March 11, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – The members of the Canmore Nordic Ski Club welcome skiers to the 2011 Haywood Ski Nationals from March 11-19. This will the 84th running of the Canadian National Ski Championships and a dedicated team of volunteers and sponsors have worked hard to make it the best nationals ever!

Canmore has a long history of hosting national and international ski competitions and they’re pulling out all the stops to make this a truly memorable week for athletes, coaches, officials, parents and ski aficionados from around the continent.

The Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park is home to world class ski trails and the best training and racing facilities in the country. When you’re done skiing, you’ll have time to explore the vibrant town and experience Canmore’s legendary hospitality.

We also hope that you will join us for the Canmore Ski Nationals Community Celebrations 2011 presented by the Canmore Destination Marketing Fund and Canmore Downtown Business Association in cooperation with Canmore Nordic Centre. The celebration will include a snow track down main street (with free ski rentals from Trial Sports), the Haywood Ski Nationals Welcome Ceremony, a block party, fun races, dog sledding and more!

To finish off a great week of racing, the Ski Nationals banquet promises a night to remember at the world famous Banff Springs Hotel- Ski Gala 2011!

See you at the 2011 Haywood Ski Nationals in Canmore, Alberta!

Schedule of Races & Events
—————————————————–
March 12 – 10:00 am – Team Sprint Freestyle (Open, Challenge, CCUNC)

March 13 – 10:00 am – Interval Start, Free Technique, Middle Distance Race (Able-bodied categories)
March 13 – 1:00 pm – Para-Nordic categories

March 15 – 10:00 am – Interval Start, Classic Technique, Middle Distance Race (Able-bodied categories)
March 15 – 1:00 pm – Para-Nordic categories
March 16 – 9:30 am – Sprint Qualification- Classic (Junior & Senior, Men & Women)
March 16 – 12:30 pm – Sprint Heats

March 17 – 9:30 am – Sprint Qualification- Classic (Junior & Juvenile, Boys & Girls, Para-Nordic)
March 17 – 12:30 pm – Sprint Heats

March 19 – 10:00 am – Mass Start, Free Technique, Long Distance Race (Able-bodied categories)
March 19 – 1:00 pm – Para-Nordic categories

March 11, 2011 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – Fast snow was a pleasant surprise on day 6 of the Sparkling Hill Masters World Cup as many competitors who took part in today’s races commented that their tired legs, from previous days of racing, were helped along by the conditions.

Catharine Pendrel and Nikki Kassel both made the most of the fast snow to lead them into gold medal positions in the 30km Freestyle women’s F01 (30-34) and F02 (35-39) races. Pendrel (1:35:07.6) won her category with a lead of 5:59 and Kassel (1:28:18.0) with a lead of 2:59.

“I had a good day on the skis,” said Pendrel. “I pushed hard, but wasn’t able to go as fast as I had hoped so it was very nice to know the two women that put around 10 minutes into me were Olympic Nordic skiers twice.”

But the fastest women in today’s 30km freestyle was American Laura McCabe with a time of 1:22:5 followed by fellow Yank, Leslie Hall, with the time of 1:26. Hall won the F04 (45-50) category. Trina Hosmer added more US gold taking first place in the women’s (65-70) category.

Hosmer competed at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo Japan.  “It was amazing conditions today. The snow was very fast,” said Hosmer, “I knew I was tired, and I just had to ski it and hoped I would do ok.”

The fastest time in the men’s 45km freestyle race was by veteran Canadian former National team member, Donald Farley, finishing in 1:55:50. The top finisher across the line in the men’s 45km freestyle 55-60 category was Guido Masiero (Italy). He had a good race and thought that maybe the other competitors were tired commenting that the course was a “…very good environment. The hills were hard.”

Canada’s Alfred Parsons from Newfoundland won gold in the 60-65 category while Kent Murdoch (USA) took first in the men’s 45-49 freestyle 45km race.

Full results HERE.

March 10, 2011   – I Was MIA as I was at the Birkie for a bit of racing fun myself. Two years in a row doing a one week road trip with friends, taking off from the Gatineau Loppet to Cable, Wisconsin. Kind of came back in the middle of the Nordic Worlds and decided to just watch every morning. Here are some random thoughts.

First off I wasn’t surprised by the medal won by Devon [Kershaw] and Alex [Harvey]. I expected a medal, it was just a matter of what color. These two are a dynamic team and should be able to do this for a number of more years. Why? They do both techniques well, they can sprint and do distances well and they are both now good at race tactics. I hope they don’t get bored and start fooling around with the line-up like the Norwegians did. The only reason would be if Devon can bring more speed to the table, but I have a feeling Alex has the better top end in both techniques. Bravo to you guys for the excellent all around effort.

Now for the Norwegians and their odd ball line-up of running Northug 1st andHattestad 2nd – we can only surmise the rational for doing this. My thinking is that the other teams supposedly would put their weakest skier first and that Northug was to dominate the heats and kill these guys off and then Hattestad could coast to the win. Well the Finns were having none of that from the get-go and because the first skier would be the 2nd worst skier in each National Team there wasn’t much difference between the #1 and #2 skiers anyway. It almost looked like Northug was hanging on. The first leg each lap was 3-4 seconds faster than the 2nd lap – that’s  how fast they were going. You can say it back-fired for the Norwegians but I don’t think so, I feel Devon’s big improvement this year has been his ability to be thinking in races and make good tactical decisions. You could see this many times in the TdS.

Now for the debacle over Alex’s refusal to race the relay. It was a team decision that took place in a room somewhere and it didn’t sit very well with the team. In the future all of those feelings should stay in that room – the coach should deal with them when it comes to the press. A big mistake by all the big blabber mouths that took it out of the room. Like I said above, with the hundreds of press people prowling around the Norwegians you still don’t know what their strategy was for the team sprint – they kept it in the ROOM.

