Falun, Sweden – Dario Cologna (SUI) had no problem maintaining his lead in the final World Cup race of the season, winning bot the the four event World Cup Final and the overall World Cup title. Vincent Vittoz (FRA)finished second, and Alex Harvey (CAN) skied up from 11th to 6th in the 15km freestlye handicap start. Cologna started the day with a 58 second lead on Alexander Legkov (RUS), and a 1:20 lead on Petter...
Trondheim, Norway, March 21. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) finished 13th in today’s 12.5K Pursuit competition at the Biathlon World Cup here, slipping four spots from his 9th place in Thursday’s Sprint. Burke, with three penalties, finished 1:14.8 behind Ole Einar Björndalen of Norway, who took the victory after shooting clean in the final standing stage. The “King of Biathlon” notched his 88th World Cup win in 33:36.3, with two penalties. At one point today,...
Falun, Sweden – Axel Teichmann (GER) won the men’s 3.3 km freestyle prologue in the second day of racing at the World Cup Finals. Teichmann edged Dario Cologna (SUI) by .2 seconds. Martin Koukal (CZE) was third, +5.3. Canadian Alex Harvey continued his impressive skiing, placing 8th. “It was a good race for me today,” said Teichmann. “After the World Championships I was not so strong, and had some poor results. Now I hope that...
Falun, Sweden – Claudia Nystad (GER) won the World Cup final 2.5km freestyle prologue, edging Charlotte Kalla (SWE) by 2.7 seconds. Overall World Cup leader Petra Majdic was 5th, and her closest challenger, Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) 3rd. It was another beautiful day in Sweden, warm and sunny. 70 women competed, and only two did not start. Britta Norgren (SWE) and Esther Bottomley (AUS), the two withdrawals, are now out of the World Cup Finals. Nystad...
Stockholm, Sweden – The Norwegian men swept the podium in the first event of the World Cup Final. Johan Kjoelstad led the way, skiing away from teammates John Kristian Dahl and Eldar Roenning on the last hill to claim the victory. The three Norwegians opened a gap midway through the A-Final, and as they approached the last large climb, it was only a question of which of them would take the top spot. It was...
Stockholm, Sweden – Petra Majdic (SLO) continued her winning ways, overcoming a crash in the quarterfinals to win the last World Cup sprint of the season. Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN), who is attempting to overcome a 200 point deficit in the overall standings, finished second. Majdic wrapped up the sprint title weeks ago, but is now looking to win the overall as well. She qualified in 9th, but in her quarterfinal, she crashed on the...
Rebecca Dussault (Saab Salomon Factory Team) skied to a 58 second win over Brooke Gosling in women’s 30km Mass Start at Canadian Nationals. Ekaterina Vinogradova was third and Shayla Swanson fourth. In the men’s 50km, Gord Jewett edged Mike Sinnott (Saab Salomon Factory Team) by 2.9 seconds. Noah Hoffman was just 6.5 seconds back in third, and Graham Nishikawa +7.7 in fourth. The following is Dussault’s recap of the race:
I got an email from Trond Flagstad, head coach of the UAA Nordic Ski Team. Trond sent some last minute skis for a grind before NCAA Championships, and Ultratune shipped the skis directly to Rumford Maine, where they arrived the day before the skate rac...
VIKERSUND, Norway (March 15) – World Champion Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) ended the season Sunday with a strong win in the final DKB FIS Nordic Combined World Cup in Norway, winning the prestigious King’s Cup, one of the sport’s top honors. It was his fifth win of the season and eighth of his career. Demong was presented with the King’s Cup in the private viewing box of Norway’s King Harald V, who attended all of Sunday’s events in Vikersund, west of Oslo. The...
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Donner Summit, CA — Sunny skies and close finishes marked the second day of Junior Olympics competition Wednesday at Auburn Ski Club Training Center. Air temperatures were much warmer (in the high-30s) than during Monday’s sprint races but the snow was still firm and fast, racers said. Although Wednesday’s distances were far greater than Monday’s sprints, several races came down to the wire. The girl’s J2 5k race ended with Rocky Mountain teammates Hannah...
Duntroon, Ontario – The Canadian National Championships are underway. Both the Team Sprint and the 5/10km freestyle have been completed. 5/10km Freestyle – Monday, March 9th Robin McKeever took another stride closer to putting his name in the cross-country skiing history books as having won the most Canadian Championship medals ever after claiming the gold on Monday at the Haywood Ski Nationals in Duntroon, Ontario. The 35-year-old McKeever, who has guided his younger brother Brian to seven...
Truckee, California – With temperatures in the low 20s, sunny skies and a few gusts of wind — conditions were ideal for the first day of competition at the Junior Olympics hosted by Auburn Ski Club Monday. Spectators lined the 913m sprint course expected, and got, close finish after finish. Athletes agreed favorable conditions made for fast times. “There’s so much snow here I can’t really complain,” said Stella Holt, 15, of Whitefish...
Rebecca Dussault (Saab Salomon Factory Team) raced to victory, putting together the best bike, snowshoe, run and randonnee ski times to capture the XTERRA Winter World Championship. Last year Rebecca Dussault had a two-minute lead heading into the final ski stage but was on a heavy telemark ski set-up while eventual champion Sari Anderson came screaming by her on a randonnee rig and took away the win. It was an important equipment lesson learned for...
A fantastic 2009 AXCS National Masters (NM2009) long weekend in Anchorage, Alaska was capped off Sunday with a picture-perfect Tour of Anchorage 50/40/25km fleet of races under ideal conditions. As the finale to the NM2009, the Tour of Anchorage served as the distance freestyle National Masters Championship with official distances for each masters age/gender category. With a pad of fresh packed powder from a Thursday evening storm, skiers departing from three different start locations were...
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Lahti, Finland – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) skied to a convincing 22 seconds victory over Charlotte Kalla (SWE) in the women’s 10km freestyle this morning. Marthe Kristofferesen (NOR) was third. Kowalczyk won her fourth World Cup of the season, following a successful World Championships where she won two golds and a bronze. Her victory, coupled with Aino Kaisa Saarinen’s absence due to illness, has tightened the women’s overall World Cup race. Petra Majdic (SLO) who finished 19th today,...
Lahti, Finland – Alexander Legkov (RUS) won his second career World Cup, beating Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer by 7.5 seconds. Christian Hoffman (AUT) was third. The 25-year old Legkov was first at every checkpoint en route to the victory. “I’m really happy about today’s success,” said Legkov. “It was a great race and I gave my all. Liberec was not so good for me but now I am back and would like to fight...
Lahti, Finland – Petter Northug (NOR) continued his winning ways, edging teammate Ola Vigen Hattestad by inches at the line in the men’s 1.5 km freestyle sprint. Torin Koos led three Americans in the heats, finishing 12th. Hattestad, who had won 5 of 6 sprint starts this season, was unable to stop Northug’s roll. Neither of the two Norwegians qualified at the top – Hattestad was 14th and Northug 20th. This was normal for...
LAHTI, Finland (March 7) – Billy Demong made it two podiums for the weekend, finishing third Saturday in a nordic combined World Cup in Finland. Demong jumped fourth to get things going, but a fast paced start may have kept the World Champion from hitting the top of the podium Saturday. “I had another really good day on the jump hill. I felt pretty good physically and I thought it was going to be a...