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. Lucas Chanavat (FRA) did a pretty impressive thing a few days ago in Stage 1 of the 2024 Tour de Ski: he won. Ask anyone who knows World Cup Sprinting, and they’ll tell...
Hailey Swirbul (USA) posted her first World Cup podium this weekend, on the same course where she earned her first World Cup points last season. “WAIT, WHAT!?!? Am I seeing that right?? I came in third?? I just raced my heart out, and my skis were amazing. I am so excited,” the 22-year-old cross-country skier said after her 10-kilometer skate race in Davos (SUI) on Sunday. For Swirbul, the podium was both a surprise and...
In this episode of The Devon Kershaw Show … it is all things Davos. While the glam Swiss valley boasts mountain scenery, and a fusion of traditional Swiss cowbell and high finance, in many ways it remains decidely old school. Among other things, we discuss what some say is an outdated Davos distance course and the killing it Swedish women’s team. We’ll be releasing a mid-week episode where we chat about last week’s WADA...
Day two in Davos, Switzerland looked much like the first; blue skies, fast tracks, and spectacular alpen backdrop. Following an interval start, athletes time-trialed through two 5-kilometer loops loops of a course that predominantly climbs the first 3k, ripping back toward the stadium the last two. Gone are the days of the stopwatch and furious arithmetic, coaches with tablets peppered the woods near checkpoints to relay information to their athletes as they skated by, hunting...
Coming off a two-season hiatus from the World Cup for having a banned steroid in her system, Norway’s Therese Johaug has come back onto the distance race stage with time checks and results showing no remorse. This is not to say that Johaug’s reentry to the sport comes with arrogance. But it is to highlight that, on course, her level of control in the early season World Cup distance events has been dominant. Johaug has...
FIS World Cup Davos, Switzerland 10k/15k Freestyle Individual Start Women’s Report | Men’s Report On Sunday, the final day of racing on the World Cup before a two-week break prior to the start of the Tour de Ski, the early season trend for women’s distance skiing continues. Norway’s Therese Johaug won the 10-kilometer freestyle individual start in Davos in a time of 26:06.9 minutes. She led the race at every intermediate time checkpoint. The only...
DNS. It’s a rare acronym to crop up in the results portion of Sophie Caldwell’s FIS database. But after battling a cold for the first few weeks of the 2018/2019 season, Caldwell did not start (DNS) the Lillehammer freestyle sprint and also chose to sit out the women’s relay last weekend. By this Saturday in Davos, Switzerland, the 28 year old’s decision to rest and not race seemed to have paid off. She sprinted to...
As seems fitting for all things Davos, Switzerland: the racers enjoyed a bluebird day for the 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint on Saturday. And just when we thought Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway might be too spent from a year of media coverage and big-effort racing, he scored his first win of the season in gorgeous Davos. He began the day at full-throttle in the men’s qualifier, placing first with a time of 2:22.39 minutes. Lucas Chanavat...
NorAm/SuperTour (Sovereign Lake near Vernon, British Columbia): Classic sprints On the opening day of the NorAm Continental Cup series in Canada (which doubled as a U.S. SuperTour), American Kaitlynn Miller of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) started Saturday with a nearly three-second win in the classic-sprint qualifier at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, then went on to win her quarterfinal and semifinal before topping the final as well. Miller was the fastest women’s qualifier...
$600,000 dollars of precious wax truck (that amount includes the taxes on the truck), as well as something like 600 pairs of skis. That’s a lot of XC schwag. And a lot of eventual ski cleaning. (See below.) And just to be safe, we also dialed up Baucom on Day 2 of their three-day journey to Davos. It’s always a good idea to check back in — new pricey truck, irreplaceable skis and two of...
At the start of last season, Canadian cross-country skier Andy Shields one point. With some of his early season results –including a first place finish in last year’s NorAm skate sprint at Sovereign Lake, B.C. –Shields earned the opportunity to compete for Canada in two World Cup races in Planica, Slovenia. They were his first. A little less than a month later, Shields returned to Canada to compete in more domestic racing, and before he knew it, he found himself living...
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. *** Note: This recap has been updated to reflect the correct positions each of the four Canadian women exchanged in during Sunday’s 4 x...