The Toppidrettsveka race series continued on Friday with a 15 kilometer skiathlon. The USST had more strong results, with Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randall finishing in 6th and 7th and Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton placing in the top 30.
The U.S. Ski Team is in Aure, Norway, for their second training camp of the summer, preparing for this week's Toppidrettsveka rollerski races. FasterSkier caught up with some of the coaches and athletes to see how they are preparing for the three-day series.
For its first on-snow camp of the summer, the U.S. Ski Team traveled to New Zealand to train at the Snow Farm in Wanaka. With a full 15 days of skiing, the team was able to make some mid-summer improvements to technique while logging some serious distance on skis.
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) announced its cross-country team nominations for the 2015/2016 season on Thursday, naming 16 athletes to the team, four more than the previous year.
Here's a throwback pro workout from two-time Olympian Simi Hamilton from his days with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Olympic Development Team (ODT). It involves classic speeds -- short, all-out sprints, each 20 seconds long -- on three types of terrain. And if you're feeling creative, try the skateboard/bungie-cord challenge.
Alaska Pacific University's first and second teams overcame deep, new snow to claim the top two spots in Tuesday's 4 x 5 k mixed relay at the 2015 SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Stratton Mountain School T2 skied to third behind the two APU teams.
Stratton Mountain School T2 teammates Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton overcame changing conditions and a flat course to go 1-2 in Sunday's 1.2 k freestyle sprint at the 2015 SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Rounding out the podium was Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess in third.
Andy Newell narrowly qualified in 28th, but made it into the semifinals and finished 12th overall in the season's final World Cup sprint. Canada's Lenny Valjas just missed out the semifinals and took 14th overall. Sadie Bjornsen was the lone North American woman to qualify and finished 26th overall after racing in the fastest quarterfinal heat.
Canada and the U.S. men's teams battled for a close 10th and 11th positions in Friday's 4 x 10 k relay at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships in Falun, Sweden. While both teams acknowledged a desire for improvement, they were pleased with their respective efforts.
Finn Hågen Krogh and Petter Northug teamed up for Northug's second gold in three races at 2015 World Championships, winning Sunday's team sprint by more than five seconds over the Russian defending champs and Italy. Northug now has gold in every World Championships discipline.
The U.S. Ski Team finished Sunday's team sprint in the middle of the pack, as the defending world championship team of Sophie Caldwell and Jessie Diggins skied to eighth and the American men's team of Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton notched seventh.
Out of six U.S. Ski Team members who advanced to the heats in Thursday's World Championships classic sprint, Sophie Caldwell and Simi Hamilton went the farthest, making it to the semifinals before finishing 10th and 12th, respectively. Andy Newell placed 17th and rookie Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess led his quarterfinal at one point before ending up 30th overall. Sadie Bjornsen was 19th and Ida Sargent placed 29th.
Five north American men qualified for the heats of the World Championships 1.4-kilometer classic sprint. Alex Harvey led the charge in the wet and warm conditions to finish fifth overall.
Simi Hamilton made it to the semifinals in Saturday's World Cup classic sprint in Östersund, Sweden, to end up 11th overall, and Andy Newell took 12th for his best result of the season. Sadie Bjornsen and Sophie Caldwell made it to the quarterfinals as well and ended up 22nd and 20th overall, respectively.
This Monday the USST announced 16 cross country athletes will represent the U.S. at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships in Falun, Sweden. Headlined by defending World Champions Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins, a mix of veterans and newcomers will take on the world's best.
After making it through the qualifier, three Americans and Canadian Alex Harvey were not able to race their way into the semifinals of Saturday's World Cup 1.3 k freestyle sprint in Rybinsk, Russia. However, American Erik Bjornsen had his best sprint result on the World Cup and reached the heats for the first time.
In her second-ever team sprint (and first one since 2009), Rosie Brennan teamed up with Ida Sargent to advance to the final, where they placed sixth of 10 teams. The U.S. women's first team, Sadie Bjornsen and Sophie Caldwell placed 11th, as did the U.S. men's second team (Erik Bjornsen/Matt Gelso), and Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton ended up 19th after a late semifinal crash.
Three Americans made the quarterfinals on Saturday in the second World Cup classic sprint of the season: Sadie Bjornsen, Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell. None of them advanced to the semifinals, and while it wasn't a bad day, most were left wanting more.
The USST men finished their last race of the 2015 Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy without much fanfare. Erik Bjornsen led the squad in 58th to conclude what Andy Newell called a frustrating week. With the Tour behind them, the men are headed to Ramsau, Austria to recover and prepare for the remaining World Cup racing before World Champs.
A critical mistake at the end of a quarterfinal heat prevented Canada's Alex Harvey from moving on to the semifinals of the Tour de Ski 1.4 k freestyle sprint in Val Müstair, Switzerland. Meanwhile, Simi Hamilton led the American skiers with an eighth-place finish.