This week in Canmore, the Bow Valley will host about 200 athletes from 19 countries at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Cross-Country World Cup, the 11th stop on the international docket and the first time in North America in eight years. The races include 10 k freestyle individual starts on Friday, freestyle sprints on Saturday, 20 k classic mass starts on Sunday, a day of rest, then classic sprints on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at the...
Canmore hosted the second NorAm of the 2018/2019 season on December 13th, 15th, and 16th. The event also served as U23 and Junior World trials. By the end of the weekend, starts at the U23/Junior World Championships and the World Cup’s Tour de Ski would be earned. This event was originally scheduled for Whistler Olympic Park but had to be moved as a result of heavy rain and inclement weather forecasted into the immediate future. The...
On Nov. 9, news broke that
Frozen Thunder is back, but it’s not the same Frozen Thunder you knew before. Every year, snow is stored all summer at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta, and rolled out in October to provide local ski and biathlon teams with on-snow training opportunities. This year, the loop has changed. “It feels good to be back on the snow after such a long time away,” Biathlon Canada’s Nathan Smith wrote in an email. “The...
After feeling like health issues stunted her career two seasons ago, two-time Olympian Perianne Jones decided to give it one more year and go out on a high note. She did so, staying healthy and logging some career-best distance results in her final season with the Canadian national team.
Dasha Gaiazova was on the fence about continuing her ski career after the 2014 Olympics.The Russian-born Canadian had competed at back-to-back home Olympics, and in May, she wasn't named to Canada's World Cup or senior development teams. "I felt like I wanted to keep racing," she recalled. “The team got announced and I didn't get on the team, and I was like, I gotta think about some things.”
It turns out Daria Gaiazova took her final international cross-country ski race where her career all began – in her native Russia at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The dual citizen, who along with teammate Ivan Babikov had the rare opportunity to race back-to-back home Games in Canada and Russia, has decided to call it a career.
Dasha Gaiazova beat out fellow Canadian World Cup teammate Perianne Jones to the line to win Thursday's freestyle sprint A-final for her first victory of the week at Canadian Nationals. Paralympic guide Graham Nishikawa overcame jet lag for his first senior-national title.
At Canadian Nationals on Tuesday, Ivan Babikov pulled out an 18.4-second victory of Paralympic gold medalist Graham Nishikawa, both of which were fresh off the plane from Europe and Russia, respectively. Heidi Widmer notched another national title as well.
For Canada, the 30-kilometer freestyle mass start was less about results and more about the emergence of a unified women's team, which finished within places of one another and stuck together even after the race. While one is continuing on the World Cup, national-team veterans Dasha Gaiazova and Chandra Crawford will not be racing this weekend in Lahti, Finland.
It was a rough day for Canada in the women's 4 x 5 k relay after Perianne Jones got popped on the first leg. With a strung-out pack, the gap to 13th became difficult to overcome and the Canadians finished 14th.
As if individual starts aren't mentally hard enough, add summer-like conditions to the Winter Olympics and it gets just plain sloppy out there. Brittany Webster was the top Canadian in 42nd in Thursday's 10 k classic race, and Dasha Gaiazova followed in 44th.
Four U.S. women made the heats, Ida Sargent had one of her best freestyle sprints of the season in her first Olympic race, and Jessie Diggins tallied the second-best American result in 13th after Sophie Caldwell — who made U.S. women’s Olympic history in sixth in Tuesday’s sprint.
All four U.S. women advanced to the rounds in Tuesday's Olympic 1.3 k freestyle sprint, along with Canada's Perianne Jones and Dasha Gaiazova. Andy Newell led three North American men who qualified in the 1.8 k sprint, with Alex Harvey and Simi Hamilton, respectively.
Of the 18 North Americans that competed in Sunday’s 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprints at the Toblach World Cup, nine made the rounds. Many of them chatted with FasterSkier about the day and final race before the Olympics.
The Canadian women missed out on advancing to the final by one place on Sunday, finishing seventh nearly 18 seconds behind sixth, while the top six teams made the World Cup 6 x 1.3 k classic team sprint final in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
Jessie Diggins doesn't remember much from Saturday's 3 k prologue, but some familiar faces and loud cheers carried her to fifth. Both she and U.S. teammate Sophie Caldwell, whose family was among the supportive spectators, tied their respective World Cup career bests in the first stage of the Tour de Ski.
Of the three nations with two teams in the women's final on Sunday, the U.S. was one of them. After qualifying in second and third in the same semifinal (despite a collision between teammates), the Americans were a factor early in the classic-team sprint final -- before Finland and Norway broke away.
Dasha Gaiazova was once again Canada’s lone star in today’s World Cup in Asiago, Italy. After qualifying in 28th in the classic sprint, she was the only Canadian to move on to the heats and ended her day in 14th. Despite some improvement, the Canadians are still looking for more.
The Canadian team was locked out of the quarterfinals in Sunday's World Cup sprint, leading team members and coaches to call it a "bad day". But two team members who are recovering from health issues - Lenny Valjas and Chandra Crawford, who made her season debut at this level - looked at the sprint qualifier as a way to gain fitness on their upward trajectories, regardless of results.