid teens. A total of 12 teams participated in the 3x1Km event for skiers in grades K-4,...
The 2008-09 Colorado Cup series of cross-country ski races organized by Rocky Mountain Nordic (501c3) is ready to take place from December through February on five premier event weekends across Colorado. The cumulatively scored series allows skiers to compete by gender overall or by gender and age group in both classic and skate techniques. Each competition takes place along with other events allowing citizen skiers and their families to enjoy Nordic skiing in several different...
The Alaska Nanooks took the top 3 collegiate places in the women's 5Km and the Nanook men placed 1-2-4 in the collegiate division of the men's USSA NRL Points race, enabling the Nanooks to overcome a first day deficit of 27-15 and capture a 44-40 victory over the UAA Seawolves in the Alaska Nordic Cup. Earlier in the morning it looked as if the race was in danger of cancellation as the temperature was in...
UAF redshirt Aurelia Korthauer led a large women's field of 122 and UAA's Raphael Wunderle came out on top of a men's field of 141 in the first event of the 13th Annual Flint Hills Resources Town Race Series, the Fairbanks Youth Sports Season Opener, Saturday, November 22, at Birch Hill in Fairbanks,Alaska. More than 340 skiers, from kindergarten-aged through the social security set competed on great snow in temperatures right around zero degrees Fahrenheit....
There are so many skiers here trying to make the first period of world cups for their country. This is no game – skiing is it and this is their shot. This is the competition. We are ready. (Photo Credit: Pete Vordenberg, TeamToday.org) There are a lot of racers working very hard to get under the big top. Think you are working hard? Have no illusions, there are a lot of people working very hard....
Roland Clara leads an Italian teammate into the stadium on his final lap of the Muonio FIS Cups. (Torin Koos photo). Kris Freeman driving hard over the top of race’s next-to-last climb. (Torin Koos photo). Freeman: Energy’s High “Muonio’s been good. Energy’s been high. I feel pretty good out there skiing. I’m almost over the jet lag and the race today will help out with this even more. “I don’t feel too great about today’s...
While many top World Cup skiers converged on Muonio, Finland this past weekend, Norway's best stayed home for the annual Beitostolen FIS Cup races. The schedule was full with a freestyle sprint on Friday, a 10/15km freestyle on Saturday, and a 5/10km classic on Sunday. In addition to the cross-country races, the schedule also included two days of biathlon compeition – a 7.5/10km race on Saturday, and 12.5/15km on Sunday. The fields consisted almost entirely...
With the World Cup season fast approaching, skiers from all over the world are traveling to find some on-snow race experience. Over this past weekend in Beitostœlen, Norway, racers from France, Slovenia, Switzerland, and of course Norway, took part in a series of cross-country and biathlon events, which are the final qualifiers for the World Cup for the Norwegians. In addition, a single American was in attendance, Williams College student Mark Johnson, who has also...
Alexander Legkov (RUS) and Claudia Nystad (GER) completed the FIS weekend in Muonio, Finland with victories in the 10/15km freestyle. American Kris Freman got his season under way with a 31st place finish. Legkov, whose best finish last season was a 6th place in the 30km freestyle in Rybinsk, Russia, has to be pleased with his victory over a stacked field of 216 men, including top Italians, Pietro Piller-Cottrer and Giorgio DiCenta, fellow Russian Vasili...
Oleg & Randy — making sure the boys are getting their ski fleets dialed in for the season ahead. “I’m digging the Finnish scene,†says US Serviceman Randy Gibbs. “It’s like being in Northern Minnesota. It’s like Ely. Muonio is the Ely of Europe.†“This scene is something I’ve never seen. Two dozen national teams — and everybody else skiing, all racing, on the same course. It’s pretty cool. You can tell people are excited...