-Canadian men and women team up to post strong sprint results- Pragelato, ITA-Canada’s one-two punch of Beckie Scott and Sara Renner charged for the podium at a World Cup cross-country team sprint relay in Pragelato, Italy on Sunday, but came up a whisker short finishing fourth. Canada’s top cross-country ski queens gambled on a new strategy to try and improve their World Cup standing in the relay. The duo usually has Renner, of Canmore, Alta.,...
Axel Teichmann returned to the top step of the podium today, with the help of German teammate Jens Filbrich. Together they won the 1.5km classic team sprint relay, ahead of Thobias Fredriksson and Bjorn Lind of Sweden. The Germany II team of Rene Sommerfeldt and Andreas Schluetter finished third. The U.S. Sprint Team of Andrew Newell and Torin Koos placed 16th and did not advance from the semifinals. Canadians Chris Jeffries and George Grey finished...
On day two of the pre-Olympic World Cups in Pragelato, the phenomenally strong German team of Viola Bauer and Claudia Kuenzel took charge of the classic team sprint. The Germans motored their way to victory, with Kuenzel coming in 1.9 seconds ahead of Sweden I (Emelie Oehrstig and Anna Dahlberg) on the final anchor leg. Sara Renner and Beckie Scott just missed the podium, only two seconds adrift of third place Finland. Tara Whitten and...
Today's 2 x 7.5km pursuit took place in Pregelato, Italy, on the trails that will be used for next year's Torino Olympics. The champion of last weekend's 15km, Katerina Neumannova, led during the classic portion of the race with Claudia Kuenzel (Germany) and Kristin Stoermer Steira (Norway) hanging tough. Heading into the steep climbs on the skate leg, the light-weight Steira took over the lead, and fought hard to the finish to take her first-ever...
Lukas Bauer rebounded from a somewhat dissapointing finish last weekend in the World Cup held in his home country (Czech Republic.) In today's 2 x 15km pursuit, Bauer grabbed a sensational World Cup win by passing Matthias Fredriksson with just a few meters remaining. The challenging pre-Olympic courses in Pragelato, Italy, made it possible for the best skiers to separate from the usually large leading group. Estonian Andrus Veerpalu had hammered out an 18 second...
Source: Skidsport.com The pre-Olympics in Pragelato, Italy are conflicting with the Swedish team’s current prioritization on training and the Swedish Championships which are starting next Wednesday. -We are following a plan towards Worlds and only the skiers which are currently training at altitude will compete in this weekend World Cup races in Pragelato, says national coach “Pekenâ€. Copyright: Marco Felgenhauer: Mikael Ostberg, Sweden won the Dusseldorf sprint race
We caught up with US Ski Team head coach Trond Nystad, currently in Pragelato, Italy preparing for this weekend’s Pre-Olympic/World Cup races. This weekend’s World Cup races include 15/30-kilometer pursuit/duathlon on Saturday and two-person sprint relay on Sunday. Trond was able to take a few minutes to answer some questions for us. Trond, can you tell us a little about where you are?, plans and expectations? We are currently in Pragelato, Italy where next years...
Next weekend’s World Cup races are in Pragelato, Italy on Saturday and Sunday. Â The US Ski Team will be rejoining the World Cup at these races. Continuous pursuit (duathlon) and classic sprint relay is on the agenda. Events Saturday January 22: Women 2 x 7.5 kilometer (7.5-kilometer classic followed by 7.5-kilometer skate) Men: 2 x 15 kilometer (15-kilometer classic followed by 15-kilometer skate) Sunday January 23: Classic sprint relay men and women Most of the...
CORRECTION: In our excitement about Beckie Scott’s return to the World Cup, we wrote that her 5th and 15th place finishes represented the two best North American results of the season, but that is incorrect. Beckie’s 5th place is the best North American results of the season; however Sarah Renner of Canada was 7th in the World Cup sprint race in Bern on December 4. Sorry about that! Beckie Scott wasted little time proving she...
