Oslo, Norway – Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY), after finishing 7th in the Pursuit yesterday came back with an 8th place finish in the final World Cup Mass Start of the season this afternoon. Burke left the final standing stage in 13th position after incurring one penalty, but skied himself past several competitors including Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Greis of Germany to finish 42.9 seconds behind Michael Slesinger of the Czech Republic. Slesinger won in...
Oslo, Norway March 15. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) had his best result of the season with a seventh place finish in the 12.5K Pursuit competition this afternoon. Burke moved from 45th at the start to finish seventh, 1:15.1 behind Ivan Tcherezov of Russia. Freidrich Pinter of Austria, with three penalties finished second 22.2 seconds back, while Emile Svendsen of Norway was third, 47.4 seconds back despite five penalties. Shooting under what Coach Mikael Lofgren...
Italy – Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) won the women's 10km classic mass start race at the World Cup Finals in Bormio, Italy. Kuitunen out-sprinted Justyn Kowalczyw of Poland for the win. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) showed good form, finishing third, 3 seconds out of the win. Thanks to her 30 bonus seconds, Kuitunen is now leading the World Cup Final standings after yesterday's prologue and the today's 10 km with a total time of 38:21.8 minutes, Kowlaczyk...
Italy – Vincent Vittoz (FRA) was able to open up a gap on the field by the 7 kilometer mark – an unusual ocurrence in World Cup mass start races where a large pack usually leads the race until the final sprint. Vittoz, who has had an inconsistent season, posted his first victory of the season, winning by 18 seconds over overall World Cup champion, Lukas Bauer (CZE). Tord Asle Gjerdalen (NOR) took third in...
Italy – German Claudia Nystad won the 2.5km freestyle World Cup Final Prologue in Bormio/St. Caterina (ITA) yesterday. Nystad finished the 2,5 km in soft snow conditions in a total time of 7:46.4 minutes, 5.6 seconds ahead of Norwegian Astrid Jacobsen. Riitta Liisa Roponen (FIN) was third, 9.3 seconds behind Nystad. Nystad, who was 13th at the first intermediate point at 0.8km, increased her speed to the end of the race while Jacobsen, who was...
Italy – Pietro Piller-Cottrer (ITA) won the World Cup Final Prologue over an easy course in St. Caterina, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Tord Asle Gjerdalen of Norway. Third place went to Czech Martin Jaks, 1.8 seconds behind the winner. This was Jak's first ever World cup podium finish. The race counts toward the World Cup Final (3 competitions in 3 days), which is a kind of ‘Mini Tour'. To get the World Cup points...
Oslo, Norway. Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) and Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) finished just 2.6 seconds and two places apart in the 10K Sprint yesterday afternoon. The close proximity of the two US Biathletes is an indicator of how tightly packed the Men’s field was in this final Sprint of the World Cup season. Emile Hegle Svendsen picked up another victory, in 25:19.9, with no penalties confirming him as the sensation of the last month....
The Valtellina ski area (Italy) is hosting the 2008 FIS World Cup Grand Finals this weekend. Bormio is already a regular host of World Cup Alpine skiing competitions, and is now making a welcome return to the cross-country World Cup. This same event was held in 2000 with a series of races that witnessed successes by athletes such as Bente Skari Martinsen, Erling Jevne, Julija Tchepalova and Italian Stefania Belmondo. Three days of cross-country skiing...
OSLO, Norway – The U.S. Ski Team's Bill Demong set a new American mark, finishing third in the season-long overall FIS Nordic Combined World Cup standings. No American had previously finished higher than fourth. Demong won the cross country leg to finish 21st in the final event of the season Sunday at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo. He received his top-three honor in front of the King of Norway and thousands of spectators. It...
Oslo, Norway – In World Cup action on Saturday, Anders Soedergren (SWE) skied to victory in the famous Holemkollen 50km race in Oslo, Norway. Soerdergren led at every checkpoint in the individual start freestyle race and finished 2:32.5 ahead of Lukas Bauer (CZE). Remo Fischer (SUI) finished third, .2 seconds ahead of Vincent Vittoz (FRA) and 30 seconds behind Bauer. Said Bauer, “I had a dream season and today I managed again a podium place...
