World Cup

The classic sprint in Asiago, Italy was held today using a new, slightly modified sprint format which allows all skiers who place in the top 30 from the qualification round to enter the quarterfinal heats (as opposed to only 16 skiers making the quarterfinals.) Sara Renner and Wendy Wagner both qualified in the top 30, with Wendy Wagner scoring a season-best result of 28th. Neither advanced from the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal Heat in Asiago: Bjerkeli of Norway in Front A new, modified format was used for this World Cup sprint race, such that the top 30 skiers advance from the qualification round and into larger quarterfinal heats (6 skiers instead of the traditional 4 per heat.) This also meant that the semifinals were larger as well, but only the top two from each semifinal heat advanced to the A final. Final Results: Men's World Cup...

Val di Fiemme – An unforgettable male relay has took place at the World Cup in Val di Fiemme. At the photo-finish Norway won thanks to an anchor leg by Tore Ruud Hofstad who competed with Christian Zorzi for a really difficult victory. The photo-finish gap was only  6/100 of a second for first place, and 2/100 between Rousselet (FRA) and Dementiev (RUS) to assign the 3rd place on the podium. It was a thrilling...

Results, Men – 30 km Pursuit: 1 Teichmann Axel GER 1:13:14.0 0.0 2 Filbrich Jens GER 1:13:14.7 +0.7 3 Vittoz Vincent FRA 1:13:14.8 +0.8 4 Fredriksson Mathias SWE 1:13:15.2 +1.2 5 Botvinov Mikhail AUT 1:13:15.3 +1.3 6 Dementiev Evgenji RUS 1:13:18.9 +4.9 7 Piller Cottrer Pietro ITA 1:13:19.6 +5.6 8 Di Centa Giorgio ITA 1:13:21.0 +7.0 9 Estil Frode NOR 1:13:21.1 +7.1 10 Angerer Tobias GER 1:13:21.5 +7.5 11 Soedergren Anders SWE 1:13:22.8 +8.8 12...

Val di Fiemme – Marit Bjoergen (NOR) and Axel Teichmann (GER), the two leaders of the overall World Cup, are the two big winners of the pursuit race in Val di Fiemme. The Norwegian, who was already known as the world's best sprinter, is showing this season that she is also one of the best distance skiers in the world. Wendy Wagner of the US was 57th. Bjorgen outsprints Smigun – from www.newspower.it The Finnish...

Val di Fiemme – Marit Bjoergen (NOR) and Axel Teichmann (GER), the two leaders of the overall World Cup, are the two big winners of the pursuit race in Val di Fiemme. The German was expected to win, and he continues to show his dominance of the World Cup circuit. Teichmann wins again – from www.newspower.it Today everything has been excellent. The sky was blue, the weather mild and the snow was wonderful. Tomorrow the...

The World Cup continues this weekend in Val Di Fiemme, Italy. Snow conditions are very good and the US Ski Team has been in town preparing for the races for a few days. They skipped last weekend's sprint races to focus on training and should be geared up for some good performances in the pursuit on Saturday. You can follow the races live on the internet here: www.valdifiemme2003.com

The Norwegian ski federation selected ten men and seven women to ski this weekend’s World Cup races in Italy. These skiers are selected: Espen Harald Bjerke Anders Aukland Frode Estil Tore Bjonviken Tore Ruud Hofstad Kristen Skjeldal Jens Arne Svartedal   Marit Bjœrgen Kine Beate BjœrnÃ¥s Ella Gjœmle Hilde G. Pedersen Vibeke Skofterud Kristin Stœrmer Steira Kristin Stemland HÃ¥vard Bjerkeli -Only relay Odd-Bjœrn Hjelmeset – Only relay Source: Norwegian Ski Federation

The Russian Duo of Ivan Alypov and Vassili Rotchev unexpectedly out-sped the Norway I team of Tor Arne Hetland and Jens Arne Svartedal in today's 6 x 1.1km freestyle team sprint relay in Bern. Almost no one would have picked the two Russians to win today after 17th and 40th place finishes in yesterday's individual sprint event. By comparison, Norway grabbed five of the top seven spots yesterday, interrupted only by Sweden's Thobias Fredriksson and...

-European family and friends cheer Canadian on to seventh in Swiss streets- Bern, Switzerland-Canada’s Sara Renner sprinted to a seventh-place result through the narrow streets of Bern, Switzerland in a cross-country skiing World Cup event on Saturday. The 28-year-old Canmore, Alta. native, whose father is originally from Switzerland, chased her best ever World Cup result in downtown Bern, lined with thousands of party-goers, including dozens of European family members cheering her on. Event organizers hauled...

