An APU skier and University of Alaska-Anchorage professor shares the story of his experience at last month's Marcialonga. "The Italians are famous for their snowmaking, but it's still impressive to see a 70 k long white stripe of manmade snow that runs along an otherwise brown valley," the author recalls.
The women’s overall podium at the 2016 Tour de Ski on Sunday was all red. Norway swept the top three, with Therese Johaug taking the overall title from Ingvild Flustad Østberg on the final climb, and Heidi Weng retained third. For the U.S., Jessie Diggins locked up 10th, Sadie Bjornsen was 14th and Liz Stephen posted the third-fastest time of day.
Your guide to the 2016 Tour de Ski, which kicks off Friday with skate sprinting in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, and spans three nations with eight races (World Cup stages) in 10 days.
Canadian star Alex Harvey had been pondering an unorthodox plan to classic ski up the Tour de Ski's final climb, but he pulled out after a lackluster result Saturday.
Liz Stephen found herself in fifth place in Saturday's 10 k classic mass start at the Tour de Ski, and she thought, why not? Why don't I belong here? She hung on to record her best-ever finish in the classic technique, and hopes to move from sixth up to fourth in the Tour's final stage on Sunday.
In the tightest race of the 2015 Tour de Ski, German Tim Tscharnke outsprinted four other non-Norwegian skiers to claim his best World Cup result of the season. The current Tour standings now leave the potential for a dramatic final Tour stage on Sunday.
Therese Johaug surprised nobody as much as herself when she passed Marit Bjørgen in the final meters of Saturday's 10 k classic mass start. Norway swept the podium again, but Aino Kaisa Saarinen of Finland turned in her best performance all season in fourth place, and American Liz Stephen finished an assertive fifth.
None of the venues slated to host stages of the Tour de Ski seem ready, given the warm temperatures and lack of snow in central Europe. FIS is reportedly in emergency meetings today to develop a backup plan for the event.
Ben Lustgarten had a modest start in nordic skiing, but his future in the sport is anything but. Despite a senior year at Middlebury College that was fraught with injuries, the emerging star is ready to excel in the world of professional skiing.
The Junior World Championships ended Monday with the junior relays, where Norway won the men's race and Sweden took the women's team title, and the Canadian women had the top North American finish in 10th.
While Russia stole the spotlight in the men's and women's individual classic races at Junior World Championships on Sunday, two Canadians notched top-15 career bests on the second-to-last day of the championships: Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier and Dahria Beatty.
Two Frenchmen and two Norwegian women pushed each other to the finish of Saturday's skiathlons, the last races of U23 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. UVM's Scott Patterson led the North Americans in 18th and Rosie Frankowski (NMU) captured her first top 30 in 26th.
Satisfied, yet unfulfilled was the sentiment of the North Americans who competed in the 2014 U23 World Championship 10 k and 15 k classic at Val di Fiemme, Italy. With fresh snow falling on the challenging course of Lago di Tesero, the best U23 skiers from North America put their best efforts forward in an attempt to make their mark on the international stage.
Finnish skier Iivo Niskanen and Norwegian Martine Elk Hagen have continued their families’ legacies in the 2014 U23 World Championships in Val di Fiemme on Thursday. Tackling a course covered in fresh snow, Niskanen, brother to Finnish superstar Kerttu Niskanen, and Hagen, cousin of Norway’s up-and-coming Heidi Weng, won their respective 10 k and 15 k individual classic races on the trails of Lago di Tesero.
Jessie Diggins once again demonstrated that she’s a skier with a lot of heart at the 2014 U23 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. On the same course where she earned a historic world championship gold in the team sprint with Kikkan Randall in 2013, the 22-year-old left the 1.2 k freestyle sprint knowing she gave it her all.
With a World Cup sprint victory already under his belt, Russia's Sergey Ustiugov racked up another U23 title and Jessie Diggins came oh-so-close, winning the women's qualifier then placing second to Germany's Elisabeth Schicho in the final. France's Jean Tiberghien won the junior men's sprint, Sweden's Jonna Sundling captured her first individual junior title, and Canada's Katherine Stewart-Jones placed 15th.
Junior Canadian women bring the heat in the opening sprints of the Val-di-Fiemme World Juniors.
Noah Hoffman was the last American left in the Tour de Ski. Bad ski choice got him off to a slow start, but he powered up the immense climb to find himself in a career-best 25th.
Saturday's Tour de Ski stage 6 individual classic race saw Jessie Diggins notch her best ever classic race. Diggins came in 10th, while Liz Stephen finished a solid 21st, and Noah Hoffman in 47th had an off day.
Therese Johaug, second overall in the Tour de Ski, skied a dominating race that was far and away faster than any of her competitors. Johaug's performance went a long way toward her goal of being the first to the summit of the Alpe Cermis on Sunday.