Alex Harvey enjoyed the leader's chair for quite some time during Saturday's 10 k freestyle, the second race of the Ruka Triple World Cup. He ended up second to Martin Johnsrud Sundby, but the Canadian was pleased with his podium in a hilly skate race, especially in the first distance race of the season.
This time last year, Ida Sargent had a career-best fifth in the first Word Cup of the season: the Ruka classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland. She came close on Friday, finishing seventh and missing the final by 0.37 seconds. Teammate Sadie Bjornsen won her quarterfinal and placed 12th overall.
Lenny Valjas was the lone Canadian to qualify on Friday in the first World Cup race of the season, the Ruka Triple classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland. “Today’s goal was just to qualify and to make it into the points," Valjas explained. "There was no huge expectations."
A year after placing third behind fellow Norwegians Eirik Brandsdal and Petter Northug, Sondre Turvoll Fossli, 22, turned the tables on his teammates and won his first World Cup -- the Ruka classic sprint -- on Friday ahead of Brandsdal and Northug, respectively. American Andy Newell had his best World Cup result since February 2013.
For the second time this weekend, a Norwegian was disqualified during a race in Beitostølen, Norway, and missed out on a victory because of it. Maiken Caspersen Falla was first across the line in the women's classic sprint final, but subsequently relegated, leaving Russia's Natalia Matveeva with the win.
With more than half of the World Cup races being stages this season, the U.S. Ski Team has decided to incorporate the mini-tour format into its training and is ending its annual Park City camp with a three-day rollerski series.
Before the first stop on the IBU World Cup circuit continues in Östersund on Wednesday, we bring you a synopsis of last weekend's racing action and links to full reports.
Press release) In case you didn’t thoroughly check out the eBlast where I explained about the new JetStream 2.0 and HelX 2.0 products, Photos from the World Cup Opener in Ruka, Finland Reese Hanneman at the start Reese Ida The stadium from above West Yellowstone I think everyone would agree that this was a great West Yellowstone week with great skiing, trees full of snow, and lots of camaraderie. One thing happened on Saturday that...
Never fail, on Monday afternoon during a flight from Frankfurt to Denver, Noah Hoffman blogged. And not just any quick update, almost a whopping 2,000 words. The U.S. Ski Team’s top male distance skier got online to explain exactly what happened Sunday in Kuusamo, Finland, where he fell hard with slightly less than 2 kilometers to go in the first World Cup distance race of the season.
Sadie Bjornsen was, in a way, trying to avoid the kind of seventh-place showing she broke out with last year in Kuusamo, Finland. Instead, she placed 17th on Sunday for a result she was pleased with, especially considering how much it hurt. Jessie Diggins was 39th and four more Americans were in the top 60.
Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw always want podiums, that's a given, but at this point in the season -- at the first World Cup weekend in Kuusamo, Finland -- they were pleased with top-15 results. Also on Sunday, Emily Nishikawa pulled off a career best in Europe in 38th in the women's 10 k classic.
Therese Johaug took the fun out of fighting for first, proving herself untouchable throughout Sunday's two-lap 10 k classic on the first day of World Cup distance racing in Kuusamo. Teammate Marit Bjørgen knew the race was for second and narrowly edged Sweden's Charlotte Kalla.
In the big leagues this season, Finland's Iivo Niskanen, 22, not only notched his first World Cup podium on Sunday, but he won the men's 15 k classic individual start in front of a packed stadium in Kuusamo. Two Finnish skiers made the top three, and Norway's Martin Sundby took second.
Alex Harvey came close to making the semifinals in the classic sprint, but like many in the field he struggled with icing klister over the top of one of the course's biggest hills. The rest of his team - Lenny Valjas, Devon Kershaw, and Perianne Jones - didn't make the heats.
Noah Hoffman likes some strange things, such as raw meat and raw eggs, but hey, if it makes you fast... Here's some more random info about the 24-year-old Aspen native, who wants to live in the big city someday.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby held off Russians Maxim Vylegzhanin and Alexander Legkov in the homestretch to claim victory in the Ruka Triple mini-tour.
Sadie Bjornsen (USA) continued a strong start to the season, placing a career-best 7th in the 5km classic in Finland.
Kikkan Randall (USA) earned the first classic sprint podium of the year, placing second to Justyna Kowalczyk in the World Cup opener in Kuusamo, Finland.
The most successful member the US Nordic Combined Team so far this season, Bryan Fletcher shares some insight on Kuusamo, Finland, and what went down on the second weekend of World Cup competition.
Petter Northug skied his own race and hung on for dear life at the finish to edge a Russian for the first time in this weekend's Ruka Triple and defend his overall title from Kuusamo last year.