First place in the women’s sprint relay in Bern, Switzerland and second in men’s relay were the results of Sunday’s races for the Norwegian sprinters. Here are some comments. http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=257402 men’s sprint relay: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/sport/article925422.ece The Norwegian women’s first team was in second place when Ella Gjomle sent Marit Bjorgen out on the last leg. The Norwegian sprint queen showed 3-400 meter before the finish who is the best World’s best sprinter. She accelerated away from...

The World Cup continues today in downtown Bern, Switzerland with freestyle sprints for women (800 meters) and men (1350 meters.) Norwegian men, led by Tor Arne Hetland and Trond Iverson, dominate the qualification round with five skiers advancing to the elimination heats. Sweden also has a strong showing with Thobias Fredrikkson joined by three other teamates in the top sixteen. On the women's side, Marit Bjorgen appears on track for another win, turning in the...

Norwegian Tor Arne Hetland barely outsprinted Thobias Fredriksson of Sweden in the men's final round of the World Cup freestyle sprint race in Bern, Switzerland. The other two skiers in the men's final, Johan Kjoelstad and Boerre Naess, finished a relatively distant 3.9 and 5.7 seconds behind Hetland and Fredriksson, highlighting the incredible speed of the two skiers up front. Marit Bjorgen The sprint course in downtown Bern was crowded on both sides by mobs...

From the women’s race in Düsseldorf Copyright: Marco Felgenhauer He believes that Thobias Fredriksson and Bjorn Lind have the best chances of reaching the podium on Saturday. – They are looking sharp! The Sprint race in Bern is skating and only 600-meters long right in the center of town. – It’s going to be narrow, tight and with sharp corners, just like the Formula 1 Grand Prix race car event in Monaco. It’s going to...

Canada's World Cup Rookie Grey Qualifies for 2006 Olympics Renner Picks Up Pace on World Cup Kuusamo, FIN—Canada’s George Grey earned a ticket to his first Olympic Winter Games on Sunday after posting one of his strongest results ever on the Cross-Country Ski World Cup in Kuusamo, Finland.   The Rossland, B.C. native, finished 41st in the men’s 15 kilometre classic event, crossing the line with a time of 39 minutes 09.3 seconds. The result...

Marit Bjorgen was again best of the Norwegian women in Sunday’s 10-kilometer classic race in Kuusamo, Finland. But Hilde G. Pedersen in sixth place and Vibeke Skofterud in seventh also showed (World) class. Bjorgen was clearly beaten by Kristina Smigun, but was only 1.8 seconds behind Katerina Neumannova and placed third. – The start of the season could not have been better, said Bjorgen after the race. National team assistant coach Egil Kristiansen was very...

Kristina Smigun of Estonia won Sunday’s 10-kilometer classic race in Kuusamo, Finland by thirteen seconds to Katerina Neumannova. Marit Bjorgen was third, while top North American was Sara Renner in 23. Wendy Wagner was 64th. Smigun took the lead in the last half of the race and won in 27:47.4. Results: 1 1094063 SMIGUN Kristina 1977 EST 27:47.4 0.00 2 1054778 NEUMANNOVA Katerina 1973 CZE 28:00.4 6.24 3 1303777 BJOERGEN Marit 1980 NOR 28:01.8 6.91...

Axel Teichmann of Germany was in a class by himself and won Sunday’s 15-kilometer classic World Cup race in Kuusamo, Finland by 25 seconds to Vassili Rotchev of Russia. Teichmann covered the three-lap race in 37:33.2, in the field of 98. Rene Sommerfeldt was third while Kris Freeman, USA was the top North American in 24. George Grey of Canada also showed improvement by placing 41. Freeman shook off a frustrating performance 24 hours earlier...

Results World Cup Men's 15 km Free Technique: 1 90 Vittoz Vincent FRA *12:30:00 35:26.9 0.0 2 101 Teichmann Axel GER *12:35:30 35:28.7 +1.8 3 76 Di Centa Giorgio ITA *12:23:00 35:45.5 +18.6 4 100 Sommerfeldt Rene GER *12:35:00 35:46.8 +19.9 5 92 Dementiev Evgenji RUS *12:31:00 35:51.8 +24.9 6 29 Zorzi Cristian ITA *11:59:30 35:55.2 +28.3 7 82 Piller Cottrer Pietro ITA *12:26:00 35:56.8 +29.9 8 42 Schwienbacher Freddy ITA *12:06:00 35:59.9 +33.0 9...

KUUSAMO, Finland (Nov. 26) – Czech Katerina Neumannova led all the way Friday to win a 10K freestyle technique World Cup race, holding off Estonian Kristina Smigun by 1.3 seconds. Neumannova's winning time was 26:58.1 with Wendy Wagner (Park City, UT), the lone U.S. skier, 80th. Canada's Sara Renner was the top North American, just missing World Cup points with her 31st place finish. For complete results: