This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. The prize for winning Oslo’s Holmenkollen 50 k is lifelong bragging rights. Such is the nature of the prestige afforded this event within the Nordic ski community. Norwegian fans, especially, remember certain...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. There were a number of stories to unpack during the men’s 50-kilometer mass start free, which was changed last minute to 28 k due to extreme weather conditions in Zhangjiakou....
The APU Elite Team members capped its recent training camp on Eagle Glacier with an especially long ski: 50 kilometers, or six loops, on the high alpine ridge above Girdwood, Alaska. "If you’ve ever finished a long race and found that you lacked the snappy finishing kick that you were looking for, this is for you," Becca Rorabaugh writes.
Brian Gregg was surprised, but thrilled, to get a World Cup start for the legendary Holmenkollen 50 k: "If I had to pick one World Cup to do all season, this would be the one that I wanted." He didn't waste his chance, skiing to 35th place. U.S. teammate Noah Hoffman placed 44th.
Norway's Sjur Røthe studied the tapes of Holmenkollens past, including how Petter Northug has taken some of his many wins. He had a plan, and executed flawlessly, beating Switzerland's Dario Cologna by just a toe length to earn his first ever World Cup victory.
Alex Harvey hung with the main pack until just a few kilometers from the finish of the Holmenkollen 50 k, then outsprinted Toni Livers of Switzerland for 13th place. With Ivan Babikov placing 27th, the Canadian camp seemed happy with they way their 2015 season finished.
Never count Petter Northug out of a ski race. In the final race of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships, the Norwegian never cracked the top-10 of the 50 k until the last kilometer where he out-sprinted the competition to take his fourth victory of the Championships.
Through the slow California conditions and ski exchanges, Kris Freeman battled Andy Newell and Einar Ulsund for the national title in the 50 k classic for over two hours on the last day at spring series. Freeman pulled away in the last 5 k to beat Newell by almost a minute and finish off his season with a win.
A World Championship 50k, let alone one at Holmenkollen, is not usually a race that one just jumps into, but US Nordic Combined star Billy Demong is doing just that. Not literally, of course—though he certainly has the chops to pull off such a feat. With Kris Freeman opting to sit out the freestyle event scheduled for 1:00PM in Oslo, Norway, a spot on the US squad opened up. The 50 k is second only...