Spring Series wrapped up at Snow Mountain Ranch this weekend with an individual start skate race and the National Championship sprint relay. In Saturday's skate race, the two overall leaders seized their chance to clinch the titles. Andrew Johnson put the final touches on a very impressive week by winning the 12k race by 9 seconds over Ivan Babikov. Leif Zimmerman was third. Johnson won the overall, again edging Babikov, this time by 1 minute...
Who is the fastest skate-skier? Both the Norwegian National biathlon Team and the Cross-Country team will be at the start line of the Skarverennet marathon later in April. Lars Berger (24) can’t hide the fact that he looks very much forward to the 38-km race on April 24th. – I will ski as hard as I can. The tapering and training is however not optimal at this time of the year, since I am mostly...
Race Update 6 – Thursday, April 1 10PM After a short but exciting Fischer Mountaintop Hill Climb, CISS takes a day off in preparation for the final weekend of the series. Andrew Johnson continued his dominance today beating Ivan Babikov by a toe in a photo finish to the 3km Fischer Mountaintop Hill Climb up Blue Ridge Road. Johnson extended his win tally to 4 of 5 events and cemented his grasp on all three...
In a recent article on FasterSkier about the Colorado International Spring Series (CISS), we made a mention of the Fun Leaders Jersey. Soon after, we started receiving many emails. It seems that everyone wants to know more about the Fun Leaders Jersey. Spring Series has always been a fun, festive way to end the ski season. The recipe is simple. Get the top skiers in North America together, add in a few of Europe's top...
The action at spring series continued on Tuesday with a couple of exciting sprint races. In the men's race, Chris Cook won the Final ahead of Ales Razym, Colorado local Eric Meyer, and ace sprinter Andrew Newell. Other notables included US Ski Team coach Trond Nystad in 7th (just behind USST athlete Andrew Johnson and ahead of USST's Carl Swenson – 12th). The Aukland brothers from Norway could only manage 10th and 11th. Rebecca Dussault...
The snow might be lacking but the International Spring Series is moving forward with great nordic racing here in Grand County, Colorado. Rebecca Dussault of the Subaru Factory team, who is currently ranked # 1 in America, has been competing over here for the last couple of days along with the best cross country skiers from across the US as well as great skiers from Canada, Germany, Norway, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and Russia....
Cascade Crest Tour 25k/15k freestyle race put on my Mt Bachelor Ski Education Foundation at Mt Bachelor Nordic Center is the classic season finale for Pacific Northwest skiers. The challenging course consists of 1000 feet of elevation loss and gain over two laps of twisty and rolling course that runs through impressive old growth on the slope of Mt Bachelor. http://www.mbsef.org/XC%20race%20results/XC%20Results%2003-04/2004%20CASCADE%20CREST%20Results.pdf John Craig Memorial Classic:
Claudia Kuenzel and Andrew Johnson made it two-for-two in the pursuit race at Snow Mountain Ranch. Kuenzel (Germany) had the fastest time in both the classic and skate legs to win by 36 seconds ahead of Subaru Factory Team skiers Katrin Smigun and Rebecca Dussault. In the men's race, John built a 22 second lead in the classic leg and held off Ivan Babikov, the day's fastest skater, to win by just under 10 seconds....
Virpi Kuitunen took one more title at the Finnish Championships on Friday in Rovaniemi. Kuitunen won women’s 5 K race 8 seconds ahead of Pirjo Manninen. Elina Hietamäki took bronze. – It was tough for me. After Pragelato (last World Cup) I have been pretty relaxed for two weeks, and I noticed today in my breathing that I haven’t really had any tough races, Kuitunen told at the press conference.http://www.ounasvaara.net/smkisat/tulokset/naiset5km.htm Sami Repo took his season’s...
Ounasvaaran Hiihtoseura and Alatornion Pirkat Fin. champions in sprint relays The Finnish Champions in Sprint Relay in Rovaniemi on Saturday were the same teams as in Lieksa last year. Ounasvaaran Hiihtoseura won the women's sprint relay, Alatornion Pirkat the men's relay. There were a bit changes in athletes, though. This year Pirjo Manninen and Mona-Liisa Malvalehto raced for Ounasvaaran Hiihtoseura, last year Malvalehto was accompanied by Nita Tennilä. Jari Isometsä and Sami Jauhojärvi raced for...
The CISS kicked off successfully today with the Devil's Thumb Classic Opener, won by US Ski Team member Andrew Johnson and Olympic gold medalist German National Team skier Claudia Kuenzel. Johnson finished 23 seconds ahead of Dave Chamberlain, while Kuenzel held off Rebecca Dussault by only 9 seconds. The blistering pace up the first hill was set by Eric Meyer and Wendy Wagner who both strided to the lead in the Climbing competition with 10...
36-year old Kristen Skjeldal and “retired” skier Anders Eide skied clearly faster than the rest of the field at the 50km free technique race in the beautiful mountain village of Savalen, 100km north of Lillehammer. Lars Flora, residing in Lillehammer this year, had a great race in 14th place, beating several Norwegian National Team members. Of interest is also 17th place Øystein Rœnbeck, who skied in most of the US SuperTour races this early winter....
The International Ski Federation (FIS) is considering making changes in the sprint event Olympic Champion Tor Arne Hetland expressed earlier this week to Langrenn.com that something needs to be done in order to avoid a development toward more and more specializing toward sprint or longer distance racing.
Charlo, N.B.-Canada’s Beckie Scott grabbed her third national title of the week on Sunday after winning the women’s 30-kilometre mass start at the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Championships in Charlo, N.B. Scott, of Vermilion, Alta., won gold in the women’s open category with a time of one hour 30 minutes 12 seconds. The 2002 Olympic champion finished just over five minutes ahead of Sara Renner, of Canmore, Alta., who grabbed her third silver medal of the...
Virpi Kuitunen, Elina Hietamäki, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Pirjo Manninen, Olli Ohtonen, Keijo Kurttila, Jari Isometsä, Teemu Kattilakoski and other top Finnish cross country skiers will compete in Finnish Championships in Rovaniemi next weekend (March 26-28). Mika Myllylä, who has been struggling with minor heart problems, has signed up to 50 K race which is scheduled on Sunday 28th. On Friday men will compete in 10 K race and women in 5 K, both in free technique....
March 19, 2004: The Heat is on, but so is the Spring Series! ****************************************** March 27 – April 4: Colorado International Spring Series The tour de France of cross-country skiing coming to Colorado The Colorado International Spring Series is a little more than one week away, and despite a heat wave of epic proportions, things are shaping up for an incredible week of racing and socializing with some of the world's best cross country skiers....
Last weekend’s 52 kilometer Bovilopp in Sweden ended up with a sprint for first between the 2002 Vasaloppet winner Daniel Tynell and 2003 (Vasaloppet) winner Oskar Svard. Strongest this time was Daniel Tynell. 1. Daniel Tynell 2.17.45 2. Oskar Svard 2.17.48 3. Henrik Eriksson 2.18.31
Christine Bission of Club du Ski Mont Ste Anne won the overall Madshus Sprint title for the second time in 4 year's as she raced against the best in the final heat of the 2004 National Sprint event in Charlo. Although Bisson finished fourth in today's race she collected enough points to finish the season with 81 points and the Madshus crown.  Beckie Scott, Sarah Renner and Milaine Theriault, all recently off the World Cup circuit were...
The Colorado International Spring Series is less than two weeks away, and things are looking great for a fun week of racing and socializing with some of the world's best athletes. On-line registration is (finally) available at info@springseries.com