March 28, 2011 (Apeldoorn, Netherlands) – Hot on the heels of winning the 2010/11 World Cup series title in the women’s track cycling Omnium event, former Canadian National Team XC skier Tara Whitten won the Track World Championship title in the same event in Apeldoorn, Netherlands on Sunday.

The former high-level skier turned cyclist from Edmonton also excelled on the snow, achieving a sprint silver medal at the 2003 Under-23 World Nordic Championships.

Whitten is on track to represent Canada at the London 2012 Summer Olympics with the strong potential of winning a medal.

Read the full story HERE.

Listen to a conference call interview with Whitten after her win HERE.

March 27, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Kikkan Randall was the winner at Sunday’s National 30km Classic Championship at the Lake Creek trails in Sun Valley. The field was somewhat smaller than for the prior day’s men’s 50km, and the field broke up earlier, but Randall’s performance was an illustration of fitness, skill and experience that no one in the field could match.

Sunday dawned colder and clearer than Saturday. A light snow had fallen overnight, but it fell early so the groomed course was quite free of fresh powder in the morning. About 6:30am the clouds started to disappear, and the temperature dropped rapidly into the teens. This was good for finding a wax at that time of day, but the clear skies had a few people worried that things might change after the sun had been on the course for an hour or so.

As the rays of the sun descended the hillside on the west edge of the trails and reached the stadium the warmth was palpable. It would be hard to think of a better day for a ski race than this: sunny, blue sky, comfortably warm, but not so warm that the conditions changed significantly.

The tracks were, however, considerably more abrasive than Saturday, as the snow that fell early in the evening had a lot of moisture in it. That, in combination with the dropping temperatures, made the floor of the tracks quite granular under a very thin layer of fresh snow.

Overall Randall was happy with the course and conditions and didn’t think the sun changed the wax conditions much during the race. “I think the steeper hills got a little slicker, but overall it was great conditions,” she told SkiTrax post-race.

Out of the start on a relatively flat “promenade” loop, about half the field was together. However, as they started up the first hills and headed out to the North End, things were already breaking up. Returning to the meadows from the North End there was a lead pack of 13 skiers.

That group broke up rapidly as they ascended the South Bench climb for the first time and the race turned into a fitness contest. Descending from South Bench on the high-speed downhill, it was Randall, Morgan Arritola, Maria Graefnings (U of Utah, NCAA Champion in skating), Jesse Diggins (USST/CXC), Sadie Bjornsen (APUNSC) then a short gap to Holly Brooks (APUNSC), Kate Fitzgerald (APUNSC) and Chelsea Holmes (Sugar Bowl Academy). Three chasing five.

Strung out off the back of the “Elite Eight” (hey, it’s NCAA basketball playoff season) were Canadian Brittany Webster (who would later drop out), then Becca Rorabaugh (APUNSC), Morgan Smythe (APUNSC), and Nicole Deyong (SVSEF ODT).

While the skiers were out of sight on the North End, Brooks realized that the train was leaving the station so she made a big effort to bridge to the leaders. When they came back into view it was six being chased by two, Brooks having closed the gap.

“I was too relaxed at the start and that lead pack skied away,” commented Brooks in an interview with SkiTrax. “All of a sudden there was a big gap. It was a lot of work to have do [bridge to the leaders] by myself. That was a tactical mistake.”

On the second lap, the South Bench strung things out again, with Arritola, Graefnings and Randall leading off the top, followed quite closely by Diggins then Brooks, with Fitzgerald and Bjornsen losing contact off the back.

Arritola lost contact on the North End during the third lap. Now it was down to four, still skiing in a relatively tight pack as they started up Coaches’ Climb, the first portion of the South Bench climb.

The pace of the leaders didn’t appear to pick up, but in short order Brooks, then Diggins, fell off, leaving Randall and Graefnings in front, with Arritola closing on Brooks. Brooks later recalled that the “third trip up the hill was really hard.”

Randall was clearly the class of the field when it came to descending. She was more stable, got into her tuck earlier after the last corner, and held a tighter tuck. Graefnings was more tentative on the descent, checking her speed a bit with a narrow snowplow.

While Randall looked smooth on the downhills we found out later things were more tentative. “I felt a little wobbly at times, but it felt good and (I took) good lines. I was happy to have that downhill (in the course).”

On this lap Diggins, in third place and trying desperately to keep the lead pair close, provided the fans at the bottom of the descent with a lot of excitement, performing several high-grade freestyle moves to avoid a crash.

Arritola had overtaken Brooks on the climb and led her down the hill, with her eyes lasering in on Diggins’ tails, seeking the final podium position.

“”I thought I was going to go face first like I have in practice a few times already,” Diggins confided to us post-race. “But I was able to stay on my feet.”

At the start of the final lap the lead pair had about nine seconds on Diggins, then Arritola and Brooks came by 23 seconds back. Now it was off to the North End. Randall and Graefnings were still together, with Randall continuing to do most of the work.

Diggins had closed to within five seconds. Arritola was 27 seconds behind Diggins, and Brooks a further five seconds in arrears, but more than a minute-and-a-half ahead of the next skier.

Everyone was looking at the trees at the north end of the meadow in anticipation of the skiers’ return. Randall had looked strong, but Graefnings was hanging tough. Diggins had been seen slipping a little, and Arritola was on a mission.

It all came down to the last trip up the South Bench. Randall and Graefnings were still together over Coaches’ Climb, with Randall controlling the pace at the front. Graefnings was glued to Randall’s tails nearly two-thirds of the way up the hill.

As they hit the herringbone climb about 100m from the top, Randall kept her pace, but Graefnings couldn’t maintain contact. “I just couldn’t go in the same speed [as Kikkan]. I was sooooo tired,” the Swedish skier told SkiTrax.

Randall wasn’t looking back and made for the finish up the last climb. “I didn’t feel very fast. I was just trying to keep my body moving,” the winner explained. “I couldn’t tell what was going on behind me, I just wanted to give it everything over the top.”

Meanwhile, Diggins, who had lost 10 seconds to the leaders on the North End, looked really beat as she topped out on Coaches’ Climb, leaning way forward and slipping a bit. When Arritola passed the same point she looked very strong.

Arritola was closing fast on the upper portion of South Bench, especially on the herringbone pitch. Diggins description of this critical moment.

“I thought for sure she had me,” Diggins commented in a post-race interview. “She’s strong and a great climber and great skier. I was just trying to hang on as long as I could and not fall down (on the downhill).”

As they descended to the stadium and the finish for the final time, Randall’s superior descending skills provided an additional cushion to the five-second gap that she held at the summit, and she was able to cruise fairly comfortably for the last half kilometer – although she wasn’t far enough ahead to completely relax.

Describing her last trip down the hill, Graefnings told us, “I was so tired, my legs were just wobbling, I was saying to myself ‘Come on, stand on your legs.’ “

At the finish Randall looked like she’d skied 30K, but a comfortable 30K. Graefnings crossed the line and fell in a heap, completely shattered. She lay there for quite a while, and on her first attempt to stand fell back to the snow and lay there for several more seconds.

Meanwhile, Diggins, showing some serious competitive chops, had made a solid, (if nervous after some falls in training) trip down the hill, and was able to hold off Arritola by several seconds for third overall, and the USSA silver medal (Graefnings is Swedish and ineligible for a US medal). Arritola takes home the bronze and Holly Brooks crossed the line in fifth – the fourth USA skier.

How was Randall feeling after a very long season in Europe? “It was nice to have [had] a good week here and a chance to acclimatize,” she told SkiTrax at the finish. “It’s the end of the season. All the money’s in the bank, so I might as well spend it.” There may yet be a little more money in that account by the end of the week.

Graefnings was clearly pleased with her runner-up position. Mere moments after she had lain prone on the snow, and been unable to stand up on her first attempt, she bubbled, “It was a pretty even pace I think. I felt strong and I could stay with (the pace) pretty easy. I’m super, super happy (with my performance). The course and everything was so awesome and it’s so fun to race against those good girls . . . and I had a super good day.”

Diggins was really pumped about her skis. “Our coaches were fantastic. The skis were so fast it was unbelievable.”

Brooks skied a solid, but unspectacular race to just miss the US podium. After her first season spending a lot of time on the World Cup circuit, she summed up her season to SkiTrax this way.

“I definitely [have] more experience. We raced in some tough conditions – klister, bad snow, lots of snow, not much snow. The conditions here were more consistent, but it’s a lot higher (elevation) and it’s a different (from World Cup) field.

“It’s a different feeling to be competing for the win versus just doing whatever you can and hoping for a top 30. I need to do a mental re-set and hope I can reach the podium over the next couple of days.”

Full results HERE.

March 27, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Check out the fabulous photo gallery from Saturday’s US XC Ski Championships men’s 50km classic in Sun Valley, Idaho, by David Wheelock. The title was won by veteran USST member, Kris Freeman from Andhover, NH, who captured his 14th National crown with Canada’s Kevin Sandau in second and 20-year-old Yuma Yoshida from Japan in third – full report and results HERE – Wheelock photos HERE.

March 27, 2011 (Charlo, NB) – Zina Kocher led Team Alberta to the gold medal en route to the her fourth trip to the top step of the podium at the Canadian Biathlon Championships in Charlo, N.B. on Sunday.

The two-time Olympian, who handily won all three individual competitions, teamed up with fellow Albertans – Beau Thompson and Nathan Smith – in the mixed 3 x 6-kilometre relay to post a winning time of 53:40.3.

“I was able to end Nationals on a good note today so that is good,” said Kocher. “I am a little disappointed with the year though. My ski speed wasn’t where I want it to be and my shooting was far from where it needs to be. I know exactly what went wrong and what I need to do. I need a little break and I am motivated to know that I can be better, and I am looking forward to the next three years leading to Sochi.”

Quebec’s talented trio of Marc-Andre Bedard, Claude Godbout and Paul Morency teamed up to post the next fastest time at 54:49.4 to secure the silver medal.

Another Alberta squad consisting of Andrew Chisholm, Melanie Schultz and Cindy Clark locked up third place with a time of 1:00:47.9.

Quebec’s Antoine St. Louis, Chloe Selerier and Isabelle Abran joined forces to win gold in the junior division after posting a combined time of 1:05:48.2.

Complete results HERE.

March 26, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – What kind of conditions would you expect for a 50km classic in Sun Valley on the 26th of March? The last choice on most people’s list was hard wax and no binder, but that’s the way it was, making for an excellent and very fair US XC Ski National Championship event to open the 2011 Spring Series/Super Tour.

Veteran USST member, Kris Freeman, skied the smartest race on the 7-lap course with 4,491 vertical feet of climbing on freshly fallen snow, and had the juice to go when he needed to, earning his third national 50km gold medal (plus $1,200). Canada’s Kevin Sandau was closest to Freeman to get the runner-up position (and $600), and 20-year-old Yuma Yoshida from Japan, seeded 31st, was the surprise skier to fill the final step on the podium (and win $300).

Glenn Randall (Bridger Ski Foundation) and Noah Hoffman (Sun Valley SEF ODT), won the silver and bronze USSA medals, respectively, finishing fourth and fifth overall as Sandau and Yoshida are ineligible for the US titles.

Saturday’s 50km classic race marked the final men’s event of the five-race U.S. Championship series and it was Freeman’s 14th National title.

“I knew it was going to be a race of attrition,” Freeman told SkiTrax post-race. “When we went up the big hill at the end of each lap (South Bench climb) we’d lose a few more skiers, and over time the group got smaller and smaller.  I didn’t feel like I put a hard move in, but eventually people got tired and I was able to ski away.”

The race started at 9am under overcast skies with lightly falling snow, at about 27F/-3C. For the first three laps the lead group numbered between 16 and 30 skiers, periodically breaking into two or three sub groups, then regrouping back into a single large pack. With fresh snow falling, the pack skied mostly in single file.

Canada’s Stefan Kuhn, who won the same event in Fairbanks in 2009, was an early strong leader, but he faded from the scene about halfway through the race and did not finish. Others who stayed close to the front were Freeman, Hoffman, and Randall who skied well and would soon animate the race mid-way.

Starting with the fourth lap, Randall made a habit of pushing the pace up the 52m South Bench climb, the biggest climb on the lap.  About two-thirds of the way up is a herringbone section where he would normally open up a gap that he would hold to the top of the climb. But Hoffman, Freeman and several others kept Randall in their sights.

“Noah made a move at the end of the fourth lap and I chased him. I was hoping that when we got together he’d be strong enough we could join up and ski away,” continued Freeman. “I train a lot with Noah and that would have been really fun. But I talked to him and he said he wasn’t feeling it and couldn’t really help at that point in the race, so I had to back off and let the group catch up.”

On the fifth lap, Randall put a little extra into his surge and opened up a gap in excess of 10 seconds, which he stretched to more than 20 seconds by the time the leaders headed out the North End of the course.  Pursuing him were Hoffman, Freeman, Yoshida and Sandau, with Canadian Brent McMurtry, CXC’s Tad Elliott, and APU’s Lars Flora hanging onto the back of the chase group.

“When Randall made his move, I let the other skiers cover it. You know Randall’s getting stronger each year, but I was pretty sure that we were going to close the gap back up,” explained Freeman.

At that point the pursuers had to make the push to catch him or risk losing more time and possibly the race. Out of the sight of the spectators on the North End, Randall was getting reeled in, but McMurtry, Elliott and Flora were now being dropped.

When the leaders came back into view Randall, looking pretty haggard, only had seven seconds now as his lead was disappearing rapidly when the skiers ascended the South Bench climb.

Hoffman and Freeman attacked with Yoshida and Sandau able to respond while Randall hung in. Passing through the stadium with 7.2km to go it was a five-man race.

“I tried to keep my position in the leading group, and was always very watchful of the other skiers,” said Yoshida. “My skis had very good speed, and good grip, too.”

Soon after the factory feed near the start of the final lap Hoffman temporarily succumbed to some cramps and lost contact; shortly thereafter Randall lapsed as well. Now there were three – Freeman, Sandau and Yoshida.

Freeman had done a great job of skiing within himself through the first six laps, and now with a chance to ski away from everyone else, he was ready.  He opened a small gap over Yoshida (who finished 9th in the 30km at the World University Games in Turkey earlier this winter) as they climbed the final uphill before heading out the North End.

Sandau’s skis looked slick on that climb as he was losing ground to both Freeman and Yoshida, but after the race he said his skis were generally good. Hoffman was in fourth, losing contact.

“It seemed like the conditions around the 7.2km loop varied a bit, so the grip was really difficult in some places but felt easier in others, but that may have just been because my energy fluctuated,” Sandau told SkiTrax.

When they came back into view in preparation for the final series of climbs Freeman had a significant gap, but it was Sandau, not Yoshida, who was in second place.

“I overtook Yoshida on the uphill on the far end of the course with about 3km to go,” explained Sandau. “I went by him and got a bit of a gap and was able to maintain it.  I kept looking over my shoulder…”

Freeman’s 15-second advantage over Sandau couldn’t be termed comfortable, but looked to be enough barring something dramatic. Yoshida was at 22 seconds, a resurgent Randall at 40, then a gap back to Hoffman at 60 seconds.

Freeman descended the final, high-speed downhill cleanly (this same drop claimed Flora on the sixth lap), and skied steadily to the finish for a 10-second margin over Sandau. Yoshida was 22 seconds behind Sandau at 32s off the leader.

Glenn Randall, after suffering and fading off and on over the last two laps, chased hard over the last few km to come in only seven seconds behind Yoshida. Hoffman crossed the line 13 ticks after Randall, and was in obvious discomfort from cramps.

McMurtry, Flora, Didrik Smith (U of Utah), Vegard Kjoelhamar (Colorado U) and the defending champion, Tad Elliott, took places six through ten.

Elliott was happy with his race despite losing the title. “Yeah, it was good. There are a lot of good guys from the US, and a lot of good Canadians and Europeans in the field,” said Elliott. “It was hard to break it up. Last year was skate and this year was classic. I had great skis thanks to my CXC coaches; they were really fast.

“I was skiing off the front at one point with my good friends Noah Hoffman and James Southam, but Kris Freeman decided not to let that happen, and everyone came back together. It was a fun day out there. I’m super-pumped with my result.”

Flora (APU) in 7th was named the Grand US National Distance Champion, awarded to the skier who collects the most points throughout the series. Flora also increased his USSA SuperTour lead over Mike Sinnott (Sun Valley ODT) in second but Sinnott  is still within striking distance to win the overall on his home turf.

Full results w/splits HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Kris Freeman (USST) 2:37:05.2
2. Kevin Sandau (Alberta World Cup Academy) 2:37:15.1
3. Yuma Yoshida (Japan) 2:37:37.2

March 26, 2011 – Canadian XC ski star and double gold medalist in 2011, Alex Harvey, is appearing on Radio Canada’s biggest television show Tout le monde en parle on Sunday night, March 27th. Harvey won U23 World Championship gold in the 30km Pursuit in Otepaa, Estonia, and Team Sprint gold, with teammate Devon Kershaw, at the Nordic World Championships in Oslo, Norway. The French talk show, the most popular show on Radio Canada – CBC’s French version – originated in France and debuted in Canada in 2004. The title, Tout le monde en parle, means “Everyone’s Talking about It” – more in French HERE.

March 26, 2011 (Charlo, NB) – Zina Kocher racked up her third gold medal in as many events, while senior team rookie, Scott Gow, claimed his first national senior title by winning the men’s pursuit competition at the Biathlon Canadian Championships in Charlo, N.B. on Saturday.

Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., continued her domination of the women’s elite field into the pursuit competition. The two-time Olympian, who previously won the individual and sprint events, finished on top with a time of 33 minutes, 58.3 seconds on a windy day which played havoc on the shooting range.

“I’m extremely exhausted but I’m still feeling good and was able to make it all work out today,” said Kocher. “I knew in my first round of shooting how gusty the wind was, but I just said I was gonna go for it.”

It’s the end of a long season for the Kocher, who arrived to New Brunswick on Monday from Europe.

“I really enjoy coming to Nationals because it is always a fun week,” said Kocher. “I think it is really important for the veterans to spend time around the next generation of athletes. We did a Fast and Female event yesterday and it was great to be around the kids.”

Quebec’s Claude Godbout locked up the silver medal with a time of 34:45.7, while 2010 Olympian Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake. Man., clocked a bronze-medal time of 35:22.8.

While the Olympic veteran continued her golden run in the women’s events, it was a young 20-year-old Calgarian who took down the nation’s best to win the men’s pursuit and claim his first national title.

Scott Gow, who captured the gold medal in each of the four races that he competed in at the Canada Winter Games last month, made up nearly a minute on the leader to win the men’s pursuit. Gow took advantage of fast skis and held on at the range to post a time of 36:09.4.

“It was a really a good for skiing and shooting today,” said Gow, who missed just four shots, which usually doesn’t cut it for a podium finisher, but wind gusts challenged the nation’s best in NewBrunswick. “It was so inconsistent and caused a lot of problems today for us. I’m thrilled to have my first win.”

