Justyna Kowalczyk – FasterSkier

Petter Eliassen and Justyna Kowalczyk Win the Birkebeinerrennet (Press Release)

FasterSkierMarch 16, 2019

Eliassen and Kowalczyk Break Away to Victories in Birkebeinerrennet In the men’s 54 km race, Petter Eliassen attacked very early on and only his teammate Morten Eide Pedersen was able to follow for a while. Before reaching the climb competition point at Raudfjellet, 20 km, Eliassen was skiing solo and kept going so strong that no one else had a chance to even try to catch him. Behind him, five men approached the stadium area,...

Dryland General News Other Racing

Bolshunov, Gjeitnes Win Blink Classics Distance Races on Opening Day

Gabby NaranjaAugust 1, 2018

A predictor for the winter ski season ahead? Could be. Either way, Norway’s Blink Ski Festival, or as it’s called in Norway, Blinkfestivalen, remains the ultimate in rollerski racing and returned for the 12th year in a row on Wednesday. The festival opened with elite men’s and women’s distance rollerski races, known as the currently training with the British national team in Norway. Following the Blink Classics on Wednesday, the Blink Ski Festival will turn to the...

General News Racing World Cup

Bjørgen Says She’s Done: The Latest on XC Retirements

FasterSkierApril 13, 2018

You’ve probably heard the news by now: Marit Bjørgen, the Norwegian queen of cross-country skiing, has decided to retire. The 38 year old made the announcement a week ago after winning the first race of Norwegian nationals, the 5-kilometer classic, on April 6. “In reality it has been a long process,” she told NRK that day, according to a translation. “I had almost decided before the competitive season started. I feel that I lack the...

General News Olympics Racing

Nilsson Nabs Long-Awaited Gold in PyeongChang Classic Sprint

Jason AlbertFebruary 13, 2018

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, bronze in the classic team sprint with teammate Ida Ingemarsdotter. A year later in Falun, Sweden, at World Championships, Nilsson placed second in the individual classic sprint. When you are close, you begin to think more about achieving a singular goal and less about overall season-long outcomes. Nilsson last raced a World Cup the weekend of Jan. 20-21 in Planica, Slovenia, where she raced to 13th...

Continental Cup General News Nordic Combined Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Sunday Rundown: Planica, Chaux-Neuve, Rena, Red Deer

FasterSkierJanuary 21, 2018

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Planica, Slovenia): 10/15 k classic Men’s report Just when it looked like one of those Charlotte-Kalla days, Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski swooped in and topped the Swede’s time by 3.6 seconds in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start on Sunday for her first-career outright World Cup win. Outright meaning non-stage; Pärmäkoski has two World Cup wins to her name for setting the fastest time of day in 2016 pursuit races. But...

News Racing Tour de Ski US Ski Team World Cup

Weng Wins Stage 6; Diggins 4th, Bjornsen 10th in Classic Mass Start

Jason AlbertJanuary 6, 2018

After the Tour de Ski’s previous dance with earth, wind and rain and the subsequent cancellation of the Stage 4 classic sprint followed by a Last year, Weng began the hill climb in second overall, 20 seconds behind Sweden’s Stina Nilsson. But more importantly in that 2017 race, Weng started 1:04 minutes ahead of Østberg in fourth. Nine k and 425 meters of climbing later, Weng took the win — she gained time on Østberg,...

Continental Cup Doping General News Racing World Cup

Finns, Russians, Norwegians & Swede Nab Early-Season Wins; Vylegzhanin Competes Despite IOC Ban

Chelsea LittleNovember 11, 2017

FIS races are already being contested in Finland and Sweden this weekend, with most top Scandinavian racers sitting out but a few national-team members and others picking up their first victories of the season. The competitions in Muonio, Finland, drew the most diverse field, including racers from Norway, Russia, Japan, China, Canada, Estonia, and Slovakia, among other countries. In the men’s classic sprint on Friday, the home team got a win from Ristomatti Hakola; he...

Biathlon News Racing World Cup

Saturday Rundown: Quebec City, Oslo and Lillehammer (Updated x4)

FasterSkierMarch 18, 2017

FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): 10/15 k classic mass starts During Saturday’s 15-kilometer classic mass start at World Cup Finals, Canada’s Alex Harvey was in it until the end. But so were Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Niklas Dyrhaug, and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh, to name a few. Sitting in second with a few hundred meters to go, Harvey was primed to make his move on Dyrhaug, who was leading at the time. But then...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Bjørgen Owns Holmenkollen 30 k with More Than 2-Minute Win; Randall 20th

Jason AlbertMarch 12, 2017

OSLO, Norway — The modernist Holmenkollbakken ski-jumping hill lords over the otherwise bucolic Holmenkollen ski venue. It’s certainly one of the wonders of the modern nordic sport world as the steel structure arcs elegantly toward the sky. At times during the men’s 50-kilometer classic mass start on Saturday at Holmenkollen, the sun glared off the jump, giving it the appearance of a polished silver spaceship. During the women’s 30 k classic mass start on Sunday, fog descended...

