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Remi Drolet

Ogden Sixth, Schumacher Seventh, Schoonmaker 13th for U.S. in Junior World’s Sprint

The monochromatic backdrop during the junior women’s sprint was the persistent theme in Oberwiesenthal, Germany  — it bled right into the World  Junior men’s 1.3 k freestyle sprint. For U.S. fans, in particular, this first event of four for the junior men possessed an element of tension. The tension, for those that follow, was seeded last year with an unequivocal success story that was the U.S. junior men’s run at the 2019 Junior Worlds in...

MSA Trials Wrap-up: Tactics, Selections, Photos, and Videos

Mont Sainte-Anne brought great ski conditions on a weekend where the best in Canada fought to qualify for four different race trips: U20/U23 World Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany; Falun and the Scando Tour; the sprint tour of Québec and Minnesota; and World Cup finals in Canmore. Combine this with the usual NorAm action and COC leader competition and you have all the ingredients for a great weekend. Over 400 athletes raced in five age groups...

MSA Trials Rundown: Classic Interval Starts

Fresh snow greeted day two of the Mont Sainte-Anne Trials for the interval start classic. With athletes battling to qualify for U20/U23 World Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany and three separate World Cup trips (Falun/Scando Tour, Sprint Tour, Canmore), it was never going to be a simple matter of skier against the clock. Racing started with the open men’s 15km on a 5km loop that was shared by all the elite categories. Early on, it looked...

MSA Trials Rundown: Qualifying for U23, U20 and More

In Canadian domestic ski racing, it doesn’t get much bigger than this. Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA) is hosting the NorAm weekend that also serves as U23/U20 World Championships qualification and has special significance in selection for World Cup starts. Any skier who hasn’t already qualified for National Team selection for next season start with top 30 results on either the World Cup or U20 World Championships. Most of these paths start at MSA Trials. For U20...

Rebuilding Canada: Less Europe, More North America

  Canada is moving into a new era in skiing. An era with less World Cup podiums and more emphasis on developing future podium athletes. “Train at what you want to be good at. If its climbing, climb. If it is chess, play chess. Ski training has many elements of course, but in the end the best training to race fast is to race.” — Erik Bråten, National Team Head Coach In the near future,...

North American Junior Cross-Country Performance of the Year

North American Junior Cross-Country Performance of the Year With the 2018/2019 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is running a series of articles highlighting some of the players and performances from the season. This honor goes to the most outstanding North American junior cross-country performance. Lahti, Finland became a winter playground – in a Formula One kind of way- for America’s upstart junior skiers. Solid performances during the World Junior Ski Championships landed numerous skiers...

Canadian Nationals: Two Day Pursuit and WCF Qualification

This article has been updated to correct an interpretation of the selection criteria. Day two of nationals was day two of the pursuit at Nakkertok trails in Gatineau, Québec. The two-day pursuit format (classic interval start on day one, free technique pursuit start day two) was held for the second time at nationals. With both national titles and starts at World Cup Finals in Québec City up for grabs, it was always going to be...

Wednesday Rundown: Canadian Nationals

Canadian Ski Championships, better known as ‘nationals’, kicked off today at the Nakkertok trails in Québec with individual start classic racing. 342 men started the 10km and 293 women started the 5km, both using the same 5km loop on an overcast day at -8C. The field is more stacked than usual, with only two athletes (Alex Harvey and Jack Carlyle) in Europe right now. Lenny Valjas (CNST) won the 10km in 25:09.3, 9.9 seconds ahead...

Canadian Western Championship: Weekend Wrap-up

KELOWNA, B.C — One week after Easterns, it was time for Westerns, and the Polar Vortex made the trip for both weekends. At Easterns, the air was cold enough to keep the organizing committee on edge at the start of the weekend, and freezing rain complicated driving  plans. At Westerns, the cold weather held off to Sunday, but falling snow on dry, salted roads created a sheet ice for Friday’s commute. Both championships had less athletes...

Sunday Rundown from Lahti and Canada (Canmore Biathlon Sprints Cancelled)

FIS World Cup Lahti, Finland Classic Team Sprint Sunday in Lahti, Finland the women raced a 6 x 1.4-kilometer classic team sprint. U.S. fans saw their hopes for a podium snuffed out in the two semi-finals that determined the 10 teams advancing to the finals. In the first team sprint semi, the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) Ida Sargent and Sophie Caldwell  placed sixth overall and did not advance. Sargent and Caldwell, constituting team USA I,...