Gow has had a stellar start to the 2011 season. Since competing for Canada at the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic in January, Gow returned home and became the first athlete to win gold in all four races at the Canada Winter Games while competing for Alberta.

“This whole season I have felt really good and have really been able to keep my shape and carry it through World Juniors and the Canada Games,” said Gow. “To win today is the perfect way to cap off a great year.”

Quebec’s Marc-Andre Bedard claimed the silver medal with a time of 36:24.6, while Calgary’s Nathan Smith secured the bronze medal with a time of 36:28.9.

The Biathlon Canada Championships wrap up on Sunday with the men’s and women’s relay competitions.

Complete results HERE.

March 25, 2011 The NCCSEF invested $43,000 in six 2010-2011 Cross Country Ski Racing Projects with a goal of helping Team Tomorrow become Team Today!  One of the investments was in a trip to the Europe Continental Cup (Europa or OPA Cup) Finals in Rogla, Slovenia and Ramsau, Austria, March 7-21. We want to share some thoughts athletes and coaches developed from this trip that will help them better pursue their dreams.

Sylvan Ellefson-Ski and Snowboard Club Vail-Team HomeGrown – Learned:
– Europeans are no more talented than Americans. We train just as hard. We just need to change our mentality about overseas racing.
– A solid, positive group of racers can make a racing experience even better.
– Having support from coaches from all over the US can give you perspectives in a different light for the better.
– Being more accustomed to racing on European turf helps prepare and be more ready for the next time you encounter racing outside of the US.
– Not every day is going to be Extra Blue skiing. When going gets tough and variables you can’t control prevail, you have to learn how to dig deep and find what that motor of yours can actually do.

Noah Hoffmann-US Ski Team-SVSEF/ASPEN – Learned:
– The importance of patience when things aren’t going well or you can’t race because of sickness or injury.
– A ton from watching my fellow teammates. I especially enjoyed the sprint. We have some incredible athletes in this country who have some of the best technique in the world. I can learn a ton from watching them and I’m looking forward to training with them this summer!
– That there is no reason to be scared of athletes from Europe or put them on a pedestal. They are doing the same things we are and they aren’t, as countries, better than us.
– Just how hard the coaches work when they are doubling as wax staff. I am so impressed with the work ethic and dedication of the staff, and I gained a whole new respect for them and their work.
– The importance of being able to ski on all courses and in all conditions. When we first got to Ramsau, I thought I was racing, and I was really nervous about the flatter course and the icy, fast conditions. I don’t know how well I can ski in those conditions. I need to work on those weaknesses and build confidence so that it’s not an issue.

Leif Zimmermann-Bridger Ski Foundation Elite Team – Learned:
– Time change vs. Performance. After traveling to and from Europe many times now, I have been able to develop a routine to help me adjust to all the changes your body has to cope with, then race to the top of your ability (e.g.- large time change, different food, different beds, different snow and climate, ext…) This has been really challenging for me to overcome. Yet definitely something I have improved on!
– Ski and Grind selection. I always learn something new about how my skis and grinds run over in Europe!
– Coaches and Athletes. Working with new coaches and athletes from around the country is always a learning experience! I am 100% confident everyone took something away from this trip that will improve their ability!
– Competitors. I always learn a lot from racing with developing and world cup level athletes from around Europe. From warming up with medal winners, to skiing with other skiers in the race, to seeing how they utilize there technique on different terrain. I take away something every time I’m exposed to these Competitors!
– Enjoyment. For me, after racing for 12 years, sometimes a new “venue” can be very refreshing and also very motivating! I always enjoy experiencing a new country and culture! To have these new experiences, while following my true passion, is something I will keep with me long after I’m not a “ski racer” anymore.

Becca Rorabaugh-APU Nordic Ski Center – Learned:
– Everyone has ups and downs.  Some of the girls that seemed unbeatable one day would be in the teens on the result list the next.  They didn’t seem upset about it either, they knew that they were capable of more and would show it next time.
– It’s important to be flexible and relaxed.  This is something that I noticed during a few trips to Europe: the food probably won’t be familiar and comfortable, the wax team will have a different way of organizing ski work, and the course might not be finalized until the day before.  In the end, it’s going to be fine.  You can perform well on schnitzel and potatoes, the skis will not ruin your race, and everyone has to do the same course…
– Don’t ski too hard on the first couple of days at altitude after a 10 hour time change!  I think I came close to giving myself a cold from that.  Even if your training buddy goes fast, you shouldn’t!
– Ski racing is a professional vocation.  The European teams really impressed me with their professional manner.  Everyone on those teams was on the job at the OPA races.  The athletes are there to race, and the techs are there to tech.  I am not saying that wax techs shouldn’t get to watch the races too, I know I appreciate Brian, Gus, and Casey cheering out there, but all of the other wax rooms were packed up and moved out by the end of the last race because the techs were packing during the race.  They were there to get their stuff done, just like the racers were.  It’s a little different from the American perspective because we have trouble seeing skiing as a true vocation; people see full-time athletes like us almost as ski-bums.  I think it’s easy to start thinking that skiing is something that we do because we don’t have a bigger or better opportunity because that’s how other people tend to see us.  Watching the Euro’s approach to skiing helped to remind me that it’s not.
– It’s really important to practice skiing in all kinds of conditions.  Most of the snow that we skied on was not at all like what I have raced on in the US, even the hardwax classic skiing was greasier and trickier.  The last day in Ramsau was sloppy and wet klister skiing, something that I hadn’t really practiced until I started training with APU on Eagle Glacier in the summers.  Racers in the west and in Alaska need to make sure to find some gnarly training conditions sometimes, because it’s pretty rare to get to race on extra blue hardwax in Europe!

Bryan Fish-Continental Cup Coach-U.S. Ski Team- Learned:
– It is really valuable for clubs and the National Team to work hand-and-hand.  Learning happens full circle.
– We have warm conditions in the states, but they typically happen towards the end of the season.  This is no different than overseas.  Maybe we need to continue skiing and racing later into the year like our counterparts overseas.  Seek out these “unfavorable” situations as a learning experience instead of planning away from them.
– A great amount is learned in skiing with and against others of equal or slightly higher level.  When I say ski – that means training and competing.  There is a huge value in seeing what other successful athletes and teams are doing day in and day out.  You pick up a little piece here or there and add it to your tool box.
– There is a learning curve when taking groups from a variety of backgrounds.  It is positive, but merging athletes and coaches from a variety of programs takes patience, strong communication and cooperative efforts.  It’s an adjustment for all parties, but the end result – can and was totally positive.
– I think US athletes are more familiar with their equipment and racing below the freezing point.  I think we should seek out opportunities to develop a level of experience and comfort in warmer conditions.

For more information on NCCSEF, and these and future funding initiatives, and to make your charitable contribution visit www.NCCSEF.org.

March 25, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Welcome to the 2011 US Championship 50km and 30 km races and to the 2011 USSA SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, ID, March 26-April 2. Below, you will find essential information about the 2011 USSA Distance National Championships and SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, ID. Racing kicks off on Saturday, March 26 with the Men’s 50k CL U.S. Championship. Check out everything you need to know about the event below.

SCHEDULE:
2011 US Championship 50/30 km / SuperTour Finals Schedule HERE.

MAPS:

Local Maps:
– Ketchum / Sun Valley Overview Map HERE.
– Downtown Ketchum Map / Coaches Meetings HERE.

Course Maps:
– US National Championship 50/30km CL (7.2km Loop) HERE.
– SuperTour Finals Men’s 3.3km Prologue FR HERE / SuperTour Finals Women’s 2.8km Prologue FR HERE
– SuperTour Finals Men’s 5km loop for 15km CL HERE / SuperTour Finals Women’s 3.3km loop for 10km CL HERE.
– SuperTour Finals Sprint CL HERE.
– Image of SuperTour Finals Hill Climb FR HERE.

Stadium Maps:
– SuperTour Finals Prologue FR Stadium HERE.
– US National Championship 50/30km CL / SuperTour Finals Mass Start CL Stadium HERE.
– SuperTour Finals Sprint CL Stadium HERE.

REGISTRATION:
– Zone4 HERE.

RESULTS:
– Summit Timing HERE.

CURRENT 2011 USSA SUPERTOUR STANDINGS:
– Current USSA SuperTour Standings HERE.

CURRENT MINI-TOUR STANDINGS:
– Check back…

PRIZE MONEY GUIDELINES:
– 2011 US Championship 50/30 km / SuperTour Finals Prize Money HERE.

SCORING GUIDELINES:
– 2011 US Championship 50/30 km / SuperTour Finals Scoring Guidelines HERE.

FAST AND FEMALE:
– Fast and Female Registration HERE.
– Fast and Female Poster HERE / Fast and Female Press Release HERE.

LODGING INFORMATION:
Official Lodging Partner is Sun Valley Company – contact them at 800.786.8259 and mention the SuperTour Finals for discounted rates.

More info HERE.

March 24, 2011 – This was a breakthrough WCup season for Kikkan Randall winning two World Cups and ending up third overall on the Sprint Cup podium with Petra Majdic (SLO) in first and Arianna Follis (ITA) in second. Randall was stoked to have such a consistent season as she said, “Having never been in the top 10 before, this was a huge breakthrough for me!” – read more from the USA’s top xc skier who’s emerging as a strong distance performer as well…

Quote of the Day
“This has been a strong season.  Finishing high in the overall shows that my consistency is coming up and I am already getting excited about chasing the crystal globes next season.”

What’s Coming Up
3.27.11 US National Championships – 30km Classic Sun Valley
3.29.11 – 4.2.11  SuperTour Finals – Sun Valley

THEN DONE!!

For more news and photos check out the new:
www.kikkan.com
World Cup Final Report

The Cliff Notes:
Two weeks, two countries, six races, a red bib…and one heck of a finale! World Cup ’11 wrapped up with 2 races in Lahti, Finland and then the World Cup Finals in Sweden.

Lahti – Distance PR with 11th in pursuit and donned the red bib in the classic sprint for 21st.
Stockholm – Final WC sprint, skied to 10th and held on to 3rd in the overall sprint cup!
Falun – Mini-tour finals, 19th in prologue, 21st in pursuit, 14th in 10k to finish 16th overall.  Finished the season in 10th in the Overall World Cup standings.

One more series of races to go before its break time!  More coming from Sun Valley next week!!

The Full Story:
It’s been a busy two weeks as the 2011 World Cup season has just wrapped up.  Here’s a quick update on how it went…

The first weekend post-World Champs kicked off in Lahti, Finland with a 5km+5km duathlon.  It was a challenging course with big steep climbs.  I got off to a good start and thanks to some great skis I was able to move my way up through the pack on the classic leg.  I continued to ski strong on the skate portion and narrowly lost a photo finish for 10th place.  My 11th place was a new personal best World Cup distance performance.

The next morning we contested a classic sprint.  After my victory in Drammen, I had retaken the lead in the overall World Cup sprint rankings and so I got to race wearing the red leader’s jersey.  Although the course was long and tough, I laid down one of my best-ever classic sprint qualifications in 5th place.  Anticipation was high.

In the quarterfinals I was leading my heat halfway through the lap until I struggled to kick up the steep climb and then bogged down with slow skis, lost touch with the group on the downhill and ended up 5th (21st overall). It was a frustrating early end to my day and I dropped to third in the overall sprint rankings.

The final sprint race of the season was just three days later in Stockholm, a 1km classic sprint on man-made snow laid on the steps of the Royal Palace.   A pretty sweet venue!  I put down a solid qualifying round in 13th and despite landing in a super-competitive quarterfinal, managed to advance to the semis as a lucky loser.  In the semis I skied all out to try and hang in the pack, eventually tying for 5th.  I didn’t advance to the final but secured 10th place for the day and locked up third in the overall sprint cup.  Having never been in the top 10 before, this was a huge breakthrough for me!

From Stockholm we traveled 3hrs to Falun to continue the World Cup Finals mini-tour with a 2.5km classic prologue on Friday.  While Thursday’s off day featured impeccable conditions and clear blue sky, race day brought heavy snowfall and temperatures around the dreaded zero mark.  Thankfully my skis were great and my body felt strong and I skied a solid lap for 19th place.

For the following day’s 5km+5km duathlon, the sun came back, although the waxing conditions were still challenging.  Starting as bib 10 in the 2nd row my race was off to an excellent start when, 500m in I got caught in a crash and suddenly dropped from top 10 to back of the pack.  I spent the rest of the race trying to work my way back up and eventually finished 21st.

The final race of the mini-tour, and of the World Cup season, was a 10km freestyle handicap start based on the overall time from the mini-tour.  I started the day in 17th place and immediately latched on to bib 16, Marte Kristophersen of Norway.  As we skied the two hard laps around the 5km course, we picked up several skiers ahead.  Coming over the top of “murder hill” the last time however, my legs gave way and I lost touch with the group.  I still managed to finish 16th on the day with the 14th fastest split time.  It felt good to lie down in the snow at the finish after the demanding tour and the conclusion of a successful World Cup season!

The icing on the cake was going up on stage for the award presentations for the overall Sprint World Cup.  Just a year before I had watched my teammate Andy Newell stand up there getting his crystal medal, and dreamed of getting there myself.  It felt great to stand on the podium one more time, accept the crystal medal, and get sprayed by champagne from Petra Majdic’s retirement celebration!

This World Cup season has been my most successful year yet.  In addition to the third in the Sprint rankings, I also finished 10th in the Overall World Cup.  These overall awards show that my consistency is coming up and I am already getting excited about chasing the crystal globes next season.

While the World Cup season is now finished, I still have one more series of races to do before heading home.  I have rejoined my APU teammates for the 30/50km US National Championships races this weekend in Sun Valley, ID and then the SuperTour Finals next week.  Five more races to go, time to see what’s left in the tank!

Cheers,
Kikkan Randall

March 24, 2011 (Ottawa, ON) – The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced today that Beckie Scott has been appointed as Canada’s Chef de Mission for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (WYOG) in Innsbruck, Austria.

“I am absolutely thrilled and incredibly honoured to have been asked to be the Chef de Mission of the Canadian team competing in Innsbruck 2012,” Scott said. “The first winter edition of the Youth Olympic Games will be sensational and I can’t imagine a greater experience for young competitive athletes. I really look forward to guiding, assisting and sharing this memorable event with our team.”

Scott is a three-time Olympian, a double medallist and one of Canada’s best cross-country skiers ever. She made history at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games by winning a gold medal in pursuit. In so doing, she became the first North American woman to win an Olympic medal (of any kind) in cross-country skiing. Four years later, Scott took to the podium again, teaming with Sara Renner to win the silver medal in team sprint.

“Beckie is the ideal candidate for these inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games,” said Caroline Assalian, the COC’s Executive Managing Director, Sport and NSF Relations. “She has intimate knowledge of these Games from her work on the IOC Coordination Commission for Innsbruck 2012. More importantly, the WYOG are about inspiring youth and living the Olympic Values. Beckie has demonstrated her commitment to those values. She believes in the Youth Olympic movement which is why she has decided to make the Canadian Youth Olympic Team a priority.”

During the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Scott was elected to the IOC Athletes’ Commission for an eight-year term. She is also a member of the IOC’s Coordination for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games – as well as the Coordination of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games.

As a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Athlete Committee, Scott is a passionate and influential lobbyist in this area. Among her many initiatives was an athletes’ petition that requested an independent drug-testing body for all World Cup and Olympic competitions.

She was also a part of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games as a board member for the organizing committee, VANOC. In 2006, Scott became a member of the COC’s Executive Committee as well as the Athletes’ Council, consequent to her election as an IOC member. She also serves on the board of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

As Chef de Mission, Scott will take on the role of official representative and spokesperson of the Canadian Youth Olympic Team, and be a key member of the overall leadership team for Canada’s participation in the Winter Youth Olympic Games. Her leadership and Olympic experience are invaluable assets to the delegation. Scott’s knowledge of sport and the Olympic Movement will be of utmost importance in the interaction with stakeholders, both nationally and internationally.

The inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games will take place from January 13 – 22, 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria, site of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games.

March 23, 2011 (Charlo, NB) – Zina Kocher proved she is still the woman to beat in Canada, while Scott Perras continued his season-ending hotstreak to win the national crowns in the women’s and men’s individual biathlon events at the Canadian Championships in Charlo, N.B. on Wednesday.

Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., handily won the women’s 15-kilometre individual event despite missing five shots on the range. The two-time Olympian, and World Cup bronze medallist, posted a golden time of 46:38.5.

Melanie Schultz, who now resides in Canmore, Alta., was the next best finisher at 51:41.6 Quebec’s Claude Godbout rounded out the women’s podium with a time of 51:27.8.

The individual event puts an emphasis on shooting as athletes are penalized oneminute for every shot missed on the range.

Regina’s Scott Perras arrived from Europe last night in time for the opening day of competition. Suffering from jet lag, his skis in the ties and rifle in its case, Perras woke up early for some last minute preparation before posting a winning time of 1:01:33.1 in the men’s 20-kilometre individual race and his second national title.

“This was not the original plan, but a snow storm in Montreal prevented me from having a training day,” said Perras, whose first true taste of biathlon came at the 2003 Canada Winter Games where he won a bronze medal in the individual.

“It was tough going today. I knew my legs wouldn’t cooperate and I felt it right away. I grinded through the entire 20,000 metres today. Luckily I was able to force some good shooting on the range. I shot slow and deliberately and it paid off.”

Matt Neumann captured British Columbia’s first medal of the week by winning the silver after clocking-in at 1:01:50.2. Calgary’s Scott Gow, who swept the golden step of the podium at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax last month,finished third at 1:01:54.1.

Quebec’s Yolaine Oddou won the junior women’s 12.5-kilometre individual competition with a time of 49:44.4, while Calgary’s Aaron Gillmor took the gold in the junior men’s 15-kilometre event.

The Canadian Championships continue on Thursday in Charlo, N.B.

Complete results HERE.

March 23, 2011 (Toblach, Italy) – Check out this fantastic video coverage of Devon Kershaw’s (CAN) first World Cup victory during Stage 5 of the 2011 Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. He beat out the world’s best sprinters with the ultimate breakthrough performance that paved the way for a historic season in Canadian men’s XC skiing, including a gold medal in the Team Sprint with teammate Alex Harvey at the Nordic World Championships, at the famous Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway.

March 23, 2011 – Check out these video highlights of one of the greatest moments in Canadian XC ski racing history – Pierre Harvey’s first World Cup win in 1987 in Falun, Sweden. Harvey’s amazing feat is even more significant as we fast-forward to the present where his son, Alex, and his Canadian teammates, have continued Pierre’s legacy, enjoying a break-out season, winning multiple medals on the FIS World Cup and World Championships circuit.

March 22, 2011 – Boring, really boring! That’s the only way I can say this “Grand Finale of the World Cup” in Falun was this past Sunday. My comment to my wife as we got ready to watch. was that both [Marit] Bjoergen and [Petter] Northug could skate backwards and still win these races. The time bonuses the skiers can win through out the four races have to be done away with and substituted with money–like $3,000-$2,000-$1,000 if you want to speed up the pace of the race and break up the field.

