Classical Style Races: 30km, 15km and 10km A large crowd of people gathered to attend a very solemn prize giving ceremony on the village square, ending the first day of competitions. The youngest medalist was just 30 years old, the oldest was 89 and came from Finland. He raced the 15 km event in only 48’39’’! The sun from the first day turned into snow on the Vercors for the women’s classical events. The second...
Intermountain Junior Nationals Super Qualifier at Soldier Hollow 1/30-31/2009 By Kathryn Tucker, parent of SVSEF skier Torin Tucker (J2) Soldier Hollow hosted the Junior Nationals Super Qualifier January 30-31, 2009, drawing competitors from Vermont to California and most everywhere in between, yielding a starting field of 579. This venue can easily accommodate such a large race field, having hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics Nordic competitions, and offers some nice amenities including a world class stadium...
Canmore, Alberta, Canada – The American 3 x 6 km Relay in the Youth Women class had moments of triumph and of struggle. Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) led off for the team, shooting clean with no extra round in prone and only needing two extra rounds in standing she tagged off to Grace Boutot (Fort Kent, ME) in fourth place just two seconds off the third place Italian Team. Boutot skied well, posting the second...
Petr Sedov (RUS) claimed victory in the men’s 20km pursuit yesterday at the World Junior Championships. The 18-year old Sedov, hailing from Moscow, won going away in a time of 52:54.1, a full 48.3 seconds ahead of his teammate Raul Shakirzianov. Third place went to Hans Christer Holund (NOR), the Junior World Champion in the 10 km classic last year. Places 2-4 were decided in a sprint, with Shkirzianov holding off Holund and Tim Tscharnke...
“You could not ask for a better day. This is what cross country skiing is all about,” said Olympian Kris Freeman following his victory in the 50km classic event. The 2009 Marathon will be remembered for all the superlatives: great snow, solid tracks, easy waxing, nice temperature, lots of fun, and even abundant sunshine. Over 600 skiers enjoyed the best of what the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont has to offer Nordic skiers. The marathon debuted...
CCSA – Telemark SuperTour The Central Collegiate Ski Association competed as part of the SuperTour at the Telemark resort in Cable, Wisconsin. Saturday featured a 5/10km classic race, and Sunday a 10km freestyle. Reports by Matias Saari. Saturday – 5/10km Classic Phil Violett and Laura DeWitt of Northern Michigan University were the top collegiate performers on Saturday at the Telemark SuperTour classic technique race in Cable, Wis. Violett, who like DeWitt was the 2008 Central...
Praz de Lys, France – Invild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR) won her second World Junior gold in two events, taking the victory in the 10km pursuit. Oestberg skied at the front the entire race, breaking away in the skate leg en route to 24.3 second victory over Finland’s Krista Lahteenmaki. Hanna Brodin (SWE) claimed her second podium of the Championships, adding the bronze to a silver in the SUnday’s sprint. Brodin was just over 40 seconds...
Minneapolis, Minnesota – THe City of Lakes Loppet is likely one of the few urban ski marathons in the world. The race starts in Theodore Wirth Park in Minneaoplois, and winds approximately 35km through woods, over parkways and across lakes to a grand finish before cheering crowds on the streets of Uptown. The weekend consists of 12 different events, six of them races. The premier event is the 35km freestyle on Sunday. In the women’s...
Cable, Wisconsin – Kristina Strandberg (Saab Salomon Factory Team) won her second SuperTour in two days, wile Leif Zimmerman (USST) was back on top after finishing 4th on Saturday. Strandberg, who leads the overall SuperTour rankings, and appears to be the easy favorite, even with half a season of racing to go, edged out Nicole DeYong (Fischer/Craft,SVSEF) by 1.5 seconds in the 10km freestyle event. DeYong was fifth on Saturday and with her performances this...
Praz de Lys, France – The U23 Championships came to a close with a classic sprint, also the first event of the World Junior Championships. U23 Men The Canadian men’s U23 team capped an excellent week by placing four skiers in the top 10, led by Alex Harvey in 5th. Harvey, gunning for a podium result, and possibly a victory, was foiled in achieving those goals, but still impressed with two top-5 results. Teammate Len...
