Just seven months after knee surgery, Norway’s Eirik Brandsdal had no business gunning for the podium in a classic sprint in late January. But knees were all but unnecessary in Sunday’s race in Estonia, which saw every single one of the six men in the finals forgoing kick wax on a tame course. Brandsdal rode his skate gear to third place in qualifying, two seconds behind his teammate Ola Vigen Hattestad, then just pipped Hattestad...
In the final shooting stage of Saturday’s mass start World Cup in Antholz, Italy, Martin Fourcade of France and Bjorn Ferry of Sweden went shot-for-shot for four bullets, each dropping all the targets. But while Fourcade quickly hit the fifth target, Ferry hesitated, waiting for the perfect shot. He kept waiting and waiting… and missed. While Ferry headed to the penalty loop, Daniel Mesotitsch of Austria and Anton Shipulin of Russia shot clean and embarked...
In the classic sprint qualifier in Otepaa, Estonia on Sunday morning, it was all about big guns. Norway and Sweden each qualified six men for the heats, and Estonia five. But by big guns, we don’t mean the strong ski nations—we’re talking about biceps. At least three Norwegians double poled the full qualifier, one of whom, Ola Vigen Hattestad, was the winner. Eirik Brandsdal and Eldar Roenning also completed the qualifier on skate gear. According...
Boisterous Estonian fans, challenging courses, and a selection of the best skiers in the world made for an exciting day of World Cup racing in Otepaa. FasterSkier’s Nat Herz was on hand for the 10/15km classic races, and broke out the “big-boy” camera to snag the following shots.
While there’s a full schedule of World Cup racing scheduled in Antholz, Italy this weekend, Friday’s sprint might very well have been the last individual race the U.S. women had a chance to contest in Europe before World Championships. With a relay on Saturday and a mass start, capped at thirty athletes, on Sunday, and then the entire World Cup circuit picking up and heading to the U.S. for a few weeks in February, the...
In Antholz, Italy on Thursday, Lowell Bailey of the United States was one shot out of the top five and just two seconds away from his first World Cup top-10. As it was, he had the tenth-fastest ski time of the day, the second-fastest shooting time, two penalties, and finished 12th overall. It was the top American result of the season so far. “It was a great race for me,” Bailey told FasterSkier in an...
Kris Freeman wasn’t satisfied with his overall ranking at the 2011 Tour de Ski, in which he finished 28th, 13-and-a-half minutes behind overall winner Dario Cologna. But one thing that was satisfactory? In fact, close to perfect? Freeman’s blood sugar management, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to ski to seventh place in the final climb on the last day of the Tour—less than a minute behind winner Lukas Bauer, and just...
The upcoming nordic combined World Cup races in France, represent the last chance to get international points before the World Championships in Oslo in February, and the US Nordic Combined racers are eager to collect.
When the small town of Ruhpolding, Germany, bid to host biathlon’s 2012 World Championships, they knew they had their work cut out for them. “Preparations for the World Champs 2012 start now,” said Mayor Claus Pichler in August 2008 when Ruhpolding won the bid. “I got plenty of feedback from the delegates at the IBU Congress.” And they have been busy ever since, completely renovating and reconfiguring the area’s stadium as well as giving the...
Kikkan Randall (USA) won her second-ever World Cup race on Saturday in Liberec, Czech Republic, adding yet another feather in a hat that is already the most adorned in the history of US women’s skiing. It is only mid-January, but Randall has already had quite a season. She has stood on the World Cup podium three times, earning a spot on each step with a second in Dusseldorf, and a third in Davos in addition...
When Len Valjas departed for Europe this past fall, he was looking for experience, and to ski well. Instead, the 22-year-old Canadian recorded his first World Cup points by finishing 29th in the sprint in the Kuusamo mini-tour, and 34th in Dusseldorf, narrowly missing a berth in the heats. Then, he punched himself a ticket to the 2011 World Championships in Oslo by finishing 17th in the skate sprint at the World Cup in Davos,...
Taylor Fletcher was the top American in the Nordic Combined World Cup event in Seefeld (AUT) Sunday, posting a 29th place.
Alex Harvey turned heads at the 2011 edition of the Tour de Ski, capping off four top-10 finishes with 10th place overall. But the 22-year-old Canadian insists that the best is still to come, later this season. “I feel really good, but I don’t feel like I’m peaked,” he said, in an interview on his way home from the Tour. “The plan was never to be in the best shape here.” Harvey’s strong results in...
A familiar and dominating form will miss this year’s U-23 World Championships. According to the website Sports.ru, 20-year-old Russian phenom does not include Sedov, and according to the report in Sports.ru, he will “most likely” miss the remainder of the season. The piece does not cite a source for its information, but nonetheless, the news spread quickly in the European ski media on Monday morning. Russian Eurosport commentator Andrey Kondrashov told FasterSkier in an e-mail...
Laura Spector led he U.S. women with a 41st-place finish, while Rosanna Crawford of Canada finished the first World Cup pursuit of her career.
Ruhpolding, Germany, has been both kind and cruel to Olympic gold medalist Bjorn Ferry of Sweden. On one hand, the summer before his Olympic victory, he crashed while rollerskiing at the venue. The impact broke his collarbone and he had to have surgery and give up a period of training. But on the other, Ruhpolding is his second home. “I have trained here three times every year for the past ten years, so I have...
Norway’s Marit Bjoergen can’t have been pleased when her season-long winning streak came to an end in Liberec, Czech Republic on Saturday. But seven victories in her eight World Cup starts isn’t all that bad. After being edged out for a berth in the finals of Saturday’s freestyle sprint, everything was back to normal in the women’s field in Sunday’s classic team sprint. Led by Bjoergen and rounded out by Maiken Caspersen Falla, the Norwegian...
The World Cup sprint weekend in Liberec, Czech Republic concluded with a classic team competition. The Norwegian men’s team of Johan Kjoelstad and Ola Vigen Hattestad were unable to match the margin of victory of their female counterparts, but claimed the top spot nonetheless. Less than an hour after Marit Bjoergen led the Norwegian women to a crushing 30-second victory, Hattestad used a powerful move on the last climb to pull away from Mats Larsson,...
January 14, 2011 – Cross Country Canada is pleased to announce the World Senior Championship Team 2011 – selection synopsis to follow. The following athletes have been selected to the 2011 World Championships Team competing in Oslo, Norway from Feb.22-March 6. – Devon Kershaw (Ona-Wa-Su/NST) – Alex Harvey (Club Nordique M.S.A/NST) – Dasha Gaiazova (Rocky Mountain Racers/NST) – Chandra Crawford (Canmore Nordic/NST) – Stefan Kuhn (Canmore Nordic/NST) – Perianne Jones (Nakkertok/NST) – Ivan Babikov (Foothills...
