FasterSkier Podcast: Devon Kershaw on His Tour de Ski
FasterSkierJanuary 3, 2011
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Tour de Ski
The Tour de Ski is one of the premier events on the World Cup calendar. Featuring a grueling 7 events in 10 days, the Tour is the ultimate cross-country skiing stage race.
In Monday’s 20 k pursuit, in Oberhof, Germany, instead of Petter Northug (NOR) turing heads with an impressive sprint finish, it was Finland’s Matti Heikkinen who displayed remarkable finishing speed to secure victory in the fifth stage of the 2011 Tour de Ski. The Finn, who has had difficulty on the World Cup so far this season, put on a massive attack on the final steep uphill, surprising the field. Heikkinen had been very quiet...
For Canada’s Devon Kershaw, the biggest moment in Saturday’s classic pursuit in Oberhof, Germany, came not on the homestretch, but with four kilometers left in the 15-kilometer race—the second stage of the 2011 Tour de Ski. After working his way up through the field, Kershaw found himself at the front of the race, with Switzerland’s Dario Cologna and a few other skiers on the attack. But rather than charging ahead, the 28-year-old Kershaw did something...
Northug Back on the WC Circuit
Inge ScheveDecember 11, 2010
“It might have been good for me to fall down the drain a little,” Petter Northug said at the press conference in Davos Friday afternoon.
This weekend’s World Cup city sprints in Dusseldorf aren’t supposed to start in the airport. But the American and Canadian ski teams will be cutting it pretty close. Thanks to a strike by Finnair’s flight attendants, the two squads’ sprinters are spending Thursday night in Finland and departing for Germany on Friday—giving the teams a buffer of roughly 24 hours before the start of the races on Saturday. American Andy Newell’s schedule will be even...
The Secret to Kalla’s New Power
Inge ScheveNovember 4, 2010
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.
A second athlete has not been paid more than $2,000 U.S. dollars owed to him under International Ski Federation (FIS) rules. When Russian cross-country skier Evgeni Dementiev was suspended for doping in 2009, FIS rules called for the redistribution of 4,375 Swiss francs in prize money that he won at that year’s edition of the Tour de Ski, after testing positive for performance-enhancing drug use. But in an e-mail to FasterSkier, Czech skier Lukas Bauer,...
Fairbanks Tour de Ski: Every Stride Counts
Inge ScheveOctober 28, 2010
A mini tour is more than just three days of racing. The strategic and tactical elements require racers to pace for the whole tour starting with the first event. Every stride, every pole plant counts. That’s an important lesson, as the tour format gains hold on the FIS schedules.
To race at the World Championships at Holmenkollen on home turf in February is maybe one of the biggest moments in a Norwegian skier’s career. The Norwegian Ski Association just announced their criteria for naming athletes to that team.
FIS Interviews Charlotta Kalla and Jean-Marc Gaillard
Nathaniel HerzOctober 20, 2010
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...
Russian media are reporting that former Olympic champion Yevgeny Dementiev intends to return to skiing for the 2011-2012 season, after serving a two-year ban for a positive drug test. Dementiev, 27, had retired after his sample from the Tour de Ski in January, 2009, turned up traces of the blood-boosting drug EPO. But
If Vegard Ulvang gets run out of Europe, it appears that he still could safely make his home in North America. Ulvang is the chair of the International Ski Federation’s cross-country committee, which is considering the introduction of a new race format that includes five kilometers of climbing followed by five kilometers of technical downhill. Scandinavians have reacted to the idea with derision: Norwegian Eldar Roenning told the newspaper Nettavisen that the idea was “the...
Cologna Checks Out the Oslo2011 Courses
Inge ScheveOctober 5, 2010
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.
Randall, Freeman and Newell to Race 2011 Tour de Ski for U.S.
Nathaniel HerzSeptember 27, 2010
It’s official: Kikkan Randall, Andy Newell, and Kris Freeman will all compete in the 2011 Tour de Ski. U.S. Ski Team (USST) coaches have confirmed that the Americans will send three athletes to this winter’s race, which features eight stages at four different European venues. That triples the American presence over last year, when Newell completed four stages before dropping out. In an interview, Randall said that she was excited to get a start in...
Kalla chooses Tour de Ski, Bjoergen skips this winter
Inge ScheveSeptember 22, 2010
SWEDEN - Two of the biggest favorites for the Oslo 2011 World Championships are choosing different ways to peak for the events in February/March: Charlotte Kalla (SWE) chooses to race the Tour de Ski again, while rival Marit Bjoergen (NOR) chooses the same plan as she did for the 2010 Olympics and skips the Tour.
In Las Vegas, where FasterSkier had the opportunity to interview Marcus Hellner, the Swedish skier was able to stay relatively undercover. At the card table, such was his anonymity that he had other players thinking he was a professional poker player, not a professional athlete. But in Europe, and especially in Sweden, Hellner is a star. At the Olympics in February, he vanquished rival Petter Northug, breaking the Norwegian’s pole on the way to winning...
The Final Stage of the FIS Tour de Ski 2010/11, the infamous Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme (ITA) will be very special this time around. Traditionally, the Final Climb features the overall decision in one of the season’s main highlight events in Cross-Country Skiing. This year, a popular race for a limited number of starters will be organized that will follow the same course as the stars including Petter Northug, Charlotte Kalla, Lukas Bauer...
Cross Country Canada’s decision not to host the continent’s first-ever Tour de Ski-style stage race in February, 2012, came despite the recommendation of an independent feasibility study commissioned by the government of Alberta, documents obtained by FasterSkier show. The study, a preliminary version of which was delivered to Cross Country Canada (CCC), the International Ski Federation (FIS), and other stakeholders in early May, urged the organizations to “immediately proceed” with the planning necessary to host...
With no World Championships or Olympics scheduled for the winter of 2011-2012, some ski fans may be planning on going into hibernation for the year. But they better not buy their sleeping pills just yet. During its meetings in Turkey last week, the International Ski Federation (FIS) approved a proposal for a new kind of World Championships: one modeled on the Tour de Ski—the bicycle-style stage race that has taken hold and garnered big TV...