The annual USSA Coaches Congress wrapped up this weekend in Park City, Utah, and the biggest decision to come out of the meetings was an overhaul of the U.S. SuperTour calendar so that it makes more athletic and developmental sense nationwide. Other changes include the addition of a mixed club relay at SuperTour Finals and renamed junior age groups.
With new athletes headed to Craftsbury, Sun Valley, Stratton and Alaska, it looks like the SuperTour can expect a sizable incoming class next season.
Former college skiers Susan Dunklee, Annelies Cook, and Hannah Dreissigacker decided not to go straight to vacation when their World Cup biathlon season ended. Instead, they're racing SuperTour finals - for most, the first classic races and first sprints of the season. After a collection of top-ten results, it looks like a good decision, but they're also keeping things fun with an intra-team "Biathlon Cup" competition.
Russian Andrei Tiuterev and CXC's Jennie Bender took top honors in the Madison SuperTour city sprint on Sunday.
In front of the capitol building in downtown Madison, Wis., Rosie Brennan and Dmitry Ozerskiy out-sprinted a tight field for the first wins of this weekend's SuperTour.
Note: This article has been updated. The SuperTour is back and the Tour de Twin Cities underway. Rosie Brennan and Mark Iverson won the first stage in Minneapolis, taking the top spots in the 5/10k individual start skate.
Weeks of altitude training clearly paid off for Matt Liebsch (Borton Volvo XC United) in the first race of the year. The pride of the Midwest won the SuperTour 9 k freestyle on Friday morning on a fast but challenging point-to-point course looking like he had gas left in the tank.
Ready or not, the 2013 SuperTour season is fast approaching. Here’s what you need to know about the domestic race scene this year. At this point, we’ve pretty much said everything we can about the twelve senior ski programs in the U.S. We ran a series throughout the summer highlighting each team’s past accomplishments and goals for the future. Read back through ‘em for comprehensive rosters and standalone previews (scroll down for links). Now that...
If you’ve been checking the Rendezvous Ski Trails Festival website about weather and conditions that are beyond anyone’s control. “We’re waiting,” begins a Thursday grooming report. “waiting for snow, waiting to see what’s coming…waiting, waiting, waiting.”
Thousands of miles from the U.S. mainland on the northern island of Hawaii, Sylvan Ellefson tweeted photos from his honeymoon in Kauai. He University of New Hampshire skier – is from. Then they went to Boulder, where Sarah lives while studying physical therapy, to watch the USA Pro Am Cycling Challenge last weekend. “I’m jazzed to be moving around again,” Ellefson said. “The wedding week was pretty crazy and then the honeymoon was nice and...
All Madison SuperTour and American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. MADISON, Wis. – At the first 90-degree turn on the four-corner course around Capitol Square, Jennie Bender almost came to a stop. Standing up, she scanned her three competitors in the women’s A-final at the SuperTour 1 k freestyle sprint on Sunday. The Central Cross Country (CXC) Elite Team skier was looking for one in particular. Bender eventually drew...
All Madison SuperTour and American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. MADISON, Wis. – Finland’s Jari Joutsen could have been mad or at least frustrated with a split-second lane change that forced him out of his spot into another skier in the A-final of the SuperTour 1 k freestyle sprint on Sunday. After the race as he stood next to Philip Furrer, the Swiss who claimed the victory, Joutsen smiled....
All 2012 Madison SuperTour and American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. MADISON, Wis. — As Dmitriy Ozerskiy patiently awaited his turn to take a look at the result board, his Russian teammate, Maxim Fadeev, approached him. Fadeev had just heard the news that Ozerskiy won the SuperTour freestyle sprint qualifier, 0.06 seconds ahead of Jari Joutsen of Finland. Fadeev was the third fastest around the 1 k loop,...
All 2012 Madison SuperTour and American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. MADISON, Wis. — Jennie Bender of Central Cross Country (CXC) won another qualifier in the second straight day of sprints around Wisconsin’s state capital, posting the fastest time in 2:04.0. After winning Saturday’s classic sprint qualifier by more than 6 seconds, Bender had less of a gap on Sunday. Hilary McNamee of Maine Winter Sports Center was...
All 2012 Madison SuperTour and American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. MADISON, Wis. – Two hours seems like a lot of time between qualifiers and heats, but when it comes down to it, sprints are sprints. They’re restless from start to finish. Between the SuperTour 1 k classic races at the heart of Wisconsin’s state capital on Saturday, some athletes killed time by running around downtown. Others, like...
All Madison SuperTour and American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. MADISON, Wis. – Most of the men in the SuperTour classic sprints on Saturday probably didn’t have a clue who Jari Joutsen was. He certainly had an international reputation with several World Cup top-30 results. Yet to the 22 others in the 1 k sprint around Madison’s Capitol Square, Joutsen was just another competitor – one Finish skier...
All 2012 Madison SuperTour and American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. MADISON, Wis. — Here’s a look at how SuperTour race organizers make a city sprint possible in downtown Madison. Starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, some 90 trucks carted manmade snow from an energy facility about a mile or two from Wisconsin’s State Capitol and dumped it on the city streets surrounding the square. Madison’s Don Miller Subaru...
ASPEN, Colo. — The third time was the charm for Leif Zimmermann (BSF) at the Owl Creek Chase on Sunday. He had finished third in Aspen twice before, but for the 2012 edition he claimed the top spot in the 21 k mass start freestyle by 37.9 seconds over Matt Gelso (SVSEF). Pat O’Brien (CGRP) outsprinted Josh Smullin (Rossignol/SSCV) for third (+1:15.6). After what Zimmermann said was a disappointing week at U.S. Nationals in January,...
ASPEN, Colo. — Morgan Arritola (SVSEF) was officially back to full form on Sunday at the Owl Creek Chase. After appendicitis forced her to skip U.S. Nationals and subsequent SuperTours, she won the 21 k point-to-point mass start freestyle by nearly four minutes over Lenka Palanova (BNJRT). Chelsea Holmes (SVSEF) finished third (+4:48.6). “This was my kind of course: hard, uphill,” said Arritola. “I just went out as hard as I could—that’s kind of how...
ASPEN, Colo. — On a bluebird morning in Colorado, the Aspen Nordic Festival kicked off on Saturday with a two-stage classic day; a sprint qualifier in the morning followed by a 10 k individual start for the men two hours later. Karl Nygren (CXC) started the weekend off by posting the fastest sprint time by 2.85 seconds, followed by Dylan McGuffin (CGRP) in second and Pat O’Brien (CGRP) in third (+3.21). The 1.4 k sprint...