On a 1.7-kilometer technical course with hustling and jostling, U.S. sprinter Simi Hamilton proved he had the tactics and the lungs to ski with the world's best on Tuesday. He placed third in the Ski Tour Canada's opening skate sprint, 0.09 seconds behind Russia's Sergey Ustiugov in first and 0.01 behind France's Richard Jouve in second.
Eastern Canadian Championships drew nearly 800 racers in a FIS points race leading up to the Ski Tour Canada, and on the second and third days of racing last weekend, several top racers traded spots atop the podium. Michael Somppi handed Kevin Sandau his first distance loss, and Andy Shields won the classic mass start.
Fresh off of marrying his new wife Kristin Størmer Steira in northern Norway, Devon Kershaw drove to Oslo and then jetted off for a high-elevation dryland training camp in the Italian Alps with his Canadian teammates and buddies, Jesse Cockney and Alex Harvey.
Cross Country Canada announced its national-team nominations Tuesday with little change to the World Cup and Development rosters. The 2015/2016 Senior National Team will feature 12 athletes ranging from the World Cup to U23 Development Teams.
Ivan Babikov couldn't believe what he was hearing early in the 2015 World Championships 15 k freestyle. Two years after placing fourth in that race, he was in danger of finishing near last if he didn't speed up. Babikov turned it on for his second lap, which ended up being 24 seconds after than his first, to place 20th. Also for Canada, Graeme Killick placed 32nd and Jess Cockney was 57th in his first distance race in almost three months.
Canada's Alex Harvey rocketed to his best non-stage World Cup result this season with a second-place finish in Saturday's 1.2 k classic sprint in Östersund, Sweden. He closely followed race victor Finn Hågen Krogh, who overtook Italy's Federico Pellegrino in the World Cup sprint standings.
We can't imagine anything much more exciting than making World Championships for the first time, so we contacted the North Americans living that exact dream this year. Here's our first of the series from Canadian national-team member Jess Cockney in his first World Champs after competing at the Sochi Olympics last year.
After making it through the qualifier, three Americans and Canadian Alex Harvey were not able to race their way into the semifinals of Saturday's World Cup 1.3 k freestyle sprint in Rybinsk, Russia. However, American Erik Bjornsen had his best sprint result on the World Cup and reached the heats for the first time.
Canadians Lenny Valjas and Jesse Cockney skied well enough to finish in the points in the final race before the holiday break, a 1.3 k freestyle sprint on Sunday in Davos, Switzerland. It was Cockney's best individual World Cup result in more than two years.
It has been a year and a half since Lenny Valjas last made an appearance in World Cup sprint heats. Let that sink in. The tall Canadian is thrilled that not only is he back and feeling like himself, but he didn't just squeak in - he qualified tenth and missed a lucky loser spot in the semifinals by just 0.03 seconds.
Alex Harvey skied a strong 15 k pursuit Sunday to improve his standing to tenth in the Lillehammer World Cup mini tour. Teammates Ivan Babikov and Devon Kershaw overcame low rankings to place 28th and 41st, leaving the Canadians confident but wanting more as they prepare for newt weekend's World Cup races in Davos, Switzerland.
While Alex Harvey was the only Canadian to make the heats on Friday, at least two of his teammates -- Perianne Jones and Jess Cockney -- were less than a second off the mark in the World Cup skate sprint in Lillehammer.
The four-man Canadian World Cup Team we've come to know over the years is back at it again, and has been training for the last two weeks with four other top domestic skiers -- Perianne Jones, Emily Nishikawa, Graeme Killick, and Jesse Cockney. This week, most of the team will test its stuff with the best of them at the World Cup opener in Kuusamo, Finland.
The 5 Peaks Trail Running Series came to Canmore for the second installment of central Alberta's race series last weekend. Consistent with the usual 5 Peaks format, this event consisted of an “enduro” distance and a “sport” distance, 12 k and 8 k respectively. But unlike your average 5 Peaks race, this event featured Olympians.
When Alex Harvey tripped over a pole broken by U.S. skier Noah Hoffman, it summed up the whole Olympics for the Canadian team: if one piece was there, the rest was unlucky. Harvey, Ivan Babikov, and Graeme Killick finished 19th, 20th, and 28th, while Jesse Cockney was "just thrilled to have the start."
When Andy Newell collapsed during the first leg of today's Olympic relay, the U.S. team had to switch their perspective. No problem, said Noah Hoffman: "you have to be ready to roll with anything and take what’s given to you." The Americans ultimately finished 11th, one spot ahead of a Canadian team that had benched Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey.
With the Winter Olympics set to kick off in earnest with the Opening Ceremony on Friday night, the Canadian National Cross-Country Team is ready to go in the mountain village of Krasnaya Polyana, where it's been training for the last few days. This is the story of how their team grew by two just a few weeks before the Olympics, shortly after the official nomination.
Following up on the Canadian Olympic team naming last week, FasterSkier caught up with four rookies who recently posted top results to earn their first trips to the Games from Feb. 7-23: Graeme Killick, Emily Nishikawa, Jesse Cockney, and Heidi Widmer.
Four racers proved they deserve a spot on Canada’s Olympic team this weekend in the freestyle sprints and 15/30 k skiathlons. Heidi Widmer (AWCA/NST) and Jesse Cockney (AWCANST) took home top honors in the freestyle sprint, while Graeme Killick (AWCA/NST) and Amanda Ammar (Team Ninja) won the skiathlon.
Canada’s Olympic Trials kicked off on Wednesday at the Canmore Nordic Centre with the first of two freestyle sprint races. With perhaps only two spots per gender on the Olympic team up for grabs, there is little room for errors for racers wanting to qualify for the Olympics.