The two leaders, named above, were playing around with the other skiers when it comes to building an insurmountable lead – I can’t put it any other way – 1:14 for Bjoergen and 1:28 for Northug. I wonder if they had a bet between themselves to see who could be leading by the most time when they started Sunday. I’m sure there was some joking or laughing in the Norwegian wax cabin about all of this. I don’t see how there couldn’t be.

This is one time that FIS has borrowed an idea from the Tour de France and been bitten badly – back to the drawing board. On top of that, the two overall titles were already decided coming into these four races…another anti-climatic scenario that helped to blow out the weekend.

Also, via the grapevine, there were press people that didn’t realize there were actually two races in one being raced at the same time on the last day – the mini tour and the Handicap. Another pet peeve of mine when it comes to the FIS and the lack of information it pumps out as to how the format is working for a mini-series or some individual races during the season.

If you don’t agree with me, then you weren’t watching the Eurosport TV/computer broadcast, as the two announcers were panning both races and not mincing their comments.

Looking forward to see how this works for next year.

More about the “Grand Finale” as 42% of the 100 racers (50 top men and 50 top women) that qualified for this series were basically from two countries, Norway and Sweden. They won more then 61% of the medals, with Norway taking the majority of them. The Swedish women came up with a big fat goose egg for their lack of effort for the weekend and the Swedish men weren’t far behind with only two medals. The Norwegian Kings and Queens of the weekend were overweight (with hardware) heading home and no doubt will be checking their bank accounts first thing Monday morning.

Canadian Nationals, and the retiring George Grey, wins all but one medal – the sprint medal eluded George. I’m always amazed at the ability of this level of skier to be able find the mental focus and energy to continue to perform at the top when they know, and have already announced, that they’re retiring. A great way for you to go out George, congratulations to you.

A lot of big decisions being made right now by the NA skiers – to go home, or to head to Sun Valley [for the US Distance Nationals]. Remember your European friends are all headed for more competitions and many will race into the middle of April. One thing to mix into that decision is the chance to spread your points around to the other skiers who will be going to Sun Valley. Especially the younger ones, as you will help make their climb on the international circuit easier with better seeding points.

See you next time!
misterxc@aol.com

March 21, 2011 (Mt. Itasca, Coleraine, MN) – – In sharp contrast to Saturday’s beautiful weather, light rain and fog greeted the athletes on Sunday, day three of  the U.S. Biathlon National Championships.  Fortunately the course was still relatively fast and firm for the Mass Start competitions.

Annelies Cook  (Saranac Lake, NY) finished up her very best biathlon season with her second National Championships title, overcoming seven penalites with very strong skiing. Susan Dunklee (Craftsbury, VT) placed second with six penalties, and Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) rounded out the podium with the best shooting of the day, three penalties.  All three of the senior women had excellent international seasons, with Annelies Cook competing at Antholz, Presque Isle, and Fort Kent World Cups; Susan Dunklee had two top-10 IBU Cup finishes on the IBU Cup; and Tracy Barnes had a career best finish 17th and 19th place at IBU Cup Nowe Mesto and Altenberg.

In the senior men race, it was Russell Currier (Caribou, ME) who overcame two rough prone stages with excellent skiing and hitting nine of his 10 standing targets to win by 52 seconds.  A tight battle for second place played out between Mark Johnson (Grand Rapids, MN) and Bill Bowler (Wausau, WI).  Both had one penalty on the last shooting, and Bowler trailed Johnson by 15 seconds after the penalty loop. By 2.5km into the 3.0km loop, Bowler had caught and passed Johnson but a quick counter attack in the last 100m gave Johnson second place.

Full results from the 2011 National Championships  are available HERE.

Other class winners were:

Girls 7.5k :
1. Anna Kubek, Duluth, MN
2. Solveig Viren, Grand Rapids, MN
3. Elise Putnam, Methow Valley, WA

Youth Women 7.5k:
1. Carly Wynn, Queensbury, NY
2.  Kelly Kjorlien, Grand Rapids, MN
3.  Tera Geraghty-Moats, Craftsbury, VT

Junior Women 12k
1.  Corrine Malcolm, Hayward, WI
2.   Andrea Mayo, Fort Kent, ME

Boys 10k:
1.  Sean Doherty, New Hampshire
2.  Nick Proell, St Cloud, MN
3.  Jake Prince, Anchorage, AK

Youth Men 10km
1.  Casey Smith, Methow Valley, WA
2.  Ray Wonders, Anchorage, AK
3.  Kyle Rutar, Casper, WY

Junior Men 15k
1.  Raleigh Goessling, Duluth, MN
2.  Ethan Dreissigacker, Craftsbury, VT
3. Michalel Giblson, Burlington, VT

Master Men 30-39
1.  Sean Kato, Methow Valley, WA
2.  Frank Gangi, Grand Rapids, MN
3. Wayne Peterson, New Hampshire

Master Men 40-49
1.  Phil Rogers, Duluth, MN
2.  Dave Cleveland, Boulder, CO
3.  Brian Woodard, Boulder, CO

Master Men 50-59
1.  John Neal, Marshfield, WI
2.  Johnny Ingdal, New Brighton, MN
3.  Tony Carter, Colerine, MN

Masters Women 40-49
1.  Lori Selbi, Washington Biathlon

Masters Women 50-59
1.  Linda Wolf, Wisconsin Biathlon

March 21, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – If you missed the action at this past weekend’s 2011 FIS Viessmann WCup finale in Falun, Sweden check out this great photo gallery of some of the sport’s top skiers as the season’s final champions were crowned following the 10/15km Handicap start pursuit race. Norway’s Marit Bjoergen and Petter Northug won the final mini tour while Dario Cologna (SUI) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) were crowned the overall season champions – read more here and here.

March 21, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Check out this great photo gallery of the action, drama, and emotion at Sunday’s Mass Start event, the final IBU World Cup of the season, in Oslo, Norway. Darya Domracheva (BLR) won the women’s 10km race – more here – while Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) took top honours in the men’s competition – more here.

March 20, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – Alas parting is such sweet sorrow, and so it was today in Falun, as the FIS World Cup season came to an end. By day’s end Canadian Nordic fans can take pride that the nation placed two men – Devon Kerhsaw and Alex Harvey – in the top 10 overall in the FIS overall WCup standings. It marked a stellar accomplishment for the Canadian team and program.

Kershaw garnered 605 season points to place 8th overall, while Harvey finished in 10th with 552 season-long points. It was a day of celebrations for the Canadians who recently won Nordic Worlds gold for the first time only two weeks earlier in Oslo.

“The last time a Canadian male was in the top ten overall was my dad – Pierre Harvey – and that was a long time ago. Two athletes in the top ten is amazing and shows we have been consistent and competitive in all areas. We are really excited about that,” said the 22-year-old Alex Harvey in a Cross-Country Canada release. The only other nation that had two skiers in the top ten was Sweden.

The final day was cast in Norwegian colours as current king, Petter Northug, won the WCup mini tour while teammate, 20 year-old Finn Haagen Krogh, winner of the Scandinavian Cup this winter, finished second overall and won the 15km Handicap race with the fastest time of 37:06.3.

Krogh nipped overall WCup winner Dario Cologna (SUI) in a gutsy sprint to the line with the Swiss star settling for 3rd overall in the mini tour, knowing he secured the coveted crystal globe as the FIS overall WCup and Distance Cup winner.

Maurice Manificat (FRA) was second on the day and Lucas Bauer (CZE) was third while Bauer was also third overall in the distance standings. Canada’s Ivan Babikov finished a strong 10th in the 15km Handicap race just ahead of Northug in 11th to end up 16th overall in the mini tour.

Harvey skied to a 14th place finish (11th overall) while Graham Nishikawa (CAN) was 27th (37th overall), Kris Freeman took 29th (24th overall) and Devon Kerhsaw was 36th (27th overall), while Lars Flora was 30th (41st overall). American sprinter Andy Newell did not start the final race.

Northug ended the season second to Switzerland’s Cologna in the overall and distance standings while Sweden’s Daniel Rickardsson claimed third overall. Following Kershaw in 8th and Harvey in 10th is American Freeman in 27th. The trio finished 14th, 19th and 25th respectively in the distance standings, and all made the illustrious WCup Red Group as well – that’s four North Americans overall in the Red Group including Kikkan Randall.

The sprint title was decided after the Stockholm WCup on Mar. 16, and Emil Joensson (SWE) was declared the winner with Norway’s Ole Viga Hattestad in 2nd and Sweden’s Jesper Modin 3rd. Newell was the top North American in 8th overall with Harvey 10th and Kershaw 18th.

Following the race Cologna – who takes his second crystal globe – said he was pleased with his season. “All in all I had a very good season in that I won my second overall World Cup win. Today I had a good race and felt strong, and I thought I could beat Krogh in the sprint, but he was stronger today.”

Canadian XC Head Coach Justin Wadsworth summed it up. “Solid day for both Alex and Ivan. When it all shook out this afternoon here in Falun, Sweden, we came out with two men in the top 10 of the overall World Cup (only Sweden did that – Norway didn’t even have two in there!), and one women’s podium [Crawford-Gaiazova Team Sprint].

“Four individual podiums for Devon with one victory. One individual podium for Alex, and of course a World Championship gold [Team Sprint] for the boys in Oslo. It was a good year for sure, but what’s really exciting is what we will do in the future!!”

Handicap results HERE.
Mini Tour results HERE.
Overall Sprint Standings HERE.
Overall Distance Standings HERE.
Overall WCup Standings HERE.

March 20, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – Sunny skies and a large crowd greeted Norwegian star, Marit Bjoergen, and the rest of the women’s world class field for the final day of the 2010/11 Veissemann FIS World Cup campaign. Not surprising the day unfolded with the spot light on Bjoergen, who was showered once again with more applause and accolades as she won the final WCup mini-tour in Falun.

Bjoergen also landed her 47th World Cup win on the previous day as she won the first two stages in Falun. On her way to the mini-tour victory she eclipsed Russian Elena Vaelbe’s record of 45 overall wins and looks like she’s overtaken the legendary Bjorn Dählie’s record of 46 wins (to be confirmed with FIS).

While Bjoergen enjoyed the limelight her victory didn’t tell the whole story as Poland’s Justyana Kowalczyk, who came second in the mini tour, also won the FIS World Cup overall and distance titles – making it three years in a row that she’s claimed both titles.

Bjoergen was second to Kowalczyk in both while Norway’s Therese Johaug was third behind her teammate in both series as well.  Not surprising Johaug was third in the final WCup mini tour as well.

The overall Sprint title went to the ever-popular Slovenian star Petra Majdic who announced her retirement some time ago and was mobbed by well wishers at the finish. Kowalczyk wore a head band that read “Goodbye Petra” while her teammate Vesna Fabjan scrawled “I Love you Petra” on the back of her uniform as she raced today.

Second on the overall sprint podium was Arianna Follis (ITA) who also announced she’s retiring. The talented Italian won the final 10km Handicap in Falun with the fastest time in 27:30.1 ahead of Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt in second and Therese Johaug in third. Bjoergen was fourth on the day.

American star Kikkan Randall was also celebrating as she had the 14th fastest time on the day to end up 16th overall in the mini tour. But the bigger news for Randall was landing third on the overall Sprint podium and 10th in the overall WCup standings.

“I had a super solid race Sunday, and I’m very excited…the crowds were great…the course was great and much better than Saturday – and both a 10th place on the overall world cup and a third place in the sprint cup are huge for me,” Randall told SkiTrax following the event, “This was a big day and a big season.”

Randall’s teammate Holly Brooks had a solid day finishing 25th in the Handicap race to place 33rd overall in the mini tour while Canada’s Perianne Jones was 39th on the day to finish 41st overall.

It was a day for multiple celebrations as the action was watched by some 12,000 spectators according to FIS. A large party awaited Bjoergen following the race, but she graciously shared the spotlight honouring other ski friends, who ended their ski careers here in Sweden, particularly Majdic and Follis.

“They have been with me since I started and it gets a little weird when they’re gone,” Bjoergen, who turns 31 on Monday, told reporters.

Kowalczyk, who hasn’t been back to Poland since the WCup races in Drammen, Norway will return home for the Polish National Championships and then take part in a marathon race in Russia.

“Today was a positive day for us,” US XC Head Coach Chris Grover told SkiTrax. “Kikkan had the 14th fastest 10km time and Holly had the 25th fastest. Kris [Freeman] had the 24th fastest 15km time to stay in 24th. I believe Lars [Flora] had the 30th fastest time, but I have not seen men’s results.  A good way to finish the World Cup Tour with everyone moving fast.  We had a great time celebrating with Kikkan in the overall sprint winner’s ceremony.

“Andy [Newell] was 4th in the sprint tour last season so it was cool for us to have that recognition for the second year in a row.  It was also gratifying to have Kris back in the distance red group at the end of the season.  I know all three athletes are already looking forward to next season’s competitions.  But tonight, we’ll be celebrating the end of the season.”

Handicap results HERE.
Mini Tour results HERE.
Overall Sprint Standings HERE.
Overall Distance Standings HERE.
Overall WCup Standings HERE.

March 20, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Darya Domracheva from Belarus got she wanted – gold. The rising 24-year-old star has come close, and she finally made good with solid shooting and solid skiing on the final round of the World Cup at the Holmenkollen in Oslo, capping off a strong season scoring her first WCup victory at Sunday’s 12.5km women’s Mass Start.

But nothing comes easy and Domracheva had to contend with the best in the business to earn her victory. The race got off to a speedy start, with Miriam Gössner of Germany leading the way into the range. However, nearly half the field faltered at shooting, allowing Gössner’s teammate, Andrea Henkel, who shot clean to take the lead, followed closely by the Russian trio of Olga Zaitseva, Anna Bogaliy-Titovets and Ekaterina Yurlova.

The Russians seemed on fire, perhaps looking for some redemption from their poor showing in the women’s relay at the IBU Worlds at home in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Henkel could not remain perfect in her second stint in the shooting range, missing a single shot to drop out of the lead pack. Domracheva, who had been on the heels of the leaders, shot clean to leave the stadium with Henkel in 3rd and 4th place respectively.

Russia’s Bogaliy-Titovets, who was without a miss going into the first standing stage, continued her streak to remain the leader. Henkel and Domracheva both shot clean as well to stay in the hunt, while Zaitseva suffered a penalty to move 30 seconds back from the lead and into 4th place.

Domracheva skied well and came into the stadium for the last shooting stage in 1st place, while Henkel and Bogaliy-Titovets following closely behind. But the Belarusian faltered missing a pair of targets. She was not the only one feeling the pressure as Henkel missed two as well, while Bogaliy-Titovets missed just one to take an 8.1-second lead going into the final stretch.

It was game on and Domracheva knew what she had to do as she marked the Russian skier ahead, advancing steadily to completely erase the deficit with 1,700 meters remaining. She rode her fast skis to a comfortable victory and a final time of 36:13.0. Bogaliy-Titovets took 2nd place, nine seconds ahead of Zaitseva, her Russian teammate as Henkel settled for fourth.

“I believed that I could win and now I am very happy…I knew that when I left the stadium behind Anna that it was my last chance,” Domracheva told Biathlonworld.com. “I never stopped believing that I could win. After three good shooting stages, I had two penalties; I guess that I do not like easy competitions.”

Bogaliy-Titovets, who landed on the podium for the first time this season, attributed her success to good shooting. “I have had a lot of problems with shooting all season, but no today,” she explained. “I felt less stressed today and that helped me a lot. I knew that a 6-second lead over Darya was not much, but when she passed me, I just tried to protect my second place.”

Russia’s top overall biathlete this season, Zaitseva, was very happy with the team’s performance as a whole. “We had a lot of psychological problems at the World Championships, because everyone wanted to perform so well at home. But today, no one expected anything from us,” said Zaitseva.

Sara Studebaker led the American effort with fine shooting, missing just one shot to finish in 22nd place and a time of 39:07.1. Her teammate, Haley Johnson, had three missed targets and ended up in 27th. The US Biathlon women’s team continues to make gains as this was the first time they’ve had two biathletes at a mass start.

“I think this is the first we’ve had two women starting in the Mass Start. All together, we have had three women compete in the Mass Start this season,” said Johnson in her blog, “I’ve been doing this sport for awhile now and I am proud to be a part of this momentous step forward.

“I moved into the top 15 a few times after the range, which felt great and I used it as motivation for only a quick moment,” Johnson said. “Anything can happen in biathlon, so I continued to stick to my own pace no matter the place.”

Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who finished 15th in Sunday’s race, retained her hold on the Yellow Bib to be this year’s best overall biathlete with 1,005 points. Henkel took 2nd with 972, and Sweden’s Helena Ekholm claimed 3rd with 971.

Full results HERE.
Final WCup standings HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Darya Domracheva, BLR (1+0+0+2) 36:13.0
2. Anna Bogaliy-Titovets, RUS (0+0+0+1) 36:29.0
3. Olga Zaitseva, RUS (0+0+1+0) 36:38.0

22. Sara Studebaker, USA (0+0+0+1) 39:07.1
27.  Haley Johnson, USA (2+0+0+1) 39:36.5

March 20, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Emile Hegle Svendsen of Norway topped the podium for the second straight day, claiming Sunday’s 15km Mass Start World Cup at the Holmenkollen, the shrine of Nordic skiing in his homeland. Russia’s Evgeny Ustyugov was a close second while the legendary Norwegian, Ole Einer Bjorndalen, had to settle for third.

Svendsen’s victory put him atop the final standings for the Overall Mass Start title with 244 points, 14 ahead of runner up Martin Fourcade of France.

The first round of shooting saw a bevy of clean shooters, as a tight pack of 15 racers left the stadium behind the master, Bjorndalen. Ivan Tcherezov of Russia was on his heels in 2nd, while Fourcade was close behind as well.

The second lap saw clean shooting from Fourcade, Norway’s Lars Berger and Arnd Pfeiffer of Germany, as the trio then left the stadium with a caravan of eight more skiers. Svendsen and Bjorndalen both took a penalty loop for their 1-miss efforts but took up the chase in earnest.

The first standing stage proved troublesome for the front pack, as not one of the trio of leaders could clean the targets. However Ustyugov, who had not missed so far in the competition, continued his perfection to jump into the lead alongside a clean shooting Alexander Wolf and Florian Graf both of Germany.

Several competitors were still in the mix to make the winner’s circle as the pressure mounted with the final standing shooting leg approaching.

Entering the stadium for the final shooting stage, Ustyugov was in charge but knew that at least 10 biathletes were within 30 seconds and ready to pounce. The Olympic Mass Start champion missed a single shot, while a surging Bjorndalen cleaned to take a 15-second lead over Ustyugov and Svendsen, who also was without a miss.

Both racers charged to make up the time as Bjorndalen advanced steadily and the partisan crowd as loving it as Bjorndalen is the most decorated biathlete of all time. Yet all of past glory could not suppress the young chasers behind.