Vincent Vittoz of France simply ate up the hills in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic where today's World Cup 15k freestyle took place. The hilly course and slow conditions suited Vittoz as well as Austrian skier Christian Hoffman, who scored his best result of the season–second place, only 4.4 seconds behind Vittoz. Tobias Angerer (third place) was the top finisher for the strong German team. Last year's overall World Cup winner, Rene Sommerfeldt, finished fifth while...
Katerina Neumannova put forth an amazing effort to finish 7.7 seconds ahead of overall points leader Marit Bjorgen in today's 10k freestyle World Cup race. Racing in her own country (Czech Republic), Neumannova powered through the finish line with a time of 26:43.8. Russian Julija Tchepalova made her first World Cup podium of the season in third, 13.6 seconds behind Neumannova.
Mathias Fredriksson, Anders Sodergren and the men’s sprint team are Sweden’s big hopes in this weekend’s World Cup races in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic Mathias Fredriksson skied well in last weekend’s World Cup races in Otepaa, Estonia. He returned after having struggled with a recent cold and placed sixth.
The technical director/head coach of the Italian team, Marco Albarello was satisfied with some of his skier’s performances in the recent World Cup races in Otepaa, Estonia.
Today’s World Cup classic sprint race in Otepaa, Estonia was cancelled. It was very strong wind Saturday night and on Sunday in Estonia and a number of trees blew down on the ski courses in Otepaa. The organizers had for that reason no other choice than to cancel the sprint races. The World Cup continues next weekend with freestyle races in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic: January 15: 10/15-kilometer freestyle January 16: Individual skate sprint North...
World Cup racing picked up again today after a 21-day break; the first World Cup race of 2005 was the women's 10k classic in Otepaa, Estonia. Overall leader Marit Bjorgen didn't lose any ground over the holidays, winning by over ten seconds ahead of her 40-year-old Norwegian teammate Hilde Pedersen. Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic finished 29 seconds behind Bjorgen, which was good enough for third place in a rather spread-out field of 45...
Classic specialist Andrus Veerpalu blew away the entire World Cup field by 42.3 seconds in today's 15k classic. Frode Estil of Norway was the only skier to get inside the 45 second gap between Veerpalu and fellow Estonian Jaak Mae. This was the first World Cup men's race in roughly three weeks, bringing some notable changes in the results. Axel Teichmann of Germany, who seemed nearly invincible up until today's race, finished a mere fifth...
The World Cup resumes with races in Otepaa, Estonia with 10-kilometer classic for women and 15-kilometer classic for men on Saturday January 8. and continues with classic sprint races on January 9. The Norwegian ski Federation has selected the following skiers for Otepaa: 10 km classic for women: Marit Bjœrgen, Rognes Kine Beate BjœrnÃ¥s, IL Varden Ella Gjœmle, LYN Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen, Nybygda Vibeke Skofterud, Slitu IF Kristin Mürer Stemland, ByÃ¥sen Kristin Stœrmer Steira, Hœybr&Stovner...
The World Cup continues this weekend in Ramsau Austria. Vincent Vittoz of France braves a snowstorm and winds gusts Saturday to win his second World Cup cross country race of the season, edging Swede Anders Soedergren by three-tenths of a second in a 30K freestyle. World Cup leader Axel Teichmann was third, two seconds back. On a team hard-hit by sickness, Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT) was the lone American to race, finishing 70th in a...
Marit Bjorgen paired with rising star Ella Gjoemle for the second time this year, and for the second time, they managed to finish ahead of the rest of the world–this time in Asiago, Italy. One second back was the Finland I team of Virpi Kuitunen and Aino Kaisa Saarinen. These two teams utterly crushed the rest of the field. Sweden finished third, 28 seconds back. In the men's relay, Norwegian teams took first and third,...
NOTE: Follow the race live using the link on the FasterSkier.com homepage under “Events”. The cross country ski World Cup restarts after just one day of rest with another appointment in Italy. An individual sprint race and a Team sprint race in classic technique are taking place in Asiago today and on Wednesday on the Golf Course tracks. It is the fifth time that the Plateau of Asiago hosts the World Cup. The event of...