Noah Hoffman skied to a personal-best 19th place finish in the Kuusamo 10k skate, cracking the top-20 for the first time in his World Cup career. The rest of the US team struggled on a cold day in Finland.
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Randall Keeps Climbing, Second to Bjørgen in Kuusamo 5k
FasterSkierDecember 1, 2012
Kikkan Randall (USA) continues to make history, earning her second distance podium of the young season. Randall placed second to Marit Bjørgen (NOR) in the 5k skate in Kuusamo. Yulia Tchekaleva (RUS) was third.
Sargent Gets Her Share of the Wealth; Leads Randall into Kuusamo Sprint Top 10
Alex KochonNovember 30, 2012
American Ida Sargent lived up to the hype surrounding her sprinting skills on Friday, placing ninth in the Kuusamo World Cup 1.4 k classic sprint just ahead of teammate Kikkan Randall in 10th. Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell made the rounds and placed 24th and 27th, respectively.
Alaska Pacific University coach Erik Flora discusses the best part waking up to results like those from Gallivare and why he expects his athletes Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks to continue doing big things this year.
Weekend Race Roundup: Wow.
Chelsea LittleNovember 26, 2012
SuperTour racing kicked off on the West Yellowstone plateau with point-to-point 9k's and sprint prologues; the FIS and IBU World Cups started in Scandinavia, where the U.S. women made history and the Canadian men had a strong relay. Recap, reporting, photos, and results.
Historic U.S. Performance, Built on Teamwork and Guts, Draws Admirers in Ski World
Chelsea LittleNovember 26, 2012
GÄLLIVARE, Sweden – It’s always good to finish a race and be happy with the result. But the icing on the cake is when the entire sport seems to be behind your performance. And for the U.S. women after Sunday’s historic third-place relay finish, that was the case. As one team after another crossed the line behind them, they were hugged and congratulated – even by teams who surely wished the podium spot could be...
Notes and Quotes: Gallivare edition
Chelsea LittleNovember 26, 2012
With so much happening in Gällivare, Sweden, this weekend, we didn’t have the chance to put quite everything into our main feature stories. Here are some leftovers from the races, as well as some small pieces about the U.S. men’s and Canadian women’s relays. Women’s Relay When asked about the U.S. women’s relay podium, Development Coach Bryan Fish initially didn’t get too specific… he was just impressed. “That was exciting to watch,” he told FasterSkier...
A Norway-U.S. Relay Battle? Norwegian Women Win Again, But Americans Notch First World Cup Podium
Chelsea LittleNovember 25, 2012
While it's no surprise that Norway's women won the World Cup relay today, their margin of victory wasn't the largest it has ever been - for two legs, they were stalked by tenacious U.S. women. Jessie Diggins dug deep to retain a podium spot for the Americans.
“Great Day” for U.S. Women; Falls Leave Stephen, Diggins Wondering What Might Have Been
Chelsea LittleNovember 24, 2012
Despite two crashes that kept Liz Stephen and Jessie Diggins out of the top ten, today was easily one of the best days in the history of the U.S. women's program. The athletes reflect on how they got here.
Babikov Leads North American Men with 14th-Place Finish, 3.6 Seconds out of Top-10
Chelsea LittleNovember 24, 2012
GÄLLIVARE, Sweden – With all of the success by U.S. women at the opening World Cup race today, it is easy to forget that lots of other North American skiers competed, too. And several had strong results – headlined by Ivan Babikov of Canada, who placed 14th in the men’s 15 k skate. Babikov declined to comment to FasterSkier after the race, but appeared to have followed the same strategy he took to a podium...
Bjørgen Is Back up to Same Tricks, Bests Johaug in 10k Opener; Randall Surprises With First Distance Podium
Chelsea LittleNovember 24, 2012
GÄLLIVARE, Sweden – To here the top three women from today’s 10 k freestyle race tell it, none of them expected to win. Marit Bjørgen of Norway, the hands-down favorite coming into this first weekend of World Cup racing after winning the opening race last year as well as the overall World Cup, said that she would have been happy just to be on the podium. Despite the weight of expectations after trouncing Bjørgen...