Canmore, Alberta, Canada, January 31. Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) placed sixth in the Youth Women 6K Sprint at the Youth/Junior World Championships this afternoon. Byrne had one penalty on a very windy day that saw most competitors have two to five penalties. She finished 29.8 seconds behind co-Champions Olga Galich of Russia and Yan Zhang of China. The duo recorded the same time of 19:31.4. Galich had one penalty to Zhang’s clean shooting. Byrne was...
Rybinsk, Russia – Andy Newell (USA) turned in his best result of the season, finishing 5th in the freestyle sprint in Rybinsk. Torin Koos was 17th in the event won by Renato Pasini (ITA), Newell qualified 4th, 1.03 seconds behind Russian Anton Gafarov. “Andy skied as well as he possibly could today,” Head Cross Country Coach Peter Vordenberg said. “He skied the final really well and fifth was it for the day.” Newell’s career best...
Rybinsk, Russia – Pirjo Muranen (FIN) claimed victory on the 1.3 km course, just ahead of Arianna Follis and Magda Genuin (both ITA). World Cup leader Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) was edged out of the podium and finished fourth while Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), the winner of the qualification round took fifth place. In sixth position was the home favorite, Natalia Matveeva (RUS). For Muranen it was her fourth ever individual World Cup victory – her...
Rybinsk, Russia – Mariann Longs (ITA) won the first ever 10km freestyle mass start event. Longa edged teammate Ariann Follis by .4 seconds. Steffie Bohler (GER) was third. The front pack consisted of 17 skiers at the finish – all were within 6.6 seconds of Longa. The top 34 were within one minute of the lead, and the filed remained one large pack thorugh the first 3 kilometers. Longa and Follis skipped last weekend’s World...
Cable, WI – Kristina Trygstad-Saari (Saab Salomon Factory Team) and Leif Zimmerman (USST) won a small but competitive freestyle sprint as the SuperTour continued in the Midwest. Only 10 women and 20 men took to the line for the qualification round, with the top eight advancing directly to the semi-finals. Trygstaad-Saari posted this fast time by 6 seconds over Nicole deYong (Fischer/Craft,SVSEF). She won the first semi-final to advance to the A-Final along with Kristina...
Praz de Lys Sommand, France – Liz Stephen (USA)and Morgan Arritola (USA) finished 7th and 8th respectively in the 10km freestyle in the first U23 Championship race. The race was won by Sylwia Jaskowiec (POL). Jaskowiec, a veteran of 20 World Cup races with a career best finish of 23rd, outdistanced the field by 42 seconds. Betty-Ann Nilsen (NOR) was second, edging Spain’s Laura Orgue by 1.5 seconds. Stephen completed the 10km course in a...
Midwest Noquemanon Ski Marathon The 11th annual Noquemanon Ski Marathon attracted over 900 competitors among all races. There were four main events – a 51km classic and freestyle and a 25km classic and freestyle. The point to point course runs from Ishpeming, thehome to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame to Marquette’s Superior Dome, the world’s largest wooden domed stadium along the shores of Lake Superior. Mike Sinnott (Saab Salomon Factory Team), a week...
EISA – Bates Carnival Day 1 – 5/10km Classic Individual Start Dartmouth used its Nordic skiing depth in the men’s 10k and women’s 5k classic to beat out the University of Vermont by six points. The Catamounts had superior scores in the Alpine giant slalom section with 117 and 115 points for men’s and women’s teams compared to 79 and 96 for the Big Green but lost out in the overall Nordic skiing points, with...
Two strive for the victory…. and a third runs away with it. Everyone expected a duel between the Aukland brothers, Joergen and Anders from Norway and Italian Marco Cattaneo, but in the end it was Swede Jerry Ahrlin who climbed the first step of the podium in the 36th Marcialonga di Fiemme e Fassa. It was he who raised his arms in victory at the finishing line in Viale Mendini in Cavalese, at the end...
Otepaa, Estonia – Norweigan Ola-Vigen Hattestad continues to dominate the men’s World Cup sprint competitions, winning the 1.4km classic event as Norway controlled the A-Final. Hattestad has now won four of five World Cup sprint events this season and finished second to Swede Emil Joensson last week in Whistler. Hattestad rarely qualifies at the top, but shows remarkable patience and finishing speed in the heats. Yesterday he qualified all the way back in 25th place...