On a day in which American Kris Freeman took the 5th spot, Lukas Bauer (CZE) skied away from the field after a slow start to win by 20 seconds. Said Bauer, “It was a super race for me but the start was not so easy. However the second and third laps were excellent. At the start many other racers were faster and when I heard my ranking after the first lap I thought there was...
Norway took the first two spots with Astrid Jacobsen, Saturday's sprint runner-up, finishing 9 seconds in back of Bjoergen. Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland was third, a place in front of another Norweigan, Vibeke Skofterud. Said Bjoergen, “I’m very satisfied with my race especially with the weather conditions as they were. But I must say it was the same for everyone.” The Norweigan star was referring to the windy, cold weather that persisted throughout the day....
Kris Freeman showed the world that the US Ski Team is not only a team of sprinters with a strong race in Kuusamo, Finland. Freeman moved up at every checkpoint until 13km, where he was 3rd. He finished 27.5 seconds behind winner Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic. More to follow. Results
KUUSAMO, Finland (Nov. 30) – World Championships medalists Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) and Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) skied into the top 10 Friday in the season's first World Cup nordic combined event. Spillane was second – his best result in nearly five years – and Demong seventh. Each credited extra training time in Kuusamo for their performance. Ronny Ackerman of Germany led silver medalist Demong to the finish line by 8.5 seconds in the...
Kontiolahti, Finland, November 30. Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) talks about his best-ever season opening World Cup competition, 9th place in Thursday’s 20K Individual. Live streaming video coverage of Biathlon World Cup competitions for the remainder of the season as well as archived highlights are available by clicking the Biathlon World Cup logo at the top right of the page at USBiathlon
Andy Newell finished 4th in the field of 82, qualifying with the 7th fastest time, advancing to the A-Final. Norweigan Johan Kjoelstad took the victory ahead of Swedes Emil Joensson and Mats Larsson. Kjoelstad had his strongest race of the season after an 11th in the freestyle sprint in Dusseldorf and a disappointing 72nd in the 15km freestyle last weekend. His only other World Cup victory came in 2005 in the Team Sprint at Dusseldorf....
Kontiolahti, Finland, December 1. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) bounced back today with 12th Place in the Men’s 10K Sprint, two days after a disappointing 49th place in the season-opening 20K Individual. Burke looked like a new person on both the tracks and the shooting range today, with only one penalty while finishing just 54.4 seconds behind the winner Ole Einar Bjorndalen. At the finish line, he had regained his characteristic big smile as he...
KUUSAMO, Finland (Dec. 1) – Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT), sidestepping high-speed trouble, picked off his first World Cup top-5 of the season Saturday, finishing fourth in a 1.2K classic technique sprint. “I'm happy, but it was just one of those days where I felt good enough and should have been on the podium. It's one thing to get fourth and you feel you could've been 15th, but today I should've been on the podium,” the...
KUUSAMO, Finland (Dec. 1) – World Championships medalist Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) picked up speed over the last part of the race Saturday to earn his first podium of the season in a nordic combined sprint. “We've got improvements to make, but this is a good start for the season,” he said. Germany's Bjoern Kircheisen and Demong dueled through the first half of the three-lap 7.5K race before the German pulled away. He held off...
Editor's Note: WCSN is the only source of full World Cup race coverage available in the US. If you want to watch current events, this is the place to go. They offer a great value for the amount of coverage and is definitely worth checking out. Get all of the early season action in Cross Country and Nordic Combined at WCSN. – Live, On-Demand, and Video Highlights – Results, Photos, News and More – Follow...
Writes USST Head Coach Pete Vordenberg – “We are fighting the gungus here in Beitostolen. Our training, testing and time trials going into the winter have shown that we are fitter than ever. However it is plain that our transition to Europe could have been carried out better. We are tired out and fighting off a cold. We have no excuses. We tried hard, raced as fast as we could on the day and came...
Kontiolahti, Finland, November 29. Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) started the new biathlon season with a big result, ninth place in the Men’s 20K Individual competition. Jeremy Teela Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) was visibly disappointed with his day at the finish, 49th place with three penalties, 4:49.8 back. Through the first two stages of the race, Burke was in fifth position, before missing a prone shot in the third stage and then capping the afternoon...
The first distance race of the season was held yesterday in Beitostolen, Norway. Axel Teichmann of Germany won the men's 15km freestyle and Norway's Marit Bjoergen paced the field in the women's 10km event. Teichmann, the World Champion from Sapporo in the Pursuit race, took home his 7th World Cup victory, finishing 6.3 seconds ahead Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic. Teichmann pulled out the win with a very strong last kilometer. Anders Soedergren of...
In the men's 4x10km relay it was all Norway with Norway II edging Norway I in the final sprint. Tor Arne Hetland edged Tord Asle Gjerdalen by .4 seconds in the final stretch. Norway I led the entire race until the final leg, building a 12 second lead at the second hand-off. But Tore Ruud Hofstad was able to close the gap and bringing Norway II even heading into the anchor leg. Russia I finished...
Jens Arne Svartedal came home from Düsseldorf with a very disappointing 55th place finish. Last year’s sprint world champion isn’t letting that affect his training plans leading up to the first World Cup distance races at Beitostœlen, Norway. “My plan is to continue with a lot of base training and to keep the pressure on. I am not planning to let up prior to the Beitostœlen races. Even though I did well there last year,...
USST Head Coach Pete Vordenberg reports on the performance of Kris Freeman and Lars Flora at last weekends skate race in Beitostolen, Norway. Writes Vordenberg: “I am satisfied with the effort Kris and Lars gave even though neither were fresh enough for a good result. They both followed their race plan and when it came time to push they both pushed hard and fought to the finish. The only time I am unsatisfied is if...
Norweigan star Marit Bjoergen won her third consecutive race in Beitostolen, Norway. Bjoergen followed up victories in the individual sprint and the 10km skate by pacing the field in Sunday's 5km classic race. Vibeke Skofterud finished second, 14.3 seconds back, Therese Johaug was third and Slovenian Petra Majdic took the fourth spot. In the men's 10km classic, Martin Sundby edged Odd-Bjorn Hjemeleset by 3.6 seconds, with Simen Østensen in third. Italy's Pietro Piller Cotrer was...
Devon Kershaw posted strong results in the the classic sprint and 15km classic, finishing 4th in both races. The “First-Snow” event was held in Muonio, Finland and the filed consisted of a number of very strong skiers – predominantly Russian, Finnish, and Estonian. In the sprint, Kershaw qualified in 25th and skied extremely well during the heats to finish in 4th. Russian sprinter Nikolay Morilov took home the top spot, with teammate Andrey Parfenov in...
The top skiers in Norway gathered in Beitostolen, Norway for several days of racing. Bœrre Naess, winner of last year's World Cup sprint in Drammen, Norway took home the victory with Anders Gloersen and Eldar Ronning rounding out the top three. Gloersen was the surprise of the day, defeating World Cup veteran Ronning and 4th-6th place finished, John Kristian Dahl, Tor Arne Hetland, and Johan Kjolstad, all of whom raced the World Cup opener in...
Norweigan Morten Eilifsen and Italian Giorgio DiCenta finished in a rare tie for first in the 15km individual freestyle race. The two men finished with identical times of 35:33.4, 7.5 seconds ahead of third place finisher Tord Asle Gjerdalen (NOR). This event featured a stronger international field than yesterday's sprint, with a full contingent of top Italian and Swiss skiers, as well as Austrian Olympic Medalist Christian Hoffman and Slovak Martin Bajcicak. Eilifsen held a...