Photos of the U.S. and Canadian men on the first day of the men's cross-country races at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Two Canadians finished in the top 30, and Noah Hoffman led the U.S. in 35th.
Alex Harvey, the Canadian medal hopeful, placed 18th in the Olympic pursuit, hindered by a pair of classic skis that he said were both slick and slow. Noah Hoffman led Americans in 35th.
FasterSkier caught up with U.S. Ski Team member Noah Hoffman to talk about everything from his training to his mentality and goals before the Olympics. Hoffman plans to compete in four events: the 30-kilometer skiathlon, 15 k classic individual start, 4 x 10 k relay, and 50 k freestyle, respectively.
Erik Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team broke through in Saturday's 15 k classic individual start at the Toblach World Cup in Italy, two days after placing 17th the same event at U23 World Championships. Aside from Alex Harvey in fifth, the rest of the North American men placed outside the top 38 on a wet day marked by tricky conditions.
(Public service announcement) We want to show our U.S. Ski Team how many of us are cheering them on as they chase our first cross-country Olympic medals since Bill Koch’s silver back in 1972. To get the ball rolling, a donor has pledged to donate $1 to Boston & New England Nordic programs for every comment posted on http://noahhoffman.com and open the most recent post 2. at the end of the post, leave a comment 3. (optional) sign-up for notification every time Noah...
The U.S. Cross-Country and Nordic Combined teams officially announced their athlete selections for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which start in just over two weeks in Sochi, Russia.
The US men's team faced fatigue and fickle conditions on Sunday's 15 k classic mass start race in Szklarska Poreba, Poland. Noah Hoffman led the US men's results in 19th, with Andy Newell 27th, and Erik Bjornsen 40th.
Noah Hoffman was the last American left in the Tour de Ski. Bad ski choice got him off to a slow start, but he powered up the immense climb to find himself in a career-best 25th.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby led the final stage of the Tour de Ski and never looked back as he skied to his, and Norway's, first victory in the event's history. Sundby, who has skied in every Tour de Ski, called his feat a "dream come true" and, overcome, said, "I have a great feeling, deep into the soul." Chris Jespersen of Norway, skiing in his first Tour de Ski, captured second place. Of his effort on the big climb, he said, "towards the end I thought, 'Now I die.'”
Saturday's Tour de Ski stage 6 individual classic race saw Jessie Diggins notch her best ever classic race. Diggins came in 10th, while Liz Stephen finished a solid 21st, and Noah Hoffman in 47th had an off day.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby took off like a rocket on Friday and never looked back. The 29-year-old Norwegian had a 32 second headstart in the 5th stage of the Tour de Ski, a 35 k freestyle pursuit race, and he took full advantage of it.
Liz Stephen was the only American to crack the top-30 in the fourth stage of the Tour de Ski, placing 26th in the women's 10 k classic mass start. Noah Hoffman led the way in the men's 15 k, placing 55th.
Jessie Diggins doesn't remember much from Saturday's 3 k prologue, but some familiar faces and loud cheers carried her to fifth. Both she and U.S. teammate Sophie Caldwell, whose family was among the supportive spectators, tied their respective World Cup career bests in the first stage of the Tour de Ski.
Noah Hoffman, the lone American entrant in the individual-start 30 k, planned to start conservatively and attack the downhills, a place where he has lost time before on the Davos courses. Although his pacing didn't go quite according to plan, Hoffman said he was happy with his 25th-place finish, 1:54 behind race winner Maurice Manificat of France.
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.
It can be hard riding so much success. Noah Hoffman came down a bit from a stage win in the Kuusamo Ruka Triple to place 41st in the Lillehammer World Cup 15 k classic on Saturday. He led the American men, with Kris Freeman in 75th and Mikey Sinnott in 81st.
A new World Cup season dawns for the United States, and the future looks bright with expectations understandably high. In an Olympic year, the U.S. features one of the best collections of cross-country talent the nation has seen.
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.
The official beginning to the 2014 racing season didn't disappoint with tons of exciting nordic action taking place across the globe. FasterSkier was on-site in West Yellowstone to cover the SuperTour opener, Kikkan Randall opened with her best classic-sprint finish of second in Kuusamo, Noah Hoffman notched the fastest men's time in Sunday's 15 k pursuit to end the Kuusamo Ruka Triple, and Tim Burke had his first podium of the biathlon season.
Noah Hoffman (USA) was the fastest World Cup skier today, posting the best time on the final day of the Kuusamo mini-tour, an effort that moved him up to 9th overall. The result paid off, both in valuable World Cup points, and Swiss Francs.