A lot of commentary on the crowds at Holmenkollen and rightfully so! It is an experience like none other in our sport. But, was it bigger and better than the Olympics in Lillehammer in ’94? I would call it a tie at best. There were  a lot of 100,000 days in Lillehammer, but those people made a huge effort to come by bus, car and train from a fair distances to be there. They didn’t have Oslo with it’s hundreds of thousands of spectators just at the bottom of the hill in walking distance. I wasn’t in both places, but I did see the show in Lillehammer and the organization to pull this off was truly impressive as it was on TV this year. A tie like I say.

How I saw the NA Teams doing:

The Americans were flat again, as they were in Vancouver, and they need to change up their program leading into the these big games. There is a 4-5 week break coming into the games from the last WC and the US skiers essentially are on their own for that period. They should get a week at home – get the laundry done, see the other half, and then back into a camp at altitude in the states or Europe – I would choose Europe as you get over the jet lag early and you have a huge race calendar to choose from. The way they have been doing it let’s them decompress too much back into a training fitness level. It’s still the racing season and you have to stay very near that level. Don’t let it get away. Also, the social angle at home is totally different from the social atmosphere in a training/competition camp. Yes, the break is fun, but you are professionals now and winter is competition time – summer is when you need to be home.

The Canadians on the other hand, were OK with their preparation only it wasn’t done as a team as much as it should have been. People were pretty spread out – not good. Also, some of the skiers were on dead-end missions, not being really ready to be at the Worlds. I’m sure they know who they are.

I thought it was cool that the Canadian Ladies 10km Classic was a tryout for the team sprint and it looks like it was the right two skiers as they placed 6th, one of the few highlights for the women. There is way more training and full time racing that needs to be done with the women’s program.

Short Summary of both teams:
– Sprints – both teams got beat up in the individual sprints – although Harvey 7th, Newell 10th and Valjas 15th is OK but it had the potential to be way better. NA girls – get a YUK!
– Pursuit – US 3 in top 30 – Canada another YUK!
– 10km C – US ladies again 3 in top 30 – Canada a real big YUK!!
– 15km CL – NA skiers – YUK and YUK!
– Team Sprint – NA ladies – 6th Can and 10th US – verrrry good – Men – Can GOLD – US 10th
– 30km – US 4 ladies 16th-25th cool – Can – collects anther YUK!
– 50km – CAN with Harvey 5th and Babs in 17th – very good – Hoffman’s 30th saves the US men from a YUK!

Both teams have talent, but it is very shallow right across the board – 3 years to Sochi and counting.

I here rumors about bringing another Norwegian coach to Canada! Not an additional coach, but one to replace one of the present coaches. Let’s be clear here, this has never worked and I’m talking all the way back to the 70s with a huge number of these guys having been here and really never leaving anything, but bad vibes. The only success this program has had is under the leadership of Canadian and American coaches over all those years. Don’t waste the discussion time, the money, or the effort to find this person. Of course this is coming from the athletes.

Holmenkollen looks magnificent on TV, the trail system is very modern and works well for the racing formats. It is definitely wide enough to provide fair races with all the mass starts for passing and numbers of people skiing side by side.They definitely did not spare the $$$ – just love it.

Good Luck to everyone at both National Championships!

Talk to you soon!
misterxc@aol.com

March 10, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Leif Nordgren of the US Biathlon team has had a pair of breakout races at the 2011 IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Placing 26th and 21st in the Sprint and Individual competitions respectively, the young American pulled off consecutive career bests on the most important stage of the Biathlon World Cup circuit. SkiTrax caught up with Nordgren to talk about everything biathlon, including his results, the team, and the future.

Congrats on your great result in 20km individual race – tell us how things unfolded and how your race went.
Leif Nordgren: This week has been pretty crazy. After my 26th place in the Sprint race, I thought for sure that was it, I wasn’t going to get any higher. But I put a good race together in the Individual too so that was cool. My race was almost perfect – I had good enough skiing, I was just taking it easy behind Lars Berger for a few loops, and through the first three shooting stages I had hit all my targets. I was starting to get a little tired going into the last stage though, I got away with only one penalty. But it was definitely a fight for each shot.

You’re in your first full year on the World Cup Circuit – what do you attribute to your fast development?
LN: I’ve been steered in a good direction by my coaches Per [Nillson] and Armin the last couple of years. I have great teammates like Tim [Burke] and Lowell [Bailey] to train with, they are 100% professional the way they go about their training. I’ve learned a lot of things just watching them, and they’re always keen to give me any advice when I need it. But even with all that help, you still have to have a desire to work hard. I love training and improving myself, but when the good results come, it makes it a lot more fun to train even harder.

Your results at the IBU World Championships are your best by far this season. Did you make any changes or approach these races differently than the others?
LN: I think with me it’s just a process. I’ve had a few good results this year, but I would always be eager for more. A little high strung maybe. I think I’m just now realizing there are a lot of things that it takes to put a good biathlon race together. I’ve seen those things here and there this season, but this week I’ve been able to combine them all.

Being the youngest member of the men’s team, what kind of advice have you received from the veterans who have experienced every level?
LN: Most of the time if I have a bad race I will freak out about it and spend hours analyzing and searching the places where I can improve. Possibly the most important thing I’ve learned this year from the older guys is just to chill out… there will be more races, more opportunities. Of course it’s good to look at your race and analyze your mistakes, but it’s also smart to keep everything in its place.

With these great results have your expectations changed going forward…?
LN: No, not really. I’ve a had a few ok results yes, but for me there’s still a long way to go – a lot of development and hard work that needs to take place. I don’t want to just win a race and have that be the highlight of my career… I want to be at the top for a long time, to be consistent. That’s the most important thing I think, consistency. It will still be a few years until I get to that level. And biathlon is only going to get more competitive, so who knows, I may never make it there. Perhaps it’s more about the journey you take than the final outcome…

What do you hope to accomplish in your career in the sport of biathlon?
LN: To be the best and to inspire people the same way I’ve been inspired.

