Oh Italy..... I am finally back in connectivity after no Internet for days. There is a theory that Internet is especially sparse in Italy due to some Mafia thing but that has yet to be confirmed. Alas, my apologies for those of you that have chec...
TOBLACH, Italy – It’s hard enough to finish in the top 30 on the World Cup, but American Holly Brooks did something even more impressive here in Wednesday’s Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski: she finished in the top 30 with a broken wrist. By placing 30th in the skate sprint, Brooks joined an elite club of skiers who have toughed out some top finishes with broken bones. Fellow members include Slovenian Petra Majdic,...
The Tour de Ski has moved on from Germany to Italy, and along with it, American Holly Brooks has gone from being eine zähe dame to una signora dura. An MRI on Monday morning revealed that the tough lady has been racing with non-displaced fractures at the end of her radius—one of the bones in her forearm—as well as a “big bone bruise.” After her 53rd place finish in Stage 5 of the Tour, a...
OBERSTDORF, Germany – Based on the idiom “the proof is in the pudding,” American Kikkan Randall has been serving up heaping portions of whatever custardy delight a ski fan might fancy, and today was just one more dessert to welcome the new year. As the season progresses, Randall has demonstrated time and time again that she is no longer just a skate sprinter, posting results that very much prove she is one of the world’s...
OBERHOF, Germany – Kikkan Randall should consider a job with the U.S. Postal Service, because she just keeps on delivering. Not pain, not snow, nor gloom of Oberhof could stay Kikkan Randall from the swift completion of her appointed rounds here on Friday. By the time she arrived at the end of her three laps of the race course, Randall had notched yet another stellar distance result, finishing Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour de...
OBERHOF, Germany – Kikkan Randall (USA) picked up right where she left off before the holiday break, notching another top-10 result in the opening stage of the Tour de Ski. Randall placed tenth in the 3.1km skate race with teammates Liz Stephen and Holly Brooks in 37th and 53rd respectively. For Randall this is merely a continuation of a stellar season. She was just 7.2 seconds behind winner Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) and will be in...
I figure that a short post is better than none at all.... so here it is: The Tour de Ski started today. While I had a poor result - by far, my worst "distance race" since being in Europe, I have to happy in that I felt as if I could ski. Ye...
I figure that a short post is better than none at all.... so here it is: The Tour de Ski started today. While I had a poor result - by far, my worst "distance race" since being in Europe, I have to happy in that I felt as if I could ski. Ye...
Team USA at the "opening ceremonies/team introduction" for the Tour So.... I haven't said much on my blog yet about the Tour de Ski but here it is - starting TOMORROW! As there is no World Champs or Olympics this year, the Tour is kind of th...
Last night (and for the past 48+ hours) I watched a movie because the Internet crashed in the entire Ramsau Valley. I couldn't get much work done or respond to all my unanswered emails but it wasn't for lack of trying, that's for sure! So.....
Oh yeah, there were some distance races in Rogla on Saturday too, huh? Once again, this will be short on the words; just some pretty pictures. The US women had another strong outing: Once again I’d note the continued downward trends for Holly and Kikkan and the generally flat trend for Liz. (Ida still has [...] Related posts:
While Kikkan Randall fell in the sprint final (see our Full results
For the umpteenth weekend in a row, the U.S. Ski Team (USST) women turned in a set of firsts on the World Cup. In the 10 k classic mass start on Saturday in Rogla, Slovenia, Kikkan Randall led the way for the U.S. in 11th (+1:13.2), her highest career classic finish. Holly Brooks, Liz Stephen and Ida Sargent had their best-ever classic distance finishes with 19th, 22nd and 38th, respectively (Sargent tied her Kuusamo classic...
The 2012 World Cup season is already a month old, and there has yet to be a mass start. That changes on Saturday in Rogla, Slovenia when women ski a 10km classic and men 14k. The races feature intermediary sprints for World Cup points—once for women at 5.2k and twice for men at 5.2k and 11.2k. In a new twist, points will be awarded to the top-10 at the intermediary marks, instead of just the...
Brooks Unofficially an Official Member of 2012 Tour de Ski Team Last month FasterSkier reported that Holly Brooks (APU) had been given the opportunity to race the 2012 Tour de Ski pending continued strong results and good health. With just one weekend left in the first World Cup period, Brooks has fulfilled her end of the bargain, posting a career-best 13th in the 15km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. According to US Ski Team Head Coach...
We’re currently speeding away, the opposite direction of Davos, headed to Rogla, Slovenia for the upcoming weekend’s World Cup races. So far we’ve spent what seems like ½ of Austria in a series of tunnels, the last of which was 15 kilome...
North Americans Each weekend seems to be an interesting mix of results for the North Americans. Starting with the women (Davos result circled in blue): Compared to this season, that was an off day for Kikkan, but compared to last season that was pretty typical. Part of me wonders if she dialed it back a [...] Related posts:
American and Canadian women have become a World Cup force to be reckoned with. It seems there was something to the North American Women’s Training Alliance after all. Kikkan Randall (USA) won her second individual sprint in as many weekends. Canada did something it’s never done before in Davos and sent all three women to the heats. U.S. Ski Team (USST) Head Coach Chris Grover probably put it best with his take on the American...
Holly Brooks (USA) continued her meteoric rise from participant to contender on the World Cup circuit, skiing to 13th place in the 15km freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. With teammates Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randall placing 21st and 27th respectively, the US women finished the day with an unprecedented three skiers in the top-30. Brooks started quickly, clocking as the race leader at the two kilometer mark when she came through as the 31st starter. And...
Davos, Switzerland – There is no doubt that the Norwegian women’s ski team is currently the best in the world. On Saturday morning, during the 15 k individual start freestyle in Davos, Switerland, they absolutely dominated the leader board, putting six women in the top ten, and taking the first four places. Surprising no one, Marit Bjoergen (NOR) crossed the line with the fastest time, leaving Vibeke Skofterud the silver medal, 41.8 seconds back. Therese...