Andy Newell (USA) took second place in the World Cup freestyle sprint in Lahti, Finland. Newell topped his previous best finish – a third place in China in 2006. Newell rebounded from a string of frustrating results, and appeared on a mission from the start, winning the qualification round by 1.85 seconds. “Last weekend I fell during qualification in Stockholm and missed qualification,” the American sprint star said. “So today I was angry about that...
Defending Olympic Sprint Champion Chandra Crawford won her second consecutive World Cup freestyle sprint, taking the victory in Lahti, Finland. Crawford won the same event event on her home course in Canmore, Alberta at the end of January. American Kikkan Randall recorded her best result since winning the freestyle sprint in Russia in December. Crawford qualified in 18th, but won her quarterfinal in a photo finish to advance. She went on to win her semifinal...
Pyeong Chang, Korea. Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) placed 29th in the 10K Sprint yesterday in the first-ever Biathlon World cup competition in Korea. Bailey had a single penalty in the standing stage, after shooting clean in prone to finish 29th, 1:47.7 behind Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway. Svendsen’s winning time of 29:57.4, with one penalty is a good indicator of the just how hard the Pyeong Chang Layout is, as 10K winning times are...
Malles, ITA — Heading into the Nordic World Junior Championships Alex Harvey was known in the cross-country skiing circles as the son of Pierre. After posting his second fourth-place finish on Wednesday to go along with a silver-medal performance against the top junior cross-country skiers on the globe, the world is finding out more than just the younger Harvey’s first name. They are now convinced the 19-year-old from St-Ferreol les Neiges, Que., is one of...
Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) add valuable points to her overall World Cup lead with her victory in the classic sprint in Stockholm, Sweden. Kuitunen has led the World Cup since Canmore, but Norweigan Astrid Jacobsen has closed the gap over the past few weeks. Kuitunen showed her usual strong form in classic sprinting. She won the qualification and each of her heats on the way to the top of the podium. Petra Majdic, always near the...
In what has become the norm, the Norweigan men's team dominated the World Cup classic sprint in Stockholm, Sweden. Taking places 1,2,4,6,8,9 Norway combined with host Sweden to take 9 of the top 10 spots. Jens Arne Svartedal won the event after qualifying in 29th. Boerre Naess, the top qualifier, was second and Emil Joensson gave the hometown fans something to cheer about with his third place finish. Cyril Miranda of France was the only...
Birkie greetings from the land of the Vasaloppet, where it’s a balmy 38 degrees and sunny. The past week in Europe seems to have flown by. Here are some highlights from my adventures in the Czech Republic and Sweden. . . We were lucky enough to be able to ski on the Jizerska Padesatka (Czech Birkie) trails the next day. Here Lief navigates the icy roads, er, trails. . . He wanted to buy the...
Torin Koos advanced out of the qualification round, posting the 20th fastest time of the morning. The classic sprints, held in downtown Stockholm, featured an incredibly difficult field. As has become the norm, the Norweigans dominated the men's qualification round, placing 10 skiers in the top 30, led by the fastest qualifier, Boerre Naess. Naess completed the course in a time of 2:12.11. Koos finished 4.28 seconds back. The host nation qualified four, including the...
When it comes to the Masters World Cup, which starts this Saturday in McCall, ID, it is not just about the skiers who finish with the fastest times. You've got great stories, and the FasterSkier readership wants to hear them. Maybe you know someone who is skiing for a cause, who started skiing later in life, or who makes a yearly pilgrimage to World Masters. Send in pictures and stories, and we will post as...
ZAKOPANE, Poland (Feb. 24) – The U.S. Ski Team's Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) came from behind Sunday, moving up 18 places after the jump to finish third in a World Cup nordic combined sprint in Zakopane. Demong remains second in the World Cup standings and is closing the gap on leader Ronny Ackermann, who was 11th. Austria's Bernhard Gruber won after finishing second in jumping and hanging on for a 12 second victory over Swiss...