Ustyugov attacked on one of the remaining climbs but Svendsen countered and the pace quickened as they now had Bjorndalen in their sights. Up the final hill there was no stopping the duo and Svendsen was clearly faster and hungrier, as they both passed Bjorndalen and made for the finish.

But Ustyugov was no match for Svendsen who surged to the line besting the Russian by a mere 0.4 seconds for the gold as Bjorndalen settled for third at 10s. Another 45s later WCup overall leader, Tarjei Boe, crossed the line in 8th to secure his Yellow Bib quest. It was a great day for the Norwegians.

Later Svendsen said he was surprised that he was able to make up the time for the victory.

“With one kilometer to go, I still thought there was no chance to catch Ole,” Svendsen commented in an IBU report. “When we got to the last uphill, I must still have been 15 or 20 seconds behind and I did not think Evgeny and I had any chance. Then, at the top, I saw that he was not that far ahead and I just went for it. From there, it was almost like yesterday.”

Ustyugov said after the race that he used the strong performance by the Russian women earlier in the day as motivation. “After yesterday, I was thinking today that I would not start. But after seeing the women in their race, I was inspired,” offered Ustyugov. “I did not think I had a chance to catch Ole until that last hill today. Of course, now I am quite satisfied with my race.”

Norway’s biathlon king, Bjorndalen, said that he was running on empty when he was caught in the final stretch. “My shooting was really good today. I did not race yesterday because I was feeling very tired. I think that was a good tactic,” he said, “I tried to get some extra seconds on the last lap, but the last kilometer was really black. I had no chance of standing on my legs any more. It was really horrible.”

“This was my goal,” Boe said of his overall WCup series victory. “This might be the best season that I will ever have, even if I go 10 or 15 more years. I am very happy.”

Svendsen’s result put him five points behind Boe for the overall WCup victory. Fourcade took 3rd place for his efforts with 990. The USA’s Lowell Bailey was the top North American in 41st overall while Jean Philippe Le Guellec was the top Canadian in 50th.

No North American’s qualified for Sunday’s Mass Start, which marked the last race of the World Cup season.

Full results HERE.
Final WCup Standings HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Emil Hegle Svendsen, NOR (0+1+1+0) 39:07.6
2. Evgeny Ustyugov, RUS (0+0+0+1) 39:08.0
3. Ole Einer Bjorndalen, NOR (0+1+0+0) 39:17.6

March 19, 2011 (Canmore, Alta.) – George Grey celebrated the perfect ending to his cross-country skiing career and the Haywood Ski Nationals by winning the men’s 50-kilometre skate-ski race in Canmore, Alta. on Saturday.

The 31-year-old, 10-year veteran of the National Ski Team, who officially announced his retirement heading into the final race of the national cross-country skiing festival, captured his third victory of the week by setting the golden time at two hours, six minutes, 58.2 seconds.

“It was the most fun I have ever had in a 50-kilometre race,” said Grey, who represented Canada at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics, along with five World Championships events. “I crossed the finish line and my dad was there waiting for me. We were both very misty eyed and fighting back tears. It was an emotional day, but I had so much fun being here with friends, family and teammates.”

Grey, of Rossland, B.C., set the pace for the Nordic marathon over the first nine kilometres before settling into the pack until the 45-kilometre mark where he put down the hammer and powered his way to victory during his final lap around the Canmore Nordic Centre where he has spent the last decade of his life, racing, training on snow, roller-skiing and running trails.

“To go out by winning three gold medals in each of the distance races at the Canadian Championships in Canmore is a pretty awesome ending to a career,” said Grey, who claimed one World Cup medal in a team sprint relay in 2009 at Whistler Olympic Park with Alex Harvey. “I didn’t take these races for granted at all. I wanted to race at a very high level and we have some great talent in the Canadian system and they pushed me each day. But to go out on top is very special.”

“When I was skiing to the finish, I just kept thinking of all those people that have been so supportive of me throughout my career. From coaches, to friends and family and sponsors and wax technicians,” said Grey. “Today is the end of an amazing chapter in my life, and the start of an exciting new beginning.”

Grey held off the 24-year-old Brent McMurtry who fought hard for the silver medal. The Calgarian clocked-in at 2:07:01.1. Calgary’s Kevin Sandau, who dominated the Canada Winter Games last month, finished third with a time of 2:07:18.1.

In the women’s 30-kilometre skate-ski race it was American Chelsea Holmes who was first to cross the finish line with a time of 1:26:02.1. But Daria Gaiazova, of Banff, Alta., will leave the Canmore Nordic Centre with her second national title of the week after finishing as the top Canadian in second spot at 1:26:24.2. Gaiazova also won the women’s Teck Sprint race on Wednesday.

Calgary’s Brooke Gosling rounded out the women’s podium in third place with a time of 1:26:24.2.

Full results HERE.
Results (brief)

1. George Grey, Rossland, B.C., 2:06:58.2
2. Brent McMurtry, Calgary, 2:-7:01.1
3. Kevin Sandau, Calgary, 2:07:18.1
4. Michael Somppi, Thunder Bay, Ont., 2:07:43.9
5. Pate Neumann, Canmore, Alta., 2:07:45.0.

Women

1. Chelsea Holmes, USA, 1:26:02.1
2. Daria Gaiazova, Banff, Alta., 1:26:22.4
3. Brooke Gosling, Calgary, 1:26:24.2
4. Evelyn Dong, USA, 1:26:26.0
5. Chandra Crawford, Canmore, Alta., 1:27:32.

March 19, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – Petter Northug (NOR) won the men’s 10+10km Pursuit in Falun today in commanding style as he marked every move at the front then out-paced Giorgio Di Centa on the final climb to the finish to solo in for the victory as the valiant Italian settled for second while Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) finished third.

Russia looked strong as the race began with Alexander Legkov (RUS) taking an early lead on the first classic leg with Rickardsson in second and Legkov’s Russian teammates Petr Sedov, Ilia Chernousov, and Maxim Vylegzhanin all at the front.

The pack would not them get too far ahead reeling them in as Rickardsson assumed the lead at the 7.5km mark with Legkov still challenging in second. As the first exchange approached Sweden’s sprint king, Emil Joensson, stretched his legs moving into the lead and hit the exchange at 10km first, followed by Legkov in second, Rickardsson third, and Lukas Bauer (CZE) 4th.

Di Centa was in 7th, Northug was 9th and the USA’s Kris Freeman was 15th, Canada’s Alex Harvey was 16th, Devon Kershaw (CAN) was 18th, Ivan Babikov (CAN) was 26th, Graham Nishikawa (CAN) was 35th, Lars Flora (USA) was 48th and Andy Newell (USA) was 49th.

On the skate portion, Rickardsson regained the lead and attacked, with Northug the only skier to go with him. Then Di Centa put in a monster effort to bridge up to the leaders and put distance between himself and the other pursuers. At the 12.8km mark, it was Rickardsson in the lead, with Northug and Di Centa at his heels.

In another aggressive move, Di Centa attacked trying to gap the others as the final Morderbacken climb approached. But he could not shake them. Up the climb Northug matched the Italian as Rickardsson struggled. At the 15km bonus mark, Northug surged ahead picking up the 15 bonus seconds, with Di Centa scoring ten and Rickardsson five. Then the wily Norwegian dropped back into second, only to attack before the final climb and leave Di Centa behind to claim the victory.

The North Americans were not in contention during the race and unable to mount an effective attack while Babikov logged the fourth-fastest skate leg to finish one spot behind Harvey, the top North American finisher in 13th. Freeman was the best US skier in 20th. Kershaw finished 26th, Nishikawa was 37th, Flora finished 45th and Newell was 49th.

Northug has a substantial margin heading into the final 15km handicap race on Sunday – Joensson is second in the mini tour at 1:27.6 behind while Rickardsson sits in third at 1:37.2s behind.

Full results HERE.
Mini Tour Standings HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Petter Northug (NOR) 57:32.2
2. Giorgio Di Centa (ITA) 57:34.8
3. Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) 57:42.4
4. Dario Cologna (SUI) 57:50.4
5. Jean Marc Gaillard (FRA) 57:51.7

13. Alex Harvey (CAN) 58:04.2
14. Ivan Babikov (CAN) 58:04.4
20. Kris Freeman (USA) 58:50.6
26. Devon Kershaw (CAN) 59:23.5
37. Graham Nishikawa (CAN) 1:01:51.5
45. Lars Flora (USA) 1:03:22.6
49. Andy Newell (USA) 1:06:07.2

March 19, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen came from behind to win a historic World Cup pursuit race in front of a wild and ecstatic hometown crowd at the Holmenkollen in Oslo on Saturday. Svendsen prevailed to take the victory on the final leg over his teammate, overall points leader Tarjei Boe, who jumped from 44th to 2nd place, a feat never before accomplished in World Cup biathlon. Martin Fourcade of France had a similarly incredible race, moving up from 35th to take 3rd, the final spot on the podium.

Sweden’s Bjorn Ferry, the winner of Thursday’s sprint race, went out first and got off to a hot start, cleaning his first shooting stage. Germany’s Alexander Wolf and Svendsen also shot clean to round out the top three through the first lap.

Ferry cleaned again in his second round of shooting, while Svendsen and Wolf faltered, missing two and one shots respectively. The pair fell back while Ferry’s Swedish teammate Fredrik Lindstrom took over 2nd position. Florian Graf of Germany moved to 3rd place almost a minute back.

The first standing stage was less kind to Ferry, as he missed a single shot, trailed closely by his clean-shooting teammate, Lindstrom, who narrowed the gap to 13 seconds. Russia’s Evegeny Ustyugov passed Graf to take over 3rd place, leaving the stadium 35 seconds behind the Swedish duo, followed closely by a charging Fourcade.

The day looked to be Sweden’s until the final round when the tables turned to the delight of the Holmenkollen fans. Both Ferry and Lindstrom missed a pair of targets in their final shooting stage leaving the door to the podium swinging wide open.

The chasers were up to challenge as Svendsen, Fourcade, and a now fourth-placed Boe all cleaned to close the gap. With Svendsen taking over 1st, and Fourcade close behind, Ferry left the penalty loop in 3rd place, just ahead of Boe.

With 1,700 meters to go, Boe had propelled himself into a small lead over Svendsen, only to relinquish it near the entrance to the stadium as Svendsen counter-attacked, heading through the last corner and over the small bridge to the finishing straight, in the lead.

The two battled it out all the way to the finish line, with Svendsen defeating Boe by 0.6s in a thrilling finale. In third at 7.6 seconds back was Fourcade with a comfortable margin of almost half a minute over Ferry in 4th.

After the race, Svendsen talked about his teammate’s unfathomable performance. “When I saw Tarjei there, I was shocked. On the final hill, I knew that I had to save some energy for the finish,” Svendsen said an IBU interview, “I do not think this was my best race ever. It was actually easier for me than it looked, but this is my best season ever.”

IBU Video Interview with Norway’s Tarjei Boe and Emil Hegle Svendsen

For Boe it was redemption for Thursday’s 10km sprint where he finished a dismal 44th. “When we got to the final uphill, I had to try to get the lead. I had been at maximum speed from the start,” Boe said of his last lap, “I knew that Emil had an easier race than I did, but I had to try. My strength is on the uphills. But when I got to the top, I saw him. Then I had to focus on the sprint – but we seriously did not have a chance.”

Fourcade, with a similarly superb day, thought he could have accomplished more. “My shape was not good enough today. But on the last lap, I felt good. On the last uphill, when Tarjei attacked, I said to myself that I have to attack before the finish. But they were really strong and it was too difficult.”

Tim Burke, had another solid day, finishing 22nd in the men’s pursuit, posting a time of 34:37.6 at 1:38.4 behind Svendsen, with four penalties. “It was a bit faster on the track today but I’m just tired. Of course that’s the same for everyone, so that’s okay. The shooting was again on my season’s standard. Not good, but also not too bad,” said Burke in an US Biathlon report.

The trio, who lead the WCup overall for the Yellow Bib, have solidified their positions, with Boe in 1st with 1,076 points, Svendsen with 1,045, and Fourcade in 3rd with 954.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Emil Hegle Svendsen , NOR (0+2+1+0) 32:59.2
2. Tarjei Boe, NOR (0+0+1+0) 0.6
3. Martin Fourcade, FRA (1+0+0+0) 7.3

22. Tim Burke, USA (1+0+2+1) 1:38.4

March 19, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – Marit Bjoergen (NOR) sprang into the lead at the start of the 5km CL + 5km FR women’s Pursuit at the Viessmann WCup in Falun on Saturday taking Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk with her.

The strong start was a good move, as the duo stayed clear of an early crash when Therese Johaug (NOR) went down soon after the race got underway in close quarters, taking down at least half a dozen skiers with her. Caught in the melee was the USA’s Kikkan Randall.

“Man the skier gods have not been smiling for me lately,” said Randall in a post-race interview with SkiTrax. “We waxed for the later sections higher up and counted on strong double poling to stay with the group at the start. But I guess I have to consider myself lucky as one of my poles nearly got broken in crash.”

The unfortunate tumble had many skiers scrambling to regain their composure as Bjoergen set a fast pace that only Kowalczyk could respond to. At 2.5km the Norwegian claimed the 15 bonus seconds, Kowalczyk 10 and Kristen Stoermer Steira 5s. Charlotte Kalla was also in the mix at the front for Sweden as Johaug hovered around 10th.

As the 5km exchange approached Kowalczyk showed some muscle and perhaps a psychological card passing her Norwegian rival and reached the exchange first. But Bjoergen was not deterred and stayed right on Kowalczyk tails, immediately taking over the lead as the skate leg got underway.

Behind the chasers were not able to match the pace as Sweden’s Anna Haag followed the leaders into the exchange 24 seconds later with Steira next and Arianna Follis (ITA) in fifth. Johaug was still around 10th but Randall, who had fallen back into 30th, regained some spots moving up to 26th as she began her skate leg.

“It’s a really tough course with steep climbs and the conditions were very tricky for waxing today as different sections of the course had varying conditions,” Randall continued. “I hoped to pick off more people through the skate section.”

Up ahead Bjoergen kept the pace up gapping her Polish shadow with an unforgiving pace as the big Morderbackken climb approached. Meantime adding pressure from behind Johaug was skating with a furious tempo and had moved into third place and began closing in on Kowalczyk.

On Morderbackken Bjoergen was unstoppable as Kowalczyk dug in to make her claim on second knowing the threat from behind was not going to abate. Meanwhile Randall kept her steady pace up but knew it was not going to be a great day.

“I could see the group I wanted to be in about 20s ahead of me but could not bridge to them. Had the crash not occurred I’m confident I’d have been up there and much closer to a top-10 finish which was my goal,” confided Randall who had the 18th best skate leg.

Her teammate Holly Brooks who finished in 37th also had a tough second day in Falun while Canada’s Perianne Jones (CAN) was further back in 43rd.

“It was a really tough day out there – especially for waxing on the classic leg,” Brooks said in a email to SkiTrax. “The snow was incredibly variable – cold and powdery in places and slow and slushy in others. The start was pretty messy and I was affected by all the crashes. After a slow start I picked girls off one at a time and skied the 30th fastest skate leg which I was pleased with. I’m looking forward to the skate-only race tomorrow and will do my best.”

Bjoergen stormed in for the win with a comfortable 25.1s-margin over Kowalczyk who secure second place as Johaug simply ran out of track and had to settle for third.

Bjoergen now leads the mini tour and starts Sunday’s final 10km handicap race with a 1:13.9 margin over Kowalczyk while Johaug is in 3rd at 2:34.2 behind. Randall sits in 17th in the mini-tour at 4:10.1 behind Bjoergen.

Full Results HERE.
MiniTour Standings HERE.
Results (brief)

1. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) 31:14.4
2. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) 31:39.5
3. Therese Johaug (NOR) 31:48.3
4. Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (NOR) 31:58.9
5. Arianna Follis (ITA) 32:02.4

21. Kikkan Randall (USA) 33:17.7
37. Holly Brooks (USA) 34:14.8
43. Perianne Jones (CAN) 36:00.3

March 19, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina cleaned a crucial final standing leg on the shooting range to come from behind and take the top podium spot in Saturday’s 10km Pursuit in Oslo. Kuzmina’s victory marks just the third of her career.

Germany’s Andrea Henkel was leading coming into her final time on the range but she faltered with two misses as did second-placed Darya Domracheva of Belarus giving the sharp shooting Kuzmina a chance to capitalize – and she did creating a 23-second lead over Henkel entering the home stretch.

“I am happy to be back on the podium, especially at the World Cup Final. In some of the previous starts, I was not so lucky with my shooting but today my shooting was quite good. After the two penalties in prone, I did relax a bit and that helped me concentrate on my shooting, which is so important in this competition,” Kuzmina commented in an IBU report.

Norway’s Tora Berger got bib number one after Magdalena Neuner was a late scratch due to a cold that has been ailing her since Thursday’s Sprints. But it as not Berger’s day as she missed three targets in the opening shooting stage to drop out of the lead pack, while Kuzmina, wearing bib number four, shot clean to take the early lead.

In round two of the shooting range Kuzmina missed a pair of targets, while Germany’s Henkel shot clean to jump out in front.  Domracheva battled back from a 2-miss performance in the first lap to shoot clean and leave the stadium in 3rd position.

Henkel and Domracheva entered the range 1-2 for the first standing shooting stage. Both missed a target, but retained their positions as they entered their fourth lap. At 32 seconds behind them was Kuzmina and Ekaterina Yurlova of Russia. Kuzmina hit 4 of 5, while Yurlova shot clean for the third consecutive lap.

At the final round of shooting, Henkel entered the stadium having distanced herself somewhat from the rest of the lead pack. However, a pair of misses from both her and Domracheva, gave Kuzmina her opening and she nailed it for the gold.

Domracheva, who left the stadium 13 seconds back from Henkel, put in an impressive last-lap effort to overcome the German, taking 2nd place at 23.1 seconds behind Kuzmina.

“It is the finish of the season, and I did not have enough concentration today,” the Belarus skier said of her shooting, “Everybody had too many penalties.”

Henkel, who finished 4 seconds behind Domracheva to take 3rd, said she was unaware how slim the gap between them was in the final stretch. “It is much easier when there is someone in front of you to chase,” Henkel said, “I did not realize Darya was so close, but I had nothing left when she passed me.”

The American duo of Sara Studebaker and Haley Johnson impressed for the second straight race, finishing 20th and 21st respectively. Studebaker missed just one shot through three laps, racing in the top 10 for a while ranked 8th after the first standing shooting leg – 3/4 of the way through the race. A 3-miss performance on the standing range on the final lap, however, pushed her back considerably, as she finished with a time of 36:14.2.

“Today was a good race for me. It was very exciting to come out of the first standing stage in 8th position and come in to shoot for the final time in 9th! Being right up there in the top-10 was a new experience for me, and definitely a little nerve-wracking,” Studebaker told SkiTrax post-race.

“It’s really exciting to be able to end the year with a mass start,” Studebaker added, “Having only qualified for one other mass start, this is very special – and it’s especially neat because we have two Americans in there! I think it will be a great experience and a fun race for us to end the season on.”

