Editor’s Note: This is the first of a three part series. It’s springtime in Falun. The best cross country skiers in the world are all congregated together as I saddle up next to Sara Renner on St. Patty’s Day. A passerby gives Sara a hard time for not wearing green. “No, that’s not true. I have green on. You just can’t see it.” The world wanted to know. Now we do. Sara loves green socks....
FasterSkier Rookie of the Year It is hard to define a “rookie” in cross-country skiing. First year on the World Cup? First season as a senior? First year in college? First year skiing? We keep it loose and give the award to skiers who take a major step forward while moving up to a new level of competition. Rookie of the Year (men): Alex Harvey (CAN). Despite three World Cup starts last year, it wasn’t...
The drama involving Alex Harvey and Cross-Country Canada has come to an end with a compromise agreement that will allow Harvey to be a part of the Canadian World Cup Team for the summer. CCC had informed Harvey that he would be relegated to the Development Team for the summer because he would miss two of the four World Cup training camps. The media got wind of the situation, and it quickly became a major...
Rising star Alex Harvey and Cross-Country Canada are working to resolve the differences that could keep the 20-year-old Harvey off the Canadian World Cup Team for the summer. There have been a number of conflicting reports regarding the situation. The initial story was that Harvey would be relegated to the Development Team because he would not move to Canmore from his home in Eastern Canada. Tom Holland, Director of High Performance at Cross-Country Canada clarified...
Norwegian sprint start Tor Arne Hetland and Swiss World Cup veteran, Gion-Andrea Bundi have annoucnced their retirements from international ski racing. The 35-year-old veteran Hetland retired because of a lingering knee injury and asthma.”I feel like I am quitting while I am at the top,” he said. Hetland made significant sprint history, being the first sprint world champion in 2001, the first Olympic champion in sprint in 2002 as well as the first world champion...
The Canadian Globe and Mail recently profiled rising Canadian Star Alex Harvey. This was destined to be a summer of baby steps for Alex Harvey. At 20, coming off his first season on Canada’s national cross-country ski team, his Olympics were supposed to be more than four years away – Sochi 2014, not Vancouver-Whistler 2010. Devon Kershaw and Ivan Babikov were Canada’s best medal hopes among the men, while Harvey would be at the 2010...
In the course of the 2008/09 season, just short of 2 million (1,970,000) spectators attended the FIS World Cup events in the six FIS Olympic disciplines. From October 2008 to March 2009, the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup had more than 460,000 spectators at 28 sites in 13 nations across Europe and North America. In the Viessmann FIS Cross-Country World Cup, almost 450,000 fans enjoyed the performances of their favorite skiers on site during...
As part of the analysis of the past World Cup season FIS, together with its market research partner IFM Research GmbH from Karlsruhe (GER), has been reviewing the TV audience figures in the main ski markets. The initial evaluation, based on live and delayed coverage of the FIS World Cup tours in the 2008/09 season, has revealed some interesting facts. For example, for the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, the channel with the most...
The US Nordic community has a doper problem. The problem is that we have a tendency to allow dopers to occupy too much of our field of vision. Doping alone has never made a winner, and if we want to improve our results we need to be prepared to learn winning ways from winners. Simply put, as a nation we haven’t done very well. We’ve got very large participation – we’re one of the “big”...
In response to the recent article on the doping scandal, one reader wanted to know how often US and Canadian athletes are tested. To the best of my knowledge, no US or Canadian cross-country skier has ever failed an international drug test. US Ski Team Coach Pete Vordenberg told me that the US World Cup athletes get tested 4-6 times each summer, and another 4-6 times during the winter. Summer testing can be logistically challenging,...
Here is a short review of the season. You will see that the review of last season blends quickly into plans for this and the next. We are always engaged in analysis. While waxing skis, while skiing, while driving, late night, at meals, via email nonstop we look at this thing and by spring the next summer already has shape, the next season has dates and locations and pencil marks in the margins. In review...
The chat with Andy was a great success! He spent over an hour answering a wide variety of questions. Click the “Replay” button below to review the entire chat. We hope to do more of these – please let us know who you would like to see participate, and what time of day/day of the week is most convenient.
Recently Liz Stephen was kind enough to sit down and share some of her thoughts on the season. Liz had an excellent year, placing 15th in the Pursuit and 17th in the 30km at the World Championships in Liberec. She also won two National Titles, placed 4th and 7th in two U23 Championship events, teamed with Kikkan Randall in the World Cup Team Sprint in Whistler, finishing 4th, and was 24th in the Pursuit that...
CANMORE, Alta.—Cross Country Canada solidified the final dimension to its world-leading coaching and technical support team by naming Norway’s Inge Bråten as Senior National Team Coach, the national body announced on Friday. Bråten brings more than three decades of experience in the sport to the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team. A former high-performance athlete who competed on Norway’s national team, Bråten has helped guide some of the world’s best nordic athletes, including the legendary Bjørn Daehlie....
The 2008-2009 World Cup season came to an end a little over a week ago in Falun, Sweden, and while the 2009-2010 World Cup opener is less than 240 days away, there is a little time to take a look back at an eventful season. FIS made the decision to get going a little later this year, abandoning the late October city sprint in Germany, and kicking things off in Gaellivare, Sweden at a much...
The Associated Press reported that the great Gunde Svan has resigned from his position as Manager of the Swedish national Ski Team. Svan, 47, took the position in late 2007. He was brought on to repair a rift between the Swedish Federation and several of the top athletes in the country. The World Cup team was on the brink of falling apart, with top skiers Mathias and Tobias Fredriksson, Bjorn Lind, and Anders Soedergren splitting...
The Red Group consists of the top 30 distance and sprint racers in the world. It is based on World Cup points from the previous four World Cup periods. The Red Group rankings are extremely important, in that the race organizer must pay the travel and living costs (accommodation, food, etc) for every athlete in the Red Group. Expenses must also be covered for a maximum of one coach per nation and sex, if there...
A few weeks ago “Can Northug be considered a true champion if he doesn’t treat his competitors with respect?” The question stimulated quite a bit of discussion and is worth following up with a bit more information on Northug. I was recently in Norway, where Northug’s antics are laughed off. The people I talked to did not necessarily approve of his actions, but he is the on the home team, and one of the best...
Universal Sports has posted all the races from the World Cup Finals – they are all available for on-demand viewing. Friday, March 20, 2009 Men’s 3.3k Final Saturday, March 21, 2009 Women’s Pursuit 5+5 Final Sunday, March 22, 2009 Men’s 15k Final
Falun, Sweden – Justyna Kowalczyk became the first ever overall World Cup winner in cross-country from Poland today. She held off the competition in the final event of the season to win the World Cup Final. A hard charging Therese Johaug (NOR) was second, and Charlotte Kalla (SWE) took third in the 10km freestyle handicap start race. Kowalczyk started the 48 seconds ahead of Anna Olsson (SWE) and skied hard out of the start. Olsson,...