Lahti, Finland – Petra Majdic won her 6th World Cup race of the season and took over the overall World Cup lead. Arianna Follis (ITA) was seconds and Pirjo Muranen (FIN) took third. Majdic, who already clinched the Sprint Cup title, passed Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) in the overall standings, and now leads her by 74 points. Saarinen did not race due to illness. Despite her season-long success, Majdic went without a medal at World...
LAHTI, Finland (March 6) – Fresh from his World Championship win in Liberec, Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) showed he’s still on fire Friday, earning his fourth World Cup win of the season in Finland. “It was for sure a big goal to keep the momentum going from World Championships. I felt a little tired this week, but all things considered, it was a really good competition,” Demong said. Demong headed in to the cross country...
Tad Elliot races for the Saab Salomon Factory Team. The following is Tad’s account of the Great Ski Race. The Great Ski Race is one of the largest Nordic events west of the Mississippi River, with 1,032 racers competing in 2008. The race covers 30 kilometers, beginning at the Tahoe Cross Country Center in Tahoe City, and ending at the Cottonwood Restaurant in Truckee. Complete results and more information can be found at
All three NCAA divisions have completed racing for the regular season, and teams now prepare for the NCAA Championships the weekend of March 14th in Rumford, Maine. CCSA – Central Region Championships by Matias Saari Pierson, Ocariz win first Central Region ski titles At the top of the penultimate climb on Sunday in Houghton, Mich., five Nordic skiers were still grouped together and in contention for the NCAA Central Regional Championships women’s freestyle title. At...
Mora, Sweden – Daniel Tynell (SWE) joined select company when he became just the sixth skier to win the famed Vasaloppet more than once. Tynell completed the 90km classic race in a time of 4:10:55, 23 seconds ahead of fellow Swede Oskar Svärd. Sandra Hansson (SWE) continued her strong marathon season, winning the women’s event. Said Tynell after the race, “to win Vasaloppet is a huge thing in Sweden, well in the class of a...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Petter Northug (NOR) won the men’s 50km freestyle mass start, the final event of the 2009 World Championships. Northug moved his way up thorugh the pasck over the last 10 kilometers, positioning himself for the final sprint. He crossed the line .7 seconds ahead of Russian Maxim Vylegezhanin. Tobias Angerer (GER) took the bronze, two seconds behind Northug. The victory earned Northug his third gold of the Championships. He also won...
Liberec, Cazech Republic. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) won her second gold of the 2009 World Championships, skiing to victory in the woen’s 30km freestyle mass start. Liz Stephen led the US in 17th. Kowalczyk made a move with under a kilometer to go, opening a gap she was able to hold to the finish. Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) was second, +8.8. The battle for silver was extremely tight. Medvedeva outsprinted bronze medalist Valentina Schevchenko (UKR) and 4th...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Petter Northug is on his way to cementing his position as one of the all time great Norwegian relay anchors, once again overcoming a deficit before powering it on in the finish to claim the men’s 4x10km relay gold over Germany. Northug, at 23, already has anchored a number of impressive relay victories, and now has a World Champinship gold in the event. This was Norway’s fifth consecutive World Championship relay...
Liberec, Czech Republic – The Finnish team defended their World Championship title in the women’s 4×5 kilometer relay this morning, behind a strong anchor leg from Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. Germany took the silver in a sprint finish with Sweden. The favored Finns appeared to be on pace for an easy victory, on par with the Team Sprint yesterday. Pirjo Muranen, the bronze medalist in the individual sprint, skied the first leg. She tagged off in second,...
It is a bit late this week, but if you missed the collegiate results form last weekend, here you go! EISA and RMISA action. Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships The University of New Mexico ski team ended an 16-year drought and won the 2009 NCAA West Regional/Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships today with 565 points, beating out perennial favorite Colorado, host Nevada and 2008 NCAA champion Denver for the title. Sophomore Simon Reissmann...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen skied away from the competition to bring home the gold for Finland in the women’s classic Team Sprint competition. The pair posted a 20 second victory over Silver medalists Sweden. Italy was another 3.8 seconds back to take the bronze. Saarinen and Kuitunen set a fast pace early, stringing out the pack on the first lap. Their lead was 3.5 seconds after one lap, and a...
