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Blink Festival

Sophia Laukli Wins Norway’s Marquee Rollerski Race, Climbing to Top of Fjord and Podium in Lysebotn

It’s the kind of event that explains Norwegian’s love for cross country skiing – it represents all they want to represent about themselves, and nothing else. In the humid, green summer, some of the world’s best winter athletes come to the coastal town of Sandnes in the country’s south for four days of roller skiing racing – the Blink Festival – in which spectators will pack nearly every inch of town center, mountainside, or arena...

Kevin Bolger and his Summer in Sweden

While the majority of the members of the World Cup squad are based in either Vermont or Alaska during the summer, 28-year-old Kevin Bolger has continued his streak of seasons spent above the 60th north parallel. FasterSkier caught up with Bolger just as he was returning to the U.S. from a few months of training in Sweden.  Just before his return, Bolger had competed in the Alliansloppet rollerski races, taking place as part of the...

Summer Success for Sundby, Wins First Race of Blink Festival

Stands crowded with 50,000 cheering spectators. Bibbed athletes clad in shorts and T-shirts clicking by on rollerskis. Competitors representing various countries dousing themselves with bottled water as they cross the finish line. These were among the sights and sounds of the world’s largest summer rollerski-race series, Norway’sjust 10 women.  Slind took the win in a time of 2:20:04.2, while fellow Norwegian Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes claimed second, 2:11.1 minutes back. Belarus’s Yulia Tikhonova completed the women’s...

Despite Post-Olympic Blues, Stephen Motivated to Conquer the ‘Next Step’

“If you are always getting what you set out to achieve it’s way too easy. [Last season] has motivated me and the team is definitely motivated to go out and kick some butt,” Liz Stephen told FasterSkier. After her team failed to realize its Olympic-year goals, Stephen says that she's ready to reach for the next level, and it certainly looks like she's headed in that direction.

Randall and Stephen Signed Up for Blink Festival

The Blink Ski Festival, touted as the largest summer ski event in the world, takes place in Sandnes, Norway, every July and attracts some of the best skiers in the world. This year its international lineup extends to the US; Kikkan Randall and Liz Stephen will be joining an impressive lineup of other world-class nordic athletes at the festival, which runs July 19 – 21. The rollerski festival features biathlon and cross-country events for juniors...

Organizers of the Blink Festival in Sandnes, Norway decided to cancel Saturday’s races in light of the tragic events in Utoya and Oslo that have sent the country reeling. “The situation has changed dramatically over the past day, and all parties agreed to cancel today’s events,” wrote Jan Kvalheim on Saturday, a representative of the festival organizer, World Event. The three-day annual festival, which has been around since 2006, puts on cross country and biathlon...