World Cup

Today's freestyle sprint race in Borlange, Sweden is underway, with several strong performances from North American skiers in the prelim which bode well for the subsequent elimination heats that will determine the actual final results. Canadian youngsters Devon Kershaw and Chandra Crawford (recent Olympic Gold Medalist) posted the fourth fastest and second fastest prelim times in the men's and women's heats respectively. Kershaw finished barely more than 1 second behind the fastest men's qualifier Vassili...

In today's freestyle sprint in Borlange, Sweden, it was a double-bronze day for Canada. With Devon Kershaw posting by far the best result of his young career in third, fellow Canadian Sara Renner equalled her best individual sprint result this season by likewise making it all the way to the A-Final and finishing third. Renner finished ahead of last year's World Sprint Champion Emelie Oehrstig of Sweden, with Italian Arianna Follis taking the win and...

VIESSMANN” FIS World Cup Cross-Country in Mora/Vasaloppet (Sweden), Mass start 90 km C men, 05.03.2006 After over four and a half hours of racing, it came down to a four-way battle to the line in the men's 90km classic Vasaloppet World Cup race Sunday. The top four skiers were separated by only 8 seconds. World and Olympic Champion Anders Aukland of Norway, who won the race in 2004, was beaten by two Swedish long-distance specialists....

After a gutsy breakaway at only the 5km mark, Norwegian teammates Marit Bjoergen and Hilde Pedersen skied by themselves at the front for the “last” 40km of today's mass-start 45km classic Vasaloppet race in Sweden. With 10km to go, Bjoergen went ahead of Pedersen and surged to a 1 minute, 22-second win–an impressive comeback result for Bjoergen after finishing well-below expectations in the Olympics. Her winning time was 2 hours, 17 minutes and 53 seconds....

The World Cup resumes this weekend with the 45-kilometer long classic Swedish Vasaloppet “Tjeivasan” for women, and then 90-kilometer classic Vasaloppet for men on Saturday. It will be a tough end of the season for those who are in the hunt for the overall World Cup title like Canada’s Beckie Scott, currently sitting in third place behind the leader Marit Bjorgen of Norway and second place Julia Tschepalova of Russia. Bjorgen has announced that she...

Sprint specialist Jens Arne Svartedal of Norway managed to out-race the distance skiers in today's 15k classic competition in Davos, Switzerland. It was the second time this season that a Norwegian sprinter managed to win a classic distance race – the first being Tor Arne Hetland's victory at the beginning of the season in November. Second to Svartedal today was the young Austrian Martin Tauber, his first-ever podium finish. Some may remember Tauber as the...

Canadian Sara Renner had perhaps the best distance race of her career (so far) today with an amazing 2nd-place finish in the 10k classic in Davos, Switzerland. Renner was 31.8 seconds behind winner Virpi Kuitunen, a former doping convict from Finland. Kuitunen won in 27 minutes, 58.8 seconds. Next it was Slovenian giant Petra Majdic in third, while Beckie Scott made it an even better day for Canada with a fourth-place finish, about 43 seconds...

After an excellent prelim where she qualified in 5th position, Canadian rookie Chandra Crawford raced to an amazing 3rd place in today's freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland. The race was won by Sweden's Anna Dahlberg ahead of Finland's Virpi Kuitunen. Crawford beat out a host of top Europeans including prelim winner Ella Gjoemle of Norway, last year's World Champion Emelie Oehrstig of Sweden, super-strong veterans Manuela Henkel (Germany) and Hilde Pederson (Norway), Olympic sprint medalist...

Today's freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland got off to a start with the individual qualification run which was won by Norway's Ella Gjoemle in 2 minutes, 4.52 seconds. Canadian rookie Chandra Crawford qualified less than a second behind in 5th, while her teammates Sara Renner (12th) and Beckie Scott (17th) also made the top-30 cut and will get to race in the head-to-head elimination heats later today. Also qualifying was U.S.A.'s Kikkan Randall in 24th,...

Two North American men skied the individual qualifying round fast enough to earn a spot in the head-to-head heats in today's freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland. USA's Andrew Newell qualified 7th fastest, putting him in quarterfinal #2 where he went up against eventual fourth place finisher Loris Frasnelli of Italy, and among others, Boerre Naess of Norway who went on to win the B-Final for 5th place. Newell finished third in his 6-person quarterfinal heat,...

