At the conclusion of last season in late March, German cross-country national team member Tim Tscharnke still Norwegian gold-medal duo of Petter Northug and Øystein Pettersen. At the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Tscharnke and teammate Hannes Dotzler nearly took another medal in the team sprint, winning their semifinal and leading a three-person group in the final, before Tscharnke
The 2014 Olympics in Sochi were an unmitigated disaster for German cross country skiing and biathlon. We look back on why, using our own observations and a 235-page Germany Olympic committee analysis of the country's performance in Sochi. With problems identified, the question becomes: what about now?
OBERHOF, Germany — After several years of playing a dour second fiddle to Petter Northug (NOR), Axel Teichmann (GER) struck a different chord on Friday, besting the Norwegian at his own game with a strong attack on the last climb to win the second stage of the 2012 Tour de Ski. On snowy afternoon at the ski stadium in Oberhof, the race was rife with waxing challenges—temperatures holding at right around freezing, a mixture of...
goatee’d wonder Axel Teichmann. He had his worst points total in ten seasons on the World Cup, finishing in the top five just once before the bronze medal in the relay at World Championships, and ending his season after Oslo. So if the Germans were that bad, how did they finish sixth? It was scoring World Cup points by committee for the red, yellow, and black suits, as 13 men and seven women chipped in....
The 2010/2011 Veissmann Tour de Ski is nothing if not draining. Consisting of eight events in ten days in two countries, the fifth edition begins December 31st and runs until January 9th. The Tour begins with a freestyle prologue in Oberhof, Germany, on December 31st, followed by a classic pursuit start on January 1st. The Tour then moves to Oberstorf, Germany, for a sprint on January 2nd, and a pursuit on the 3rd. After a...
Germany Nations Cup Ranking: 6th (4308 pts) Men: 4th (2453 pts) Women: 8th (1855 pts) 2010/2011 A Team Men Tobias Angerer Jens Filbrich Axel Teichmann Tim Tscharnke Women Stefanie Boehler Nicole Fessel Evi-Sachenbacher Stehle Miriam Goessner Katrin Zeller What you may have missed last season: Tim Tscharnke rising to German sprinting domination. The 21 year-old kid with no previous World Cup points cruised onto the circuit and took home over 100 World Cup points, looking...
Most of his competitors train full time; Martin Rosvall, 32, works full time. In March, Rosvall was 15th overall at the Vasaloppet, after having led the podium finishers large portions of the way from Sälen to Mora. No small feat for an amateur.
Coming straight from a national team training camp, Petter Northug Jr. (NOR) welcomes Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA), Anders Soedergren (SWE) and Jack Mae (EST) and other international racers in the 3-race Tour de Troendelag events next week.
Axel Teichmann always thought that the stabbing pains in his legs at the end of races were a normal consequence of exerting himself. But revelations have emerged from Norway that he has actually been hamstrung by Haitian voodoo, practiced by none other than Teichmann’s chief rival, Petter Northug. The news of the witchcraft came out when reporters from Norway’s Dagbladet found Northug in the team’s locker room before one of the races at the World...
Whistler, British Columbia – With five k to go before the finish of the men’s 50 k classic Sunday morning, the front of the pack looked remarkably similar to the way it did five k from the start. Dario Cologna (SUI), Petter Northug, (NOR), Alexander Legkov (RUS)—all the heavy hitters were there. It wasn’t until 400 meters to go that things really started heating up, when Germany’s Axel Teichmann threw down a hard attack, stringing...
Whistler, British Columbia – He had to wait, but Petter Northug finally got to show off his dominating sprint finish against his perennial whipping boy Axel Teichmann. Northug and teammate Oystein Pettersen won the first gold by the Norwegian men’s cross-country ski team since 2002 in the team sprint competition at Whistler Olympic Park. The high-pressure system that has brought unusually sunny weather to Whistler held out for one more day. Firm tracks in the...
Canmore, Alberta – Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer wouldn’t mind moving his family to Canmore. “I just need to teach them English and we can come,” he said following his 2nd place finish in today’s 15km individual start freestyle. According to Piller Cottrer, Canmore is very similar to his home in the Italian Dolomites. “I have always raced very well here, and have now finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th in Canmore.” Piller Cottrer joined teammate...