For the past few years, the World Cup in Rybinsk, Russia has been the weekend frequently skipped over by national teams and various individuals. With the overall World Cup title a focal point this season and no major championship to save up for, however, the expected fields are nearly double what they’ve recently been, in spite of the handful of athletes who have decided not to race in the extreme cold. The forecast initially looked...
TOBLACH, Italy – The Dolomites were the site of brutal battles between the Austrians and Italians during World War I. Nearly 100 years later, members of European and North American countries once again waged war among these mountains in the depths of winter—this time, in a cross-country ski race. Perhaps appropriately, it was a Swiss athlete who rose above the fray here on Thursday, winning a 32-kilometer freestyle pursuit by skiing his own race and...
OBERHOF, Germany – If the Prologue is any indication, the 2012 Tour de Ski will play out as predicted by the media hype—a battle between Petter Northug (NOR) and Dario Cologna (SUI). Northug edged his rival, and defending Tour champion, Cologna, by .7 seconds in the men’s prologue in Oberhof, Germany. Maurice Manificat (FRA) placed third, four seconds off the pace. As expected, times were tightly compressed on the fast hard track. The course was...
Roland Clara had been second before. On Saturday in Kuusamo, Finland, the Italian looked pretty comfortable in the leader’s chair, bundled in a blanket and flashing a genuine smile. But the men’s 10 k freestyle race on the second day of the Ruka Triple mini-tour was only halfway through. With individual starts staggering the finishes, Clara could see his seat wasn’t permanent. With every checkpoint — 3.1, 6.4 and 8.1 k — his challengers closed...
Missed Medals A reader asked on Twitter the other day if I’d recalculate the tallies for Kris Freeman’s top ten, top three, etc. results if we went back and removed a certain Estonian skier from prior results sheets. I’m going to preface this with some standard caveats about how I can’t know for sure when [...] Related posts:
Vittoz Vittoz said au revoir to life as an athlete. The great French hope had his worst season since 2002, finishing (for him) a measly 23rd in the overall World Cup rankings. Vittoz had some good races – he finished fourth in the final climb in the Tour de Ski and third in the 20 k pursuit in Lahti – but he wasn’t his old medal-winning self. While the most famous Frenchman might have had...
The North American elite racing season may be over, but there is still plenty of action to be found in Europe, including the second annual Tour de Barents, a four-stage mini-tour in the Barents region of northern Europe. While fields are not large – just 11 women and 35 men are contesting this year’s event – there is plenty of firepower. Petra Majdic (SLO) leads the women as she wraps up her farewell tour. Majdic...
For Dario Cologna, it’s better late than never. After enduring a brutal two weeks at the World Ski Championships in Oslo, where he was stymied by bad skis and bad tactics, the Swiss cross-country superstar finally got things back on track on the World Cup in Lahti, Finland on Saturday. At the finish of the men’s 20 k pursuit, Cologna outsprinted Frenchmen Maurice Manificat and Vincent Vittoz for the win—his first since his victory in...
France Nations Cup Ranking: 7th (2477 pts) Men: 6th (1864 pts) Women: 9th (613 pts) 2010/2011 A Team Men Jean Marc Gaillard Emmanuel Jonnier Maurice Manificat Cyril Miranda Vincent Vittoz Women Aurore Jean What you may have missed last season: Maurice Manificat, or Maurice the Magnificent, absolutely exploding onto the World Cup. Manificat could very easily be labeled the most improved skier last season. It’s tough to believe that in 2008 he scored only seven...
Falun, Sweden – The results sheet showed an amazing comeback by Frenchman Maurice Manificat, who chopped 45 seconds off of Petter Northug’s lead in just 2.2 kilometers. Somehow the fading Northug was able to recover and rally for yet another stunning finish charge and the World Cup Final victory. Or not. The video tells an entirely different story, with Mr. Northug cruising into the stadium with a huge lead, stopping to take a flag and...
Oslo, Norway – Maybe it is ski switching, maybe the courses are harder, or most likely, the skiers are more aggressive. Whatever the reason, the long mass start races that are now standard on the World Cup are becoming more and more consistently exciting. Last year the traditional Holmenkollen 50km was held in Trondheim due to construction at the Oslo venue, and the race set a new standard for a World Cup mass start race....