If you noticed the slew of photos from a ski race in the Yukon last week, you weren't dreaming. The second-annual JP Grand Prix, hosted in a backyard in Whitehorse, was held on Friday complete with live music, a barbecue, TV crew and, yes, snow. Welcome to the world's coolest ski race.
ERZURUM, Turkey — Dahria Beatty (CAN) and Janelle Greer (CAN) led the way for the North Americans on Wednesday at World Juniors in the 5 k classic, finishing 25th and 28th, respectively—within 7.3 seconds of each other. Both women said they had hoped for more, but were stymied by the tough course at altitude in Kindalli, a feeling many athletes pointed out. The need to conserve energy threw Beatty off her usual sea-level racing strategy....
For the North Americans, Thursday morning’s classic sprint qualifier was a day of inches and almosts. Out of 15 U.S. and Canadian starters at the World Junior Championships in Estonia, just three cracked the top 30 and qualified for the afternoon heats: Erik Bjornsen (USA) in an impressive 10th, and Canada’s Janelle Greer and Heidi Widmer in 20th and 27th, respectively. But two more were painfully close, and ended up occupying the dreaded 31st position:...
Last winter, Jessie Diggins was just another up-and-coming American cross-country skier. At U.S. Nationals, she raced to a solid-but-unspectacular ninth place in the classic sprint, and at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Germany, her top finish was a 25th place, in the 10 k pursuit. What a difference a year makes. After collecting her first national title earlier this month, and only a couple of days removed from illness, Diggins placed seventh in the...