Canada's Dahria Beatty set the benchmark on Thursday at Soldier Hollow as she won the U.S. Nationals skate sprint. Hannah Halvorsen is primed for World Juniors and Caitlin Gregg had a two-podium week including a win in the 10 k skate.
MIDWAY, Utah. — As she headed up Soldier Hollow’s infamous Hermod’s Hill for her fifth and final time, there wasn’t another skier in sight. At least none of the ones she started with. Chelsea Holmes, of Alaska Pacific University (APU), was fine with that. She never liked sprints to the finish, and on Tuesday, Holmes would have it her way. Of course, there was still the possibility that she would slip and skid to a...
U.S. Cross Country Championships (Soldier Hollow): 20/30 k classic mass starts After a day of rest, racers returned to the Soldier Hollow (SoHo) trails on Tuesday for the men’s 30-kilometer and women’s 20 k classic mass start competitions. Two laps into the the men’s eight-lap event, a front group began to form, with Kris Freeman of Team Freebird, Ben Lustgarten of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), Scott Patterson of Alaska Pacific University (APU) and his...
MIDWAY, Utah — With four grueling uphills per lap, the new U.S. Cross Country Championships women’s 10-kilometer nine years. Maybe flats are easier to find on Gregg’s Twin City turf than the hills that abound in SoHo. But the 36 year old still considers herself a climber. Gregg proved a point after she won by 2.2 seconds in the women’s 10 k freestyle on Saturday, the first day of nationals: put a hill, any hill, in front of her and...
U.S. Cross Country Championships (Soldier Hollow): 10 k skate [UPDATED] Don’t bet against Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg) in a distance skate event. The 36-year-old took another national title in the 10-kilometer freestyle individual start at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, earlier today in the first event of the 2017 U.S. Cross Country Championships. Gregg’s winning time was 27:00.6 on a cold, slow-snow morning at SoHo. Chelsea Holmes (Alaska Pacific University) was second, 2.2 seconds back,...
The Black Jack mini tour represented the final chance for Canadians to earn World Cup Period 2 starts. A timely week of snow and colder weather delivered great skiing conditions after an unusually warm November wreaked havoc on most of the western ski areas. That same warm weather canceled the Bozeman combined SuperTour/NorAm, which reduced the selection races from seven days to five. Chelsea Holmes of Alaska Pacific University (APU) continued her winning ways in Canada,...
Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers. *** FIS Nordic Combined Continental Cup in Klingenthal [UPDATE] Ben Loomis tallied two top 10’s and his U.S. Nordic Combined teammate Ben Berend...
Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers. *** IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto: 10/12.5 k pursuits [UPDATE] Third one day, fourth the next. That’s the streak Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon)...
(Note: This is not a race report but rather a digest of the day’s events. Check back for complete race reports.) *** IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto: Women’s 7.5 k sprint Susan Dunklee Results *** NorAm mini tour in Rossland: 10/15 k freestyle [UPDATE] The NorAm series kicked off its second stop on Friday with a three-race mini tour in Rossland, B.C. The men’s 15 k freestyle had a more traditional result, with Canadians retaking...
VERNON, B.C. –The combined Noram/SuperTour last weekend at Sovereign Lake, British Columbia, produced some exciting skiing and some challenging photography conditions with almost non-stop snowfall both days. Some of our best photos that didn’t make the
VERNON, B.C. — It might’ve been the first Canadian NorAm of the season, but the Americans made it all about themselves in what also doubled as their second stop on the U.S. SuperTour circuit this past weekend at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. U.S. skiers kept Canada off the podium in the classic sprints and freestyle intervals starts on Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11, with Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, of the Alberta World Cup Academy...
Here’s one that didn’t make Saturday’s freestyle |
Quotes, observations and photos from the Frozen Thunder freestyle distance, classic sprint and skate-sprint qualifier last week in Canmore, Alberta. “Frozen Thunder is definitely a huge asset to western North America. There is no doubt that it helps get you into ski shape long before the season starts,” local skier Russell Kennedy states.
In Canada's first unofficial on-snow race of the 2016/2017 season -- which most of nearly 100 competitors viewed as a training effort -- American Chelsea Holmes and Canadian national-team biathlete Brendan Green topped their respective fields in the 7.5 and 12 k freestyle races.
After notching national titles on the same day and leading Period 1 of the SuperTour, the Patterson siblings continued their season dominance, taking both the men's and women's 2016 Continental Skiers of the Year award. Honorable mention goes to the men's SuperTour winner Eric Packer and Chelsea Holmes, one of the circuit's most consistent female skiers.
Alaska Pacific University led from start to finish, with Erik Bjornsen, Rosie Brennan, Scott Patterson, and Chelsea Holmes, to win its third-consecutive mixed relay title at SuperTour Finals on Thursday in Craftsbury, Vt. A hybrid team called Vailbury Green placed second, and Jessie Diggins brought SMST2 from sixth to third at the finish.
Nine days after placing fifth in the Ski Tour Canada, the finale of the World Cup season, Jessie Diggins kept her foot on the gas and tallied a win in the women's 10 k freestyle at SuperTour Finals.
Aside from Norway's Therese Johaug dominating to take the overall Tour title and two Crystal Globes as well, the final day of the Ski Tour Canada saw three U.S. women crack the top 30, and six earn World Cup points, for the strongest team result of the season. "It almost brings tears to my eyes," U.S. women's coach Matt Whitcomb said.
Friday's 10 k freestyle was a good day for Norway's Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. She skied away for the win, stymied by neither the grueling course or the who's who of Norwegian stars she left in her wake. Jessie Diggins put her hold on fifth, leading four U.S. women in the top 22.
In case you missed the action, FasterSkier provides a gallery capturing the top scenes of Stage 7 at the 2016 Ski Tour Canada. Four American women finished in the top 30, with Jessie Diggins leading the team in 5th and Chelsea Holmes scoring her first World Cup in 22nd overall.