This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. The long and winding road that is cross-country skiing’s World Championships came to an end today. The last stop: the men’s 50 kilometer Classic Mass Start. Throughout the men’s competitions, the story...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Three races: three medals. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) pursues the history that is available to him, but the history he pursues is likely to be marked with an Asterisk. He is one...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Thirty kilometers is a long way to race. It’s the sort of distance that recreational skiers race as a “marathon,” the kind of overlong race effort from which mere mortals...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. By the time the men’s final started, the procession had all but begun. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) went to the front, kept the rest of his competitors just out of reach, and...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Racing in Toblach, Italy continued today with the Men’s 10-kilometer freestyle. Coming into the race Johannes Hosflot Klaebo (NOR) had won 13 men’s events and was only one victory away from tying...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. “Incroyable!” . . . Most Americans know, understand, or recognize at least a little bit of French. All those partly-understood French phrases and terms were on display today on the...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. There’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, and then there’s everyone else: that’s what was proven in Sunday’s 10 k Pursuit at the Tour de Ski in Val Mustair, Switzerland. There were the...
Editors note: FasterSkier’s coverage of FIS Cross Country World Cup Period I has been a cooperative effort among three dedicated staff writers: Ben Theyerl, Ken Roth, and John Teaford. Many early mornings, many calls and texts, many quotes and comments, many unforgiving deadlines bring this reporting to FasterSkier’s readers. We hope their insights have served to improve everyone’s enjoyment of the excellent racing witnessed in Period I, and that they can serve to prepare viewers...
The FIS instituted an overhaul of the points system used to determine the best individual skier in the World. We’re already seeing the consequences. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo had won all three races of the World Cup’s opening weekend races in Ruka. Any offseason doubts spurred by reports of his injuries or independent training practices went away. He was still the best skier in the world. Then, the following Friday in Lillehammer, illness forced Klaebo to...
Norway in midwinter can take on the appearance of a snow globe: quaint little cabins covered in snow, drooping pines coated in layers of white, skiers trailing through the woods. That was the scene in Beitostolen, Norway for day two of the FIS Cross Country World Cup. Skiers awoke to withering cold with low temperatures creating squeaky snow on the race course. Waxing for kick would not be a problem, but enduring the cold for...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. Ruka Men’s 10K Classic Individual Start Ruka presented less challenging conditions this year compared to last year for the athletes. Temperatures were in the high teens (-8.0 Centigrade) with...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. Ruka, Finland sits at a northern latitude similar to Fairbanks Alaska, similar to the northern end of Canada’s Hudson Bay. By early winter, the sun is a weakened...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Women’s international report | Men’s international report | Post-qualifier notes & quotes After winning the sprint qualifier by 0.39 seconds over defending gold medalist Maiken Caspersen Falla and then besting the Norwegian by 0.03 seconds in her semifinal, Sweden’s Stina Nilsson captured Olympic gold in a dominating performance in the classic sprint final, ultimately besting Falla by 3.03 seconds. Falla had to fight to even keep silver, as Olympic Athlete of Russia Yulia Belorukova pushed the pace...
There was no mistaking Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in Friday’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint, even with no natural light illuminating the course in Kuusamo, Finland, by the time the men’s final left the start line. The 21 year old’s distinct runner-like, high-tempo stride could be seen leading the five other men’s finalists on every climb, distinguishing him from the light fog and densely packed trees lining the course’s firmly packed tracks. Making his World Cup debut...
FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): Classic sprints Men’s race report In the first race of the 2017/2018 cross-country World Cup season, U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Sadie Bjornsen, who turned 28 on Tuesday, raced to the best result of her career, placing second to Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in Friday’s classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland. Last season, Bjornsen notched her first World Cup podium in third place in the 5-kilometer freestyle in Toblach, Italy,...
DRAMMEN, Norway — The stage was set around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday when a homegrown Norwegian made good in front of a spectator-lined 1.2-kilometer classic course smack-dab in the middle of Drammen’s city center. It was a day of contrast that began with blue skies and ended with a deep chill and falling snow as thumping music pounded and the gothic Bragernes Church loomed. In between, the clouds amassed and the classic tracks stayed firmed for...
One down, two stages to go. Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson has both the Lillehammer mini tour's early lead with a win on Friday's sprint, and an increasingly firm grip on the World Cup Overall. Canada's Alex Harvey is happy to lurk in 12th heading into tomorrow's skate distance race.
The Weekend Roundup is back! Just because the Olympics are over doesn't mean the season is finished. Catch up with the renewed World Cup action in Lahti, Finland, the IBU Youth World Championships, and the Vasaloppet.
Out of 17 Norwegians in Saturday's World Cup 15 k classic race, Pål Golberg wasn't the favorite. The 23 year old ended up notching his first World Cup victory in Lillehammer, and lesser-known teammate Didrik Tønseth surprised (himself) in third.
Just when spectators thought he might falter, Petter Northug rebounded from a nearly five-second deficit midway through Friday's 2.5 k prologue to win his second-straight race of World Cup Finals by 2.1 seconds over teammate Pal Golberg. Norway showed its strength on the modified course, putting six in the top seven.