Johnson also missed four targets to come in just over six seconds behind Studebaker in 21st, claiming the first mass start of her career so both American biathletes will be on the start line at Sunday’s Mass Start in Oslo, the final race of the season.

“Yes, today was a great day for me. This whole week in fact has been great. I am here because of a discretionary decision to send three women to the final World Cup instead of only two,” Haley wrote SkiTrax by email. “So, for me, this experience of racing Holmenkollen is a huge bonus and surprise extension to the season.

“Even though the bluebird skies looked like a picture perfect race day, it was rather windy and gusty in the range. This made for tough shooting, but I’d say we were pretty prepared for it and I was confident knowing my strategy when I entered the range. Again, it was just a bonus that I held steady and raced a good race.”

“I feel I have made the most of this opportunity, especially since I knew I still had some good racing left within me. I really like racing here and I am really excited about my first Mass Start. I am not a results-oriented athlete, so I feel great that my process has worked great this week and my hard work is paying off.”

Full results HERE.
Results (brief)

1. Anastasiya Kuzmina, SVK (0+2+1+0) 33:42.5
2. Darya Domracheva, BLR (2+0+1+2) 34:05.6
3. Andrea Henkel, GER (0+0+1+2) 34:10.1

20. Sara Studebaker, USA (1+0+0+3) 36:14.2
21. Haley Johnson, USA (1+0+1+2) 36:20.4

March 18, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – Following an up and down season the Russian men appeared in top form to place two skiers on the podium and grabbed 4th as well for good measure. Lead by winner Ilia Chernousov (10:51) and third place finisher Maxim Vylegzhanin (10:56.0) the Russians swarmed the men’s 3.3km Classic Prologue with Norway’s Petter Northug playing the spoiler. Always a contender Northug claimed second in 10:54.7 while Russia’s Evgeniy Belov followed teammate Vylegzhanin to take fourth overall.

The Canadian duo of Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey lead the North American contingent finishing 22nd and 25th respectively. Kershaw was 26.8 seconds back, while Harvey was 28.2 seconds of the winning time.

Post race Harvey was frustrated telling SkiTrax, ”I’m really disappointed about today’s Prologue. I broke a pole strap right out of the start gate. I skied the first 400m with basically one pole, screaming at Justin [Wadsworth] who was on the top of the hill.

“He came running at me, gave me a pole that was kinda short with a ”quick strap”. My plan was to ski the first 1km smooth and relaxed, and I did the total opposite with that start.”

Kris Freeman was 30th place, 32 seconds back, with teammates Andy Newell in 42nd and Lars Flora in 48th. “I’m feeling like my shape is better than it was at Worlds or in Lahti,” commented Freeman post-race.

“It’s fun to get to the top of a hill and feel like there’s more there, like there’s more to give. I felt like my race was pretty good, and I am hoping for one more top ten in Falun, then it’s off to the Spring Series [in Sun Valley].”

Canada’s Ivan Babikov from Canmore, Alta., finished 39th in 11:33.1, while Whitehorse skier, Graham Nishikawa, finished 40th in 11:35.7.

Full results HERE.
MiniTour Standings HERE.

March 18, 2011 (Falun, Sweden) – Under a cloudy sky and with light snow falling Norway’s Marit Bjoergen continued to demonstrate her prowess by winning the women’s 2.5km classic Prologue on Friday in Falun. Soft snow made for challenging wax conditions but Bjoergen was in control from the get-go trouncing the field with a winning time of 9:01.6, a comfortable 10.6s ahead of her main rival Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) in second, with her team mate Therese Johuag in 3rd.

U.S. Ski Team standout Kikkan Randall lead the North American finishers at the opening event of the final weekend of world cup racing finishing 19th at 41.7 seconds behind Bjoergen. Team mate Holly Brooks was 46th at 1:10.5 followed by Canada’s Perianne Jones in 49th at 1:19.2.

“You know, I am very satisfied with today,” said Randall “The body felt good, I had awesome skis in tricky waxing conditions and I am trying to be as efficient as possible. I still feel there is someway of being even more efficient, especially at the top-end speed and I’m working on it.”

The final four races that began in Stockholm on Wednesday are also part of the season-end “mini-tour” with the pursuit races on Saturday, followed by the final fabled climb up the punishing five-minute hill known as Morderbacken or “killers hill”. Each year the WCup winners are crowned King and Queen of Morderbacken.

As the light snow stopped the track got faster and faster as the race went on favouring the later starting skiers. While the crowds were light today, most of the spectators hiked out on the course to view the backbreaking climb.

Norway’s Johaug, who was 26th out of the gate today, set a blistering time up the climb to take the pole position with a finishing time of 9:14.5, by far the fastest of the day and it held up until Kowalczyk bested her laying down a solid 9:12.2.

It was up to Bjoergen and she did not disappoint showing excellent form and did not letting up as she took the gold in convincing style maintaining her stronghold lead in the mini tour followed by Kowalczyk in second with Petra Majdic (SLO), who had a rough day finishing 17th, in third. Randall is 10th overall, Jones is 28th and Brooks is 48th.

For Jones it’s been a memorable week as she posted her best-ever finish in Stockholm finishing 12th in the sprint WCup.

“I was really excited about my result earlier this week,” said Jones in a CCC release. “It was the first time I raced internationally in a while and to get into the semi finals was a huge confidence booster for sure. I wanted to stay home this year and not go on the World Cup until I felt like I belonged. We stuck with the plan, and I’m pretty satisfied with the improvements I have made since last year.”

Racing will continue at the world cup finals on Saturday with men’s and women’s pursuit races.

Full results HERE.
MiniTour Standings HERE.

March 18, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – The Juvenile and Junior categories competed in the 1km Teck Classic Sprints yesterday at the 2011 Haywood Ski Nationals with Quebec’s Emilie Stewart-Jones of Nakkertok winning the Juvenile Girls race and Angus Foster of Big Thunder taking top spot in the Juvenile Boys competition. Alexia Rancourt of Mont Ste. Anne won the Junior Girls title with Julien Locke of Black Jack snapping up the victory in the Junior Boys race. Today is a rest day at the Nordic Centre before racing wraps up tomorrow with the mass start long distance skating events.

Full Results HERE.

Results (brief)

Juvenile Girls
1. Emilie Stewart-Jones
2. Sophie Carrier-Laforte
3. Anne-Marie Comeau

Juvenile Boys
1. Angus Foster
2. John Connor
3. Olivier Hamel

Junior Girls
1. Alexia Rancourt
2. Gabrielle Lemire
3. Camille Burbidge Izquierdo

Junior Boys
1. Julien Locke
2. Simon Lapointe
3. Fred Weaver

March 17, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Germany’s Andreas Birnbacher built off a strong showing at last week’s IBU World Championships to win the first World Cup race of his career. Birnbacher shot clean to take the men’s 10km Sprint in a time of 26:14.6.

The German’s precision in the shooting range, coupled with his early start, kept him near the lead throughout much of the race. Bjorn Ferry and Carl Johan Bergman of Sweden, as well as Austria’s Christoph Sumann passed Birnbacher for a spell as they entered the shooting range for the standing stage.

With the exception of a clean shooting by Ferry, however, imperfection in the range knocked the other contenders out of the podium race. Ferry left the stadium down just 2.8 seconds, but was no match for the overpowering German, eventually taking 2nd place on the podium.

After the race Ferry expressed his surprise that he could not make up the time for a victory. “I have to shoot clean to win a sprint and I did that. I left the standing stage, just 2.8 seconds behind Birnbacher. On a normal day, I should be able to make that up,” said Ferry, “But Birnbacher was stronger today and he won. I still think I had a good last loop, but it was not good enough.”

Germany’s Alexander Wolf, who did not make the World Championship team, displayed a strong second half performance, cleaning the standing stage to take the final podium spot in a time of 26:58.6. Wolf’s performance marks his best finish since the 2006/2007 season.

“It has not been my best year. I did not make the team for the World Championships, so I stayed at home and trained,” Wolf said. “It’s great to be on the podium. The last loop was very hard, but third place is very good for me.”

Tim Burke of the United States had one of his best races of the season finishing 21st with a time of 27:51.4 after two misses in his second round of shooting. Leif Nordgren finished 61st with a pair of misses for a time of 28:59.7. Fellow American Lowell Bailey was 74th after hitting 8 of 10 from the range, and Jay Hakkinen missed three targets to take 84th.

Canada was led by Brendan Green, who finished in 62nd place after missing a shot in both shooting stages for a time of 29:00.7. Scott Perras was close behind, missing three shots to finish 64th.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Andreas Birnbacher, GER (0+0) 26:14.6
2. Bjorn Ferry, SWE (0+0) 26:24.8
3. Alexander Wolf, GER (0+0) 26:58.6

21. Tim Burk, USA (0+2) 27:51.4
61. Leif Nordgren, USA (1+1) 28:59.7
62. Brendan Green, CAN (1+1) 29:00.7
64. Scott Perras, CAN (1+2) 29:05.9
74. Lowell Bailey, USA (2+0) 29:27. 7
84. Jay Hakkinen, USA (1+2) 29:49.7

March 17, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Magdalena Neuner carried her successes from last week’s IBU World Championships into Thursday’s 7.5km Sprint, winning by an impressive 31.3 seconds at the Oslo World Cup’s opening race. The German’s victory also sealed her grasp on this years’ Sprint Cup, given annually to the best overall racer in the category.

Neuner, who now has 914 World Cup points, trails overall leader, Kaisa Mäkäräinen from Finland, by a margin of just 22 points, with a pair of races left in the season.

“I was in bed all day yesterday and was sick. I still did not feel well this morning and was thinking of not starting,” Neuner told Biathlonworld.com, “But then I decided to try and now I have the win…I only had one mistake today on the shooting range; that is very good.”

Though the end result was somewhat anti-climactic, the gold was in fact up for grabs throughout most of the race. Vita Semerenko of Ukraine shot clean in the prone stage to take the lead early on, followed closely by Daria Domracheva from Belarus. Just over 5 seconds back was Neuner and Tora Berger (NOR), both of whom also escaped without a miss.

The second shooting stage was less kind to the leaders. Neuner, Berger and Semerenko all suffered single misses while Domracheva hit just 3 targets to drop back to 11th with 2.5km to go. Neuner, displaying the same unfathomable speed that was on display at the IBU Worlds, pulling ahead of the pack for good after coming out of the penalty loop with a 12.5-second lead over Berger.

Domracheva pulled off an equally impressive feat, passing seven rivals in the final stretch to capture the bronze medal behind Berger, and just over a second ahead of Kuzmina.

Berger, who was racing in front of a home crowd, expressed mild disappointment hat she could not take the win. “I was really tired today, especially on the first loop. But the first shooting stage was really good and it felt better in the second and third loops,” commented Berger, “I would like to have a win here at Holmenkollen, but Neuner is in really good shape now so it will be hard.”

Domracheva, who was frustrated with her shooting performance, still had plenty to smile about. “I was not too happy with my two penalties today, but I am happy to have made it up to the podium,” the Belarus biathlete said. “It is important for me after winning a medal at the World Championships to have good performances here. I have two more chances to get a victory this week.”

The US team had a solid day in the standings, with Haley Johnson and Sara Studebaker finishing 22nd and 23rd with only one miss apiece.  Laura Spector placed 72nd with six misses.

Johnson had a solid performance just outside of her personal-best 21st finish last year in Pokljuka . “I was so glad I was given a second chance, so I’m just glad I took it”, said Johnson in an US Biathlon release. “I was lucky in prone shooting with no wind, so the mistake I made definitively was mine. In standing I tried to stay out of the wind shooting on range number 29, and that worked out quite well.”

No Canadians competed at Thursday’s sprint competition.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Magdalena Neuner, GER (0+1) 21:04.6
2. Tora Berger, NOR (0+1) 21:35.9
3. Darya Domracheva, BLR (0+2) 21:50.7

22. Haley Johnson, USA (1+0) 22:44.1
23. Sara Studebaker, USA (0+1) 22:45.4
72. Laura Spector, USA (3+3) 25:50.4

March 17, 2011 – Lowell Bailey is a two-time Olympian, and the top-ranked US biathlete in this year’s overall World Cup standings in 37th. The Lake Placid native is in the midst of a career-best year, which includes a personal best 9th place finish in the Fort Kent Mass Start, as well as a 12th place effort in the Antholz Sprints. He was also part of the team’s historic 6th place relay finish at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The 29 year-old University of Vermont graduate has accrued four top-20 finishes so far this season with one final World Cup remaining in Oslo, Sweden. Bailey, who has been a member of the National team since 2001, talked to SkiTrax about this year’s World Cup circuit, also touching on the direction he hopes to see US Biathlon take in building towards the 2014 Sochi Olympics

This has quite possibly been the best season of your World Cup career – what do you attribute your success to?
Lowell Bailey: It has been a good season so far. Perhaps the biggest change was that I was able to stay relatively healthy throughout the training and racing season. Last season, I was hit with Swine Flu at the beginning of the race season, and a mixture of other minor ailments throughout the year. Secondly, after last season, my coaches and I decided to make a few adjustments to my training plan. Generally speaking, I did more low-intensity endurance sessions at the beginning of the year and added more intensity later in the training season.

The US relay team finished 6th place at the IBU World Championships…what does this say about the future of US Biathlon?
LB: I think we’ve all known that we could perform at this level – it was just a matter of executing. It’s a really important step for the team. We proved that we can compete with the best teams in the world. We were in medal contention throughout the entire race. With a few less extra rounds, we will be on the podium.

As a veteran on the US team, what advice have you given to the younger athletes such as Leif Nordgren, who has had a breakout season at the World Champs?
LB: Biathlon is such a competitive sport now. The level of competition is higher than I have ever seen it. As such, the difference between 10th and 60th place is often only a matter of one or two missed shots. In order to have success over the long term, you have to be patient. Simple as that.

Where do you hope to see US Biathlon by the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi?
LB: On the podium!

You’re a two-time Olympian – what do you hope to accomplish that you haven’t already?
LB: Simply put – to reach the World Cup podium.

How do you plan to achieve your goal?
LB: I want to improve my shooting consistency. I made a big step this year, but I also missed a lot of significant opportunities because of poor shooting – most notably, moving up to 18th midway through the World Champs Pursuit, only to fall back to 42nd after missing 6 targets over the last two shooting stages. Every athlete has good days and bad days on the shooting range. I want to do everything over the next three years to maximize those good days!

How long do you plan to stay in the sport of biathlon?
LB: Right now, my short-term focus is to finish the season on a high note at the WC final in Oslo. I am motivated for next year and Sochi is definitely in my sights. However, I’ve found that if I put too much focus on the distant future, I lose the grip on the present.

Thanks for your time and all the best in Oslo.
LB: Right

March 17, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – When two-time Olympic cross-country skier George Grey hits the start line for Saturday’s 50-kilometre skate-ski race at the Haywood Ski Nationals, it will be his final competitive trip around the famed Canmore Nordic Centre.

After racing on the World Cup for nearly a decade against the top athletes on the globe, and competing in the Torino and Vancouver Olympics along with five World Championships, the 31-year-old Grey, of Rossland, B.C., has decided to retire.

“For me the timing just felt right,” said Grey, who started skiing when he was four years old, and racing at age seven. “In the last two years I felt like I accomplished many of my career goals and reached a performance level that was as high as I could attain. I am now looking forward to being a husband, father, and to new challenges and experiences in life.”

“I reached a peak in 2010 and thought maybe, just maybe, if I skied one more year I could contend for a medal in 2011 at the World Championships. To be able to hang in for one more season and experience the World Championships in Norway, and see Devon and Alex become World Champions, was an incredibly memorable final season.”

With Canada’s Beckie Scott having just broken through to win Canada’s first Olympic medal in the sport, Grey emerged onto the National Ski Team in 2002 with a group of bright-eyed, energetic young men from across the country poised and determined to follow Scott’s trail to the international podium.

Devon Kershaw was the first to find his way onto the podium. Kershaw became the first male in more than a decade to mount the international podium in 2006, and it didn’t take long for the others to follow suit. Four years later, Grey enjoyed a breakthrough moment of his own with his most memorable races coming at Whistler Olympic Park. The veteran teamed up with National Ski Team rookie, Alex Harvey, in 2009 to win a World Cup bronze medal in the sprint relay at the Olympic Test Event in Whistler. His best Olympic and individual career finish was eighth during the pursuit competition in 2010 when all three Canadian men finished in the top-10, and all four in the top-20.

“Getting my hands on just one medal was such an incredible high for me, and sharing it with such a talented athlete and friend in Alex made it even sweeter,” said Grey, whose best individual result outside the Olympics was a ninth-place finish at the Tour de Ski prologue in 2009. “My fondest memory has to be the 30-kilometre pursuit race with Ivan (Babikov), Alex (Harvey), and Devon (Kershaw) skiing right at the front of the pack with me. We were showing the world that we had finally arrived, and what we were capable of as a team. It was a career best for me, and to do it at a home Olympics with three of my buddies was amazing.”

After 10 years of blood, sweat and tears, Grey leaves the sport with the Canadian men’s squad amongst the best in the world.

“When I joined the Canadian men’s team we were described as ‘Canada’s most anonymous athletes,’ he said. “Now our team has World Championship medallists, World Cup medallists, Tour de Ski medallists. We have delivered a solid team. I know Canada is in good hands and there is loads of great talent coming up the system so I will sleep well.”

While racing was such a small part of his career, it was the countless hours of training with his friends and teammates that taught him to be patient, driven, tough and most importantly, goal-oriented along the journey.

“I get nostalgic thinking about all the hard training days that I endured with teammates at my side,” said Grey, who cites five-to-six hours of roller skiing in the pouring rain, nearly 50 kilometres of running and stomping their way up to glaciers as some of the most grueling training moments. “Only with your closest teammates is it possible to repeat training days like this every other week. My team and I have shed more sweat and spit on mountains than most would ever think possible.”

With the last goal remaining in his career to ski to the top of the podium on Saturday at the Haywood Ski Nationals, Grey would like to stay within sport if there is an opportunity to do so in the future, while also studying in the securities industry.

“The 2010 Olympics were sensational. The World Champs this year in Norway were staggering, but I am more than happy to wave a warm good-bye and smile at all the precious memories that I have accumulated. Thank you to everyone for your incredible support. My father always told me it is the process and not the outcome. I have fully realized that now, and I will never forget those who have helped me along this incredible ride.”

March 16, 2011 (Canmore, AB. ) – Daria Gaiazova and Len Valjas wasted little time making their mark at the Haywood Ski Nationals after returning back to Alberta from the World Cup on Monday evening. The two members of the National Ski Team won the Teck sprint races on Wednesday at the Canmore Nordic Centre.

The 27-year-old Gaiazova, of Banff, Alta.,fought off a hard-charging Olympic gold medallist in Chandra Crawford, of Canmore, Alta., to win the women’s classic-sprint title on the 1.2-kilometre track. Gaiazova and Crawford teamed up to win a bronze medal at a World Cupsprint relay earlier this year.

