Sweden's 22-year-old Stina Nilsson bested four Norwegians to top Stage 3 of the Ski Tour Canada, the women's freestyle sprint in Quebec City. Maiken Caspersen Falla missed out on her fifth-straight skate sprint win, but locked up the overall Sprint World Cup title, and four Americans finished in the top 20, led by Sadie Bjornsen in eighth.
Jennie Bender was the fastest of the day in every sense possible at U.S. nationals on Monday, winning the skate-sprint qualifier followed by her quarterfinal, semifinal and ultimately, the final by 0.61 seconds over Anne Hart. Runner-up Hart achieved a career-best result, and Caitlin Patterson secured her second-straight podium in Houghton.
Norway's sprint regulars, Maiken Caspersen Falla and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg took the top two spots on the skate-sprint podium at the Toblach World Cup, while two U.S. women landed in the top 10 and four of five made the heats.
The 2015/2016 U.S. domestic-racing season kicks off with the SuperTour openers in West Yellowstone, Mont., this Friday and Saturday. The start of Friday's skate sprint has been pushed back to 11 a.m. in anticipation of sub-zero temperatures. Here's what else you should know about these races.
The 2015 U.S. Cross-Country Junior Nationals kicked off Monday at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif., with the 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprints. Here are a couple videos, one of which recaps Day 1 (by Far West's Skyler Mullings), and photos courtesy of Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics.
American Kikkan Randall finally found her old groove and raced to her best World Cup result of the season, finishing in third in Saturday's freestyle sprint in Lahti, Finland. In a close finish, Marit Bjørgen of Norway won yet another World Cup race, expanding her lead in the overall standings and the sprint standings.
FasterSkier was on-site and live video broadcasting from the Craftsbury Supertour freestyle sprints, where Jennie Bender and Kris Freeman won their respective races. Missed the broadcast? We have the full program here for you to watch.
It felt like deja vu in Houghton, Mich. as Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess returned to the podium for his second national title of the week in the 1.5 k freestyle sprint at the 2015 U.S. Cross Country Championships.
Sophie Caldwell won a photo finish in her quarterfinal heat on the way to seventh place in Tuesday's Tour de Ski 1.4 k freestyle sprint in Val Müstair, Switzerland. Meanwhile, Kikkan Randall continues to improve on the Tour stage after taking tenth overall.
SuperTour racing began Friday with a 1.5 k freestyle sprint in West Yellowstone, Mont. With warm temperatures and strong winds, two Canadians, Heidi Widmer and Alysson Marshall, were able to top the American women's field led by Jennie Bender.
It was a long and tiring journey to Lahti, Finland for Alex Harvey. After suffering cramps in the Olympic 50 k, excessive travel, a lack of training gear, and general exhaustion, the Quebec native bounced back for a top ten finish in Saturday’s 1.5 k freestyle sprint, placing seventh.
At the first World Cup since World Championships, the American men posted two top-30s between the freestyle sprint and 15 k classic in Lahti, Finland. Kris Freeman was 25th in the distance event and Andy Newell placed 27th in the preceding sprint. Neither result was stellar, but it was Freeman's best finish since his top-10 in Canmore.
Sadie Bjornsen notched a career-best ninth-place finish in the Lahti, Finland, freestyle sprint on the same day her teammate, Kikkan Randall, secured the crystal sprint globe for the U.S. "She almost stole the show, in a way," said USST women's coach Matt Whitcomb. Seven American women in all competed on Saturday; Jessie Diggins followed Bjornsen in 25th.
In her 100th career World Cup start in Lahti, Finland, on Saturday, American Kikkan Randall won a photo-finish with Marit Bjørgen in the freestyle sprint and locked down the season-long quest for the crystal sprint globe for the second year in a row. "If you put in the work and stay dedicated then you can be the best in the world. And it’s pretty fun," Randall said afterwards.
Seven Americans landed in the heats in the freestyle sprint in Sochi, Russia, on Friday. Kikkan Randall calmly won her third sprint of the season and Ida Sargent was sixth in her first appearance in a World Cup final. La Clusaz is but a distant memory.
Kikkan Randall proved to the world once again that she can overcome any obstacle to reach the top of a World Cup podium. The first Olympic test event of the weekend took place on Friday at the Laura Cross-Country Stadium outside Sochi, Russia, where Randall bested France’s Aurore Jean and Norway’s Celine Brun-Lie to claim her second individual sprint win and ninth podium of the season.
Distance guys made the final, favorites got eliminated early and at the end of it all, Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess (Bend Endurance Academy) drew on the inspiration of an emotional week to pull off his first career national championship. Our photos from throughout the day.
On an overcast morning before the freestyle sprint kicks off at Soldier Hollow, volunteers work hard on course preparation, coaches dial in wax and athletes arrive at the venue for one more nerve-wracking race. Some images from the final hours before the start.
Can anyone touch Torin Koos? Will Sadie Bjornsen be able to keep the ball rolling? Our final set of official U.S. Nationals predictions.
The narrow, winding sprint course through Milan’s Parco Sempione was not good to the North American men on Saturday. While three of them made the heats, not a single one advanced to the semifinals, done in by the narrow course which left little room to maneuver. “It was really tight from the gun and with such a monotonous course you’re not going to get a lot of shifting around,” said American Simi Hamilton, who finished...