Good luck with the rest of the championships and this season.
LN: Thanks Clark!

March 10, 2011 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – Russia showed their strength once again at the Sparkling Hill Masters World Cup taking six golds, as competitors battled it out in the 4x5km classic-free relays on Wednesday. The U.S. walked away with five first place wins while Canada scored one gold.

Barry Makarewicz, Rune Harkestad, Kent Murdoch and Shaun Marchall-Pryde led the Americans in their first gold medal of the day winning the M04 (45-49) category with a lead of 2:27 against the pursuing Russian team.

“Barry laid the foundation for all of us,” said Harkestad. “Barry and I, if we could stay with it we were safe.” Teammate Marchall-Pryde was equally pleased adding, “I got the easy part today. They did all the work. All the guys had good legs. Barry got us started and in a good spot.”

J.D. Downing (American XC Skiers) speaks about the U.S. men’s team race.

The women’s races were led by the U.S. winning three of the four relays. Laura McCabe and Leslie Hall were joined by Angela Robinson and Beth Thomas to show their Russian counterparts they could take the lead and win gold in the F02 (35-39) category.

This was repeated in the F04 (45-49) with Trina Hosmer, Linda Mcclatchy, Carolyn Senty and June Lane winning gold. In the women’s F03 (40-44) Americans Muffy Rice, Ginny Price, Maria Allen and Rosalyn Singleton came in 28 seconds ahead of the Canadian women’s team.

Canada got on the gold scoreboard as their women defeated the Russians and US teams in the women’s F01 category (30-34) with two prior gold medalists Nikki Kassel and Marta Green joined by Doris Hausleitner and Nikki Norrie.

“It was a fast start,” said Kassel who followed a Russian skier. Then Hausleitner tagged in, “I came and caught the Russian and had a little gap on her.” Hausleitner was followed by Norrie who did the skating and “never saw the Russian after that.”

Norrie tagged in Green who described the race as “… all fun after that.”

Full results HERE.

March 09, 2011 (Minneapolis, MN) – On race morning, coaches and athletes awoke to an inch of fresh, wet snow and temps hovering around freezing.  Wet snow flurries continued throughout the day, while temps rose slightly, making for glazed tracks.  Prior to the first race of the morning – the Boy’s J2 competition – the atmosphere around the wax trailers was frenzied.

By later in the day, the level of panic had abated for most, as zero skis had established themselves as the clear choice. Of the six winners of the day, five were on zeros. As J1 champion Logan Hanneman (FAST) put it, “Zeros were the money.”

Understandably, most juniors in the competition don’t own their own pair of zeros. Most regions had anticipated this challenge and had begged and borrowed enough zeros to outfit most of their skiers. In fact, a number of racers tried zeros for the very first time just prior to racing.

J1 third-place finisher, Annie Hart, a Dartmouth skier, and J1 Scando Cup veteran, had never tried zeros before today. She adjusted wonderfully. “I just had to tell myself ‘these are going to work’ and they did.”  Though Annie noted the skis’ different feel on the downhills, she said they were “golden.”

Sharing skis was not without its disadvantages. Since the J1 boys race and OJ boys race were run back-to-back, and these athletes needed similarly stiff skis, coaches were kept very busy. They retrieved skis from the J1s at the finish line, applied a new top-coat of flouros, and handed them off to the OJs at the start. The other clear disadvantage was that some regions did not have access to zero skis; as athletes hit Wirth Park’s hills, it was clear some could not compete because of their wax.

At least one skier succeeded on a waxed kick zone; Marion Woods of Alaska Winter Stars won the J2 girls race on wax. Marion, who spent much of the race at the front of the pack, pulled away from runner-up Heidi Halvorsen (Green Mountain Valley School) in the last kilometer. While she didn’t know exactly what wax her coaches had used, she called it “something magic.”  In the finish area, Woods’ joy from her success was evident in her glowing face. It seems that Woods’ happiness was shared by many of her competitions – she received and gave a barrage of hugs and well wishes immediately after her finish.

Both the J2 girls and the J2 boys raced only five kilometers, making much of the race a crowded scramble. In both races, falls occurred on the second corner leaving the stadium. Both Woods and Far West’s Laurel Fiddler (who was involved in a crash) concurred that “there was a lot of skiing out of the tracks” as skiers tried to find space to get around.

For the boy’s J2 race, Hamish McEwen (Cambridge Sports Union) captured his second win of the championships, pulling away from 2nd place Tyler Foulkes (Stratton Mountain School) on the race’s final climb.

The story of the boy’s J2 race was Midwest’s Harris Dirnberger (Hopkins HS), who took third place despite significant adversity.  In the early part of the race, Dirnberger was herring-boning in traffic when a competitor’s ski snagged his, releasing his binding and pulling off the ski. Dirnberger chased down the ski, put it back on, and got back into  the race. This was a jaw-dropping race for Dirnberger as he did not even qualify for the Minnesota State Championships in February.

The third repeat winner of the day was Hanneman, who led Alaska’s strong performance in the J1 race. He went earlier than planned, about 2 kilometers into the last lap, and inadvertently built a little gap on a herringbone climb. Then he seized the opportunity to take the lead.

Near the finish, Hanneman turned to see Alaskan teammate Issac Lammers in second place, and  “knew it was going to be a good day for Alaska” as the state placed five athletes in the top ten: Hanneman, Lammers, Forrest Mahlen, Kyle Barnhart, and Jack Novak.