With Crawford claiming the silver medal, it was Jennie Bender of the United States who prevented the podium sweep by locking up the bronze step on the podium.

In the men’s race Toronto’s Len Valjas completed his breakthrough season by winning his first national title. The 22-year-old took on some of the nation’s best sprinters and led them through the 1.4-kilometre loop of the spectacular Canmore Nordic Centre to the top of the podium.

Valjas, who is a sprinting specialist, has had a stellar season. One of the youngest on the World Cup circuit, Valjas finished ninth at a World Cup in Drammen, Norway, seventh at the Under-23 World Championships and 15th at the World Championships.

Calgary’s Brent McMurtry locked up second spot, while Stefan Kuhn, of Canmore, Alta., claimed the bronze medal.

The Haywood Ski Nationals will wrap up on Saturday for the elite category with the 30- and 50-kilometre races.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

Women
1. Daria Gaiazova, Banff, Alta.
2. Chandra Crawford, Canmore, Alta.
3. Jennie Bender, USA
4. Andrea Dupont, Canmore,Alta.
5. Alysson Marshall, Salmon Arm, B.C.

Men
1. Len Valjas, Toronto
2. Brent McMurtry,Calgary
3. Stefan Kuhn, Canmore, Alta.
4. Jesse Cockney, Calgary
5. George Grey, Rossland, B.C

March 16, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – There was no shortage of Norwegians paying a visit to Sweden’s royal family in the snowy courtyard of that dynasty, but after dominating the World Championship in Oslo, they were decidedly outnumbered in Stockholm – and would have to take a backseat. Sweden’s Emil Joensson qualified with the 4th fastest time, then won his quarter and semi rounds, to captured gold in the final, as if he were the King of Sweden.

Norway’s Petter Northug was not able to overcome his Swedish rival as he unleashed his trademark finish but with less guston, still taking the silver, while teammate Ola Vigen Hattestad rounded out the top three with the bronze. The Scandinavians continued their dominance with Sweden’s Jesper Modin taking 4th but it was Team USA’s Andy Newell who broke their Nordic stronghold with a powerful 5th place in the final, followed by Italy’s Fulvio Scola.

Canada’s Alex Harvey who qualified 13th, just missed advancing to the semi-finals, as he placed 3rd in his quarter-final heat to finish 14th overall. Teammate Devon Kershaw, saw some improvement over Lahti as he qualified 26th, but as luck would have it he drew the same quarter-final heat as Harvey, where he finished 5th and ended up 27th overall.

Team USA’s Kris Freeman did not make the top 30 to advance coming in 37th at 12:93 seconds back while Canada’s Ivan Babikov was 49th at 18:22 seconds behind of Hattestad, who had the fastest qualifying time of 2:07:71 on the 1 km course.

Newell’s 9th place in the qualifications put him in a quarter final heat pitted against Northug and his teammate Eirik Brandsdal, Russians Evgeniy Belo and Ilia Chernousov and Italian Giorgio Di Centa – a situation that would seem to lend itself to team tactics, but the Stockholm course is more like a six lane time trial with only the corners providing any real tactical moments.

It was also a course where many double poled like the Norwegians, choosing to go without grip wax, while an equal number appeared to wax and combine diagonal stride and double pole techniques to take command on the hills – particularly at the finish.

Northug took his quarter final, but did not dominate the race. The pack hung together and Newell played it safe, staying close to Northug, but not unleashing his dynamite speed until the last 150 metres of climbing followed by a short flat before the finish. Newell was tactically perfect finishing a well earned second in his heat at 0:2 seconds behind Northug.

In his semi Newell had to contend with a strong Scandinavian contingent as Sweden’s Modin and Caile Halfvarsson lined up. Modin had the 3rd fastest qualifying time. Norwegians Northug and Eldar Roenning also made it to the semis, as did Finnish skier Matias Strandvall.

It was an all-Scandinavian cast with the exception of Newell, who took command from the start, flying out of the gate and into the lead, and staying there will into the first corner.

But the Swedes were on him and as they came out of the cornere they took over. The next curve, situated at the bottom of the  downhill saw some squeezing tactics, pushing two skiers out to the fence, but no one crashed. It was time for the Norwegians to answer the Swedes, but Newell moved up with them.

The sprint put Modin across the line first, Northug following 0:4 seconds back and Newell third, one second behind. It was a fast heat and with his savvy skiing Newell moved into the final as a lucky loser. The other semi put Joensson first, Hattestad second and Italy’s Fulvio Scola in the mix as the second lucky loser.

The final proved there was no question who was in charge at the Swedish palace. The Swedes bolted from the start. They would eke out some revenge from the World Championships where Norway dominated. Newell stayed with the speed, but said afterward he made a waxing mistake.

“I chose to double pole [no wax] and the guys who went with wax were stronger on the up hills.” In the end Joensson took the final with 0:7 seconds on Northug, who was half a second ahead of Hattestad. Sweden could celebrate and celebrate they did as Joensson skied back and forth to the crowds – truly a royal sprint.

“I had a pretty good feeling when I came here that I would make the final,” Newell told SkiTrax immediately after the race. “I usually feel good at this time of year – it could be time for a podium finish.

“It wasn’t quite there, but I still felt good that the race went well. I knew I had a chance at the podium, but I got caught with my double poling. With the exception of the qualifier I double poled – I wanted to save my arms for the heats. But probably I should have gone with wax. I was in a podium position going into the hill [just before the finish] and I was passed by guys with wax.”

Still, Newell was all smiles. After a bit of a disappointing Worlds, he knows he back.

Qualifications HERE.
Final results HERE.
Final Sprint Standings HERE.

March 16, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Could there be anything more beautiful than Stockholm’s waterfront, its historic old town where the royal palace is located, along with a Scandinavian spring sun? If you add the top sprinters in the world on a 1-km classic track encircling the palace and a very enthusiastic crowd, well yes even this irresistible scene becomes even more irresistible.

With the media centre holed up in a building that has housed a church since 1279, and thousands upon thousands of Stockholm citizens, including the royal family, surrounding the undulating course, history seeped everywhere, and Sweden had sweet revenge.

Women’s Sprint: Petra Majdic is Magic

Olympic and world championship bronze medalist Petra Majdic of Slovenia had the fastest qualifying time of 2:29:30, putting her in start position in a red shirt quarter-final heat, which she won handily. Every time she clipped down her bindings it was as if she had an extra cylinder from the split second the gun went off, on every flat where double polers had a distinct advantage, to the climbs and corners, and the finish line: Madjic dominated, and eventually took the gold and the Red Bib as the overall series Sprint winner – her third overall title.

It was a stunning acclimation of her talent and passion after recovering from her tragic fall and injuries suffered at Vancouver 2010 as the Slovenian star will retire after this season.

“To win the third time the crystal globe for the Sprint World Cup means a lot to me. Especially when looking back one year to Vancouver and my accident there. It is amazing to win it and I feel great. This morning I felt really good and confident and I could show it already in the qualification where I took the lead. I want to thank you to all those, who supported me and helped me in my career. My big thank you also goes to the fans,” Majdic said in a FIS XC interview.

Norway’s multi-gold medalist from the recent Worlds, Marit Bjoergen would eventually follow on Madjic’s heals, taking the silver in the final. She started the quarter finals in the yellow shirt heat with the third fastest qualifying time, 1:34 seconds back of Madjic. She took her quarter final heat easily, with overall World Cup champion Justyna Kowalczyk at 1.5 seconds back of Bjoergen.

Team USA’s Kikkan Randall was close behind Kowalczyk in third and squeezed through to the semi final as the lucky loser – her heat was the fastest as she and Alena Prochazkova of Slovakia had the 9th and 10th fastest times from the quarters.

Randall had an aggressive start in her semi, but Visnar led into the first corner with Bjoergen close behind ready to dominate the race. Sweden’s Ingemarsdotter hit the first climb in the lead, to the delight of the partisan crowd, and overtook Visner, but she couldn’t maintain the pace. Bjoergen worked to bring her back, and Randall held on, but couldn’t quite challenge the leaders.

Kowalcyzyk took an outside lane on the last climb to the finish, with her ferocious leg turnover, but, as often seems to be the case, those in front of her – Visnar, Bjoergen and Ingemarsdotter – had superior glide, and style.

Bjoergen bested Visnar in a photo finish with Ingemarsdotter in third. Kalla followed behind Kowalcyzk in 5th with Randall taking the final position, to place 10th overall. Her teammate, Holly Brooks, also on the start line did not make the top 30 cut finishing 34th overall. But Randall, ever the optimist, was already loading her gear onto the bus to Falun where she will contest the final races of the world cup circuit this weekend.

“Today was a pretty solid day for me. I knew I was going to have to ski well to stay on the overall sprint cup podium. I felt great in the qualifier. Started a little too spastic but had a strong finish. My previous best qualifying time in Stockholm was 27th so I was pretty happy with 13th,” Randall told SkiTrax by email as she made her way to Falun for the rest of the World Cup finals.

“I drew a tough quarterfinal with Bjorgen, Kowalczyk, Follis and Brun-lie! I knew the pace would be fast so just tried to hang in there and ski hard all the way to the line,” she continued.

Randall said coming out the other side as the lucky loser psyched her for the semi. “In the semi I had a great start and first climb. Lost my rhythm in a couple essential double-pole sections, just for a few poles, which left too much ground to make up for on the final climb. But almost caught back Kalla and Kowalczyk at the line. Definitely still have some work to do on my double-pole, but it’s coming.”

Given that Randall’s specialty is skating, she’s very happy with her 10th place position. “Super psyched to have held on to 3rd in the [overall] sprint cup. Only 7pts down to Follis is pretty sweet. I had never even been in the top 10 before so this was a big improvement, especially because we never planned to go after it. Next year will be a good chance to go after the red bib and crystal globe! Tenth place also sets me up well for the start of the mini-tour. Hopefully I can keep this good momentum rolling!!”

Meanwhile, Canada’s Perianne Jones had a breakthrough performance, qualifying in 24th for the quarter final and pulled out all the stops for a stellar run to advance to the semi-finals.

In her quarter final heat she beat hometown favourite Anna Haag and other top Europeans by sticking to a patient, but consistent plan, never losing contact with the leaders, hitting the corners with enough speed to put her right in the pack on the next straightaway, but not being so aggressive that she had nothing left for the finish.

Jones performed an absolutely perfect final sprint, edging by each teammate, to the last 150 metres, which included a final climb and short straightway to the finish. Only veteran skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland was faster than Jones, who came across the line 0:1 seconds back of the Finn, and 0:4 seconds ahead of Italy’s Magda Genuin, making for a stunning upset. She couldn’t hold this same form thru her semi and finished 5th in a photo finish with Kalla to claim a remarkable 12th overall.

The final heat saw Madjic do what she had done in the quarters and semis. At the start she shot out like a gun and after approximately 200 metres of wicked double poling by the entire field, she found the fastest line into the first corner and took teammate Visnar with her.

With intense focus she attacked fearlessly the same way on the second corner, but this time she was at the bottom of a downhill, and broke the field up with her unrelenting speed. There was no way she was slowing down; the fight was for the silver.

Bjoergen picked up the pace, pushing past teammate Falla and Swede Ingemarsdotter. She is able to make a gap that no one could match and went from skiing stride for stride with the others to finishing alone at 2.9 seconds back of Madjic.

Bjoergen’s teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla took the bronze at 1.1 seconds back while Ingemarsdotter followed in 4th at 1.7 seconds behind. Alean Prochazkova of Slovakia finished 5th and Katja Visnar of Slovenia was 6th.

By the final, the sun had cast long shadows hidden behind the castle. Skiers scurried to team buses on their way to Falun for the conclusion of the World Cup, and thousands of fans poured from bleachers and vantage points around the track to celebrate yet another day of skiing in a land where the skiing never seems to stop.

Qualifications HERE.
Final Results HERE.
Final WCup Sprint Standings HERE

March 15, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Sara Studebaker has had a breakout season during this year’s World Cup circuit. The 2010 Olympian, who scored top-20 finishes at both the Presque Isle WCup and the IBU World Championships, entered the season as the top ranked US woman and the 26 year old has shown she’s a force to be reckoned with.

The Dartmouth College graduate, who has been training with the US Biathlon team since 2007, was the only US woman to qualify for the pursuit race at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and has since been developing her skills towards what she hopes will produce top results in the coming seasons. SkiTrax caught up with the Boise, Idaho native at the IBU Worlds in Russia just before the final event, the women’s relay, to talk about her success on this year’s circuit, and what we can expect from her and the United States down the road.

You’ve had some impressive results this World Cup season including a 17th place finish in the Individual 15km at the IBU Worlds. What do you attribute your success to and has it changed your overall perspective?
Sara Studebaker: I think my success this year has been the result of several years of hard work and training. It takes time to develop as an athlete, and especially with biathlon you need experience at the high level before you can do well consistently. This year has been much more relaxed for me and I’ve felt comfortable competing at the World Cup level and I think that allowed me to really take a step forward. My successes haven’t really changed my perspective so much as verified things for me. I always believed that with hard work I could be in the mix of things, and seeing how this year has gone just gives me confidence that I can get to that top level.

Nine of your career top 10 World Cup finishes have come this year – what’s different this season?
SS: I think the atmosphere is just more relaxed for me. Of course, the stress of the Olympics was tough last year, but it was also my first season on the World Cup and it can be stressful just being in such a new and crazy situation all season. I think that after having a couple of good results, rather than feeling pressure, I felt confident that I could continue to perform. It’s really been fun to see how all the training is paying off, and it makes me look forward to the next few years as we head towards Sochi.

With success do you feel more pressure to maintain a higher level of performance?
SS: Not right now. I think this year has been such a break-out season for me that it’s just been more enjoyable to see my results and look forward to the next races. I hope that I’ll always be able to have the perspective that keeps pressure off, but I know it will get tougher as I get better. For me, I just have to remember that this is biathlon, and anything can happen. You have great days and hopefully those days come more often – but even the best have bad days, and that’s ok.

This is your first IBU World Championships – what were your expectations going in and have you achieved them so far?
SS: After the US World Cups I definitely had higher expectations for myself. I knew that if I had a good race I could be in the top 20. The sprint race was really a tough one for me, and I had to really focus and re-group after that [she placed 48th]. Having a decent pursuit [Studebaker finished 38th] and getting back into World Cup points was really good for me mentally and I was able to stay relaxed for the individual, despite the conditions, and have a great race. Even though I had hoped to do better in the sprint, having such a good Individual on such a tough day was really exciting for me and has certainly made my World Champs so far!

What do you expect from the US foursome at the upcoming relay event on Sunday?
SS: I think we have a really solid women’s team and that we can have a great relay. We’re not quite at the level yet where we can expect to do great all the time, but we’re getting there and I think if we all have a decent day we can have a good result. Right now it’s a lot about experience for us, and hopefully by Sochi we can be right in the mix of things. Of course it’s really motivating to see the men’s team have such a great result here [the US men finished 6th] – it really shows us what is possible!

What do you hope to accomplish going forward after these World Championship races?
SS: This season in general has been an amazing learning experience. I got to race in my first World Cup Mass Start in Fort Kent, and being right in the mix of things in a few pursuits really gave me the opportunity to see the level of the women I’m chasing. I know I still have a lot of work to do before I can stand on that podium, but it’s possible, and I’m really excited about that potential.

How far away do you think the US Biathlon team women are from medaling at a World Cup…?
SS: Our goal for sure is to be in contention in 2014. With several top-20 and top-30 finishes this year from our team I think we’re not too far from that goal. It’s definitely going to require a lot of work, but I think we’re all motivated and excited to make that happen.

Thanks for your time, all the best on Sunday and good luck with the rest of the season.
SS: Thanks

The US Women’s Relay team finished 14th overall out of 20 teams on Sunday – read more HERE.

March 15, 2011 (Midway, UT) – On Saturday, I started my last Junior National race. And it was my favorite – a relay! Five years ago, in Soldier’s Hollow, I raced my first Junior National relay ever, on a team with Libby Ellis and Lynn Duijndam. Libby scrambled, Lynn went second and I anchored. We started a lot of traditions that year, including racing in facepaint and glitter for the relay.

Every year since then, we’ve continued “bedazzling” ourselves come race day. Now I had an opportunity to close out JO’s with Libby scrambling again, and Elizabeth Simak skiing 2nd leg. And you know what? I still got nervous, just like the first time!

The conditions were quite tricky on Saturday, as the tracks were slower yet still glazed, and the outside of the track was icy and fast. We went on klister, and we had just enough kick for 3km but still had to work hard to close the wax pocket down. Because it was so icy, we stayed out of the track as much as possible and did a TON of double-poling.

Libby and Elizabeth did a fantastic job keeping us in the top 3, and staying within contact of the leaders. Because we started right alongside the J1 teams, it was sometimes hard to figure out which place you were in while racing. So we just hammered.

When I got the tag off from Simak, we were within sight of the leader – just far enough to have a fun chase. I started a little frantically, pretty much abandoning technique as I scrambled around the icy corners. How embarrassing. But once I got going, I calmed down (slightly) and got into a rhythm. The hometown crowd cheering was fantastic, and it helped enormously on the long grinding climb.

I was super excited to have such a great team; one that really topped off a great JO experience. And I don’t just mean my relay team – all the athletes, coaches, wax techs, family and friends that made this possible. Thanks guys!

The awards banquet was really well done (thanks to all the volunteers and organizers) but the best part was sharing it with my family and grandparents who came to cheer.

March 13, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – George Grey and Emily Nishikawa captured the first individual titles at the Haywood Ski Nationals at the Canmore Nordic Centre on Sunday. In what could quite possibly be the final national championships for the 31-year-old Grey, of Rossland, B.C., the two-time Olympian skied with the field before dropping the hammer on the final lap to win the men’s 10-kilometre skate-ski race by 15 seconds after posting a time of 23 minutes, 24.7 seconds.

“It was a bit of a weird day with people going out to hard and others coming from the back late to ski with the lead group, but I was able to get a comfortable lead on the final lap,” said Grey. “Part of the loop was the World Cup course and I absolutely love those trails so it was a fun day.”

Grey, who won a World Cup bronze medal at the team sprint relay at Whistler Olympic Park in 2009 with Alex Harvey, recently returned from the World Championships in Oslo, Norway, for one last crack at the nation’s Nordic festival at his home training centre.

“Nationals are a great opportunity to have the whole nation together including the juniors and the para-nordic athletes,” said Grey. “While I don’t feel I have changed, I do remember being young and looking up to the World Cup skiers. I know the next generation looks up to us athletes on the World Cup team so I really enjoy skiing this event when I can and hopefully give the next generation some motivation to dream big and chase their goals.”

The next closest competitor to Grey was Graeme Killick, of Fort McMurray, Alta., who skied to the silver medal with a time of 23:39.5. Calgary’s Kevin Sandau rounded out the men’s podium in third at 23:45.4.

