When Andy Newell took to social media about a week and a half ago to announce that he was parting ways with the U.S. Ski Team (USST) after 16 years, some people might have assumed that he was leaving the sport. They would be wrong. Newell, a 34-year-old Shaftsbury, Vermont, native and USST A-team member for the last 12 seasons, was quick to clarify that he’s not retiring from racing. After four Olympics and 16...
Eight points. That’s the number that separated Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla and Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in the Sprint World Cup standings before Saturday’s freestyle sprint in Lahti, Finland. Three sprints. That’s the number of World Cup sprint races that remained in the 2017/2018 calendar, one of which took place on Saturday. With one down and a classic sprint and skate sprint to go, Falla’s lead has grown to 28 points. It’s not much, with 150...
The following was submitted to FasterSkier by John Morton, a former U.S. biathlete and two-time Olympian (1972 and 1976) who has attended 10 Winter Olympics as “either an athlete, a coach, the Biathlon Team Leader, Chief of Course or, more recently as a spectator,” according to his bio (at end of article). Today, Morton, 71, lives in Thetford, Vermont, and works in trail design. *** I’ve had the remarkable good fortune of attending 10 Winter Olympic Games....
In his own unique style, special guest Cosmo Catalano from
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, stated his plans to retire after the 2019 World Cup Finals in Québec City. “I was just so motivated to be around to see the first Olympic medal for men get hung around a [Canadian] neck. That’s what drove me every day,” Kershaw reflected. Coming into the 2018 Winter Games, Harvey, 29, was the favorite for a country that has yet to claim an Olympic medal...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Four years ago in the men’s relay in Sochi, Russia, Svendsen as Norway’s anchor had been in the medal hunt until the final shooting. There, he used all of his spares and still left a target standing, which sent him to the penalty lap. After leading by as much as 20 seconds in the middle of that race, Norway finished fourth. But as they say, that’s biathlon. And on...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, U.S. women’s team sprint Olympic gold medal and all. But now that we’ve had a little time to breathe, FasterSkier wanted to bring you the best of the interviews that didn’t make our initial race reports. (Don’t worry, plenty more on this historic gold to come!) Kikkan Randall, Team USA’s first-leg skier: “It’s an amazing feeling. This is something the American team has been working for...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Americans Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins capture the first Olympic gold for the U.S. in cross-country skiing. It was motivating and inspiring, even confidence-boosting, Bjornsen reflected after his race in an in-person interview with FasterSkier. But he and Hamilton had their own medal hopes to tend to. Like most of the men’s finalists, they weren’t able to watch the women’s race beforehand and came out onto...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Women’s report Women |
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Frenzel had previously taken gold and Watabe silver in the first nordic-combined event of the 2018 Olympics, the normal hill/10 k on Feb. 14. Riiber was fourth for the second-straight competition. American Bryan Fletcher Jumping |
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, four years ago at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as he narrowly lost a sprint finish for the gold medal in the mass start to Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen. “I was sure that Simon did it,” Fourcade said of Schempp at Sunday’s post-race press conference. “It was just because four years ago in Sochi, Emil did me a lot of pain, and tonight I was...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, said when asked of her younger brother, Anton Shipulin, who was one of the Russian athletes women’s 10-kilometer pursuit on Monday. Two days before that, she had finished outside the medals, 13th, in the Olympics’ opening biathlon sprint. But Kuzmina, who was born in Tyumen, Russia, and started racing for Slovakia in 2008, has been an all-around threat in the sport for some time. At her first Olympics in 2010...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna with gold in a time of 33:43.9, Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger with silver, 18.3 seconds behind him, and Denis Spitsov taking the bronze, 23 seconds out of first. Harvey had it in his cards to make the podium. A handful of strong performances in the 15 k skate — he recently placed second at the last World Cup before the Olympics, the 15 k freestyle...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, men’s 10-kilometer sprint, Fourcade finished eighth, missing three out of five in his first shooting stage, and Bø had the same problem with prone — missing three then shooting another penalty in standing — to end up 31st. It was the kind of result no one saw coming after those two had taken first or second in every non-relay World Cup race this season (except for one, the sprint...
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Ragnhild Haga put herself front and center stage on Thursday in the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle individual start, FlyingPointRoad.com photos to hold you over: Ragnhild Haga (Norway), 1st: “I am not sure if I have dreamt of the gold medal, but I managed to take it today so I’m very happy.” “I think I had a better start than usually. I felt very good and got good messages from the coaches, that...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, postponed to Thursday due to high winds, the nordic-combined jumping portion went off earlier in the day as planned. The men’s individual normal hill/10-kilometer Gundersen competition saw Austria’s Franz-Josef Rehrl scored the highest number of points off the jump with a jump of 112 meters and 130.6 points. Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber jumped to second, flying 111 meters and scoring 126.9 points, and Japan’s Akito Watabe posted the third-best...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, qualifiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. All photos:
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Full report After the jumping round of the nordic-combined individual normal hill/10-kilometer Gundersen-start competition on Wednesday, Austria’s Franz-Josef Rehrl topped the standings thanks to a jump of 112 meters, just a meter farther than second place Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway. The top American was Bryan Fletcher, who sat in 18th place after a jump of 97.5 meters good for 99 points. He started the 10 k cross-country skiing portion of the competition 2:06...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, sprint victory, Dahlmeier began the race intensely focused, again cleaning the first prone stage. But this time she was not uncontested. After starting in 13th position and almost a minute back to begin the pursuit, Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina, who’s currently second in the World Cup Total Score standings, caught up to Dahlmeier after both had incurred one penalty in the second prone shooting and avoided more by performing multiple...
FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle due to a tainted food supplement came to light (her suspension later was reduced to six months) and the team again failed to reach the podium. “For our team this medal is particularly important,” Hönig said. “We still have the defeats of Sochi somewhere in the back of our minds. Well, I particularly do, so for me this is a gigantic moment. I believe having a medal...