A two-time runner-up at this year's nationals, Sadie Bjornsen proved to herself that she can achieve gold, winning her second national title in three years in her first-ever 20 k. Bjornsen skied away from the pack late, beating teammate Kate Fitzgerald by nearly 13 seconds.
Friday's 10- and 15-kilometer freestyle races at Soldier Hollow were hardly walks in the park. Racers had to tackle a modified 5-kilometer course, which some thought was harder than the Olympic 5 k. Photos from some of the top women on the two-lap sufferfest.
Rosie Brennan of APU notched her first national title at home just outside Park City on Friday, winning the 10 k freestyle individual start by nearly 11 seconds over teammate Sadie Bjornsen. Kate Fitzgerald took third to complete the APU podium sweep.
It was a frigid morning on the trails of Soldier Hollow for the women's 10km freestyle race at the 2013 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships. After two grueling laps around a challenging course on slow snow it was the APU squad that gathered on all steps of the podium. Here is a look at some of the action.
Despite illness, disrupted training and frustration with her early season, Jennie Bender (Central Cross Country) will not quit. A mere month after disappointing results in Bozeman, she came from behind on Wednesday to win the classic sprint at U.S. Nationals. Sadie Bjornsen was second and Rosie Brennan third.
Still waiting to hear from your favorite North American skier that failed to qualify for the Quebec World Cup heats on Saturday? We've got their responses.
The American nation’s group athletes in Quebec City this week are about to take the biggest stage of their athletic careers. None of them are content with just having made it, however; these athletes want to compete.
The lead nearly got away from her, but Sadie Bjornsen (APU/USST) was able to claw her way back from third to win the 10 k classic SuperTour in Bozeman by 17 seconds on Sunday. Chelsea Holmes (SVSEF) was second and Rosie Brennan (APU) took third.
With five women in the top six, Alaska Pacific University pretty much cleaned up in the classic sprint in Bozeman, Mont. Sadie Bjornsen won a close finish with teammate Lauren Fritz; Corey Stock (Dartmouth) took third.
Ready or not, the 2013 SuperTour season is fast approaching. Here’s what you need to know about the domestic race scene this year. At this point, we’ve pretty much said everything we can about the twelve senior ski programs in the U.S. We ran a series throughout the summer highlighting each team’s past accomplishments and goals for the future. Read back through ‘em for comprehensive rosters and standalone previews (scroll down for links). Now that...
RUMFORD, Maine — With falling snow and six trips up Black Mountain’s infamous ‘High School Hill’ the ladies’ 20km classic mass start was exciting. Through the race the lead pack decreased from a mass to just five and by the time the skiers finally crossed the line it was the US Ski Team/CXC’s Jessie Diggins who got there first to win another title. Check out how it unfolded.
RUMFORD, Maine — The stadium at Black Mountain held its collective breath as spectators waited for the lead pack of the women’s 20 k classic mass start to come through for the last time at the U.S. Cross Country Championships. The question in everyone’s mind was, could Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST) pull off yet another win? The race came down to tactics — the top five women stayed in a tight group for the first five laps,...
RUMFORD, Maine — On a comfortably cold day at Black Mountain, Jessie Diggins (Central Cross Country/USST) extended her winning streak to 11 this season—her second national title of the week at the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Championships. Dasha Gaiazova (Canadian National Ski Team/Rocky Mountain Racers) finished second, while Diggins’ teammate Caitlin Gregg (CXC) landed on the podium for the second time this week in third. Despite her dominance of the domestic circuit so far this...
VERNON, British Columbia — Before the Alaska Pacific University racers stepped onto the course at Sovereign Lake, many of them sensed what it felt like to win. Their teammate and winner of Sunday’s World Cup freestyle sprint, Kikkan Randall gave them that feeling. While she won in Davos, Switzerland, the associated emotions resonated several thousands of miles to her APU counterparts in Silver Star, British Columbia. Upon hearing the news that Randall and another teammate,...
Though we didn’t have a staff reporter on-site at the Bozeman, MT SuperTour this weekend, there were still plenty of interesting anecdotes to take away from the accounts athletes gave of their races. Most significantly, Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s (SVSEF) Mike Sinnott will be headed to Europe in January for his first World Cups that side of the Atlantic. FIS awards World Cup starts to Continental Cup leaders at the end of Period 1,...
Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST) continued her early season dominance in the 10 k classic in Bozeman, MT on Sunday. Her 35.7-second victory over Maria Graefnings (University of Utah) was her third-straight win of the weekend. Kate Fitzgerald of APU finished third (+1:06.7). “I really had a lot of fun today,” said Diggins. “Sometimes when people say ‘have fun out there’ I think it’s more likely that the race is going to hurt like crazy. But today’s race...
Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST) has her eyes set on bigger and better things down the road, but that has not stopped her from turning in an impressive series of races in West Yellowstone. On a cold, sunny morning in Montana, Diggins hammered through the 5km classic race in a time of 14:58.2, good for a 13.7 second victory over Kate Fitzgerald (APU). Jennie Bender (CXC) concluded the opening SuperTour weekend with another strong race, taking third,...
Whomever came up with the overused aphorism “no guts, no glory,” certainly was not referring to cross-country ski racing. But Saturday’s SuperTour Sprint Showdown provided plenty of images that would do just fine adorning the front of a cheap tee-shirt. There was some measure of glory (albeit in the first race of the season), and fortunately, the guts were of the figurative sense—though given the sounds coming out of many skiers in the finish corral,...
FasterSkier Breakthrough Skier of the Year For the first time we are naming a Breakthrough Skier of the Year. The award is even less defined than the Rookie of the Year. Any skier who took a significant step forward is eligible. Though not limited to domestic skiers, we will lean toward such athletes, as the Rookie of the Year has generally gone to the World Cup level. Breakthrough Skier of the Year (women): Kate Fitzgerald...
The U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team (USST) for the 2011-2012 season is expected to be announced in a few hours, according to John Farra, the program’s director. The nominations haven’t been made public yet, but in making them, Farra and Chris Grover, the USST head coach, have faced a familiar dilemma: add a number of athletes to the squad, and dilute an always-tight budget, or preserve the higher levels of support that come with a smaller...