Meanwhile, Chelsea Holmes of the United States was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 14:32.1 in the women’s five-kilometre skate-ski race, but it will be Emily Nishikawa, of Whitehorse, who will go in the history books as winning her second Canadian title in as many days as the top Canuck to finish.

The 21-year-old Nishikawa, who won the gold in Saturday’s team sprint with Janelle Greer, edged out fellow-Canadian, Brittany Webster of Caledon, Ont., with a time of 14:45.3. Webster was the third athlete to stop the clock at 14:46.8.

Ezekiel Williams, of Nakkertok Ski Club, was the top junior male with a time of 25:46.9. Quebec’s Cendrine Browne won the junior women’s race after posting a time of 14:12.1.

The Haywood Ski Nationals continue on Tuesday at the Canmore Nordic Centre.

Full results HERE.

March 13, 2011 (Lahti, Finland) – Sweden’s Emil Joensson put his game plan together and executed it to perfection to claim the men’s 1.4km Classic Sprint victory and the overall WCup sprint title as well. Yet it was a tough day for many on the crash-marred Lahti sprint course – we lost count  – as there seemed to be fewer rounds without crashes than those with.

Canada’s Alex Harvey and American Andy Newell were the only North Americans to advance through the qualifications but their respective days ended early for different reasons. Harvey wiped on Lahti’s treacherous final downhill corner joining many of the day’s victims while Newell was disqualified for obstructing Matias Stranvall (FIN) just before the finishing straight.

For Norway is was a good day at the office with feisty Eirik Brandsdal celebrating silver and his second WCup podium while his teammate Paal Golberg, last year’s Junior World 10km classic Champ, stood on the World Cup podium for the first time in third.

Harvey was back in the mix on Sunday after dropping out of the pursuit on Saturday with back problems. “My back was ok this morning. We have an amazing physio here with us so he was able to fix me up. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again, the worst thing as an athlete is having to drop out of a race,” said Harvey in an email to SkiTrax.

“The sprint course here in Lahti is straight up retarded. The big hill at the beginning is fine, I don’t care if a sprint course is all hills, or all flat, but as long as their are no corners like the last two here in Lahti. Luck is always a factor in sprinting, but it shouldn’t be the most important one…if you look at the five quarter finals of the men, I think their was a crash in EVERY. SINGLE. ONE!!!! That is not normal.”

For US sprinter Newell it was a frustrating finish to his strong day in the tracks as he would have advanced to the semis as a lucky loser as his heat was the fastest with John Christian Dahl crossing the line in 3:08.5. But fate was not on Newell’s side.

He battled smartly from 5th to 3rd by the final treacherous turn to the finish and just when he was looking good to challenge for second he and Strandvall tangled near the final corner. Newell bobbled but stayed upright and placed third with Strandvall fourth. But the jury didn’t like what they saw and disqualified him for blocking Strandvall altho neither skier saw it that way.

“I felt good today so the DQ was a bummer. I was a little bit slippery in qualification but the skis and body felt great during the heats and even with a big bobble in the finishing lanes I was the first lucky loser for the semis,” Newell explained in an email to SkiTrax.

“Unfortunately I was relegated to last because of some kind of infraction. We had to wait until the end of the race to visit with the jury and apparently they thought I had cut off [Matias] Strandvall on the hairpin. The two of us were going into the corner side by side, so for sure there was a little bit of contact but we both kind of did what we had to do in order to stay on our feet.

“After the race Matias and I had a laugh and neither of us could believe the jury thought there was unfair skiing going on. Considering how much carnage there was on that corner in the other heats. So that sucks because I really wanted to go out and have a strong race today and I was feeling pretty good, but I guess I’ll have to wait for Stockholm on Wednesday.”

Harvey felt good during his quarter final and felt strong with good skis but the course got the better of him as he and Estonian Kein Einaste went down on crash corner.

“I felt pretty bad in my qualifier, but I still sneaked in the top 30. In my 1/4 final, I felt relaxed and my skis were working well up the big climb. I was able to stay in the track while most guys were hairboning outside. Then at the top, I felt strong and I could see some guys fading so I tried to make a move to position myself well and I guess I had caught some snow in the wax or something because I almost crashed and my skis were kind-a icing.

“Still, in the next downhill I made up one spot, and another in the downhill before the ”stupid corner”. So I was in 4th entering that corner and the Estonian guy [Einaste] in front of me had his skis so wide, I crossed onto his skis and we both crashed. That was the end for me!”

Canada’s other star sprinter Devon Kershaw was not on form this weekend failing to qualify placing 49th. The USA’s Kris Freeman finished 61st while Canuck Len Valjas was 63rd.

“I’m confident our crew can turn things around for the WC finals,” said Canadian Head Coach Justin Wadsworth

It was Joensson’s fourth World Cup win this season and his second overall Sprint World Cup series title. The Swedish star’s strategy was simple – get to the front and grab the inside lane by the first corner and then power up the climb and leave any problems behind.

After cresting the hill Joensson put pressure on his rivals again by jamming up the second small climb as well giving him a clear advantage leading into the downhill and the final tough corner before the finish. He won his quarter final and his semi final heats handily – all that was left was the final.

But with three Norwegians on the final start line his work was cut out for him as Brandsdal was eager to challenge and looked like he might upset the Swede. Joensson took things up a notch as they exchanged the lead with the WCup Sprint leader taking the pole position on the downhill run.

Brandsdal did his best to reel him in but on the finishing straight Joensson is virtually unbeatable as he double-poled in for the win and the series overall title.

“It feels good to retain the sprint world cup globe. I appreciate the win the total cup. It means i was strong the whole season and I’m happy I made. After the World Championships I had cramps in my stomach and felt not so good,” Joensson told FIS XC.

“I did my first training session on Wednesday. I did not know how my shape was, I only wanted to gain some points for the Sprint Cup today. I had power today and felt better and better during the day. In the final heat, in the stadium I gave it all and had some more power left. My absolutely favourite race is just ahead with Stockholm and I want to show there an great performance.”

The WCup caravan now moves to Stockholm for the final sprint race and then three back-to-back races in Falun for the finale where all champions will be crowned – as Harvey points out lots can still happen and a podium finish is still possible.

“I’m 10th in both the sprint and overall rankings. It feels good for sure but Stockholm/Falun is a paradise for WC points! A possibility of 400 pts for a guy who wins every event, so nothing is done here. I will do my best with what I have left in the tank!”

Qualifications HERE.
Final Results HERE.

Overall Sprint Standings HERE.
Overall WCup Standings HERE.

March 13, 2011 (Lahti, Finland) – Norway’s Marit Bjoergen was back on form on Sunday looking unbeatable again as she took the women’s 1.4km Classic sprint victory at the FIS World Cup in Lahti on Sunday.

On the flip side World Cup Sprint leader, American Kikkan Randall, had to deal with a topsy-turvey day as she qualified strong in 5th just behind Bjoergen only to meet disaster in her quarter final finishing 5th and was out early in the match.

It was a lucky loser day in the final as top qualifier, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (NOR), and Petra Majdic (SLO) both landed on the podium after advancing to the final as lucky losers. Jacobsen and Majdic were 3rd and 4th in the semi won by Bjoergen in a photo-finish over Follis. In final they both advanced one spot as Jacobsen claimed the silver and Majdic the bronze.

Majdic out-skied Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) for the final podium spot as Charlotte Kalla (SWE) ended up fifth and Arianna Follis (Italy) 6th. With her 60-point podium score the Slovenian star wrestled the Sprint leader’s jersey from Randall now third overall behind Follis in second.

The final series outcome will be decided on a shorter classic sprint in Stockholm, Sweden on Mar. 16.

The Lahti sprint course is one of the toughest on the circuit starting with a grueling uphill climb followed by a bit of downhill relief leading to a second smaller climb and then a fast dowhill with a challenging final right hand turn dropping skiers into the chute into the stadium to the finish. It was on this corner that the course delivered an unusual number of crashes throughout the day – moreso in the men’s race.

Randall, who began slipping after a strong start in the quarterfinal, could not keep pace and fell back to finish fifth. She wasn’t the only one who had difficulties with the tough snow conditions and demanding course as others like Bjoergen and Kowalczyk both experienced some slippage.

“It was a real bummer after a strong qualification,” said Randall in a phone interview with SkiTrax. “My skis were fine thru the qualification and start of the quarter final and I was in contention but soon after they slicked up – I was slipping with less glide than the others as well and lost ground. We think that perhaps my skis picked up some ice along the way that slowed them down.”

Randall concurred that the Lahti course is long and tough. “It’s precarious in some parts and perhaps has the most sustained sprint climb I’ve experienced. The qualification times were over 3:30 that tells you something.”

Four other North Americans did not qualify including Holly Brooks (USA) in 34th, Daria Gaiazova (CAN) in 48th, Chandra Crawford (CAN) in 55th and Perianne Jones (CAN) in 56th.

“Tough day today,” said Canadian Head Coach Justin Wadsworth in a brief email to SkiTrax. “Chandra and Dasha will head back to Canmore for XC Ski Nationals.”

dDespite the lackluster results for North America the day had some positives.

“Holly Brooks almost qualified for the rounds and Kikkan blazed her qualifier as if classic sprinting had been her strongest event. And perhaps it will be,” US Coach Matt Whitcomb told SkiTrax post-race.

“Kikkan struggled in her quarterfinal, finishing 5th. While her skis were great in the qualifier, they were not as competitive in the heats. The wax was the same as we used for Andy [Newell] who had great skis – both athlete and tech liked them in testing, but they didn’t roll as well as expected when the gun went off.

“It is classical racing in variable conditions. We own the choices we made and were confident in them, and own that it didn’t go as planned. When you miss by a little on the World Cup, you’re missing by a little against the best teams in the world.”

With only 29 points separating Randall from the Sprint jersey she’s keen to get another crack at it in Stockholm. “It felt good wearing it today and I’m looking forward to having the chance to take it back,” added Randall, who sits 10th in the overall WCup standings.

The US team heads to Stockholm on Monday and begins their final preparation for the remaining four WCup events in the series.

Qualifications HERE.
Final Results HERE.

Overall Sprint Standings HERE.
Overall WCup Standings HERE.

March 13, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – The final day of the 2011 IBU World Championships was anything but predictable as the favoured team Germany had to come from behind to earn the victory, while top-rated Russia faltered to the dismay of the host country’s fans.

It was an emotional day as the legendary Magdalena Neuner was 1:07 down in fourth place on the final leg, yet the legendary biathlete persevered with solid shooting and incredible skiing to claim gold for the second straight day, this time taking her German teammates with her. The Ukraine and France also shared in the championship limelight taking home silver and bronze respectively.

“At first I did not think about the gold medal. I thought, ‘okay it is a silver medal.’ Then the Ukraine was just before me and I knew it was not very far to get the gold medal,” said Neuner in an IBU report, “I had very good skis and on the downhill I came nearer and then I knew I could get the gold medal. It was a great feeling.”

The squad of Andrea Henkel, Miriam Gössner, Tina Bachmann and Neuner missed two targets and used 13 spare rounds, but looked vulnerable as Italy began the day with a solid effort but could not keep pace giving way to Belarus and the Ukraine who shot well to garner a commanding lead.

The Germans were in trouble during the second leg as Gössner struggled on the range with two penalties, hoping to make it up with fast skiing, while Darya Domracheva kept Belarus at the front with clean shooting. The Ukraine’s Vita Semerenko also shot clean using two spare rounds to keep them in contention.

Backmann was in fourth down 50s as the third leg began and again Germany had their work cut out for them. She shot well using 4 extra rounds but the deficit was not coming down – in fact it was increasing.

Meanwhile France was suddenly in contention following Marie Laure Brunet’s perfect shooting on the second leg and maintained by Sophie Boilley, while Italy was trying to regain its composure as well.

The Ukraine flexed its muscles to take over the lead from Belarus heading into the final stage with France moving into third as Backmann tagged off to Neuner in fourth place, down over a minute to the leaders.

Neuner got to work with her smooth skating and began eating away at the gap. She used two spare rounds shooting prone and knew she had a chance despite superb perfect shooting by the Ukraine’s Oksana Khvostenko, as no one could match Neuner’s speed on the skis.

Khvostenko shot perfect again to up the ante on the final standing stage and left the stadium with a 24s lead on the hard-charging German who had to shoot well on her final session to allow enough time to catch her Ukrainian rival.

Neuner tasted gold once again as she has many times before and entered the range meeting Khvostenko’s challenge with her own perfect score – and now it was game on for gold.

Followed closely by France’s Marie Dorin and Belarus skier Liudmila Kalichik, Neuner erased the deficit to 11 seconds with just one kilometer to go. Crediting her fast skis, the German eventually overcame the Ukrainian sharpshooter to take the relay competition by an astounding 24.5 seconds for a final time of 1:31.1.

In a race where many teams had chances for medals, the glory went to the squads that retained their composure and consistency throughout. Ukraine used just 4 spare rounds with zero misses, to solidify a silver medal performance for the team that included Valj and Vita Semerenko, Olena Pidhrushna, and Khvostenko.

France, heavily aided by a no-miss, no-spare round performance from second leg Brunet, and a no-miss one-spare race from Dorin on the final leg, took bronze. The foursome, which also included Anais Bescond and Boilley, easily defeated 4th place Belarus by just over a minute, finishing with a total time of 1:14:18.3.

The US Biathlon squad of Sara Studebaker, Laura Spector, Annalies Cook and Haley Johnson had a tough day on the range, missing three shots and using 16 spare rounds to finish 14th overall. The team’s final time of 1:19:55.7 put them 6:24.6 out of the top podium spot.

Canada did not field a relay team for Sunday’s event, which marked the final race of this year’s IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Germany, (2+13) 1:13:31.1
2. Ukraine, (0+4) 1:13:55.6
3. France, (0+9) 1:14:18.3

14. USA, (3+16) 1:19:55.7

March 13, 2011 (Lahti, Finland) – In a thrilling finish to the women’s 10km Pursuit at the World Cup in Lahti, Norway’s Therese Johaug put on a final burst of speed to catch overall series leader Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) at the line for photo-finish victory to claim her first World Cup gold by the tip of a boot. Italy’s Arianna Follis was unchallenged for the bronze 23s later, while Norwegian star, Marit Bjoergen, had an uncharacteristic day that included a fall after the exchange to finish off the podium in 4th.

For the USA’s Kikkan Randall it was sweet success following her disappointing Worlds, and a lesson in hard work paying off as the World Cup Sprint leader nailed a career-best 11th in a distance race. She was just out of the top 10 in a photo-finish with Norway’s Marthe Kristoffersen – missing tenth by 2/10s of a second. The jubilant Randall was less than a minute behind Johaug and only 32.7s off the podium.

“This certainly helps to make up for Oslo – I needed a boost after a lackluster World Championships,” Randall told SkiTrax in a phone interview. “I’m really happy with my race – my skis were great and my energy level was solid. It’s great to see the hard work in distance racing that I’ve been putting in over the past few years is pay off.

“It’s a really tough course but having the experience under my belt really helped me maintain my composure and ski consistently,” continued Randall. “My skis were dialed as well and I could ski aggressively when I had to.”

She knew she was having a strong day when she noticed Bjoergen ahead but it was tough to know just how well she was doing which might have helped her push a bit harder to take Kristoffersen.

“I caught Saarinen and passed her but later a group with her and Skofterud caught and dropped me. I found myself with Kristoffersen who had a slight lead and I had to go wide to try and pass her. Had I known I was so close to making the top-10 I might have found that little bit extra – 2/10s of a second isn’t much.”

Teammate Liz Stephen had a solid day as well placing 28th while WCup newbie, Holly Brooks was 39th and Morgan Arritola finished in 50th.

“The race was over so quickly, it was my first 10k Pursuit and the first one the World Cup has ever done. My race was good, great classic and skate skis, so huge thanks to our wax techs and coaches for a great year and pumping out awesome skis all year,” Stephen wrote by email.

Stephen agreed with Randall that the race courses in Lahti are tough.

“The courses in Lahti are hard, with steep climbs, some quite long – and squirrely snow yesterday in the skate portion – but great conditions to race in. It was so cool to see Kikkan get a career-best in a distance world cup, and I was happy to close out my World Cup season in the points. On my way to Utah now for a couple weeks and then to Sun Valley for Spring Series.”

Meanwhile Brooks hoped for a better result. “I had a great classic leg until the last uphill (a herringbone hill) where I got tripped up and passed by a number of girls. The skate leg was tough today and I didn’t quite have the legs to climb the large V1 hills.

“I was leading the pack that I finished with at the top of the course and they all benefited from my draft and came flying by me near the entrance to the stadium. While I’m not happy about my result there were some bright points and I’m really looking forward to Sunday’s sprint race! ”

Canada’s sprint specialist Chandra Crawford, who like Randall is taking on more distance races in a serious vein, finished in 62nd at 4min behind Johaug while teammate Daria Gaiazova was just behind her in 66th. Perianne Jones did not start.

US coach Matt Whitcomb told SkiTax he was pleased overall with the women’s team.

“It was a great day for Kikkan – her best ever distance result. She was all there today, able to respond to attacks, and able to hang in on the skate leg. Perhaps she was skiing with something to prove!

“For Liz, I think she responded well to the event being shortened from 15 to 10km by skiing aggressively and grabbing a few points, skiing up 12 places in the skate. Still, cracking the top 15 in this event will require a much better classic lap. The work is clear.

“Holly had a great classic lap, skiing between 20th and 30th for most of the race.  She sees that just a little more snap on the skate will put her in the points.”

Full report to follow – full results HERE.

March 12, 2011 (Lahti, Finland) – Following the Oslo 2011 World Championships it was back to business for the Viessmann FIS XC World Cup where overall leader Dario Cologna (SUI) had something to prove given his less than stellar performance at the championships in Norway.

But Cologna was not the only starter aiming for the podium and his victory in the men’s 20km Pursuit came as a result of strong skiing and tactical precision as several challengers emerged with the final two, Maurice Manificat and Vincent Vittoz of France, trying to unseat him near the finish.

Near the front the entire race was Canadian strongman Ivan Babikov, sitting in 55th spot overall,  and looking for his ticket into the top-50 Red Group to make the cut for the upcoming World Cup Finals in Sweden next week. The two-time Olympian was up to the challenge with a top level performance as he claimed 8th overall on the day.

“It was a pretty good race for me, I struggled a bit on classic part, but was able to pull back to the pack on skating,” Babikov, now in 44th spot overall, told SkiTrax post race.

“I knew that I felt good in last couple weeks, but sometimes the race is just not going the way you want it to go. Today, was better, so I’m pretty happy with my 8th place. Hopefully I will be able to ski as strong in Falun.”

Babikov’s teammates started off well but suddenly Alex Harvey who was also near the front could not be found. We found out later in a CCC release that his back began to seize up during the first lap of the skate leg and he pulled out as a precaution.

Devon Kershaw, who fell ill in Oslo and missed the team relay and final 50km skate there, was back on the start line but struggled to keep pace as the race progressed ending up 22nd. Whitehorse skier, Graham Nishikawa, who topped the NorAm standings to earn a ticket to the WCup finished in 57th.