Biathlon Biathlon Canada Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing US Biathlon US Ski Team World Cup

Thursday Rundown: Lahti Women’s Relay & PyeongChang IBU World Cup (Updated)

FasterSkierMarch 2, 2017

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 4 x 5 k relay The Norwegian women’s team got a much-needed lift from Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, the third leg of its 4 x 5-kilometer relay, on Thursday, who tagged her teammate Marit Bjørgen nearly a minute ahead of anyone else. From there, Bjørgen anchored the Norwegians to a 1:01.6-minute victory for her third gold of 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland battled for...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Tuesday Rundown: Lahti and Osrblie (Updated)

FasterSkierFebruary 28, 2017

FIS Nordic World Championships (Lahti, Finland): Women’s 10 k classic No contest. That was the takeaway of Marit Bjørgen’s performance in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start on Monday at 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland, after the Norwegian posted a 41-second victory in 25:24.9 minutes. Bjørgen started 54th of 72 starters and clocked the fastest time over every intermediate timing point on the course. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla had been the previous race leader after...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Bjørgen Shows Who’s Still the Boss; Bjornsen 19th in Otepää

Harald ZimmerFebruary 19, 2017

“Visit Estonia,” it read on the bibs of all athletes in the women’s World Cup 10-kilometer classic individual start race, an advertisement by the tourist board of the Baltic country. Unfortunately after experiencing beautiful weather for Saturday’s sprint, the town of Otepää — which on most days is indeed a paradise for all kinds of winter sports — was not able to present itself looking exactly like a picture out of a travel brochure on...

Biathlon Canadian National Ski Team News Racing US Biathlon US Ski Team World Cup

Sunday Rundown: World Champs Silver for Dunklee, Bailey 6th in Hochfilzen (Updated x2)

FasterSkierFebruary 19, 2017

IBU World Championships (Hochfilzen, Austria): Women’s & men’s mass starts Silver medal for Susan Dunklee. That’s the big news coming out of Hochfilzen, Austria, on the final day of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships after the American finished second, just 4.6 seconds out of first, in the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start. Dunklee started in bib 17 in the mass start and cleaned all 20 targets to put herself in the hunt for gold....

Canadian National Ski Team Juniors News Nordic Combined Other Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Saturday Rundown: PyeongChang, Soldier Hollow & Eastern Canadian Champs (Updated x3)

Alex KochonFebruary 4, 2017

FIS Nordic Combined Junior World Championships (Park City and Midway, Utah): Normal hill/5 k [UPDATED] In the individual normal hill/5-kilometer Gundersen on Saturday, the last nordic-combined competition of 2017 Nordic Junior World Championships, American Ben Loomis captured his first top 10 in his third Junior Worlds in ninth place. Eighteen-year-old Loomis jumped to 10th then picked off one place in the 5 k to finish ninth, 1:22.3 minutes behind the winner, Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger. Geiger...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Sargent Seizes Opportunity, First Career Podium in PyeongChang Sprint

Harald ZimmerFebruary 3, 2017

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Liz Guiney, Caitlin Patterson and Jessica Yeaton.) Sometimes just being there is half the battle, as the saying goes. No Maiken Caspersen Falla. No Stina Nilsson. On Friday at the site of next year’s Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, three athletes who had never made it to a World Cup podium before prevailed in the women’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint. And right there was...

Canadian National Ski Team News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Friday Rundown: PyeongChang, Soldier Hollow & Eastern Canadian Champs (Updated x3)

FasterSkierFebruary 3, 2017

FIS Nordic Junior World Championships (Midway, Utah): 10/20 k skiathlon A Junior World Championships medal has been on Katharine Ogden’s mind for some time — two years, to be exact. “Every day in training, it’s kind of something that I think about. It’s the little thing that helps me push myself,” Ogden, a 19-year-old member of the Stratton Mountain School and U.S. Ski Team D-team, said in a post-race interview with the U.S. Ski Team on Friday....

Doping General News Racing World Cup

Anti-Doping Norway Seeks 14-Month Suspension for Johaug, Case Ongoing

Chelsea LittleNovember 29, 2016

The doping case of Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug has come to at least a temporary conclusion, with Anti-Doping Norway recommending a suspension of the star athlete for 14 months. Johaug told Reuters. “I expect they will have a hearing in February.” The proposed ban would be retroactive to Oct. 18 and last until Dec. 18, 2017, two months before the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. NRK reports that the casefile and the recommendation from Anti-Doping Norway will...

News Racing World Cup

Nilsson Knocks Norwegians to Second and Third in WC Opener

Gabby NaranjaNovember 26, 2016

The first races of the 2016/2017 World Cup season opened with a 1.4-kilometer classic sprint in Ruka, Finland. Besting some of Russia and Norway's top sprinters was Sweden's Stina Nilsson, who raced to her first ever classic win on Saturday. "This is...my first victory in classic so I'm very, very happy," Nilsson said during a T.V. interview.

General News Racing World Cup

Sargent and Patterson Prep for World Cup at Muonio FIS Races

Chelsea LittleNovember 12, 2016

In Finland to get in some race time before the World Cup begins, Ida Sargent of the U.S. Ski Team and Craftsbury finished ninth in the classic sprint in Muonio. Teammate Caitlin Patterson placed 16th and Sargent 19th in the 5k classic the next day.

General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Johaug Rocks Lahti Skiathlon by More Than a Minute; All 3 U.S. Women in Top 30

BrainspiralFebruary 21, 2016

Therese Johaug racked up her 15th World Cup win of the season, putting her on track to break Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen's record with three more wins in eight remaining races. Norway swept the top four, and Sadie Bjornsen led the U.S. women in 15th.

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