More smashing results from U.S. women, boring-on-paper but fun-to-watch racing from the Norwegian men’s distance team and some interlopers wearing similar colors, and a poorly-attended relay. Devon and Nat break it all down. Keep the feedback and questions coming: nat@fasterskier.com and devon@fasterskier.com. We’ll see you next week.
We’re off. The 2023-2024 winter kicks off with season opening races across Scandinavia, and the World Cup launches next week. Devon and Nat go old-school, no guests to recap a bevy of interesting results so far. Send us your comments, questions and criticisms: devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. We’ll be back next week.
Broadcast Updates: We have a quick update to the information we published last week regarding cross country broadcast schedules from Tom Horrocks, Communications Manager for the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. After finalizing schedules, NBC will have all World Cup events available for streaming through their PeacockTV platform. As mentioned in the first post, there is also a new streaming platform, Ski and Snowboard Live, which is owned by the production company InFront. This...
For the third and final day of International Ski Federation (FIS) racing in Gällivare, the home crowd would not be let down. Both the men’s and women’s 1-kilometer classic sprints were won by Swedes, one of whom has established herself as one of the world’s best sprinters, ending last season second in the 2016/2017 Sprint World Cup at the age of 23. Stina Nilsson, now 24 and entering her fifth year of racing on the...
Sweden’s Hanna Falk went 1-2 in Sweden’s season-opening International Ski Federation (FIS) race on Friday in Gällivare, with Kalla winning the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle by 8.8 seconds in 12:58.1 minutes. Falk, her teammate on the Swedish women’s team, placed second and Russia’s Yulia Belorukova took the third spot on the podium, 10.3 seconds out of first. The host nation had three in the top four, with Ida Ingemarsdotter in fourth (+16.1). Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal...
Devon Kershaw was the lone Canadian with the option to compete last Sunday in Gällivare, Sweden, after the race dates were rescheduled. While the field was small, he explained it was a great opportunity "to put a bib on and blow out the cobwebs."
Jessie Diggins collected back-to-back victories in the U.S. Ski Team's first races of the season in Gällivare, Sophie Caldwell, Andy Newell and Canadian Alex Harvey all placed second, and Caitlin Gregg reached the podium as well.
Jessie Diggins did it again, winning her second-straight race in Gällivare, Sweden, on Sunday by 10 seconds over Czech skier Petra Novakova. Caitlin Gregg also reached the podium -- in day reminiscent of the 2015 World Championships 10 k -- and Liz Stephen and Rosie Brennan placed fourth and fifth.
Two Canadians landed in the top four in Sunday's 15 k freestyle FIS race in Gällivare, Sweden, with Alex Harvey reaching the podium in second and Devon Kershaw missing it by 23 seconds in fourth. Noah Hoffman finished sixth for the U.S., Canada's Ivan Babikov was eighth, and Erik Bjornsen (USA) notched his second-straight top 10.
In their first race of the season, Jessie Diggins and Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. Ski Team finished first and second, respectively, in the FIS classic sprint in Gällivare, Sweden. “It’s the best I’ve seen Jessie classic sprint ever,” coach Matt Whitcomb said. “It gives us a big boost as we move into the World Cup season next week.”
With Canadians and Russians to contend with, American Andy Newell placed second overall in Saturday's FIS classic sprint in Gällivare, Sweden. “I think what you’ll see more from me more this year is I’ll be the one making attacks and not responding to other peoples’ [attacks],” Newell explained.
With more than half of the World Cup races being stages this season, the U.S. Ski Team has decided to incorporate the mini-tour format into its training and is ending its annual Park City camp with a three-day rollerski series.
Sunday was for the distance racers in Gällivare, Sweden, with five Canadians -- four men and one woman -- getting a chance to test their form in the 10/15 k classic races. Alex Harvey notched his second-podium performance in third, Emily Nishikawa was fourth, Devon Kershaw fifth, Ivan Babikov sixth, and Graeme Killick eighth.
Regulars for the last week in Gällivare, the Canadians put themselves in the mix in Saturday's classic sprints with Perianne Jones winning the women's final, Alex Harvey taking second to Russia's Sergey Ustiugov in the men's final, Lenny Valjas placing fourth and Jess Cockney bringing it home in sixth.
Alex Harvey and personal coach Louis Bouchard were the first from the Canadian World Cup Team to arrive in Gällivare, Sweden, last Thursday. They spent the earlier part of the month acclimating to altitude in Davos, Switzerland.
Inside the waxroom with Peter Johansson, who recently took over as the U.S. Ski Team's head of service after joining the staff in 2006. "I think he's one of the best wax techs out there," said Kikkan Randall, who has been working with him personally for years.
Four-time World Champion Martin Fourcade placed 48th in Saturday's cross country World Cup, but was left disappointed on a day where he said he couldn't have done well even in a biathlon race. Fourcade told FasterSkier that biathletes have nothing to prove, and he still hopes to race the World Championships relay for France.
A two-time NCAA Champion representing the University of Utah, Maria Grafnings earned World Cup starts in Gallivare as part of Sweden's Nations Group. There, she ran with the honors, finishing as the sixth Swede in the 10 k skate.
GÄLLIVARE, Sweden – It’s always good to finish a race and be happy with the result. But the icing on the cake is when the entire sport seems to be behind your performance. And for the U.S. women after Sunday’s historic third-place relay finish, that was the case. As one team after another crossed the line behind them, they were hugged and congratulated – even by teams who surely wished the podium spot could be...
With so much happening in Gällivare, Sweden, this weekend, we didn’t have the chance to put quite everything into our main feature stories. Here are some leftovers from the races, as well as some small pieces about the U.S. men’s and Canadian women’s relays. Women’s Relay When asked about the U.S. women’s relay podium, Development Coach Bryan Fish initially didn’t get too specific… he was just impressed. “That was exciting to watch,” he told FasterSkier...