Here is a link to a few good photos from the recent World Cup sprint in Oberstdorf, Germany The photos are by Arnd Hemmersbach/Nordic Focus

The US Sprinters continued their recent European success today in the World Cup classic sprint race in Oberstdorf, Germany. Andy Newell finished 4th, Torin Koos 11th. In the qualifying prelim, Koos was second and Newell fourth. Newell recovered from a bad start in his semifinal heat to advance all the way to the A Final where he went up against Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset, Johan Kjoelstad (NOR) and sprint world champion Vassilli Rotchev (RUS). Newell went out...

Oberstdorf, GER.-Beckie Scott’s podium streak came to an end at six on Sunday, but she didn’t go down without a fight in Oberstdorf, Germany. The Olympic champion, who has taken the world by storm in World Cup cross-country skiing this year, finished fifth in the women’s sprint. “I didn’t have a very good qualification run, but I managed to squeak into the top-30,” said Scott, who qualified in 21st spot. “It was very difficult waxing...

One year after the highly successful FIS Nordic World Ski Championships — with more than 370 000 spectators – the southernmost village of Germany will again host a FIS World Cup Cross-Country on January 21st-22nd. The Allgäu region, the town of Oberstdorf and President of the Organizing Committee Thomas Müller are all looking forward to the return of the Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country: “We invested more than 6 Million Euros in the cross-country infrastructure...

VIESSMANN FIS World Cup Cross-Country in Oberstdorf (Germany), Women Pursuit 7,5 km C + 7,5 km F, 21.01.2006 Beckie Scott earned her first World Cup win on European soil today, winning the Women Pursuit 7,5 km C + 7,5 in Oberstdorf, Germany. Sara Renner was 16th. No other North Americans raced. Third victory for Scott The 31-year-old Beckie Scott is the winner of the Pursuit Cross-Country World Cup race in Oberstdorf. The athlete from Canada...

VIESSMANN FIS World Cup Cross-Country in Oberstdorf (Germany), Men Pursuit 15 km C + 15 km F, 21.01.2006 Angerer unbeatable in Oberstdorf (GER) Tobias Angerer (Germany) won the Pursuit Race of the Cross-Country World Cup in Oberstdorf. The winning athlete from Germany finished the course just 0,4 seconds in a sprint ahead of the 28-years-old Anders Soedergren from Sweden. Angerer's team mate René Sommerfeldt took the third place 25,2 seconds behind the winner. A surprise...

The World Cup returns to Oberstdorf, the site of last years World Championship this weekend. Canadian and US skiers will race in both the pursuit and classic sprint. The upcoming World Cup races are important Olympic preparation races. It’s a great chance for Olympians to race the best, adjust their training based upon how they feel and their results. Many nations also use these races as Olympic team qualification races. The following weekend (January 28...

Val di Fiemme, ITA-Canada’s women’s cross-country skiers, who took the nation by storm on their home snow last month, teamed up to post an unofficial fourth-place result in a 4×5 kilometre World Cup team relay on Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy. With their fourth teammate, Chandra Crawford, forced to stay in the hotel room with a sore throat and cold, Canada’s Beckie Scott, of Vermilion, Alta., Sara Renner, of Canmore, Alta., and Amanda Ammar,...

VIESSMANN FIS World Cup Cross-Country in Val di Fiemme (Italy), Relay women 4 x 5 km, 15.01.2006 The Finns win at Val di Fiemme The Finnish women's team (Aino Kaisa Saarinen, Virpi Kuitunen, Riitta Liisa Lassila and Kaisa Varis) won the second team competition in the World Cup Cross-Country this season. They finished the course clear 18,7 seconds ahead of the team from Russia with Olga Rotcheva, Natalia Baranova, Evgenia Medvedeva, and Julija Tchepalova. The...

Val di Fiemme, ITA-A year ago Canada’s Sara Renner would have been happy with a 12th-place result in a women’s 15-kilometre mass start race. Today, it is simply not good enough. “It was a solid performance today and I’m satisfied, but I now suspect a lot more of myself,” said the 29-year-old Canmore, Alta. native. “After finishing sixth in this event in Canmore, I know I can consistently be in the top 10 and fight...