Norway won both the men's 4x10km and women's 4x5km relays in Falun, Sweden. In the women's event, Norway and Finland skied away from the rest of the field early on, creating a gap of more than 14 seconds by the end of the first leg. The teams were evenly matched until the final 5km loop, when Finland's Riikka Sarasoja was unable to match the pace of Norway's Marit Bjoergen. Bjoergen brought the Norweigan squad in...
Astrid Jacobsen (NOR) closed in on overall World Cup leader Virpi Kuitunen with strong performance in Falun, Sweden. Jacobsen and teammate Marit Bjoergen led heading out of the transition zone. Another Norweigan, the young Marte Elden joined the top two and the trio increased the speed, pulling away from the main group. In the first free technique loop, at the beginning of the famous ‘Mördarbacken’ (Killer hill), Jacobsen attacked and the others had to let...
Overall World Cup leader Lukas Bauer (CZE), who finished second last week in Liberec, regained his position in the first spot beating out Tord Asle Gjerdalen (NOR) by less than a second. Anders Soedergren (SWE) was third, +5.8. In what has become the norm for mass start races on the men's World Cup, the field was extremely tight. The top 15 all finished within 12 seconds of the leader. In the last lap, Soedergren attacked...
Kris Freeman leads a contingent of three US men in the 30km duathlon tomorrow in Falun. Freeman has scored World Cup points in 5 of 8 World Cup starts in individual distance races, including four straight. He finished 16th in Estonia at the beginning of the month, his best result since an early-season 5th. Freeman has battled illness since December and appears to be working back into top form. Leif Zimmermann and Garrott Kuzzy will...
The pre-World Championships World Cup here in Liberec has been quite the comedy of errors. It is disorganized and snow-less here, but the confused vibe around this event managed to overtake our team and caused us to have the Day Where Everything Went Wrong. Both the things in and out of human control have been sketchy. A lack of snow coupled with temperatures too hot for snow making have left us with a 1.8 km...
LIBEREC, Czech Republic (Feb. 16) – Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) finished sixth Saturday in a nordic combined World Cup mass start event after posting the fastest 10K race time on the 2009 FIS Nordic World Championships venues. He strengthened his second-place standing in the overall points. One day after strong winds blew out a scheduled Nordic combined sprint, organizers decided Saturday morning to change the schedule for an individual event (with 15K race) to the...
Ostersund, Sweden. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) finished 25th in the 15K Mass Start today at the Biathlon World Championships. Burke, with five penalties, crossed the finish line 2:42.6 behind Emile Hegle Svendsen of Norway, who had one penalty. Svendsen covered the five loops in 36:12.64, edging teammate Ole Einar Björndalen, also with one penalty by four-tenths of a second. Third went Maxim Tchoudov of Russia, with three penalties, 24.9 seconds back. It was a...
Norway won both the men's and women's classic team sprint this morning in Liberec (CZE). Marit Bjoergen and Astrid Jacobsen (Norway I) won for the ladies, and on the men’s side, Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Simen Oestensen (Norway II) claimed victory. Bjoergen and Jacobsen finished the race 11.3 seconds ahead of team Finland I (Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Pirjo Muranen), controlling the race from start to finish. Russia I (Evgenia Shapovalova and Natalia Matveeva) took third...
Ostersund, Sweden. The US Relay Team finished 15th, 5:38.5 behind the Gold Medal winning team from Russia in the 4 X 7.5K Relay at the Biathlon World Championships today. The US had a strong start from leadoff leg Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY). Bailey cruised the first 2.5K in the middle of the pack of 23 teams. In the shooting range, he used only one spare round to clean prone, leaving just 15.9 seconds off...
Jean Marc Gaillard of France won his first World Cup race today, a 15km interval start freestyle competition in the Pre-World Championships weekend in Liberec (CZE). Due to a lack of snow, the course consisted of six 1.9km loops, and as a result, the skiers had lots of interaction with one another. The 27-year old Gaillard finished first, 12.1 seconds ahead of home favorite Lukas Bauer (CZE). The Austrian Christian Hoffmann took third place, 21.8...