Issac Lammers (Alaska Nordic Racing) said he was “ecstatic” with his result.  Lammers’ second place is his first significant national result and also a big step forward from his recent sixth place at the Alaska State Championships.  He gave a lot of credit to the zeros he borrowed from his club, which he tested just 10 minutes before the race. Clearly delighted with his performance and his skis, he summed it up: “Great race! Great race! Great race!”

Local favorite Ben Saxton (Minnesota Valley), the Minnesota State Champion, rounded out the podium for J1 boys despite breaking a pole on the first lap. “Breaking a pole actually forced me to pace myself,” said Saxton.

Girls J1 winner Corey Stock is no stranger to the top step of the podium at the Junior Olympics, having earned four golds at last year’s championships.  Yet Stock’s win this season is more impressive given that she had surgery for compartment syndrome and did not return to racing until January.  Since missing the early season excluded her from the Scando Cup or Junior Worlds, Corey made the Junior Olympics her focus. “It was my major goal to win this race.  I have been thinking about it all year.  It’s the grand finale.”

Heather Mooney of Stratton Mountain School brought home the J1 silver. She was followed by Steamboat Springs’ Michaela Fria, who took a number of turns at the front during the race.

The girls and boys OJ races were characterized by large-margin victories.

OJ David Sinclair (Dartmouth College) won his race by 37 seconds. He dropped all but Skyler Davis at three kilometers and built a 15-second gap by 5 kilometers.  Sinclair skied fast enough this season to qualify for NCAAs but could not attend due to the three-per-team rule. With that in mind, Sinclair targeted JOs.  Despite his formidable lead, Sinclair he says he, “kept hammering” because his “major goal of this season was to win this race.”

Silas Talbot (Alaska Winter Stars) claimed second, eight seconds ahead of Chris Stock (Cambridge Sports Union). New England put eight skiers in the top-10 for OJ Boys.

In 2006, Jessie Diggins, then a J2, attended her first Junior Olympics in Soldier Hollow. Although she won both the 5km freestyle and the skate sprint, she finished a disappointing 7th in the classic race.  She says, “My technique was horrible. You could hear my skis slapping behind me around the course.”

This year’s classic race “went a whole lot better.”  The pack stayed with Diggins early on, but she broke away and increased her lead to 36 seconds by the line.  Even with Diggins’ World Championships experience, she says she still gets nervous.  “Actually, in some ways there is more pressure, more expectations at this race. I still get nervous, but I’m better at dealing with that now.”

Athletes Mary Cirelli (Mountain Top Nordic Ski Club) and Anne Hart (Dartmouth) finished second and third.

Full results HERE.

March 09, 2011 (Stowe, VT) – It was a home sweet home day for eastern skier Sam Tarling of Dartmouth College as he took first in the Men’s 10km free technique race on day one of the NCAA Championships held at Trapp Family Lodge, edging out two skiers from out west.

The University of Colorado’s (CU) Vegard Kjoelhamar placed second while Miles Havlick from the University of Utah took third on Wednesday. Tarling finished the race in 26:05.7 with Kjoelhamar not far behind in 26:10.3 and Havlick coming in 1.5s later in 26:11.8.

In the women’s 5km freestyle race a jubilant Maria Graefnings of the University of Utah took first with a time of 13:51.9 besting two skiers from CU, Eliska Hajkova in second  (14:01.7) and Joanne Reid in third (14:32.0).

This week’s D1 NCAA competition is the equivalent of the “final four” in collegiate skiing. The University of Vermont in conjunction with Stowe Mountain Resort & Trapp Family Lodge have been past hosts to six NCAA Skiing Championships, most recently in 2005.

With day one of four of the Championships completed without a hitch – in amazingly sunny weather to boot – the University of Colorado holds first place overall between the freestyle cross-country and GS alpine events.

Full women’s results HERE.
Full men’s results HERE.

March 09, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Helena Ekholm was the only racer to shoot clean in the women’s 15km Individual at the IBU Worlds in Khanty-Mansiysk on Wednesday, claiming the gold in a time of 47:08.3. Ekholm’s time put her an astounding 2:15.8 ahead of Silver medalist Tina Bachman of Germany, propelling her to a share of the yellow bib with Kaisa Mäkäräinen.

“I was quite nervous on the shooting range, because when the wind comes and goes, even if it is not there right now, you get prepared for it and tense up,” Ekholm remarked about the conditions according to an IBU report, “So I tried not to rush the shots away.”

Bachman took silver with just her second podium finish of her career, the first coming in the 2008/2009 season at very same venue. Bachman hit 18 of her 20 targets to finish with a time of 49:24.1.

“The race today and two years ago, I had no pressure. That made me a little bit relaxed and so I was able to make a good race,” Bachman said.

Rounding out the podium was first time Worlds medalist Vita Semerenko of Ukraine. Semerenko, who was not slated to start until earlier in the day, missed three shots to finish in a time of 50:00.4.

“I was nervous before the start, watching everyone. I do not like to start so late (#82). Then coming into the final standing stage, I was thinking about the podium,” said Semerenko, “I knew I had to shoot well. Missing those two shots was very disappointing, but it all worked out.”

Sara Studebaker of the United States continued her breakout season with a 17th place finish. The result ties the second best finish her career after her 14th place effort at this year’s Presque Isle World Cup. Studebaker missed two shots for a time of 52:37.8. Laura Spector finished 44th after a 6-miss race that gave her a time of 56:19.2. Annalies Cook came in 67th, missing seven targets to finish in a time of 58:59.2, while Haley Johnson followed close behind, placing 68th after an 8-miss performance.

“I was really happy to have such a good day in these conditions. I focused on making each shot good, so I took a lot of time in the range to wait for the wind, but in the end it was worth it,” said Studebaker in a US Biathlon report, “My skiing was ok – it definitely took me a couple loops to really find my stride, but then I was able to pick things up and have a great finish.”

