Seefeld in Tirol, Austria will host the 2019 Nordic World Championships. The small town in northern Tyrol sits on a plateau nestled in the alps, about two hours by train south of Munich and about 30 minutes north of Innsbruck. Seefeld has a long history of hosting international nordic competitions, including the 1964 and 1976 Innsbruck Olympic Games, as well as the 1985 World Championships and 2012 Youth Olympic Games. Seefeld holds the historic distinction...
When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held their first-ever winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria in January, they invited many of the best teenage athletes in the world to compete in 13 sports. But it wasn’t only the best young athletes who converged on the historic venue, which also hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. The IOC invited some of the biggest stars in winter sports – many retired, but some still competing...
SEEFELD IN TIROL, Austria— Today’s evening sprints in Seefeld were big for the Scandinavians. Having walked away from the sole distance event of Games with nothing but a pair of clunky 4th place “wooden medals”, the Nordic powerhouse nations came out this evening with their guns blazin’. But the Americans, specifically members of the Caldwell family, have a history of turning heads in Seefeld. This time around it was young Paddy who made quite a...
While Standard and Poors may have recently downgraded Austria’s credit-worthiness to ‘AA’, no one is questioning Tyrol’s ability to put on world class ski races. Clear skies and cold temperatures delayed start times by one hour, but the resulting bomber tracks in Seefeld Stadium heated up quickly beneath the skis of the world’s fastest Junior racers during Tuesday’s YOG Classic races. Russian athletes took advantage of the familiar brisk conditions to steal the show—in the...
SEEFELD IN TIROL, Austria– Every Nordic race director is well versed in Murphy’s Law. Today, Seefeld Stadium was more or less the Titanic—the unsinkable race venue. Temps were cold, the loops were covered with a meter and a half of perfectly groomed snow, thousands of cowbell clanging Tyroleans lined the course, and the IBU’s finest were on hand to supervise. The Women’s 7.5km Pursuit event at the Youth Olympic Games was to go off without...
INNSBRUCK, Ausria – Welcome to Innsbruck, Austria! After a 36 year hiatus, Olympic competition has now returned to the bustling university city of Innsbruck for a third time in the form of the Inaugural Youth Winter Olympic Games. The capital city of the alpine province of Tyrol in Austria’s western panhandle, Innsbruck twice hosted the world during the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games and now proudly bears the distinction of being the only city...
Driving his uncooperative truck about 30 miles per hour on a highway shoulder, Bob Balk kept his spirits up. Sure, he had just spent about $900 to fix the vehicle, only to have the mechanics return it scratching their heads. Maybe it was bad gas; they couldn’t tell. But the seven-time Paralympian was used to challenges, so driving three hours roundtrip from his hometown in Moravia, N.Y., to Rochester didn’t phase him. Balk could empty...
While the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria are still more than a year away, both the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) have posted qualifying criteria for the event. Why so early? Entries for the Youth Olympics, which are scheduled for January 13th through 22nd, 2012, are due at the beginning of December, 2011. Since there won’t be much time for qualification events that winter, most of...