Saturday Race Rundown; Caldwell Second in Lahti; Canadian Westerns

FIS World Cup Lahti, Finland 1.4 k/ 1.6 k Freestyle Sprint In the women’s skate sprint qualifier in Lahti, Finland Slovenia’s Eva Urevc laid down the fastest time in 2:40.67 minutes. Swiss skier Nadine Faehndrich was the second fastest qualifier, 4.21 seconds back, with the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) Sophie Caldwell third (+4.36). Canada’s Dahria Beatty qualified 25th (+10.21). Also making the heats for the U.S. were Ida Sargent (USST) in 26th (+10.36), and Kelsey Phinney...

Canadians Westerns Rundown: Skate Sprints

Canadian Western Championships started off Friday with free technique sprints on the Telemark trails near Kelowna, B.C. The sun was out for the qualification round, followed by cloud, and light snow as the day progressed with the temperature hovering at -10C. A major road closure combined with icy morning highways and a large number of accidents blocking roads caused some athletes and volunteers to miss the qualification round, resulting in only 312 athletes on the start...

Saturday Race Rundown: U.S. U20 Men Win Relay, U20 Women 4th at World Juniors (Updated)

2019 U23 World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland 4 x 3 k and 4x 5 k relay Full U20 Men’s Race Report In a historic first for the U.S., the U20 men’s team won the 4 x 5-kilometer relay today in Lahti, Finland at the 2019 World Junior Ski Championships. Luke Jager skied the first classic leg for the U.S., Ben Ogden skied the second classic, Johnny Hagenbuch skied the first initial skate leg and...

Tuesday Race Rundown: Lahti Junior Worlds  U20 5 k/10k Individual Skate (Updated 2x)

FIS Junior World Ski Championships Lahti, Finland 5 k/10k Freestyle Interval Start Tuesday in Lahti, Finland was as Finland should be: squeaky-snow-cold and cross-country ski racing on offer. Eighteen-year-old Gus Schumacher broke through for the U.S. and placed sixth overall in the U20 men’s 10-kilometer freestyle. Schumacher was the 95th starter of 102 finishers on the day. His sixth place finish was consistent with his 1.1k, 5k, and 6.6k splits where he was ranked 5th,...

(U20) Junior World Ski Champs Classic Sprint in Images

  Images from the U20 women’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint from the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (U.S. in white/blue, Canada in red/black.)   Images from the U20 men’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint from the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (U.S. in white/blue, Canada in red/black.) Noel Keeffe, pictured above (left), placed 12th overall for the U.S. in the U20 men’s field. He is currently enrolled at the University of Utah where...

World Juniors Classic Sprint Rundown: Ogden 8th, Keeffe 12th

Sunday featured the first day of racing at the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. To kick things off at the crown jewel of Finnish ski venues was the U20 classic sprint. The men raced a 1.6-kilometer loop, the women a 1.4 k course. Several North American males qualified for the heats after Russia’s Alexander Terentev qualified first in a time of 3:28.74 minutes. For the U.S. all four athletes entered in the...

Canmore NorAm: Notes, Quotes, and Selections

Canmore hosted the second NorAm of the 2018/2019 season on December 13th, 15th, and 16th. The event also served as U23 and Junior World trials. By the end of the weekend, starts at the U23/Junior World Championships and the World Cup’s Tour de Ski would be earned. This event was originally scheduled for Whistler Olympic Park but had to be moved as a result of heavy rain and inclement weather forecasted into the immediate future. The...

Saturday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen, Canmore (Updated 3x)

  FIS World Cup Davos, Switzerland 1.5 k Freestyle Sprint Women’s Race Report | Men’s Race Report On a lovely Davos, Switzerland day, Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) was the day’s fastest qualifier for the women, stopping the clock in 2:46.28 minutes. Caldwell looked cool and in-form on her way to place second overall on the day for her first podium of the season. The win went to Sweden’s Stina Nilsson after...

Thursday Rundown: Hochfilzen, Canmore and U23/JW Trials

Today in Hochfilzen, Austria, Dorothea Wierer of Italy won the sprint in a time of 21:04.9 minutes. Wierer missed one shot standing for a single penalty during the race. Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland was close behind in second, 0.6 seconds back. Mäkäräinen also had one missed target standing. Third place went to Russia’s Ekaterina Yurlova-Percht, finishing 24.4 seconds behind. Yurlova-Percht short clean in the race. Susan Dunklee was the best placed American in 34th (+1:33.0,...

Sunday Rundown: Planica, Chaux-Neuve, Rena, Red Deer

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Planica, Slovenia): 10/15 k classic Men’s report Just when it looked like one of those Charlotte-Kalla days, Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski swooped in and topped the Swede’s time by 3.6 seconds in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start on Sunday for her first-career outright World Cup win. Outright meaning non-stage; Pärmäkoski has two World Cup wins to her name for setting the fastest time of day in 2016 pursuit races. But...