Last season, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen was down and out. Little by little she has built back her fitness and self-confidence, with a secret ingredient: fun. After winning silver in the Olympic 4 x 5 k relay with her teammates from Finland, Saarinen thanked the U.S. women for inviting her to train with them in 2012 and said she had learned that you can't be so serious all the time.
Feeling under the weather, Andy Newell is no longer part of the American duo for Wednesday's team sprint. Instead, Erik Bjornsen will join Simi Hamilton. For the women, Kikkan Randall will keep her spot despite difficult races so far this Olympics, and Sophie Caldwell, who turned in the best U.S. women's performance ever in the individual sprint, will be her partner.
Medal hopefuls to start the day, the U.S. women had to reconcile with ninth place in Saturday's Olympic 4 x 5 k relay, a result they said didn't reflect their best day but one which indicated they were still very much a team, united in success as well as on off-days.
Sadie Bjornsen quickly realized that today's 10 k classic wasn't going to have any easy sections, as temperatures soared into the mid-50s and the snow softened and slowed down. She thought of the Eagle glacier and pushed through to 18th - just a few seconds from the top 15. Her teammates packed in from 32nd to 35th.
For most, the Olympic experience goes much deeper than results, and that couldn't have been more true for several North Americans competing at the highest stage of their sport for the first time on Saturday. U.S. cross-country skier Jessie Diggins emerged in eighth and Canadian biathlete Nathan Smith tallied 13th to highlight the day.
The first three of the 36 cross-country skiing medals at stake at the Sochi Olympics are up for grabs Saturday, as racing begins here with the women's 15 k pursuit. Four Americans and three Canadians are entered in the event, which will have the athletes racing four 3.75-kilometer laps on trails at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center --a massive Olympic complex installed at the top of a ridge in Russia's Western Caucasus Mountains over the last five years.
Of the 18 North Americans that competed in Sunday’s 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprints at the Toblach World Cup, nine made the rounds. Many of them chatted with FasterSkier about the day and final race before the Olympics.
The Toblach World Cup 10-kilometer classic individual start on Saturday provided a few takeaways exactly one week out from the Olympics. Bjørgen made a statement with a definitive win, Kowalczyk missed the podium for the first time in a 10 k classic since 2009, and the U.S. women put four in the top 20, five in the top 22, in a classic distance race.
Erik Bjornsen enjoys the finer things in life: hot chocolate, Sequence and 1994 Ford Rangers. More about the younger of the Bjornsen siblings and first-time Olympian, who's racing at U23 World Championships starting Wednesday in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
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.
Sunday's 10 k classic mass start in Szklarska Poreba, Poland was another great day for the US women. Liz Stephen had a breakthrough performance, finishing sixth, a career best for her and a major milestone in her development as a classic skier. Ida Sargent too had an excellent day, placing ninth, her career best distance rac
Of the three nations with two teams in the women's final on Sunday, the U.S. was one of them. After qualifying in second and third in the same semifinal (despite a collision between teammates), the Americans were a factor early in the classic-team sprint final -- before Finland and Norway broke away.
Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Anne Kyllönen dominated Sunday’s 1.25-kilometer classic team event at the World Cup in Asiago, Italy, giving a lesson to more than 20 other teams on how to get out front and stay there, beating the likes of Norway on the way.
Ida Sargent became the latest US Ski Team member to break through this winter with her first top 10 of the season. All four U.S. women made the heats and finished in the top 25, but most left wanting more.
A podium for Kikkan Randall, a career-best ninth-place finish by Sophie Caldwell, a semifinals appearance by Jessie Diggins - it was a good day for the U.S. Ski Team, before you even consider strong quarterfinal efforts by Sadie Bjornsen, Andy Newell, and Simi Hamilton. "We're really excited about the day," Matt Whitcomb said.
FasterSkier reported live at the IBU World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria, and 2,000 kilometers north in Lillehammer, Norway, the U.S. cross-country and nordic-combined teams found success in Lillehammer. NorAm racing kicked off in British Columbia, and Bozeman SuperTour skiers braved the cold to get distance races in after Saturday's sprints were canceled.
Fresh snow couldn't keep the US women's relay from matching their best ever 4.5 Classic/Free Relay time. Randall, Bjornsen Stephen and Diggins claimed a bronze medal despite near disaster and broken ski pole. A second US women's relay team clinched 12th to close the second weekend of World Cup racing
While the Norwegian women's team seized a predictable victory in the Lillehammer World Cup 4 x 5 k relay on Sunday, Finland and the U.S. duked it out for second, with a late crash taking the Americans out of the running for their best-ever relay result.
Four races into the 2013/2014 World Cup season and American Sadie Bjornsen already has two top 10's and the recognition that comes with it. Bjornsen placed seventh in Saturday's 10 k classic in Lillehammer, Norway, leading three U.S. women in the top 30.
Justyna Kowalczyk ran away with another 10 k classic victory on Saturday, beating Sweden's Charlotte Kalla by 12.4 seconds at the Lillehammer World Cup. This time, Kowalczyk did so in Norway -- where she's never won a distance race before.