World Cup

Team Norway: left to right are Lars Berger, Petter Northug, Odd-Bjorn Hjelmesset and Eldar Ronning Canada finished 12th at +4:22. No US team was entered, as the decision was made to focus preparations on the upcoming 50km mass start. Stay tuned for more details from the relay throughout the day. Results, men's 4x10km World Championship relay: 1 5 Norway NOR *14:30:00 1:30:49.2 0.0 2 6 Russia RUS *14:30:00 1:30:52.4 +3.2 3 3 Sweden SWE *14:30:00...

Petter Northug secured gold for Norway in the 4 x 10 kilometer relay at Sapporo Worlds with an extreme finish sprint. Northug finally got to showcase his sprint skills after crashing with 300 meters to go in the pursuit and watching his teammate crash on his final leg in the two person sprint relay finale. Northug got a 50 meter lead in just a few seconds at the end of the anchor leg and Sweden...

Here are some great photos taken by Dion Lenting during the women's 7.5km + 7.5km continuous pursuit on Sunday. The race was won by Russian Olga Savialova ahead of Katerina Neummanova (Czech Republic) and Kristin Steira (Norway.) Enjoy!

More great photos right from the World Championships race trailsides, thanks to Dion Lenting of New Zealand/Nagano for sharing! Photos are from the team sprints as well as a few from the women's individual sprint. Kikkan Randall, USA women's individual sprint semifinal women's individual sprint semifinal

Source: FIS The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships at Sapporo, the first to be held in Asia (as a separate event outside of the Olympic Games that were held in the same city in 1972), are now two thirds of the way to being completed. After a spectacular beginning at the Sapporo Dome watched by 30’000 spectators, the competitions have continued at the more traditional venues: the Shirahatayama Cross-Country Skiing stadium and the Okurayama Ski...

Despite being one of the heavy favorites going into the event, team Finland was perhaps even stronger than expected in Thursday's 4x5km women's relay, opening up a 20-second gap over Norway after the first 5km leg. By the second tag Finland's lead had already increased to a whopping 48 seconds ahead of Norway, with Germany even further back at +1:10. During the third leg, the first of two skate legs, Norway closed down to within...

Source: US Ski Team SAPPORO, Japan (Feb. 28) – Biathlete Lars Berger of Norway was the surprise gold medalist Wednesday in the men's 15K freestyle at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships as a harder-than-expected snowstorm struck midway through the starting field. Lars Flora and James Southam (both Anchorage, AK) had the top U.S. results, finishing 57th and 58th in the field of 119 racers.

Two days of relay racing are up next at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. The relays are always the crowd favorite at every World Champ event, and this year will be no different. Mother nature has decided to give the racers a break for both days of the relay, with predicted highs in the 30’s (F) and partially sunny skies. This will be quite a nice contrast from the wacky weather in yesterday’s...

The first and only individual-start men's race at the 2007 Sapporo World Championships, a 15km freestyle, gets underway at 10:30 PM U.S. Mountain Time and 12:30 AM Eastern Time tonight. Here is the start list: http://www.fis-ski.com/pdf/2007/CC/2501/2007CC2501SL.pdf While there are at least 20 (if not more) skiers who have a decent shot at winning gold, some of the least-surprising potential winners would be Germans Tobias Angerer (overall World Cup leader) and Axel Teichmann (winner of Saturday's...

These great photos from Saturday's men's 30km pursuit race were submitted to us by Dion Lenting, a New Zealander living in Nagano, Japan. Many thanks, Dion!

Source: US Ski Team SAPPORO, Japan (Feb. 27) – Czech Katerina Neumannova won her second consecutive 10K freestyle world championships Tuesday as the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships resumed after a day off. Top American was Northern Michigan University senior Lindsey Weier (Mahtomedi, MN) in 52nd place. Neumannova, the Olympic 30K FR champion in addition to her 10K world title from 2005, led from start to finish in posting a gold-medal time of 23:58.4....

Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic retained her 10km freestyle World Championship title by destroying the field in Sapporo. The 34-year-old, who also won the 30km freestyle mass start at last year's Olympics, posted a time of 23:58.4 to win by over 26 seconds. 15km pursuit champion Olga Savialova took silver, 3.7 seconds quicker than Italy's Arianna Follis who gained her first individual medal at a major Championship. Neumannova was edged out by half a...

The women's 10 km freestyle individual startlist has been posted for tomorrow's race which will begin at 3pm Tuesday, Sapporo time. For those in North America, races begin tonight at 1 am (ET), 11 pm (MT). Can World Cup overall points leader Virpi Kuitunen prevail? North American's on the start list include Caitlin Compton(USA), Lindsey Weier(USA), Sarah Konrad(USA), Tasha Betcherman(CAN), Daria Gaiazova(CAN), Sarah Daitch(CAN), and Chandra Crawford(CAN). This will be Caitlin Compton's first start in...

Next up at the 2007 World Championships are the men's 15km and women's 10 km individual start skate races. No more drafting with mad sprints to the finish line. Skiers with the highest MaxVO2, the most efficient technique will prevail. Favorites for the podium could very well be the same racers that were on the podium in the pursuit race. Better yet, any of the other skiers in the top 10 from the pursuit could...

Source: US Ski Team Weier, he noted, is still a student at Northern Michigan University “and she's still young. She has steps to take if she's going to contend, and she's starting to take them now.” The next women's cross country race is Tuesday, the 10K freestyle technique. Multimedia: Photos from Sapporo are available at http://ussa.smugmug.com. Audio of Kikkan Randall from the pursuit is available at www.ussamedia.com. 2007 FIS NORDIC WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS Shirahata Sapporo,...

Olga Savialova of Russia outsprinted Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic and Kristin Stoermer Steira of Norway in the Women's 15 km Pursuit at the 2007 World Championships. Kikkan Randall (USA) was the top North American in 41st. Daria Gaiazova (CAN) was 46th, Tasha Betcherman (CAN) was 51st, and Lindsey Weier (USA) was 52nd. The young Norwegian Steira pushed the pace from the front for most of the race, churning out a relentless high tempo...

Press Conference Comments 25th February 2007 Ladies Pursuit 7.5 km C + 7.5 km F Number of spectators：3,360 1st place: Olga SAVIALOVA (RUS) It is great happiness for me. In the classic part, my tactic was not to run 100 per cent but to be careful. During the freestyle, I tried to gauge my rivals' feeling. In the third round, I decided to be the leader among the group of four skiers, but I thought...

Source: US Ski Team Kris Freeman and James Southam racing in the 15km skate (individual start) at US Nationals earlier this year in Houghton, MI. Photo by Erik Mundahl, MTU. “Kris is so strong. The result doesn't show how well he skied,” said Head Coach Pete Vordenberg. “Obviously, you have to stay on your feet, but he skied so well and so strong. I'm really looking forward to that 15K skate” next Wednesday. Downhill spill,...

Axel Teichmann of Germany won today's 30km men's pursuit race at the 2007 World Championships. In a tight race, Teichmann outsprinted fellow German Tobias Angerer and Pietro Piller Cottrer.

Source: US Ski Team SAPPORO, Japan (Feb. 23) – With the individual and team sprints completed at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, the cross country focus turns to distance races with the first competition Saturday – the men's 30K pursuit, mixing a mass start 15K classic technique race which leads into a 15K classic technique race. The sprints were staged at the Sapporo Dome while the remaining races are scheduled for Shirahatayama, a...