What’s the significance of 0.39 seconds? For most of us, it’s the blink of an eye. For a midpack World Cup racer, it’s the difference between Tour de Ski start rights and staying home over the holidays. Swiss–Canadian skier Heidi Widmer and the meaning of margins.
DAVOS, Switzerland — The evening before the skate sprint in Davos – Andy Newell’s last World Cup competition of 2016 – the U.S. Ski Team veteran stood in the dark outside the temporary trailer his team was using as a wax cabin and talked about doping. In particular, he talked about systematic doping in Russia and has maintained his innocence since , in her extensive investigation of retroactively-awarded Olympic medals, called this “the butterfly effect...
Norway’s ergey Ustiugov notched his first victory of the season in the skate sprint. Here’s all the reporting – and there’s a lot – that didn’t make it into the race reports. On that awesome feeling in your legs “I love lactate.” -Matti Heikkinen, Finland (3rd in 30 k) “Not so much.” -Anders Gløersen, Norway (2nd in 30 k) On how to get through a rough patch “Alex [Harvey] came through with a group, with...
A weekend of World Cup action in Davos, Switzerland, saw two Norwegian women take top honors: Maiken Caspersen Falla in the skate sprint. Here’s all the reporting – and there’s a lot – that didn’t make it into the race reports. On ending up in a sprint heat with your teammate “I picked that heat because it was just the heat with the least amount of people at the time. You never want to be...
After qualifying 29th in the men's 1.6-kilometer freestyle sprint on Sunday, Russia's Sergey Ustiugov made his way to the top of the results, winning his first sprint of the FIS season and besting two Norwegians--Finn Hågen Krogh and Sindre Bjørnestad Skar--in the process. “I knew I had power to win. It is great to win here in Davos,” Ustiugov said.
DAVOS, Switzerland–A few years ago, there was rarely a World Cup sprint where the U.S. Ski Team’s Kikkan Randall and Andy Newell weren’t fighting for a top spot in the heats. The bread and butter of the U.S. sprint squad, the pair defined what was possible for American skiing in the modern era. But this season neither has made it into the quarterfinals of a sprint yet. On Sunday, Newell just barely missed the heats:...
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. *** Canadian NorAm/U.S. SuperTour at Sovereign Lake: Classic sprint [UPDATE] U.S. skiers filled the open category podiums on the first fully North American...
DAVOS, Switzerland — Martin Johnsrud Sundby might not have had the fastest World Cup opener (by his standards), but two weeks later it’s clear who is king of the distance field: the same Norwegian who won the World Cup distance globe two of the last three years. “I did not feel my best the last weekend, but I was able to catch the tour victory after all,” Sundby said of won this race in 2013,...
DAVOS, Switzerland — Coming off a won the day. “Working on the long distances, it’s still a ways to catch up to the girls at the top,” Diggins said. “But it’s a long season, and we have a lot of belief, a lot of sparkles on our side.” By 10 k into the race, she was up into fifth place, and within a second of the time laid down by Nathalie Von Siebenthal of Switzerland....
DAVOS, Switzerland — Ingvild Flugstad Østberg didn’t plan to start Saturday’s 15 k skate World Cup like a bat out of hell. But by 2.2 kilometers into the course, she already had a 7.9-second lead over Heidi Weng, her Norwegian teammate and the overall leader of the World Cup. That gap widened and closed and widened and closed, and at the finish Østberg had just that: a 7.9-second win over Weng, and her first World...
Alex Harvey had a bone to pick with Davos, and he made strides in resolving it on Friday and Saturday at the Swiss World Cup venue. Top-15 World Cup distance results have eluded him there, but not in Saturday's preseason tuneup. "It's always rough for me to race at altitude, so I was very pleased with the result and the way the body worked,” he explained.
Sweden's Stina Nilsson pulled off a last-minute move from third to first in the women's freestyle sprint in Davos to win her first World Cup, and Sophie Caldwell advanced as a two-time lucky loser to ultimately place sixth in the final. Her U.S. teammate, Jessie Diggins placed ninth overall, and two other U.S. women made the heats.
The 16th starter, Jessie Diggins landed in the leader's chair for a few minutes before Germany's Nicole Fessel and Norway's Therese Johaug finished on Saturday in the 15 k freestyle at the Davos World Cup. Diggins ended up 11th and the U.S. had two in the top 20 with Caitlin Gregg in 20th.
Therese Johaug raced to a 1-minute-and-10-second victory in the women's World Cup 15 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, and her teammate is calling the deficit scary. “She is completely a machine," third-place finisher Heidi Weng said. "What is it exactly you're made of?”
After a disappointing 2015 season that was unable to bring back the high points of her first Olympics and national title in 2014, Heidi Widmer regrouped - and decided to take advantage of her dual citizenship and race for Switzerland next year, not Canada. She's moving to Davos in June.
With their eyes on the prize of a holiday break (for biathletes and non-Tour de Ski participants, two weekends off of the World Cup), a number of North American skiers notched competitive results, and for some -- even career bests -- in the last week.
How much did Norway’s Marit Bjørgen have left and could anybody beat her? That was the question on Sunday in the women's 1.3 k freestyle sprint on the last day of racing before the holiday break. One young Swede came close.
Canadians Lenny Valjas and Jesse Cockney skied well enough to finish in the points in the final race before the holiday break, a 1.3 k freestyle sprint on Sunday in Davos, Switzerland. It was Cockney's best individual World Cup result in more than two years.
Canadians were well behind the leaders in Saturday's World Cup 10/15 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. Ivan Babikov and Alex Harvey were the top men, finishing 34th and 38th, while Emily Nishikawa squeaked into the top 50, finishing 49th despite a crash.
Arnaud Du Pasquier, a member of Colorado University's 2014 squad to NCAA Championships, will be a senior next year. For now, though, he's taking a year to complete his mandatory military service in his native Switzerland - which he's doing by skiing full-time, including in the Nations Group at the Davos World Cups.