World Cup Descends on Gällivare; Athletes to Be Tested on Unrelentingly Technical Courses (With Photo Gallery)
Chelsea LittleNovember 23, 2012
Any number of Swedish men seem capable of topping the podium on home turf. Here, Marcus Hellner leads teammates on some pickups. Otherwise, the heavy hitters come at the end: Dario Cologna and Marit Bjørgen hold the honors of being last season’s World Cup winners, and so will kick off this season wearing their yellow bibs and starting last (that puts the Norwegian as bib 78 and the Swiss star as bib 97). The last...
In The Nick Of Time, Randall Returns To Race Circuit
Nathaniel HerzNovember 22, 2012
Kikkan Randall’s season hasn’t started, but she’s already claimed her first victory: healing the stress fracture in her right foot in time for the first World Cup race of the winter. Randall will compete in Saturday morning’s 10-kilometer freestyle opener in northern Sweden—her first race after
Notes and Quotes: FIS Scandinavia Extravaganza Edition
FasterSkierNovember 19, 2012
After a substantial weekend of racing, we often have interesting tidbits that didn’t make it into the main race report. Here are Notes and Quotes from races in Bruksvallarna, Sweden, and Muonio, Finland. Chandra Crawford (CAN) was plenty excited about her 2nd place finish in the FIS sprint in Brusvallarna, Sweden. She told FasterSkier that she may have let her emotions get the best of her, saying “I just wanted to be Fast & Female...
Anyone who’s seen Liz Stephen train knew she was completely capable of doing what she did Sunday in Muonio, Finland. For cripes sakes, she challenged the guys during a US Ski Team interval trail-running session this summer. Earlier at that camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., she Hevoskuuri.fi. “Heikkinen competes to win.” Noah Hoffman led the U.S. men in 13th about 0.47 seconds ahead of teammate Kris Freeman in 14th and about 1:18 behind Heikkinen. After...
Repeat Victories for Kowalczyk and Poltoranin; Freeman Fourth for U.S. in Muonio
Audrey ManganNovember 17, 2012
On a clear, cold morning in Muonio, Finland, time marched one step closer to the World Cup and turned up mounting anticipation for it’s commencement by a few degrees. Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ) claimed his second victory of the weekend in the 10 k classic, though the rest Kazakh team was not quite as dominant as it was in Friday’s sprint. Lukas Bauer (CZE) was less than five seconds back from Poltoranin in second place and...
American World Cup Preview: Gathering Momentum
Audrey ManganNovember 15, 2012
Welcome to the latest installment of FasterSkier’s season previews! Here we break down what to expect from the US Ski Team’s cross-country athletes on the international stage in 2012-2013. With the pre-World Cup races in Muonio, Finland, just around the corner, now is a good time to take stock of what happened last season. When it was time to write this preview a year ago, the Americans were coming off of a very different winter....
Sprint Drops Athlete Phone Service; Partnership with USST Otherwise Unchanged
Audrey ManganNovember 13, 2012
After supplying U.S. Ski Team (USST) A-Team athletes with free cell phone service for the past few years, Sprint will not provide the service in the coming season. According to U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) Chief Marketing Officer Michael Jaquet, the termination of the athlete phone program does not affect the rest of Sprint’s current sponsorship agreement with USSA, which extends through the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018. “[Sprint] has been a great partner...
Frozen Thunder Sprint Showdown: Notes and Quotes
Alex KochonOctober 29, 2012
While it was great to hear from several top skiers on the Canadian and U.S. nordic ski teams on Friday, we weren’t able to fit everything into the recaps of the men’s and women’s time trials. Here are some extras and outtakes from the WinSport Frozen Thunder Classic, an unofficial sprint showdown between North American teams in Canmore, Alberta. (Original race stories with link to results: women) On pre-race problems: I was PO’ed because I...
There’s only so much warming up one can do on a 1.8-kilometer course with more than 70 other people using it. That’s why Chandra Crawford spent part of her 45-minute prep before the WinSport Frozen Thunder Classic at the Canmore Nordic Centre dancing with Jessie Diggins. While the first unofficial race of the season and certainly the largest sprint in North America so far tested both Canadian and U.S. national team skiers, it also brought...