Dusseldorf, Germnay – Alexei Petukhov (RUS) backed up a blazing qualification time with the overall victory in the men’s freestyle sprint in Germany. Petukhov posted the fastest time in qualification by just under 2 seconds – a fact that is especially impressive when you consider that only 5.43 seconds separated 2nd and 30th. Today’s performance marked the first World Cup victory for the 26-year-old Russian. He did have two second place finishes last season, both...
Dusseldorf, Germany – Hanna Falk (SWE), just 20 years old, won her first World Cup race, in only her third start. The young Swede qualified 4th before advancing through the heats. Falk finished 7th in the classic sprint last weekend in Finland. Her only other World Cup start was in March 2007 – a classic sprint in Stockholm where she finished 49th. She skied aggressively in the heats, taking control early and leading into the...
With the dawning of December comes the flood of races that characterizes the winter season. The US SuperTour moves a bit north to Bozeman, Montana, the World Cup heads to Germany for a weekend of high speed sprints, World Cup Biathlon continues in Sweden, and the US Nordic Combined team makes its 2010 World Cup debut. Women’s Ski Jumping gets underway midweek next week in Finland. SuperTour Last season the Bozeman SuperTour (and the Park...
Editor’s Note: Toblach is claiming to produce a “carbon-neutral” stage for the Tour de Ski. It is important to recognize that this is obtained in large part by purchasing carbon offsets, not through reductions in carbon usage. Whether or not this is good, bad, or neutral, is up for debate. Dobbiaco (Toblach) have engaged strongly in the area of climate protection and thus offers its guests since July 2009 a compensation to the CO2-emissions, which...
(translated from articles on langrenn.com,
Kris Freeman (USA) posted his best World Cup result ever on Sunday, skiing to a 4th place finish. Petter Northug (NOR) won his first World Cup distance classic race. Here are brief clips of the two skiers finishing the race.
Kusaamo, Finland – Petter Northug (NOR) staged an impressive come-from-behind victory, in the men’s 15km classic World Cup race in Finland. This was Northug’s first World Cup win in a classic distance race. Northug sat out yesterday’s sprint as he recovered from a stomach ailment, and his participation today was questionable for much of the week. The Norwegian star started slowly, sitting in 41st place, 16 seconds off the pace. Meanwhile, the Russian team set...
Kuusamo, Finland – Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) skied to a convincing 13 second win in the women’s 10km classic. Her last World Cup victory came exactly a year ago in this same event. Saarinen led the overall World Cup for a good portion of the season last year, before stumbling down the stretch, and finishing third She is off to a good start this year, and is back in the driver’s seat. Skiing before a...
Kuusamo, Finland – Kris Freeman (USA) finished 4th in the men’s 15km classic World Cup this morning. The result marks Freeman’s best World Cup performance ever – though he does have two 4th’s in the World Championships as well. Freeman was just 2.2 seconds off the podium, and edged out 5th place finisher Norwegian Martin Sundby Johnsrud by just .4 seconds. Freeman started conservatively, sitting in 62nd, 10 seconds off the pace at 1.1km. By...
The first World Cup sprint race of the 2010 season left the U.S. Ski Team (USST) with one strong result, but still looking for more. FasterSkier caught up with USST Sprint Coach Chris Grover right after the race. He said that Andy Newell—who finished seventh—had a very strong day, dominating his quarterfinal heat and only just missing out on a spot in the finals after battling with the eventual winner, Ola Vigen Hattestad. “He led...
Kuusamo, Finland – Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) picked up where he left off last year, winning the men’s 1.4km classic sprint at the Nordic Opening weekend in Kuusamo, Finland. Hattestad, the two-time defending World Cup sprint champion, qualified in 9th, before showing the patience and speed that led him to six victories last season. He cruised to a convincing 1 second victory in the A-final over teammate Oystein Pettersen. Nikita Kriukov (RUS) was 3rd. “This...
Kuusamo, Finalnd – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), the defending World Cup Champion upset Petra Majdic (SLO) in the first World Cup sprint competition of the year. High humidity and a challenging course made for a tough day. Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) paced the field in the qualification round of the 1.2km classic sprint. Her time of 3:01 was one second faster than runner up Anna Olsson (SWE). Majdic qualified 3rd and Kowalczyk 5th. Saarinen led the...
On Friday twenty coaches from seven teams, including Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Norway, and the United States, held a meeting about their concerns over Russian doping. Tension has been building steadily and surely since last season, when four Russian cross country skiers and three Russian biathletes tested positive for EPO – only the latest in a rash of charges against Russian athletes since 2001. Last spring when high-profile racers Yevgeny Dementiev (one Olympic gold)...
Kuusamo, Finland – Inge Braten, the Canadian World Cup coach, fell and broke his hip today in Finland. Braten, a native of Norway, slipped outside his apartment near the ski stadium. “I was busy on the phone, and suddenly my legs were gone and I could not catch myself . The first thing that I thought was that this I don’t have time for this,” said Braten. He required surgery and was operated on in...
The Cross-Country season had an outstanding opening in Beitostoelen (NOR) where excellent snow conditions created a beautiful backdrop for the first competitions in the Viessmann FIS Cross-Country World Cup. Norway took full advantage of the home snow benefit by taking three of the four victories with Marit Bjoergen, Ronny Andre Hafsaas and the men’s relay team. Only in the ladies’ relay did the Swedish ladies team prevail ahead of Team Norway. 20,000 spectators, 8 competitions,...
Editor’s Note: There has been some controversy of late regarding FIS testing at World Cup races. The following update from FIS is likely a response. FasterSkier is currently exploring the issue and will have more complete coverage soon. The FIS has published an update on its FIS Anti-Doping Activities during the 2009/10 Olympic season. The fight against doping remains an important focus for FIS, through a zero-tolerance policy on doping and cheating in sport. To view...
In a country where energy drinks have become almost as American as pie, it might seem odd to us that in Norway the energy drink Red Bull had been banned until just half a year ago. The ban was also just recently lifted in France, while several other countries still ban the drink, including Denmark and Uruguay. With this in mind, you may imagine the uproar generated when the media recently reported that one of their...
Last Saturday we published complete previews of the World Cup season – just in case you missed them: FS 2010 World Cup Preview: The United States FS 2010 World Cup Preview: Men
The winners of the individual and relay races at the World Cup in Beitostolen last weekend were not subjected to doping tests, according to FIS Anti-Doping Administrator Sarah Fussek. In a telephone interview with FasterSkier, Fussek said that FIS rules required targeted testing of podium finishers only at certain international events selected by the Federation-not at all of them. This has been the case since last year. “We’re not conducting doping controls at every competition,”...
The US Ski Team is posting video from training and racing on the Dartfish website. Dartfish is a video analysis software package for athletics, and has been in use for some time. The website, Dartfish.tv, allows dartfish users to post video. The best part is that viewers can take advantage of frame-by-frame playback – a feature that YouTube and similar sites do not offer. The Ski Team has posted 30 videos so far, including from...