Liberec, Czech Republic – The Norweigan duo of Ola Vigen Hattestad and Johan Kjoelstad took the gold in the men’s Team Sprint competition this morning, a day after finishing first and second in the individual sprint. Tobias Angerer and Axel Teichmann claimed silver for German in a photo finish with the Finnish team of Ville Nousiainen and Sami Jauhojaervi. As is often the case in team sprint events, the lead pack remained tightly grouped throughout...
New England Espy and Freeman Win TD Banknorth Silver Fox Trot (source: nensa.net) Posted by: Link to Today’s Results Link to J2 Qualifier Standings Class Results Overall Results for 15Km and 30Km, with leg times for 30Km Anchorage Cup: Sven Johansson 30K “Tour Of Kincaid” By Patrick Stinson The Sven Johansson 30K was held Sunday under sunny skies at Kincaid Park in Anchorage. The day was marked by great weather and relatively fast, old snow...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) won the men’s World Championship sprint, winning his 5th 6th sprint in 7 World Cup starts this season. His only “loss” was a second place. His teammate Johan Kjoelstad took the silver, and Russian Nikolay Morilov the bronze. This was Hattestad’s and Kjoelstad’s first ever World Championship medals. “It’s unbelievable! I have felt pressured over the last days. I tried not to think about it – for...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Arianna Follis (ITA) won the women’s 1.3km freestyle sprint at the World Championships. American Kikkan Randall finished second, just ahead of Pirjo Muranen (FIN). Follis, who posted the second fastest qualifying time behind Russian Natalia Matveeva, claimed her firs World Championship Gold Medal. She also won a bronze in 2005 in Sapporo. “It is an incredible day. I have a gold medal and I am the World Champion! I used the...
Kikkan Randall became the first US woman to win a World Championship medal in cross-country skiing when she skied to second place in the 1.3km freestyle sprint in Liberec, Czech Republic today. Randall finished .6 seconds behind winner Arianna Follis (ITA), and barely edged out bronze medalist Pirjo Muranen (FIN). Randall started the day strongly, posting the 7th fastest qualifying time. After a slow start to the season, leader of the US women’s team demonstrated...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Petter Northug (NOR) won the men’s 30km World Championship Pursuit, skiing to a 3.1 second win over Anders Soedergren (SWE). Northug captured his first individual World Championship medal with a strong attack on the last climb. The mass start pursuit can often end in a mass sprint to the line, consisting of 20+ athletes. But today was different. The main pack stayed together through the entire 15km classic portion of the...
About the Birkie: Celebrating its 36th year, the American Birkebeiner (1-800-USA-BRKE;Rebecca Dussault of Gunnysack, CO won the womens race in 2:26:39.5 while Kristina Strangberg was ten seconds back in third with a time of 2:26:49.7. With such and exciting finish for Brooks followed by a win at last year’s Tour of Anchorage, it will be pretty tough for Brooks to ignore her Olympic year looming! Bryan Cook finishing 43 seconds out and Canadian Dan Roycroft...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) won the women’s 15km pursuit at the Nordic World Championships in Liberec. American Liz Stephen finished 15th. Kowalczyk claimed her second medal in two races at the Championships. She won the bronze in Thursday’s 10km classic. Kowalczyk edged out Norweigan Kristin Stoermer Steira by 1.7 seconds. Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN), the gold medalist in the 10k took the bronze, +8.0. A lead group, consisting of the top three...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Kris Freeman skied his best race in 6 years, finishing 4th in the World Championship 15km individual start, just 1.4 seconds out of the bronze medal. Freeman had a very similar result in 2003 in Val di Fiemme, Italy, also finishing 4th, 2.1 seconds out of third. “Fourth place is just not the place you want to be at World Championships. This has happened to me twice now. I don’t know...