OBERSTDORF, Germany – Based on the idiom “the proof is in the pudding,” American Kikkan Randall has been serving up heaping portions of whatever custardy delight a ski fan might fancy, and today was just one more dessert to welcome the new year. As the season progresses, Randall has demonstrated time and time again that she is no longer just a skate sprinter, posting results that very much prove she is one of the world’s...
Here are some of our best images from the Tour de Ski men’s 20k skiathlon.
OBERSTDORF, Germany – That was more like it. Such was the prevailing mood in the Canadian National Ski Team camp after Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey finished sixth and seventh in Stage 4 of the Tour de Ski here on Sunday. The day wasn’t perfect,
OBERSTDORF, Germany – Ivan Babikov’s arm isn’t broken, according to his coach Justin Wadsworth. X-rays at a local hospital Sunday afternoon revealed that Babikov’s bones were intact, after a hard crash at the end of Stage 4 of the 2012 Tour de Ski that busted Babikov’s pole and one of his best skis, Wadsworth said. Local physicians gave Babikov a brace, and told him to let pain govern his decisions about racing. Wadsworth said in...
OBERSTDORF, Germany – If anyone was going to embrace Saturday’s downright nasty weather in the third stage of the 2012 Tour de Ski, it was the Russians. The interminable rain and snow here may have gotten to some of their competitors, but it failed to even dampen the energy of Nikita Kriukov, Alexey Petukhov, and Nikolay Morilov, as the Russian trio swept the podium in the classic sprint. “Russian peoples like different weather,” Kriukov told...
Canadians Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey entered the Tour de Ski as legitimate contenders for the top-5 after both placing in the top-10 last season. Both men are capable of podium results in just about any race, a key to Tour success, but neither has broken through yet, though Harvey had an excellent prologue, placing sixth. After a rough ski day in the pursuit, they were looking to bounce back in the classic sprint in...
OBERSTDORF, Germany – Three wins in three days over a range of distances and in both techniques—exactly what many expected in the Tour de Ski, just not from Justyna Kowalczyk (POL). Norwegian Marit Bjoergen dominated the first World Cup period, winning five of the six races she started, most in dominating fashion. Despite taking a pass on the Tour for two years, Bjoergen entered the 2012 edition as the favorite. Two consecutive overall Tour wins,...
OBERSTDORF, Germany – Kikkan Randall’s pink tiara will have to wait until next year. The birthday girl had a cardboard crown on hand for Stage 3 of the Tour de Ski on Saturday—a gift from her mother that Randall was ready to pull out if she made the final heat of the classic sprint race. Unfortunately, the tiara had to stay in her backpack, as the Alaskan got a 29th birthday present of an unexpected...
OBERSTDORF, Germany – If there’s one thing more dispiriting for a cross-country skier than having a bad day, it’s having a good day that’s limited by equipment. Andy Newell (USA) was on the rebound from a potential illness in Stage 3 of the 2012 Tour de Ski on Saturday, a classic sprint. But his race was stymied by the soggy, sloppy conditions that prevailed here all day. After qualifying in 28th, Newell couldn’t make his...
Once again, we’re shaking up the Pro Workout series by giving busy skiers a chance to add some simple weight training (simple in principle, harder in practice) to their fitness regimens. This is the second “quick” workout in a series about gym exercises. We started with Canadian Senior World Cup team member
OBERHOF, Germany – Kris Freeman had a good day, notching the 20th-fastest standalone time of the race and moving into 30th place. His thoughts on the race: “I wanted to move up into the points, and I got a point, so I’m pretty satisfied on the day. It’s only the second time I’ve taken points this year, so it feels good to know I can still race. I’ve come back from a lot of stuff,...
OBERHOF, Germany – Two days into the 2012 Tour and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) remains uunbeaten, looking more and more like the two-time Tour de Ski defending champion she is. Kowalczyk was locked into a battle through the last kilometer of the race, tailing a Norweigan over the crest of the final climb, before double poling past to win by .2 seconds. The battle however, was not with Marit Bjoergen as expected. Therese Johaug just missed...
Tour de Ski Day 2 — A to Zeller A – Axel: the Diesel Engine is back. He seems to have awakened from his nap of the last year. B – Big: Four BIG hills per 3 km lap. An anonymous Fasterskier reporter skied 6 laps beforehand and proceeded to tap out…Herring boning in front of World Cup fans is poor form. C – Crash: Men’s race, 200m before the finish. Talk about a cluster… D –...
OBERHOF, Germany – Kikkan Randall should consider a job with the U.S. Postal Service, because she just keeps on delivering. Not pain, not snow, nor gloom of Oberhof could stay Kikkan Randall from the swift completion of her appointed rounds here on Friday. By the time she arrived at the end of her three laps of the race course, Randall had notched yet another stellar distance result, finishing Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour de...
OBERHOF, Germany — After several years of playing a dour second fiddle to Petter Northug (NOR), Axel Teichmann (GER) struck a different chord on Friday, besting the Norwegian at his own game with a strong attack on the last climb to win the second stage of the 2012 Tour de Ski. On snowy afternoon at the ski stadium in Oberhof, the race was rife with waxing challenges—temperatures holding at right around freezing, a mixture of...
OBERHOF, Germany — There’s no shortage of grit among the top men on the Canadian cross-country ski team. Each year, Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw, and Ivan Babikov train for hundreds of hours, climbing dozens of steep hills through sun, rain, and snow. The training has powered the athletes to some pretty impressive accomplishments this season. But even after all that preparation, Stage 2 of the Tour de Ski on Friday threw a challenge at the...
The prologue is a grueling test of speed, strength and will. Here is a look at yesterday’s ladies’ race on a brutally difficult course as the much anticipated 2012 Tour de Ski got started.
As the second day gets started on the Tour de Ski, we take a visual look back at day one, the prologue.
I was skimming FasterSkier’s write-up of the Tour de Ski prologue yesterday and noted their comment about how Liz Stephen “… is generally stronger over longer distances, performing better in 10k’s than 5k’s and even better still in 15k’s.” That has been my informal impression as well, but I was suddenly skeptical about whether her actual [...] Related posts:
OBERHOF, Germany – Emil Jönsson is neither black nor 6’5”, but athletically, he’s cross-country skiing’s Usain Bolt—the sport’s fastest man in a drag race. Since last March, though, the World Cup circuit has been suffering from an acute absence of the Swedish speed-demon, with a hamstring injury and a cold limiting Jönsson to a single sprint start before the 2012 Tour de Ski. As evidenced by his podium finish in that race in Davos, Switzerland,...