Top US distance skier Kris Freeman was the lone American on the start line when Lars Flora did not start as he woke up sick according to US coach Matt Whitcomb and “…I’d guess will not be starting [the sprints] tomorrow.”

Freeman had a superb classic leg skiing near the front with Babikov and Harvey but couldn’t stay with there during the skate leg and finished 26th overall.

“Our wax crew put the athletes on great boards on a tricky day and Freeman showed today that his fitness is moving in the right direction,” Whitcomb told SkiTrax. “His classic skiing looks to be closing back in on the top-10.  While he said the skating leg was more survival mode than attack, he skied solidly and never cracked, balancing pace and sugar well. He will sprint tomorrow.”

For Cologna, the winner of this year’s Tour de Ski, it was form of redemption after his lackluster Championships. He knew what he had to do, but knowing and doing don’t always merge. Today they did for the talented Swiss skier.

He broke away during the classic leg with Sweden’s Daniel Rickardsson and Lukas Bauer (CZE) but their lead was short-lived as the hungry pack soon caught them on the 10km skating leg.

First the Italians tried their luck and then Matti Heikkinen (FIN) took a run at it but Cologna marked them all gaining important bonus points along the way when it counted. Rickardsson was leading at the 18.5km mark but the pack would not give in.

Then Manificat and Vittoz moved to the front and made waves that only Cologna could challenge. As the three formed a small gap it was enough to set the stage for the run to the finish line with Vittoz, an Olympic gold medalist, leading the charge.

Cologna counter attacked and dropped the two Frenchman up a small climb and as Manificat tried desperately to reel him in the Swiss bullet was not catchable claiming the gold with Manificat second and Vittoz third.

With his victory Cologna secured the overall World Cup title with 1,367 points before the series wraps up in Falun, grabbing the distance crown as well. Norway’s Petter Northug is second with 894 points and Rickardsson is third overall with 816 points.

“I’m very satisfied with my race and it is good to be on the podium again. I felt strong today and I knew I could win,” Cologna said in a FIS XC post-race interview.

“It was good to try something and go away with Rickardsson and Bauer. I had good skis in the last downhill. I knew I had a good chance to win. I will be at the start tomorrow. The sprint has long uphill and that suits me. In the last World Cups I want to have fun and enjoy skiing. I have had a good season World Cup victory and Tour de Ski title.”

Full results HERE.

March 12, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen knew it was his final chance to take home an individual gold medal from the 2011 IBU World Championships. The veteran biathlete said as much prior to today’s competition as he shot superbly, with only one miss during the final round adding drama to the finish.

Svendsen matched all rivals save Russia’s Evgeny Ustyugov who had an incredible no-miss day, and drew immense praise and admiration from the partisan crowd in Khanty-Mansiysk. Ustyugov was one of only two biathletes to shoot clean on the day, the other being his Russian teammate Andrei Makoveev.

Yet despite his stellar day on the range and lead on the final section Ustyugov was up against a Goliath of a foe in Svendsen, who bided his time and played his cards perfectly, trumping the stalwart Russian for the gold with a time of 38:42.7 while Italy’s Lukas Hofer won the bronze.

The USA’s Leif Nordgren continued his stunning surge of excellent results with a strong 17th place effort at his mass start debut

Svendsen, who took the lead for the first time in the race with only 400 meters left of tracks, looked formidable and brilliant but somehow it seems you’re never sure of the outcome.

“I was never quite sure. Ten seconds is a lot [to make up], especially on the last loop. I was never confident, but I raced full speed to catch [Ustyugov] and then tried to save some energy for the sprint,” Svedsen told Biathlonworld.com. “When the sprint came, I had a good feeling and thought it was going my way; it was an incredible feeling.”

For Ustyugov it was a day for the record books as he won his first ever World Championship medal in front of wild and appreciative fans. The talented Russian also holds a gold medal from the Vancouver Olympics mass start. His incredible shooting gave him the lead out of the stadium on the final leg and everyone could taste the gold as he surged ahead to the finish line.

But Svendsen was not going to be denied easily as he soon caught and sat on Ustyugov while behind Hofer, who was also having a strong day and enjoyed the lead for a time, fought desperately to bridge to the two leaders.

As Hofer found new spark and edged closer Svendsen decided the game was up and began his power push up a climb to pass Ustyugov and take no prisoners as he claimed the individual gold that he was seeking. Ustyugov tried to stay with the Norwegian while ever aware of Hofer charging from behind.

“Emil was very strong today,” said the elated Russian silver medalist. “My purpose on that final loop was if he caught me, to stay behind him and not let Lukas [Hofer] catch me.”

Hofer, who stayed in contention throughout the competition, had a solid day in the range, missing just one shot in his final loop to finish 14 seconds out of 1st with a time of 38:57.0. The Italian’s bronze medal marks the first at these World Championships for his home country.

“I have been trying to get to the podium in every race. It was really hard because there are so many strong athletes in the World Cup,” Hofer commented, “But today, everything was perfect, especially my shooting, so I was able to climb up to my first podium.”

For the US Biathlon team is was a day of mixed emotions. Nordgren, who hit 17 of 20 targets, was once again the shining light for the team as he finished with a time of 40:26.7.

“It was his first mass start and he handled it really well,” said Head Coach Per Nilsson in a US Biathlon report, “He just treated it as a normal race and showed a good shooting with three misses. His running time was again impressive despite being pretty tired after the long race week.”

But the team had to deal with surprise and disappointment when Tim Burke was first listed as start number 30 only to be shuffled to the first reserve athlete when the start lists suddenly changed.

“I was pretty bummed when I saw that,” said Burke. “What happened was that Maxim Tchoudov from Russia had the same points as I had, but apparently has better placements. So they suddenly changed the list.”

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Emil Hegle Svedsen, NOR (0+0+0+1) 38:42.7
2. Evgeny Ustyugov, RUS (0+0+0+0) 38:47.7
3. Lukas Hofer, ITA (0+0+0+1) 38:57.0

17. Leif Nordgren, USA (1+0+1+1) 40:26.7

March 12, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Despite missing four targets, Germany’s biathlon goddess, Magdalena Neuner, battled back to win gold at Saturday’s 12.5km Mass Start at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The legendary biathlete struggled with her shooting but was able to overcome her Belarus rival, Darya Domracheva, on the final leg to take the win.

Domracheva, who pole-vaulted nine spots after shooting clean on the final stage, left the stadium for the final time holding a slim lead. But the valiant Belarus skier could not hold off a hard-charging Neuner, who suffered a penalty on the final round, but utilized fast skis to overtake Domracheva for the win by a narrow 4.8 seconds.

It was a see-saw day for Neuner, who lead early in the race, but fell behind the leaders with poor shooting. However aggressive skiing allowed her to remain in contention for the podium.

“It looked like an easy day for shooting, but it was not. When you look at the results, you see many mistakes. I had to fight on the shooting range and on the tracks,” Neuner said in an IBU Report. “Darya was very strong on the last loop and we had a hard battle, but I have the gold medal now. That is very good for me.”

It was a tough day as well for the determined Domracheva who fell on the first lap, and missed three targets in the first two stages. Perseverance and composure allowed her to clean both standing loops to secure the lead, only to relinquish it and end up with the silver medal, finishing in a time of 36:53.3.

“Biathlon is a sport. You must fight to the finish,” Domracheva said of her rough start, “You can fall down and have penalty loops, but you must fight to the finish.”

The race for the bronze medal became a battle between Norway’s Tora Berger and WCup leader Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland. Berger, who missed three targets in the prone stages, cleaned the last two laps to beat out Mäkäräinen, who suffered a costly miss in the third lap. Berger’s time of 37:02.5 put her 14 seconds out of gold, and 10.2 seconds ahead of her Finnish rival.

“I hoped to win a gold medal here, but my shooting was not so good this week – three penalties today were too many. Kaisa was very strong on the next-to-the-last loop and I was concerned that we would be fighting for the medal. So I used all of my power to get away from her,” commented the veteran Norwegian athlete.

No US or Canadian Biathletes qualified for Saturday’s mass start, which consists of the top 15 racers from the season, as well as the remaining top 15 from the current World Championship events.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Magdalena Neuner, GER (0+1+2+1) 36:48.5
2. Darya Domracheva, BLR (2+1+0+0) 36:53.3
3. Tora Berger, NOR (2+1+0+0) 37:02.5

March 11, 2011 (Minneapolis, MN) – At the start of the third day of the Junior Olympic competition on Friday, four athletes had a chance to sweep all individual skate events,: Hamish McEwen (Cambridge Sports Union) in J2 boys, Marion Woods (Alaska Winter Stars) in J2 girls, Logan Hanneman (FAST) in J1 boys, and Jessie Diggins (CXC) in OJ girls. When the day was finished, only McEwen was knocked off the top step of the podium – he was still second! Woods, Hanneman, and Diggins each succeeded in the rare feat of winning all individual events at the Junior Olympics.

As a result of the wet snow on Wednesday and below freezing temperatures overnight, the course set up firm and lightning fast.  Silas Talbot (Alaska Winter Stars) called the course “challenging.” “It was a little scary on the downhills.  There were some tough turns at the bottom of hills.  You had to ski as fast as you could, but be sure to be in control.”  Still, athletes commended the course conditions.  J1 Sawyer Kesselheim: “It was a good course.  I’m glad they raked the corners. It kept it really nice. I thought it would get more chopped up.”

For the J2 boys, Stratton Mountain School’s Tyler Foulkes managed to upset the previously dominant McEwen.  Foulkes finessed the technical course to a 18-second win. This margin of victory is even more impressive when one considers the short time the athletes spent on the course; the top-10 skiers were all under 12 minutes. Foulkes was joined on the podium by McEwen (2nd) and Durango Nordic’s Haakon Sigurslid.

As anticipated based on previous results, Marion Woods was the J2 girls golden girl yet again.  Second-place finisher Anika Miller (Payette Lakes Sports) started 4th in the bib order, ten spaces ahead of Woods, so she had the disadvantage in terms of splits. Splits given on the long climb just short of 5km had Miller clearly leading, until Woods and Sarrissa Lammers came by. Woods had made up the 15-second spread on Lammers, but Lammers bravely hung on up the long climb, earning her best result at JOs thus far.

In the J1 girls 5 km, Corey Stock earned her second gold and third podium result.  At the finish, she was embraced by her coach who said, “Next year, we’ll do some training, and it will hurt less!” obviously referring to her late season return to racing after compartment syndrome surgery.

Runner-up Heather Mooney was just two seconds behind Stock. Mooney went into the race with a plan that she executed. “My plan was to ski the first kilometer really whippy, and then to relax and ski the transitions well.  At about three and one-half kilometers, I just went as hard as possible.”  Mooney, who is a senior at Stratton Mountain School, noted Stratton’s role in her success. “The biggest thing is just being around a group of great girls to train with.  There’s also the academic flexibility to come to a race like this and know the school is totally behind it.”

Stratton Mountain School’s Cambria McDermott earned third place, just seven seconds out from the win.

Logan Hanneman (FAST) took over the J1 boys race in lap one and then held it throughout.  On the first lap, Patrick Caldwell looked to be a contender. He was tied with Hanneman at just under 4 kilometers, and then 10 seconds down (in second place) at the lap.  Unfortunately, Caldwell faded on lap two and finished fifth.

Second and third for the J1s went to APUNSC teammates Forrest Mahlen and Jack Novak.

J1 boys fourth-place finisher Sawyer Kesselheim (Bridger Ski Foundation) might be a name to watch in the future.  Kesselheim, who was tenth in the sprint and fifth in the classic, did not even qualify for last year’s Junior Olympics. He used to be a soccer player, but last year he quit and “really committed to skiing.” This is the first year he trained for skiing year-round. Kesselheim played the pacing game just right; he was in a three-way tie for seventh at the lap.  “I had a slower first lap and tried to build over the second lap.  I think I found a pace I could maintain.”

Jessie Diggins once again showed complete domination over the OJ girls field, winning the 5km race by 51 seconds!

Given Diggins’ results at the World Championships, and throughout the week at the Junior Olympics, Annie Pokorny’s second-place finish must have felt as good as gold.  While Pokorny doesn’t consider herself a power skier (she usually races in the West), she was delighted to find that the firm conditions worked for her.  “It was probably my best 5 km skate ever, easily…” Pokorny, who will be at Middlebury next year, took time to thank Minneapolis Junior Olympics volunteers: “This event is so well organized.  It is really easy to be a skier here.”

Kinsey Loan (APUNSC) missed second-place by the narrowest of margins, just four tenths of a second.  Loan had a clear plan for racing the firm and fast course: go as hard as possible.  “With the fast snow and so many downhills, I tried to race this like a sprint.”  In planning her tactics, Loan is able to draw upon her experience in two sports.  She says she races nationally on her bike in the summer (road and mtb).  “Skiing and cycling complement each other very nicely.”

Success in the OJ boys race depended on a fast second lap. Dartmouth’s David Sinclair was down to George Cartwright at 5km, but turned it on in lap two to take the win. Third-place Silas Talbot also had a strong second lap, moving from fifth at 5km to third at the finish. Without yet having seen the official split, he said, “The beginning was slower.  It took a while to get into it.”

George Cartwright’s pacing was just the opposite.  He took a four-second lead through 5 km, but ultimately finished second by the narrowest of margins, just seven-tenths of a second off Sinclair.

In the Alaska Cup competition, New England brought a solid lead into Friday’s races. While current points had not yet been tabulated as of this writing, it seems unlikely that Alaska’s Friday performance was enough to make up the significant points gap.

The fact that the cup will likely go to New England makes tomorrow’s relay races all the more important.  While the cup is determined by place points, each age group’s relay will go to the team who can string together the fastest skiers.  Anticipate that underdog Alaska will fight for the win in every race, while the Midwest will hope to upset in one or more.

Full results HERE.

March 11, 2011 (Stowe, VT) – A solid crowd turned out to cheer on the cross-country athletes on day three of the NCAA Skiing Championships in Stowe, VT today. With rainy conditions making wax prep and visibility uncertain at times in the women’s 15km and men’s 20km classic events, the skiers battled it out with CU athletes Eliska Hajkova and Reid Fletcher emerging victorious.

The women’s 15km classic competition closed with Colorado’s Hajkova taking the win in 53:33.3 over Utah’s Maria Graefnings (UU) following 4s later in 53:37.5 with Jamie Bronga of UAA closing out the podium with a time of 54:9.6. Hajkova and Graefnings alternated the lead throughout the race with Hajkova pulling ahead and maintaining her advantage two-thirds of the way through the race.

The rain lightened and the clouds were lifting as the gun signaled the start to the men’s race which CU’s Fletcher took in 1:05:31.4, followed by Erik Bjornsen of UAA with a time of 1:05:35.7. Vegard Kjoelhamar also from Colorado U and the silver medalist in Wednesday’s 10km freestyle race, claimed third with a time of 1:05:37.0.

A visibly pained Franz Bernstein from the UVM squad completed the race with a strong double-pole through the stadium landing him in 31st after having sustained an injury to his arm and torso during the event.

The overall team rankings for the championship have shuffled slightly with Saturday’s men’s and women’s alpine slalom events remaining to help settle the score. The top five in descending order are the University of Colorado (CU), the University of Utah (UU), Dartmouth College (DAR), the University of New Mexico (UNM) and event hosts, the University of Vermont (UVM).

Women’s 15km CL results HERE.
Men’s 20km CL results HERE.

March 11, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – The US Biathlon foursome, anchored by a streaking Leif Nordgren, pulled off their best result of the season with a historic 6th place photo finish that went to Italy in 5th as Norway claimed gold in the men’s 4×7.5km relay. The US squad was just 10 seconds off the podium. Canada finished 11th out of 26 teams competing after being as high as 7th during the race.

Despite a pair of costly misses on Friday at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the Norwegian team of Ole Einer Bjorndalen, Alexander Os, Emil Hegle Svedsen, and Tarjei Boe added 10 spare rounds to hold on for a combined time of 1:16:13.9 for the gold.

The race was won on the final leg as the German team had a slim lead but Boe attacked and German anchor Michael Greis faltered suffering three crucial penalties on the first shooting range. Other teams, including the US took advantage, and they eventually finished in seventh. Boe picked up a penalty along the way as well but Norway was able to prevail as Russia and the Ukraine battled behind for silver with the hosts winning out.

“It was a really interesting relay. We have a very good team, but anything can happen,” commented Bjorndalen in an IBU report. “We started really good just like in Vancouver. We now have a good man in Alex that replaced Halvard Hanevold. We won today, but it was a difficult effort. Still we are very satisfied with our race.”

Coming in second place was the home crowd favorite, Russia. The squad, consisting of Anton Shipulin, Evgeny Ustyugov, Maxim Maksimov, and Ivan Tcherezov, shot clean with the help of just 8 spare rounds to finish 13.4 seconds behind Norway.

“The crowd and fans helped us a great deal to achieve this medal. But they also made it very hard, because it was great, great responsibility and I did not want to fail in front of these people,” said Shipulin.

Rounding out the podium was the nearby country of Ukraine. Led by Biathlon veteran Olexander Bilanenko, the relay team, which also included Andriy Deryzemlya, Serhiy Semenov, and Serguei Sednev, shot clean after the assistance of 10 spare rounds to finish with a combined time of 1:16:41.9.

“I just tried to shoot and ski my best today” said anchor Serguei Sednev, “But on the last loop, I was hoping I could catch Ivan, but he was much stronger and I fell back. Still I am very happy to have this medal.”

The US team had a superlative day. The squad which also included Lowell Bailey, Jay Hakkinen, and Tim Burke, all performed well. With the fifth best leg time, and just two extra shots at the standing shooting Burke stayed up front and handed over to Nordgren with the team in 8th place.

“I think that was our best relay ever and a strong team effort,” said Burke. “I felt pretty good on the track and am happy about my shooting. We did work on that a bit over the last days, so I feel quite confident right now.”

The team utilized 14 spare rounds to finish with a time of 1:16:52.0, less than 2/100 of a second out of 5th.

“I guess I worked not that hard the first two loops because I always was able to follow someone,” said Nordgren, “So I still had some energy left on the final loop. First I passed the Austrian and then I stayed with [Germany’s] Greis until the last uphill and then attacked.” – read a recent SkiTrax interview with Nordgren here.

The Canadian foursome of Brendan Green, Scott Perras, Jean Philippe Leguellec, and Nathan Smith exhibited the best joint shooting performance of the field finishing 11th overall.

The Canadians missed no targets after using just 6 spare rounds. Their final time of 1:17:50.5 left them 1:36 out of a podium spot after finding themselves in 7th place at one point in the race.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Norway (0+2, 2+8) 1:16:13.9
2. Russia (0+5, 0+3) 1:16:27.3
3. Ukraine (0+4, 0+6) 1:16:41.9

6. USA (0+6, 0+8) 1:16:52.0
11. Canada (0+4, 0+2) 1:17:50.5