In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) 2018 Youth and Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 17-year-old Benita Peiffer, of Whistler, British Columbia, who is representing Canada at her first World Youth Championships. Today in Otepää, Peiffer finished 11th in the youth women’s 10 k...
After spending last summer training in the U.S. with the Craftsbury Outdoor Center’s U23/collegiate summer training group, this year Johanna Talihärm decided to go home to Estonia. The FIS Cross-County World Cup swings by Otepää periodically (as does the Continental Cup circuit and biathlon’s IBU Cup series), but Talihärm is originally from Tallinn, Estonia’s capital and a World Heritage Site. That’s the atmosphere she moved back to for the summer — which she said had both pros...
Kazakh star Alexey Poltoranin already started working with Andrus Veerpalu last season. But he's now going one step farther, distancing himself from the Kazakh federation by moving to Estonia and working with famed coach Mati Alavar and three Estonian training partners. After disappointment in Sochi, he's eyeing the 2018 Games.
It's not every day you bump into the Estonian prime minister, especially on the ski trails in Sochi, Russia. Yet FasterSkier Olympic reporter Nat Herz did just that, and asked the ski aficionado a few questions about his take on the sport.
Sophie Caldwell hung tough for second place in Sunday's skate sprint in Estonia, just 0.14 seconds out of first, for her best Scando Cup result. Jennie Bender had another solid day in 11th and three other American women made the top 30. On Saturday, Ben Saxton led the U.S. men in 33rd in the classic sprint.
Mati Alaver is a legend in Estonia. Alaver, 58, is credited with building his country’s cross-country ski program from scratch following Estonia’s independence in 1991. Over the last two decades, its athletes have won more than 15 major medals at World Championships and Olympic Games—not bad for a country with a population of 1.3 million. Alaver is known not just as a knowledgeable and successful coach, but also as a pitchman who found the sponsor...
For the last two weeks or so, I’ve been holding down the fort here in Craftsbury as my teammates travel and race all over God’s white acre. In the short span between January 19th and February 2nd, the CGRP has been represented at races in Italy, Germany, Estonia, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Norway, and the western United States…AND at the Craftsbury Marathon, of course. While [...]
Devon Kershaw had it in his head. He wanted redemption. The Canadian National Team veteran hadn’t been entirely pleased with his season so far despite finishing fourth in the Tour de Ski two weeks ago. After several top 10 performances this season, Kershaw took a big hit on Saturday, finishing 40th in the World Cup classic sprint after his pole shattered in his hand and he struggled to find a replacement. With one chance to leave...
Justyna Kowalczyk didn’t have to say a word. Marit Bjørgen knew it was on. Kowalczyk, the three-time defending Tour de Ski champion from Poland, had spent the better part of the last two weeks recovering from her most recent Tour victory. Bjørgen, the Tour de Ski runner-up, had done the same, skipping last weekend’s races in Milan, Italy, to prepare for Otepää, Estonia. While the two rivals didn’t face off until the final of Saturday’s...
The International Ski Federation (FIS) Doping Panel came to a final decision on Monday in Andrus Veerpalu’s case. The Estonian champion’s positive drug test from this winter, which came just before World Championships in Oslo and his abrupt retirement, still stands. His two-year ban from competition was extended to three; the end of the sentence in 2014 falls precisely on the closing ceremonies in Sochi. In February, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found Veerpalu to...
Before flying to Estonia last January, I didn’t know much about that nation’s cross-country skiers aside from their names—and their medal records. Jaak Mae, Andrus Veerpalu, and Kristina Smigun-Vaehi—between the three of them, seven Olympic and 10 World Championship medals. Not a bad record for a country with a population of 1.3 million, or the same as the state of Maine. But while Scandinavian stars like Petter Northug and Marit Björgen blend a certain appeal,...
Stand on the side of a trail at an international cross-country ski race, and it’s easy enough to tell athletes apart as they pass by–you can just look at their spandex. But closing your eyes doesn’t make things much more difficult, thanks to the unique words of encouragement used by coaches of different nationalities. Using some auditory evidence from January’s World Junior and U-23 Championships, held in Otepaa, Estonia, FasterSkier digs into the phenomenon of...
Citing an anonymous source, Postimees, Estonia’s largest newspaper is reporting that Andrus Veerpalu, the recently-retired Olympic and world champion medalist, has tested positive for doping. In an article posted earlier this week, Postimees said that an A-sample taken from Veerpalu in January had failed an anti-doping control, but that the opening of his B-sample, which is used for confirmation, has not yet occurred. The details of the report are sketchy, though. No sources are named,...
Estonia needed a lift. Just prior to the start of the 2011 World Ski Championships, Andrus Veerpalu, one of the country’s most decorated athletes, had announced his retirement. He was hampered by illness and a knee injury, and unwilling to make the trip to Oslo if he couldn’t contend for gold. Estonia’s national team coach, Mati Alaver—a near-mythic figure in the country—may be leaving to work for Russia at the end of the season. And...
FasterSkier’s Nat Herz was able to gather a collection of images of the action today during the pursuit races at the U23 World Championships in Otepaa, Estonia.
A mix of impressive strength, clever tactics and luck took a Canadian man all the way to the finals of Saturday’s U-23 World Championships classic sprint. It just wasn’t the one everyone expected. Instead of the lanky 6’6” frame of Len Valjas gunning for a medal in Otepaa, Estonia, it was the perfectly average one of Jesse Cockney, who showed in a strong outing that what he lacks in height, he makes up with ski...
Once again FasterSkier’s Nat Herz was trailside today in Otepaa, Estonia at the World Junior Championships. Here are a few moments that he caught during the classic sprints.
The question may not have been burning on Thursday, but at the very least, it was smoldering: Would any of the junior men attempt to double-pole Friday’s classic sprint? At last weekend’s World Cup races on the same course in Otepaa, Estonia, Norway’s Eirik Brandsdal double-poled through his qualifier and all three heats to edge out his teammate, Ola Vigen Hattestad, for the win. Only a handful of others tried the maneuver in the preliminary,...
It was a thrilling day in Otepaa, Estonia at the World Junior Championships and FasterSkier’s Nat Herz was right there in the midst of the action. Here are some photos he caught of the men’s 10km freestyle.
FasterSkier’s Nat Herz was trailside today in Otepaa, Estonia at the World Junior Championships, here is a glimpse of what he saw during the ladies 5km freestyle.