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World Cup
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.
The FIS World Cup is returning to Canada in 2012. After a two year hiatus, International Ski Federation (FIS) Cross Country Skiing World Cup competitions will resume in North America, as a brand-new Quebec City site will be unveiled before the show heads west to the Rockies and Canmore, Alberta. According to Norbert Meier, Chair of the Alberta World Cup Society, there will be World Cup races held on December 8th and 9th in Canmore,...
World Champion, Olympic Hero, “Nice Guy” and Doper: Mika Myllyla Is Dead at 41
Chelsea LittleJuly 5, 2011
Finnish Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Mika Myllyla was found dead in his home in Kokkola, Finland, on Tuesday morning. For about 5 years in the late 1990’s, Myllyla was one of the best skiers in the world. He won the 30 k classic race in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, as well as two other medals there and a bronze in Lillehammer in 1994. In World Championship racing, Myllyla won three...
Holding elite level events, whether World Cup races, National Championships or just FIS points competitions, pose numerous challenges for organizers and National Governing Bodies in the US and Canada. Over the course of the summer FasterSkier will examine the various issues at hand. Today we start with a piece on homologation, with future topics to include snowmaking and prize money, among others. Until this year, the U.S. and Canada have had reprieve from the International...
Canadian Devon Kershaw has risen steadily through the ranks of the cross-country skiing world, to the point where he is now considered one of the best skiers on the World Cup circuit. Last season, he finished seventh in the Tour de Ski, after standing on the podium four times during the event – including a win. Along with teammate Alex Harvey, he also became Canada’s first World Champion in cross-country skiing, winning the team sprint...
The US Ski Team’s Noah Hoffman spent most of the winter racing in Europe, with stints back in the United States for National Championships and the SuperTour Finals. With two top-30’s at World Championships in Oslo, Norway leading the way, Noah had his best season to date, adding strong performances on the World Cup and U23 World Championships. Along the way, Noah sent periodic updates back to friends and family – a digital diary documenting...
Canadian Devon Kershaw has risen steadily through the ranks of the cross-country skiing world, to the point where he is now considered one of the best skiers on the World Cup circuit. Last season, he finished seventh in the Tour de Ski, after standing on the podium four times during the event – including a win. Along with teammate Alex Harvey, he also became Canada’s first World Champion in cross-country skiing, winning the team sprint...
At World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia this year, the Ukrainian women’s biathlon team already had to deal with mixed feeling about their silver medal performance in the relay. Now, they have to add another variable to the mix – a mistake which led to a positive doping test by their anchor skier, Oksana Khvostenko. A Strong World Championships Showing Coming into the last handoff in the 4 x 6 k relay, Ukraine was in the...
Two skiers have received more than $5,000 in overdue prize money owed to them after the disqualification of a Russian skier for doping in 2009. This spring, both Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi and the Czech Republic’s Lukas Bauer confirmed to FasterSkier that they had each received some 2,200 Swiss francs apiece from the International Ski Federation (FIS), for their performances in the 2009 edition of the Tour de Ski. Jauhojaervi and Bauer finished 10th and 11th,...
At the end of the women’s relay at 2011 World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, star biathlete Olga Zaitseva abruptly announced her retirement, sending the biathlon world and the Russian team into a tailspin. As FasterSkier wrote at the time, Zaitseva was fed up with the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU), the politics, and the pressure associated with representing her country. Since then, there has been much speculation about her possible return. Zaitseva initially stuck to...
Before the 2011 World Cup season was even finished, the ski community knew that the Italian team would be losing one of their biggest stars. Arianna Follis, who had been racing on the circuit since 1995, saved the best part of her career for last. She was the World Champion in the sprint in 2009, and in 2011 placed third in the overall World Cup rankings and second in the sprint standings. But at 33...
Randall, Kershaw Repeat as FS XC Skiers of the Year, Harvey Joins the Party
Topher SabotMay 20, 2011
FasterSkier Cross-Country Skier of the Year Cross-Country Skier of the Year (women): Kikkan Randall (USA/USST) Randall has now won the FasterSkier Cross-Country Skier of the Year Award every season since its inception, and 2011 is no different. The choice is easy, as Randall just keeps getting better. She is not just the best woman in North America, she is one of the best skiers in the world. At this point in her career Randall is...
Interview: USBA Women’s Coach Jonne Kahkonen on Momentum, Mind Games, and Makarainen
Chelsea LittleMay 19, 2011
(Note: This is the second in a series of interviews with U.S. Biathlon Association coaches and staff. The first was with USBA Head Coach Per Nilsson.) Last summer, the U.S. Biathlon Association made a big change by hiring Jonne Kahkonen as a dedicated head coach for the women’s team. Up until that point, the women hadn’t had their own program. “There were enough of us to really warrant having a women’s coach, and having a...
Torin Koos, 31, has his goals set on the 2014 Olympics in Sotchi, Russia. It will be his fourth Olympics. This time, he relies entirely on his own resources.
FasterSkier Performances of the Year The FasterSkier Performance of the Year Award is presented in three categories – cross-country, biathlon and nordic combined, with men’s and women’s in the first two. We will start with cross-country. XC Performance of the Year (women): Kikkan Randall (USA/USST) In some ways this is the easiest of the Performance of the Year awards – there is no question that it will go to Kikkan Randall. The challenge is picking...
Why Northug Was the King of the Worlds
Inge ScheveMay 17, 2011
“Hellner had a couple of beers and we all know how that went,” Northug said to the audience at a presentation in Oslo last week. Northug is already focusing on Sotchi 2014.
At Polish three time overall World Cup champion Justyna Kowalczyk has never been one to keep her mouth shut. Take, for example, her accusation that Marit Bjoergen’s asthma medicine is performance-enhancing. “Without the medicine Marit would not have won gold medals,” Kowalczyk said at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. If Bjoergen has asthma, then it may very well be true. But Kowalczyk’s implication was that either Bjoergen did not have asthma and was taking the...
“It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to work with this caliber of athletes and coaches,” Trond Nystad said to Norwegian news agency NTB after accepting the offer to be the head coach for the Norwegian national men’s team.
An Unlikely Pairing: Pichler Heads to Russia In Search of a New Challenge
Chelsea LittleMay 13, 2011
When FasterSkier in an interview last week. “Pichler, because he’s had big success in Sweden and many years… maybe it was time for him to move.” Past Animosity with Russia While the challenge of coaching a supremely talented yet frustratingly inconsistent group of women may be appealing to Pichler, the move to Russia is puzzling given his past relationship with the RBU. For several years, Pichler – who is outspoken on many issues – very...