With the help of U.S. Ski Team head coach Chris Grover and Canadian National Team Head Coach Justin Wadsworth, Tor-Arne Hetland and the Canadian World Cup Team ended up in Vermont last month. "Andy Newell can train here for many years … That’s the reason we are here," Hetland explained.
Of the 18 North Americans that competed in Sunday’s 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprints at the Toblach World Cup, nine made the rounds. Many of them chatted with FasterSkier about the day and final race before the Olympics.
The Canadian team was locked out of the quarterfinals in Sunday's World Cup sprint, leading team members and coaches to call it a "bad day". But two team members who are recovering from health issues - Lenny Valjas and Chandra Crawford, who made her season debut at this level - looked at the sprint qualifier as a way to gain fitness on their upward trajectories, regardless of results.
The Canadian and American men's relays fell short of their goals on Sunday, placing 14th and 17th, respectively, in the 4 x 7.5 k Lillehammer World Cup, but both are optimistic about the future.
Moving on from last season, the Canadians are a calculated bunch and ready to get the World Cup season started -- with a goal of not overemphasizing early results in order to peak for the Olympics. For the entire team, the Tour de Ski is part of the plan.
At first glance, one might not see much of a difference on the Canadian World Cup Team: mostly the same faces looking fit as usual. But head coach Justin Wadsworth said there's a lot that's gone on behind the scenes this training season, especially in monitoring recovery and priming his athletes for what he hopes to be their best seasons yet. A new camp in Truckee was part of the plan.
The U.S. men and Canadian World Cup skiers are right at home way down under at the Snow Farm near Wanaka, Zealand, and they haven't wasted any time with getting down to business while rehabbing some injuries.
Last weekend, Team Hardwood held its annual Midget Camp; it's goal: to get as many young kids as possible to fall in love with cross country skiing. With a total of 8 midget-aged athletes, 4 volunteers from Team Hardwood’s senior racing team and our Head Coach Ron Howden, one volunteer says mission accomplished.
You waited long enough and probably didn't even know it was coming, but here it is: a montage of your favorite top Canadian skiers (at least the ones at Canadian Nationals) talking about their seasons in a nutshell.
The U.S. and Canadian national teams currently in Bend, Ore., for their spring camps had an unstructured training session at Mt. Bachelor this weekend. Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation nordic director and 3-time Olympian Dan Simoneau snapped photos of junior skiers and World Cup athletes alike ski laps around the trails.
Canadian World Cup Team members Dasha Gaiazova and Lenny Valjas demonstrated how classic sprinting is done at Canadian Nationals on Thursday, winning their respective qualifiers and later commanding the finals to achieve national titles.
With the conclusion of Period IV of the 2012-2013 season we tally who's in and who's out of the coveted Red Group in the most recent World Ranking Lists, from the American and Canadian perspectives.
Athletes hit a breaking point on Thursday before the last three stages of World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden, where they threatened not to race on courses they deemed too dangerous. In successfully pressuring FIS and the race organizers to make the requested changes to the trails, athletes hope they've drawn a firm line between what they will and will not compete on in the future.
The Canadians missed the wax in the men's race on Saturday and ended up with Alex Harvey posting the team's top finish of 30th. "That combination of not-perfect bodies and bad skis is not so much fun," head coach Justin Wadsworth said.
A year after Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw topped the podium in the World Cup Finals prologue, the Canadian team was looking for some positives on Friday, but would have to settle for two top 30s on a challenging day.
For every Canadian qualifier except Dasha Gaiazova, the quarterfinals of Wednesday’s World Cup Finals 1.1-kilometer classic sprint were a second chance, an opportunity to get it right. Gaiazova had qualified in a career-best fourth, but Devon Kershaw on skate skis and Lenny Valjas on classic had narrowly made it through in 28th and 30th, respectively. All three went on to make the top 20.
Starting hard in her quarterfinal but missing out on advancing, Dasha Gaiazova led the Canadians in 15th in the Drammen classic sprints. Qualifying in 29th and 30th, Lenny Valjas and Alex Harvey were glad to make it through, but wanted a little more after finishing 16th and 20th, respectively.
Canada fell short of its expectations in Friday's 4x10 k relay, placing 12th of 18 teams and 2:39.3 behind the winners.
After narrowly qualifying in 26th, Alex Harvey went on to have the race of his life in Thursday's World Championships classic sprint, placing third to make history for Canada, which he hopes will lift the rest of the team after sub-par finishes.
Canada's Lenny Valjas gave it his all and drained the tank for sixth, a season-best, non-stage result, and Devon Kershaw continued to his ascent into fighting form in eighth at Saturday's World Cup classic sprint in Davos, Switzerland.