Thirty-six men in the Spray Drag running race didn’t end up chasing Devon Kershaw up Spray Lakes Road in Canmore, Alberta, on Saturday, but they had one heck of a battle from the start. According to American Sylvan Ellefson (Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Team HomeGrown), the pace was fast for a bunch of nordic skiers early on. “Any road runner could have pulled away, but it was a quick pace,” he wrote in an email....
It’s safe to say the Canadian cross-country teams enjoyed their stay in Park City, Utah. Between their tweets and Instagrams of bluebird days and college football games, it’s not hard to see why. While the Canadian women headed south on Saturday for a Noah Hoffman the only one that hopped in some workouts? JW: Yeah. We would’ve enjoyed having the other guys around, but he was the one that was in town and ready to...
Less than a week after racing in Germany last December, Alysson Marshall smiled as she soaked up her surroundings at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, British Columbia. The Canadian senior development team member had just completed the first four World Cups of her career and left Europe on an extremely high note. With national team skier Dasha Gaiazova, she placed 21st in the team sprint in Düsseldorf, Germany. Six days later, Marshall won...
MONT SAINT-ANNE, Québec – To say that Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey are close would be a massive understatement. When Kershaw decided to pack it in for the season, Harvey and some of his other teammates on the Canadian National Ski Team convinced him to reconsider. They found Kershaw on the start line Saturday as fired up as ever for the 50-kilometer classic mass start at Canadian Ski Nationals. After skiing together with a lead...
QUEBEC CITY – Two tiny specks charging toward the finish, Graham Nishikawa and Jesse Cockney appeared to merge into a single lane, and then suddenly jolted in opposite directions. Whatever made them move must have been significant, and it could have explained why Nishikawa lost his lead and ultimately the classic team sprint at the Canadian Ski National Championships on Saturday. Turns out it was just water in the tracks on a balmy afternoon at...
This year, the Haywood Canadian National Championships have been pushed back a week to accommodate a special group – Canada’s World Cup elite, which are returning in force to put on a show for the home crowd in Quebec. With Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw, Chandra Crawford and all the major Canadian stars slated to participate, the fields will be some of the deepest in North America all season. The Canadian World Cup squad has turned...
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. CABLE, Wis. – Matt Liebsch’s wife had been in a car accident. Lars Flora couldn’t feel his fingers nearly two weeks after a ski mountaineering race in Vail, Colo. Holly Brooks had just returned home to Alaska to recharge. Caitlin Gregg was waiting for an OK from her doctor. Tad Elliott wasn’t sure what to do with a weekend off from the...
There’s something to be said about consistency. Canadians Graham Nishikawa and Michael Somppi might say it’s a little annoying. With repeat results, the two can’t be too upset with their performances in recent Alpen and Scandinavian Cup races. Both Senior Development Team skiers, Nishikawa and Somppi finished the same as they did in their previous races. At the Alpen Cup in Switzerland on Sunday, Nishikawa of the Alberta World Cup Academy was fifth in the...
Note: This story has been updated to include quotes from third-place finisher and overall NorAm leader Brent McMurtry. If there’s one thing an athlete dreads besides injury, it’s sickness. Kevin Sandau felt the latter coming on Saturday in Canmore, Alberta, the night before the last race of the Western Canadian Championships. With most other NorAm races, the Alberta World Cup Academy and Senior Development Team skier would have found it easier to simply sit one...
It’s not as if one of the top two men on this year’s NorAm circuit really had an advantage. While Kevin Sandau had more recently heaved himself up the grinding hills at the Canmore Nordic Centre with his Alberta World Cup Academy teammates, both he and Brent McMurtry (Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre) spent plenty of time training there with the Canadian National Ski Team. Both Senior Development Team members, Sandau and McMurtry also grew up...
New-fallen snow at Whistler Olympic Park created additional excitement on Saturday during the Haywood NorAm freestyle sprints in Whister, BC. The deciding factor became who could best adjust to the slow powder while navigating the usual sprint-day tangles. Phil Widmer (Alberta World Cup Academy) led the men’s A-final from the start, and crossed the line in first to headline an AWCA podium sweep with his first victory of the season. Teammates Graham Nishikawa (AWCA) and...
Despite not feeling it in the beginning, Kevin Sandau had time to figure his body out in the Haywood NorAm men’s 30 k skiathlon on Thursday at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia. For the first half of the eight-lap race, Sandau, a member of the Alberta World Cup Academy and Canadian National Ski Team, decided to let others lead. By others, that mostly meant Brent McMurtry of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH)....
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No Alex Harvey, no Devon Kershaw, no problem for the Canadian men’s team as Ivan Babikov toyed with the top-5 and ultimately placed seventh in the men’s 30km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday. With Kershaw and Harvey sitting out in preparation for the Tour de Ski, it was up to Babikov to pick up the slack. Circumstances seemed ideal for the distance specialist. The length of the race, the challenging hilly course, and the...
Davos, Switzerland – If you’re a ski fan anywhere, you were probably disappointed to find out that stars Canadians Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey were sitting out of the 30 k freestyle World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, this Saturday. Both Kershaw and Harvey are talented skaters, and seem to be in good shape – both have already recorded top 15 finishes on the World Cup already this season. Last year, they finished in the top...
For North American ski fans, here’s a look at who to watch for this weekend in Davos, Switzerland. Saturday’s 15/30 k—long awaited as it is one of only two such distances on the entire World Cup schedule—begins at 6:15 am EST with the women’s 15 k. The men’s start follows at 8:00 am EST. Women It says quite a bit about U.S. skiing these days that Kikkan Randall also featured prominently in our raw Swiss...
After a weekend of city sprinting in Germany, including gluhwein, spills, and DSQ’s, the FIS World Cup heads to Davos, Switzerland, this weekend for another pair of skate races. Saturday sees a rare beast on the World Cup — a long distance individual start skate race (15 for the women, and 30 k for the men) — while Sunday features what might be the most intense sprint of the World Cup season. While Dusseldorf...
Finishing things off in Finland. The shape is starting to come around. Next stop- Davos!
On my way to 48th in the 10km Skate in Kuusamo Finland