Oslo, Norway — Valentina Schevchenko (UKR) won the women’s 30km individual start freestyle race at the Homenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo, Norway on Saturday. Schevchenko, winner of the Tour de Ski final climb, and the 10km freestyle in Canmore, skied to a 14.5 second victory over Charlotte Kalla (SWE). The top Ukrainian skier started controlled, passing the 12.5km mark in 6th, and 22.5km in 2nd. Kalla, who has struggled in the later part of the...
Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) moved from 45th position at the start of the 12.5K Pursuit competition to finish 29th yesterday. Burke secured to top 30 finish after a rocky start in the first two prone stages, which are generally crucial to improvement in this competition. Burke had two penalties in the first stage, putting him at a disadvantage and mired in 44th position. He improved, but still had another penalty in...
Often the full story behind a race does not come out until well after the official results have been published. Coming off a successful day of sprinting the weekend before in Finland where Andy Newell was seconds and Kikkan Randall was 5th, hopes were high for the classic sprint in downtown Drammen. At the least, the narrow twisty streets would make for an action packed day of racing. Unfortunately, the first starter for the day,...
Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) in 45th place was the top US finisher in the 10K Sprint competition yesterday afternoon. Burke, with three penalties (two prone, one standing), finished 2:06.1 behind Ole Einar Björndalen, who was perfect on the shooting range on the way to a 25:24.9 victory. Bjorndalen, who skipped the long trip to Korea, because of a bout with the flu, seemed none the worse yesterday after the illness. He...
At this point it is difficult to imagine the Norweigan sprinters finding a way to surprise. It has become standard in the classic events for a sea of red uniforms to battle in the A and B finals. But today in Drammen, the Norweigan men put on a display of overwhelming dominance. In addition to taking the top two spots, the skiing powerhouse held four of the top five, twelve of the top fourteen, and...
Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) added to her overall World Cup lead with her seventh individual victory of the season in the classic sprint in Drammen, Norway. Petra Majdic (SLO) took second and solidified her spot on the top of the sprint rankings. Astrid Jaocobsen (NOR) led the home nation in third. Kuitunen posted the fastest qualifying time, 1.75 seconds ahead of Jacobsen. The defending World Cup champion breezed through the heats and led wire to wire...
LAHTI, Finland (March 2) – Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic won the men's 15K classic individual race in a cross country World Cup on Sunday in Lahti. Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) led two other U.S. skiers in the race in 51st. “It was a hard course. There were lots of climbs and the conditions were really soft,” said Sprint Head Coach Chris Grover. “The snow was sugary and if you're having an off day...
LAHTI, Finland (Feb. 29) – Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) was 12th in a World Cup Nordic combined event on Friday in Lahti. Demong remains second in the World Cup standings, 30 points ahead of Norwegian Petter Tande who won in the event. Demong had trouble in the jumping portion of the competition, finishing 28th, which put him 3:09 back in the cross country start. He kicked it into high gear in the 15K cross country...
Pyeong Chang, Korea. Bailey made the big jump with a one-penalty performance on the shooting range, to finish 1:07.7 behind Michael Greis of Germany. Greis had three penalties in his 32:49.56 victory. The top three men were closely bunched together with two Norwegians Halvard Hanevold and Alexander Os just behind Greis, 12.4 and 17 seconds, respectively. Hanevold had three penalties, while Os had four. At the post-race press conference, Hanevold commented on the close loss....
Andy Newell posted the fastest time by 1.85 seconds in winning the qualifying round in the skate sprint in Lahti, Finland this morning. The margin of victory is all the more impressive in that the top 30 were separated by only 5.75 seconds. Canada's Devon Kershaw also had an excellent start to the day, qualifying in 4th position. Matias Strandvall (FIN) pleased the home crowd, taking the second spot. Norweigan John Kristian Dahl was third....