Canada’s lone racer, Zina Kocher, finished 43rd, hitting 13 of 20 targets to finish with a time of 56:11.0.

Results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Helena Ekholm, SWE (0+0+0+0) 47:08.3
2. Tina Bachmann, GER (0+2+0+0) 49:24.1
3. Vita Semerenko, UKR (1+0+0+2) 50:00.4

17. Sara Studebaker, USA (0+1+0+1) 52:37.8
43. Zina Kocher, CAN (2+3+0+2) 56:11.0
44. Laura Spector, USA (1+2+1+2) 56:19.2
67. Annalies Cook, USA (0+3+1+3) 58:59.2
68. Haley Johnson, USA (1+3+1+3) 59:02.5

March 09, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Sorry for the delay but we ended up with very slow internet connections over the final few days of the Oslo competitions, and also traveling home made for more sketchy internet connections. Here are some last impressions about our final days in Oslo.

Women’s Relay – Day 9
Back to the races – on site! The end of the World Championships is approaching which means it’s time for the relays and the final “King” and “Queen” of the distance races. Over the past few days there have been some holes in the crowd as many fans have had to return to work or school but tickets are more or less sold-out for rest of the Championships and we expect some intense racing!

As mentioned before, we have observed great sportsmanship here and while skiers are certainly competitive and driven, they are also very gracious and dare I say “normal” people despite their status. As journalists here we have seen what’s been written and how it was written, as well as the athletes in action, on the trails, and at the press conferences and there is somewhat of a difference.

The headlines do not always give the true picture, though it seems that some controversy can be good for the sport since we seem to survive the headlines. It’s only natural that some characteristics of a skier are either highlighted or ignored and skiers sometimes exchange words with each other that seem unnecessary – but taken out of context these things are sometimes made into a bigger deal than the skiers themselves think they are.

Aside from watching the races and enjoying the incomparable level of energy in the stadium, after a “recovery” dinner, we ventured over to the Finnish Team’s hotel to have a celebratory piece of cake with the medal winners, their teammates, and the coaching staff – see more photos HERE.

We also caught up with Andreas Bennert from One Way:

Men’s Relay – Day 10
We thought yesterday was crazy and loud (Women’s Relay). But Wow – today was even louder. Are these Norwegian fans just getting “warmed-up”? Today’s racing was unbelievable!! (but you’re all aware of the results already, so I will not go into detail. Suffice it to say that this race also required spectators to go find recovery food and drink after the competition. Whew.

Before the race started a group of old guys walked into the stadium. They looked like they were familiar with all of the hoopla… in fact, they looked very familiar. They were none other than Oddvar Brå, Harald Gronningen, Tormod Knutsen, Gjermund Eggen, Odd Martinsen and Vladimir Smirnoff!

Those guys hold more medals than any group you could possibly find “by accident” on the race-course. This is definitely the mecca of Nordic skiing. Thomas Alsgaard was a regular commentator on NRK (Norwegian TV), Bente Skari was Chief of Competition, Yelena Välbe was seen regularly (she is coaching now), Björn Daehlie was hanging out… and this is just to name a few of the medal winners and former World Cup and Olympic skiers that were at Holmenkollen.

Here are some of the folks we sought-out/ran into today.

Finnish Member of FIS

Chief of Competition – John Aalberg

Catching up with Atomic’s Roman Toferer

Taking a look inside the Norwegian wax truck with Knut Nystad

Chatting with Marit Bjoergen’s personal wax tech

Wrap Up
The races were followed up with some Italian food with our cousin/niece. Ritva balanced out the racing excitement with a trip to a concert with her cousin (Tord Gustavsen – Norwegian jazz musician – if you like jazz, especially piano jazz, I recommend looking up this guy and/or his trio – the music takes you to another place).

The concert was held in Oslo’s Cathedral (more info HERE), which recently re-opened after some renovations. The church is beautiful, but the pews sure are hard to sit on after a day of running around Holmenkollen!

On Saturday morning, Ahvo returned to the US for the Junior Olympic action while I stayed in Oslo, but opted to stay in town and take in the excitement from another vantage point. Part of me wishes I had gone up to the race course as the sun finally came out but I opted to try something new. My flight on Sunday left early enough in the evening that I had to read up about the 50km later.

The trails will seem a bit quieter after this experience, but I think it is safe to say that both Ahvo and I have some really fond memories of this trip. I know that he has wanted to watch the Word Championships in Norway for a long time (15 or more years), and I decided that I wanted to watch the WC in Norway after watching his videos from the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994 and experiencing a little Nordic World Ski Championships in 1995 when the whole family went to the WC in Thunder Bay.

I am still trying to figure out if this want/need to go to Holmenkollen for the WC is a result of nature or nurture. I doubt that any country can stage the Nordic Worlds as well as the Norwegians can, and I have a hard time imagining that there could be a more ski-crazy nation. I also wonder who makes the Norwegian flags… they must have a pretty fat checkbook by now.

At this point I would also like to mention the hotel that we stayed at – the Hotel Guldsmeden Carlton Oslo (more info HERE). The hotel was on the smaller side and has only been open since about October. They are currently polishing off a spa in the basement and have very comfortable rooms, a tasty breakfast buffet and nice location not too far from the harbor, public transportation and Oslo center.

The staff were fantastic during our stay. I have never met a more hospitable and friendly group of hotel staff in all of my travels. Should you be traveling to Oslo in the near future, check this place out and say hi to the hotel manager Kim (who speaks impeccable English and is actually from Denmark).

For a quick look around the lobby with Kim, check out this video:

That’s it for now! We hope you all have enjoyed reading about our adventures (and secrets) and also hope that at least some of the excitement from this event has been transferred to you through our coverage here at SkiTrax. An event like this is an excellent reminder of the many positive things that can be experience and absorbed from our sport.

