With veteran Kris Freeman on the squad, and Noah Hoffman drooling over the long Davos climbs, not many would have picked relative World Cup rookie Tad Elliott to lead the US men’s team in the 30km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. But Elliott posted a career-best result, placing 27th in a stacked field despite skiing what US Head Coach Chris Grover termed an “interesting” race. “In splits, he started quite fast, dropped off pace, then regained...
Holly Brooks (USA) continued her meteoric rise from participant to contender on the World Cup circuit, skiing to 13th place in the 15km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. With teammates Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randall placing 21st and 27th respectively, the US women finished the day with an unprecedented three skiers in the top-30. Brooks started quickly, clocking as the race leader at the two kilometer mark when she came through as the 31st starter. And...
Davos, Switzerland – Petter Northug served notice to the World Cup field Saturday in Davos, Switzerland that the Norwegian superstar has to be taken seriously – no matter where or what the World Cup race is. The odds were supposed to be against Northug Saturday. The 30 k freestyle distance individual start doesn’t suit his strong mass-start finishing style. The strong distance field taking to the start line was rounding into shape, especially home-town favorite...
No Alex Harvey, no Devon Kershaw, no problem for the Canadian men’s team as Ivan Babikov toyed with the top-5 and ultimately placed seventh in the men’s 30km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday. With Kershaw and Harvey sitting out in preparation for the Tour de Ski, it was up to Babikov to pick up the slack. Circumstances seemed ideal for the distance specialist. The length of the race, the challenging hilly course, and the...
Is it possible that Magdalena Neuner has checked out of biathlon? The German biathlete – who recently announced that she would retire at the end of the season at the young age of 24, and Full results
Davos, Switzerland – There is no doubt that the Norwegian women’s ski team is currently the best in the world. On Saturday morning, during the 15 k individual start freestyle in Davos, Switerland, they absolutely dominated the leader board, putting six women in the top ten, and taking the first four places. Surprising no one, Marit Bjoergen (NOR) crossed the line with the fastest time, leaving Vibeke Skofterud the silver medal, 41.8 seconds back. Therese...
“Today was one of the best biathlon races of my career,” Lowell Bailey told FasterSkier after Saturday’s World Cup pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria. “…Except for the fourth shooting.” The American biathlete started the day ranked 14th, 52 seconds behind leader Carl Johan Bergman of Sweden. Through three stages, Bailey shot clean and skied his way up into fifth place. “This is really only the second time in my career that I have been in this...
Davos, Switzerland – If you’re a ski fan anywhere, you were probably disappointed to find out that stars Canadians Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey were sitting out of the 30 k freestyle World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, this Saturday. Both Kershaw and Harvey are talented skaters, and seem to be in good shape – both have already recorded top 15 finishes on the World Cup already this season. Last year, they finished in the top...
For North American ski fans, here’s a look at who to watch for this weekend in Davos, Switzerland. Saturday’s 15/30 k—long awaited as it is one of only two such distances on the entire World Cup schedule—begins at 6:15 am EST with the women’s 15 k. The men’s start follows at 8:00 am EST. Women It says quite a bit about U.S. skiing these days that Kikkan Randall also featured prominently in our raw Swiss...
After a weekend of city sprinting in Germany, including gluhwein, spills, and DSQ’s, the FIS World Cup heads to Davos, Switzerland, this weekend for another pair of skate races. Saturday sees a rare beast on the World Cup — a long distance individual start skate race (15 for the women, and 30 k for the men) — while Sunday features what might be the most intense sprint of the World Cup season. While Dusseldorf...
This is a belated post about my experiences leading up to my World Cup debut last week in Ostersund, Sweden. Looking out the window… there are men setting up a television camera on a raised platform. They angle it so it will catch racers hammering over the course’s last uphill. Volunteers are unraveling sponsor signs, stretching [...]
This past weekend in Dusseldorf, Germany, Kikkan Randall and Sadie Bjornsen made US skiing history when they paired up to finish second in the World Cup Team Sprint. Just the day before Randall won the individual sprint. We caught up with Randall and Bjornsen as they prepare for this weekend’s races in Davos, Switzerland.
For some cross-country skiers on the World Cup circuit, the news that Saturday’s individual races would be shortened wasn’t all that disheartening. Sadie Bjornsen, who made her first World Cup podium in Sunday’s team sprint with U.S. teammate Kikkan Randall, tried to contain herself. Instead of a 15 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, the women will race 10 k. The men’s skate race was cut from 30 k to 15 k. “Sadie just did a...
While there was plenty of excitement last weekend at the World Cup sprints in Dusseldorf, Germany, not every international competitor was there. A few Americans stayed closer to Davos, Switzerland, where they have been focusing on distance training. On Sunday, U.S. Ski Team members Liz Stephen, Noah Hoffman, Kris Freeman and Tad Elliott tested themselves in an FIS race in Seefeld, Austria. Stephen won the women’s 5 k freestyle, and Hoffman was third in the...
Sprint Recap Thanks again to Jan over at WorldOfXC.com (and FIS’s ability to not wreck them, although they tried!) we have the sprint heat times from Saturday. Starting with the women’s semifinals: Semifinal 1 was markedly faster, no? It doesn’t appear that Kikkan suffered for it, but then the Düsseldorf course is unusually short for [...] Related posts:
Sunday’s 10 k pursuit in Ostersund, Sweden was set up to be a barnburner from the moment the previous day’s sprint ended. With Olympic and World Champions Tora Berger and Magdalena Neuner separated by just 0.2 seconds and last year’s overall World Cup winner Kaisa Makarainen lurking 15 seconds behind, there was no doubt that things would get exciting. Germany’s Neuner and Norway’s Berger skied the first lap together, a study in contrasting styles. Berger’s...
Their plan had been so simple. Stay loose, ski strong and play the first World Cup penalty race by ear. The two Americans that qualified for Sunday’s competition in Lillehammer, Norway, Billy Demong and Bryan Fletcher found that worked well considering the circumstances. As they completed the first of five laps on the 10 k course, Demong and Fletcher watched dozens of skiers take their penalty loops at once. Depending on how they jumped on...
With Devon Kershaw returning to Italy to join Alex Harvey, the defending World Champions in the Team Sprint turned to Drew Goldsack and Len Valjas to represent the nation of Canada. And represent they did. The pair may not have reprised Harvey and Kershaw’s gold medal performance, but they certainly surpassed expectations, advancing to the finals in Dusseldorf and remaining in contention for the podium in the final before settling for fifth place. “Most would...
Elbows, crashes, spills and thrills – that’s an average World Cup freestyle Team Sprint event in Dusseldorf, Germany, and the action on Sunday was no different. Sweden’s top pairing of Jesper Modin and Teodor Peterson emerged from close-quarters racing to take the top step of the podium, narrowly edging out Russia I, Nikita Kruikov and Alexey Petukhov. After taking gold and bronze in the sprint Saturday, Ola Vigen Hattestad and Paal Golberg of Norway I...