FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): 10/15 k classic mass starts During Saturday’s 15-kilometer classic mass start at World Cup Finals, Canada’s Alex Harvey was in it until the end. But so were Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Niklas Dyrhaug, and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh, to name a few. Sitting in second with a few hundred meters to go, Harvey was primed to make his move on Dyrhaug, who was leading at the time. But then...
Double poling is an increasingly important part of cross-country skiing and it pays to be good at it. If watching World Cup stars double pole short races on television doesn’t have you convinced, take a look at the races you might enter. Most loppets, marathons and citizen races feature flatter courses with a lot of double-poling time. Even in skating, the three main techniques all include slight variations on double poling. When five Canmore skiers...
U.S. SuperTour (Truckee, Calif.): Classic sprints [UPDATED] Less than a week after being men’s 30 k classic mass start champion at this year’s U.S. nationals — won Saturday’s SuperTour classic sprint as well. Lustgarten, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, raced to a 1.58-second victory in the men’s A-final at the Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif., finishing in 3:03.4. Ben Saxton, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, placed second, and Reese...
FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Toblach, Italy): Freestyle sprints Men | Race report Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen posts a 22-second win for her first victory of the season and first time shooting without a miss in an individual race since the Ruhpolding sprint almost exactly a year ago. Dunklee leads North Americans in 33rd and qualifies for the pursuit, along with Canada’s Rosanna Crawford (55th), Megan Tandy (56th) and Julia Ransom (60th). Ski Classics press release. “It...
Thomas Alsgaard is fired up. Having challenged the International Ski Federation (FIS) regarding rules he considers arbitrary and insensitive to other venues for nordic skiing besides the World Cup, a potential divide may be opening up between the Ski Classics marathons and World Cup racing. With 15 Olympic and World Championships medals, Alsgaard is considered by many to be the most apt pupil of the skating technique, and has the palmares to corroborate that claim. As a veteran of...
A new ski-marathon series has emerged in Sweden, the five-race Björn Dæhlie SKI Challenge, which kicks off Dec. 28 in Falun and ends Feb. 22 in Malung. According to its founders, the idea is have both elite and recreational skiers racing the same events and cut down on travel. (Updated)
Seraina Boner, a former Swiss national team skier, has transformed herself into the best long-distance skier in the world. Whether training with Team Coop in Norway or jumping in with Dario Cologna in Davos, she’s working towards a Vasaloppet victory - the one big thing that's missing from her resume.
Ski Classics 2012 will include 7 long distance ski races, new for 2012 is the Estonian race Tartu Maraton. Ski Classics is the long distance championship across Europe, it had a fantastic first season in 2011. The Ski Classics 2012 season will consist of 7 long distance ski races, new in 2012 is the Estonian race Tartu Maraton. Tartu Maraton start in Otepää and finish 63km later in Elva, it is held in classic technique....
Sandra Hansson’s violation of fair play during the 2011 König Ludwiglauf in Germany last weekend shocked FIS's Vegard Ulvang, but not just because of Hansson’s behavior. The handling of the case outrages both Ulvang and others.
Ski Classics experienced a Fair Play incident in yesterdays König Ludwig Lauf on which Ski Classics will take action. During the last kilometer in König Ludwig Lauf, the athletes Sandra Hansson and Seraina Boner, had an intense fight for the leading position in the women class. These so-called fights are a part of cross-country skiing ,however, in this particular fight Sandra Hansson clearly blocked Seraina Boner on several occasions in an unfair way. It is stated...
After a long and intense battle between Oskar Svärd, Team Exspirit, and Anders Aukland, Team Xtra Personell, the later turned out victorious in the Ski Classics event Jizerska Padesatka held this weekend in Bedrichov, Czech Republic. The two broke away after the first 10k climb and stayed together until the Smedava climb at kilometer 30. In the climb Anders Aukland went all in and showed great climbing skills. Third came Stanislav Rezac, Team Patria Direct,...
“This allows us to race more like a team,” said Joergen Aukland (NOR) of the private marathon project Team Xtra Personell after the launch of “2011 Ski Classics” marathon series Monday.