Keep on skiing!

March 08, 2011 (Cable, Wisconsin) – Telemark Partners, LLC is pleased to announce that the world famous Telemark Resort, in Cable Wisconsin, will remain open.  Telemark’s rebirth as a destination resort for outdoor enthusiasts will be managed by Telemark Partners, LLC.

Ric Ahern and Steve Kaufman, the principals at Telemark Partners, reported that, “Putting this deal together has been a marathon much like the world famous American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race which calls Telemark home.  The negotiations have had their ups and downs and seemed to be never ending. Now we have reached the finish line in the acquisition and we feel that we are all winners!”

Telemark Resort, under the Management of Telemark Partners, was reopened Jan, 20th 2011 in time for the American Birkebeiner providing outdoor enthusiasts from around the world a warm welcome and comfortable rooms, food services, groomed Nordic trails, an indoor pool, spa and numerous other amenities.

An agreement to purchase the property from Dick Short’s Glance Inc. has been reached with Paul Eckerline and Telemark Partners to operate the resort. The closing is scheduled for April 1st. The partnership will now move forward and explore the many opportunities for the future of the resort. More news will be coming soon.

The partners state, “Telemark’s foundation is sound and its brand is unique and world famous.” Telemark is a resort that greets thousands of guests each February as they arrive to participate and celebrate the Birkie.  The flashing beacon on Mt. Telemark lets them know that they have arrived someplace special. The resort both figuratively and literally warms its guest’s hearts with its massive stone fireplace and the warm welcome and hospitality of its staff. Telemark’s solid foundation and unique brand equity will provide a firm base on which to once again build a profitable and sustainable enterprise.

Telemark, named after the Telemark region of Norway, was founded in 1946 by Tony Wise as one of America’s first alpine ski areas.  In 1973 Tony started the American Birkebeiner, modeled after the Norwegian race of the same name.  The current lodge, which sits amid Telemark’s 1100 plus acres of beautiful rolling and tree covered hills, was built in 1972.

By that time, Telemark had become the centerpiece of cross-country skiing in America and a destination for skiers worldwide.  In addition to the Birkie, Telemark traditionally hosts numerous regional, national and international cross-country skiing, cycling and running events annually. The Chequamegon Fat Tire (Mtn Bike) Festival has gained a reputation for fun and furious competition.

To make Telemark your destination, once and again, call 715-798-3400 or 888-757-1943 for room reservations.

March 08, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Norwegian biathlon stud, Tarjei Boe, continued his campaign for the yellow bib with a strong first place finish in Tuesday’s 20km Individual at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk. Boe missed just one shot to finish with time of 48:29.9.

“To win in the relay with your friends is very special, but this first individual gold medal in the World Championships has a more special feeling. I was happy to win the relay but when I win alone it is more emotional; a special moment for me,” said an elated Boe in an IBU release.

Russia’s Maxim Maksimov took silver, finishing 40 seconds behind Boe after a clean day of shooting. Maksimov’s podium finish marks his first since the 2007/2008 season, and the first for the home country at these World Championships.

“This medal is more meaningful for me than my first one in Östersund, especially since it is in Russia. Our whole Russian team has felt great pressure, because we are supposed to do our best here and get more wins here in Russia,” Maksimov told Biathlonworld.com.

Christoph Sumann of Austria captured the final podium spot with the seventh bronze of his career. The 35-year-old hit 19 of his 20 targets to finish with a time of 49:15.4.

“It feels quite good after this long hard season and all of the problems,” Sumann said of the parasite that struck his team earlier in the year, “The first week of the championships was very disappointing for our team. Our goal was to win one medal and it is done now…this is good for me and the whole team…now we can go on and win some more in the relay and mass start.”

Leif Nordgren led the Americans, topping his career best finish from earlier in the week placing 21st. Nordgren missed just one shot to finish with a time of 51:21.1.

“That was really impressive. Throughout the whole season Leif continuously got better from race to race so we’re not that surprised about the result,” said High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler in a US Biathlon release, “But to be on the top of your game at the most important event in the whole winter, that really demands for good preparation and mental strength.”

Tim Burke placed 30th with a 3-miss performance and a time of 52:13.9. Coming in 78th was Lowell Bailey, who hit 14 targets for a time of 56:17.3. Jay Hakkinen finished close behind with a 6-miss performance that put him in 80th place.

Scott Perras posted the top Canadian result, hitting 17 of his 20 shots to finish 49th with a time of 53:37.4. Brendan Green placed 64th after a 4-miss race that gave him a time of 55:01.6, and Nathan Smith finished 85th after hitting 14 targets.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Tarjei Boe, NOR (0+0+1+0) 48:29.9
2. Maxim Macksimov, RUS (0+0+0+0) 49:09.9
3. Christoph Sumann, AUT (0+0+0+1) 49:15.4

21. Lief Nordgren, USA (0+0+0+1) 51:21.1
30. Tim Burke, USA (1+1+0+1) 52:13.9
49. Scott Perras, CAN (2+1+0+0) 53:37.4
78. Lowell Bailey, USA (1+3+2+0) 56:17.3
80. Jay Hakkinen, USA (1+1+2+2) 56:29.2
85. Nathan Smith, CAN (2+2+0+2) 57:45.4

March 08, 2011 (Vernon, BC) – Monday was the biggest day of racing at the Sparkling Hill Masters World Cup with 405 Canadians gracing start lines out of 1,000 racers competing in the short distance races – 5km and 10km – for either classic or freestyle technique.

“Perfect sunny skies, blue conditions and the tracks held up really well,” described American top master skier and former Olympian, Laura McCabe, of the near perfect conditions.

McCabe had another great day of racing winning silver in the women’s F03 10km CL at 9s behind the fastest woman of the classic races, Russian Liliya Vasilyva with a time of 31:26. “She gapped me by three feet on the downhill, and I just couldn’t quite get it back, but it was a good race,” she added.

