After qualifying in third out of a stacked semifinal, the U.S. women's team-sprint duo of Sophie Caldwell and Kikkan Randall went on to place eighth in the final of Wednesday's Olympic classic team sprint, two places back from their previous best of sixth at the 2010 Olympics.
Wednesday's Olympic classic team sprint wasn't a good one for Germany, especially after its women narrowly missed out on a medal then its men crashed out of contention in the final stretches of the race. Germany protested a move made by the Finnish gold medalists that caused the accident, but it was rejected by jury officials.
Emil Hegle Svendsen knew exactly how Tuesday’s 15-kilometer mass start was going to play out — or so he said. The Norwegian timed his sprint showdown with France's Martin Fourcade to a T, nearly losing gold at the finish. But if you ask him, he had it in the bag.
After two Americans finished in the top 30 of the first nordic-combined competition at the Sochi Olympics, the team is looking for better performances in today's large hill/10 k -- of which Billy Demong is the defending Olympic champion.
Megan Imrie sensed there was a chance she could race Monday's Olympic biathlon mass start, but she didn't think it was a very good chance. Settled in at the athletes' village that evening, she received a call informing her that she could, 1 1/2 hours before the start. Imrie became the first Canadian woman to race an Olympic mass start, and raced the format for the first time in her career.
Sweden won both the women's and men's relays at the Olympics for the first time since 1972 and the men defended their 2010 title with a miraculous first leg from Lars Nelson and dominant performances from Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson, and Marcus Hellner, respectively.
It was a rough day for Canada in the women's 4 x 5 k relay after Perianne Jones got popped on the first leg. With a strung-out pack, the gap to 13th became difficult to overcome and the Canadians finished 14th.
Dasha Domracheva relied on super-fast skiing and the confidence of a gold medal already in the bag to earn her second of these Olympics -- a first for Belarus in any Winter Games. Selina Gasparin shot clean for the first time in her career to take home Switzerland's first biathlon medal with silver, and Belarus had an unprecedented two on the podium with Nadezhda Skardino in third.
Two days after running a ski down to a Russia's Anton Gafarov, Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth joked that he'll think twice about doing the same in the future after the gesture prompted a significant amount of media attention.
Brendan Green led the Canadians in 21st with his best Olympic result on Thursday, and if he hadn't had two penalties in the 20 k individual, he would've been even closer. His teammates, Nathan Smith and JP Le Guellec placed 25th and 35th, respectively, and Tim Burke placed 44th with four penalties.
Kikkan Randall missed out on advancing to the semifinals in a skate sprint for the first time in three years on Tuesday at her Olympic signature event, finishing 0.05 seconds behind the last lucky loser in ending up 18th overall.
On the eve of the Olympics, the air of excitement and anticipation among the Norwegian cross-country team was wiped out by the death of Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen’s younger brother, Sten Anders. Together, their women overcame adversity and put three in the top four of Saturday's skiathlon, with Marit Bjørgen leading the charge.
After all the buildup and accompanying action of Saturday’s cross-country and biathlon competitions, the first of the 2014 Winter Olympics, there was plenty to talk about on Saturday. Here are some of the soundbites that didn’t make the race reports.
FasterSkier caught up with U.S. Ski Team member Noah Hoffman to talk about everything from his training to his mentality and goals before the Olympics. Hoffman plans to compete in four events: the 30-kilometer skiathlon, 15 k classic individual start, 4 x 10 k relay, and 50 k freestyle, respectively.
The Canadian Olympic Team gave a press conference today in Sochi, discussing how their past experiences have shaped their arrival at this Olympics and what it means to be a team.
With the Olympics starting Thursday and jam-packed week behind us, it’s almost futile to try and recap it all. But here’s the lowdown of what happened: The Junior/U23 World Champion began in Val di Fiemme, Italy, the final World Cup weekend before the Olympics took place in Toblach, Italy and NorAm racing continued at the Eastern Canadian Championships in Cantly, Quebec.
Wondering why Billy Demong was competing at the Continental Cup this week in Utah? Things are definitely not derailing for the U.S. Nordic Combined veteran or his teammates back in Europe -- in fact, they're right on track. On Thursday, Demong secured the team's fifth World Cup quota spot.
Moving on from last season, the Canadians are a calculated bunch and ready to get the World Cup season started -- with a goal of not overemphasizing early results in order to peak for the Olympics. For the entire team, the Tour de Ski is part of the plan.
It's no secret what Team USA will be wearing at the opening and closing ceremonies in Sochi, Russia: lots of red, white and blue, some ugly sweaters, and clunky boots. But what about the race-day suits for the U.S. Ski Team?
Six years ago, a back injury put a damper on Rosie Brennan's skiing, but she didn't let it get her down and finally addressed it this spring. Now training consciously and rehabbing the injury, the 24-year-old APU skier is hoping for another career-best season leading up to the Sochi Games.