All 2012 FIS World Cup Finals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of Complete Results Matt Voisin contributed reporting.
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The cream of the crop. The best in the world compete all winter long on the World Cup. We follow them at every stop with article and results. We also post occasional reports from North America’s best as they travel the globe.
All 2012 FIS World Cup Finals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of Complete Results Matt Voisin contributed reporting.
All 2012 FIS World Cup Finals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of
Sprint Morning in Stockholm
FasterSkierMarch 14, 2012
All 2012 FIS World Cup Finals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of
All 2012 FIS World Cup Finals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of reportedly withdrawing due to a continuing stomach ailment, there may not be much of a fight. Harvey is aiming to hold in the top-6 and is facing stiff competition from Russian Maxim Vylegzhanin. Both Newell and Randall are looking forward to a festive day. “It’s always a great atmosphere being so close to the downtown of a major city, especially...
All 2012 FIS World Cup Finals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of Riddarfjärden bay, dropping down nearly to the water’s edge before climbing back up the finish. Royal guards continue their stoic watch, and boats navigate the icy waters as the top sprinters in the world do battle on 5,000 cubic meters of snow trucked five kilometers from a nearby alpine area. According to the Chief of Race Göran Nilsson, not just...
With enthusiastic cheers of “USA all the way!” to push them onward, the American women battled through an energetic 30 k classic at the famous Holmenkollen venue in Oslo, Norway on Sunday. The throngs of happy fans stood in contrast to what the athletes experienced out on the course — the combination of a sprint-like early pace and slow snow later on made for a challenging 90-plus minutes of racing. The U.S. women were the...
A Tough Year For Sweden?
JoranMarch 12, 2012
It struck me glancing at the results last weekend that I feel like Sweden has been having a bit of a sub-par year. Which might seem a little strange, given Johan Olsson’s recent return to form, but hear me out. Certainly, they’ve had some skiers with some great results. But I feel like overall they’ve [...] Related posts:
All the talk about the Marit Bjørgen/Justyna Kowalczyk rivalry may have been getting a little old. On Sunday, Bjørgen did her best to erase the speculation of who will take the overall World Cup title, winning the 30-kilometer classic mass start at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway. In the last World Cup event before the finals in Sweden, Bjørgen beat Kowalczyk of Poland by 51.9 seconds in 1:26:09.8. The two started off the line at breakneck...
Devon Kershaw (CAN) followed by Alex Harvey (CAN). Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus. After cleaning up in the bonus sprints, and finishing 10th overall in the Holmenkollen 50k classic, Devon Kershaw (CAN) moved into second in the World Cup standings, and is now 15 points ahead of Petter Northug (NOR). Kershaw was in the mix at each intermediate sprint, and won the final two, but that was never the plan. “I decided out there to just grab...
Hoffman Mixes it Up at the Front Before Fade, Freeman Ends World Cup Season on Positive Note
Topher SabotMarch 10, 2012
After a strong performance last year in the World Championship 50k, it was hardly a surprise to see Noah Hoffman (USA) toward the front of the pack on Sunday’s Holmenkollen classic event. Wearing a distinctive red hat along with the US black suit, it was easy to pick the 22-year-old American out of the large group in the 50k race. Hoffman made his mark early, passing the 3k preem in 5th place. All told, he...
As a classic specialist, Eldar Roenning (NOR) can oftentimes be overlooked when contemplating race favorites. The stocky Norwegian does not race the World Cup regularly, generally only hitting the events that play to his strengths in the traditional style of skiing, but he reached the top of the ski world on Saturday when he took the victory in the famed Holmenkollen 50k, defeating World Cup leader Dario Cologna in a mad sprint to the line....
On a soggy, yet historic day on the streets of Drammen, Norway, Kikkan Randall claimed the first crystal globe for an overall World Cup title when she placed 11th in the classic sprint. And while Randall may have claimed the biggest hardware, she wasn’t the only bright spot for the US amidst the rain and wet snow. All told four Americans qualified for the heats in one of the World Cup circuit’s most competitive events....
All in all it was a great day for the Canadian team in Drammen for the World Cup classic sprint. Lenny Valjas earned his first World Cup podium, placing second, Chandra Crawford reached her first classic final and took 5th while Dasha Gaiazova matched a career-best placing 8th. The only negative was the luck of Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw, both of whom looked back in top form after a long altitude camp in Italy....
Eirik Brandsdal (NOR) entered the day planning on being aggressive, and the strategy paid off. Brandsdal skied away from the field in the final of the Drammen classic sprint, winning for the second time this season. Brandsdal may not have been the favorite in this race, but his win certainly was no surprise. The same cannot be said of second-place finisher Lenny Valjas of Canada. The towering Canadian used a strong double pole and impressive...
Marit Bjørgen (NOR) was one of four Norwegians to reach the podium in Drammen, Norway, thrilling the home crowd with a dominating performance. Bjørgen won the classic city-sprint in wet conditions over teammate Astrid Jacobsen and rival Justyna Kowalczyk (POL). Drammen is not your usual downtown affair, with a challenging climb up to the finish, complete with one last pitch that steepens just before the line. The rest of the course is more mellow, but...
Lahti Sprint Recap
JoranMarch 7, 2012
The return of Emil Jönsson: I’ve removed a few times from folks who fell and had extremely outlying times. Jönsson sort of owned this one all day, it seems. Only a moderate difference between the semifinals this time (with the outlying times, just for fun): On the women’s side, Bjørgen was able to hold off [...] Related posts:
Let’s check in on where we’re at with Kikkan Randall and Devon Kershaw’s World Cup points situations. First, Kershaw: I finally figured out a decently efficient way to track WC points during a season, that requires only a minimal amount of data entry by hand. Cologna’s going to walk away with this one, obviously, but [...] Related posts:
Canada’s Le Guellec, Kocher Finish 26th in World Champs Pursuits; Team’s Seven Starters Have Mixed Success
Chelsea LittleMarch 5, 2012
RUHPOLDING, Germany – Two Canadians had high hopes for Sunday’s pursuit: Jean Phillipe Le Guellec was 14th after Saturday’s World Championship sprint, and teammate Zina Kocher 18th. They were poised, it seemed, to have career-best finishes. Le Guellec had never finished in the top ten at World Championships, but started just 12 seconds outside it on Sunday. Kocher was shooting for a top-16, which would have guaranteed her funding through Athletics Canada for the next...
The Lahti Corner — the notoriously sketchy 180-degree downhill hairpin that stumps many experienced World Cup skiers every season — lived up to its reputation on Sunday in the third-to-last sprint of the year. If it wasn’t taking out several athletes at once, it was otherwise dictating tactics and forcing skiers into awkward snowplows around its icy arc. For Kikkan Randall, who led the Americans in fifth, the corner’s penchant for carnage necessitated extra attention...