Fellow American Leslie Hall took her second gold in the women’s F04 10km classic race on Monday in 33:14 ahead of two Canadians, Sheila Kealey with a time of 33:54 and Marg Fedyna who finished in 34:42.

The men’s 10km classic fastest time went to Biagio Di Santo of Italy (30-34) who finished in 28:16 while the freestyle overall male title went to Pavel Petr of the Czech Republic (40-44) in 25:24.

The fastest US male in classic racing was Eric Martin in 28:26, finishing ahead of Canadian Stephan Desfosses in 29:44.

The USA’s Nathan Schultz posted the best North American freestyle finish with the quickest time of 26:08 while Canadian Michele Labrie posted the second fastest NA time in 27:11.

“It was a great course, and a great day,” said Canuck William Gardner of his M09 (70-74) 10km classic race . “Everything was great. The snow was perfect.”

Canada’s Nancy Burden had a superb race, leading by two minutes in the 45-49 category with the fastest female freestyle race time. “I wanted to be right at the front, but not push too hard and then as soon as I get into the hills, that’s my strength… as soon as there’s climbing, then just start to wind it up. That was my approach.”

Local skiers continue to show their home town advantage, with Pat Pearce scoring her second gold in the women’s classic (55-59) and Marta Green taking gold in the 10km freestyle (30-34).

“It was a really tough race today, but very exciting,” said Pearce. “The conditions are absolutely perfect. I could go up every hill the way I like to.

“I absolutely feel that I have an advantage. I know the course, I know where I can pick up speed, I know where I can relax. I feel like it’s been a big advantage.”

Local Olympian Joe Derochie had the loudest fan club, drawing over 70 spectators to watch his race. Derochie was racing in the men’s freestyle (70-75) while his son Darren, also an Olympian, raced in the classic (40-44).

Derochie said “Me and the Swede fella worked one against another, and I caught him on a hill. My skis were well waxed. It was a good race.”

Day 3 Classic results HERE.
Day 3 Freestyle results coming

March 08, 2011 (Minneapolis, MN) – The 2011 Junior Olympics are underway in Minneapolis, running March 7-12. The event venue, Theodore Wirth Regional Park, highlights the vibrancy of skiing in a large metropolitan area for the first time in the history of the Nordic Junior Olympics. The week-long event provides opportunities for athletes, coaches and spectators to enjoy exciting race events, to socialize at spectacular venues, and to spend time together cheering along the courses.

The state of Nordic skiing in the Twin Cities and out-state regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin is alive and well with thousands of Nordic skiers in the communities. Minnesota’s Youth Ski League is one of the nation’s premier youth skiing programs with over 1,290 young skiers and the Minnesota State High School League state championship race is the largest state competition in the nation.

Day 1 Sprints
Monday’s Junior Olympic sprint competition at Wirth Park was a staggering success. After the noon qualifiers and early afternoon quarters, a select 72 skiers earned the right to compete under the lights in the evening’s semis and finals.

The night racing was uniquely special, as athletes competed on a lit course accented by luminaries and with a view of the Minneapolis skyline. In his post-race interview, boy’s J1 winner Logan Hanneman, called the venue, “Sick!” (a complement!). Hanneman, who has been around the world as a ski racer (Scando Cup team the last two years), especially wanted to praise the course and the volunteers, “It sounds cliché to complement the race, but in this case it’s legitimate. It’s sweet racing in a city environment.”

By the event’s 8:00 pm conclusion, six athletes had earned themselves the right to call themselves national champions. Not only did they win their final race of the night, but they also endured the pressure and fatigue of a long day at the venue, demonstrating more than just speed.

J2 boy’s winner, New England’s Hamish McEwen felt right at home at Wirth Park. McEwen, who took the overall win after qualifying in first position in the morning, calls the Weston Ski Track in Cambridge, Massachusetts home. Weston, located just outside of Boston, is a golf course with 15 kilometers of ski trails. Wirth Park, McEwen says, is “a lot like Weston.”

McEwen reports that he has done the training to back up his win. As he puts it, “I ski a lot” and estimated his training volume as being 450-500 hours last year.

Like McEwen, the other medalists in the boy’s J2 race, showed consistency through out the heats. Second place Thomas O’Harra (Alaska’s East HS) and third place Haakon Sigurslid (Rocky Mountain’s Durango HS) qualified in third and second respectively in the morning.

On paper, Marion Woods (Alaska’s Dimond HS) was a clear favorite in the girls J2 field. Though only a J2, she participated in this year’s Scando Cup J1 Trip, and was recently runner-up in the notoriously difficult Alaska State Championships. Nevertheless, after she crossed the line for the win in the final, she appeared delighted by what she had accomplished, and called JOs, “the ultimate in scale.” Behind Woods, New England scored critical points by putting two on the podium: Brooke Mooney (Stratton Mountain School) finished second after winning the morning’s qualification, and Heidi Halvorsen (Green Mountain Valley School) took third.

In the J1 boy’s field, Logan Hanneman (Lathrop HS) added another win to a successful season. Logan’s win, two weeks after his dominating win at the Alaska State Championships, is especially sweet given his health at this time last year. In 2010, he was unable to fulfill his end of season goals after he was diagnosed with mono around State Championships time. This year, his season started slowly (he had additional health problems in the fall), but now he finds himself peaking at the end of the season, in his words, “getting better and better” each day. Behind Hanneman were three Midwest skiers successfully representing their home region (second: Andy Dodds of Apple Valley HS, third: Kevin Bolger of Lakeland HS in Wisconsin, and fourth: Ben Saxton of Lakeville North HS.)

The girls J1 final was a show of dominance by New England. Heather Mooney (Stratton Mountain School) won by a decisive ten or so meters, and teammates Corey Stock (Cambridge Sports Union), Cambria McDermott (Stratton Mountain School), Tara Geraghty-Moats, and Rachel Hall (Stratton Mountain School) filled positions two through five. The group would not quite acknowledge that a sweep was their plan for the day, they said, “We knew we had the potential to do it. We woke up this morning ready to make the A-Final.”

Junior World Championships teammates and good friends Skylar Davis (Stratton Mountain School) and George Cartwright (High Plains, Northern Michigan University) knew it was likely to come down to one of the two of them for the win. Skylar acknowledged coming into the final really psyched; right before the final, he ate a Powerbar gel blast (cola), which “really got him going.” He made his move on the hill, gaining a few critical seconds on Cartwright and then held him off, although he was “completely spent in the lanes” and could hear people yelling for George, who finished second. Third went to the Midwest’s Ben Hugus, a Northern Michigan University skier, who won the Korteloppet two weeks ago.

For the hometown audience, the best race came last as Afton, Minnesota’s Jessie Diggins, recently returned home from the World Championships, lived up to her billing with a decisive win. Diggins was completely humble despite the triumphs of her 2011 season. She said that she had to “go all out,” and that she was happy to be competing against “such great girls. It’s a great privilege to race against them.” When asked to compare her experience at the Minneapolis Junior Olympics to her recent adventures at the Holmenkollen World Championships, she said, “Holmenkollen is cool, but a hometown crowd is even cooler.”

Full results HERE.

March 08, 2011 – Watch the Junior Olympics Relays next Saturday morning (March 12) and then join the fun! Young skiers (15 and under) from across the Midwest gather for an exciting weekend of ski games, relays, sprints and individual races. SkiBall and SkiX-c including the Skiter-Skotter (a teeter totter made for skis). Visit www.midwestjuniorchampionships.com for more information or to register your younger skiers. A great way to end the season on a high note and leave them looking for more.

Jessie Diggins (CXC Team Vertical Limit member) is going to be at the Championships helping out, signing posters and afterwards giving a slide show presentation to show the kids how fun skiing can be and the places you can travel.

“MYSL and kids programs have been such an awesome part of my life, and I’m really looking forward to skiing with and meeting Minnesota’s young skiers!” – Jessie Diggins.

March 07, 2011 (Vernon, BC) – Russia showed their strength on Sunday in the classic mass starts dominating the field in the second day of competition at the Sparkling Hill Masters World Cup, winning 11 golds out of 23 races. The first men’s Classic races (M01, M02, M03) were led by Russia’s Anton Shevchenko and Alexander Mindrin along with Pavel Petr of the Czech Republic.

The first American medal of the day went to Dan Streubel in the M02 category in third place. Canadian Donald Farley was pleased with his second place finish in the 30km Classic M03 category.

“It was a tough race, right from the start,” Farley told SkiTrax. “There’s a good uphill at 4km. We all attacked there, and the group separated. We ended up with three guys and we worked together until the last 5km. I lost ground to the Czech on the last uphill. He had more legs.”

Canadian Michel Labrei, 2nd in M04 race, told us, “The first guy was too strong for us. I skied with the third and the fourth. I skied alone the last 15km. It was a very nice course but with the snow it was very slow.”

The first American gold medal in the women’s 15km classic races went to Inge Scheve in the F02, who was followed in by her teammates Sann Sevanto and Marlene Farrell in second and third place.

US skier Ginny Price took first place in the F06 category while Canada’s Marg Fedyna topped the podium in the F04 competition with teammate Wieske Eikelenboom in second.

Canada finished with 13 medals on day two while the and Americans netted nine – full results HERE.

March 06, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – The skies remained clear, the temperature was just at the freezing point, the tracks were fast, and the fans were as crazy and fun as ever, as all of Norway prepared for the 50km freestyle race on the final day of the 2011 Nordic World Championships.

After 2 hours, 8 minutes and 9 seconds of top racing, it was the host country’s hero, Petter Northug who skied a smart and patient race for the gold. Of course he did what he always does when he can smell a finish line – he moves into a gear from another planet, flies by all of the competition as if he’s the only one going forward, and creates an insurmountable gap.

This time he did it to Russia’s Maxim Vylegzanin, who settled for the silver at 1.7 seconds back, and teammate Tord Asle Gjerdalen who skied in for the bronze, at 6.3 seconds behind.

Canada’s Alex Harvey had a phenomenal premiere performance at his first senior world championship 50km event scoring a photo-finish for fourth place with Norway’s Sjur Roethe and Germany’s Tobias Angerer.

In the end, the jury awarded Roethe fourth place (at 8 seconds back), Harvey ended up in 5th (at 8.2 seconds behind) and Angerer was 6th with the same time as Harvey. Fellow Canuck Ivan Babikov figured prominently in the race, aggressively breaking away at least twice, and staying at the front of the pack until the decisive break with under 5km to go, finishing in 17th at 50.2 seconds back.

Another fine day was had by American Noah Hoffman at his first world championships, staying with the lead pack until approximately 15km to go when he was dropped during one of the many attacks. The Hoff ended up 30th out of 82 starters at 4:38:7 minutes back – a phenomenal result for such a young skier.

“It was hard, but my energy seemed good. I was pretty psyched with how I felt. I lost a pole and to go up the big hill with one pole, that’s where I started getting dropped,” explained Hoffman in a USSA release. “I feel like there’s a lot more there sometime in the future. Those guys aren’t that fast.”

Teammate Lars Flora finished in 39th at 7:33.4 followed three seconds later by Tad Elliott in 40th at 7:36.8, with Nordic combined strongman, Billy Demong, in 51st at 11:57.9

Chris Grover, U.S. Ski Team XC Head Coach was thrilled with the team’s skiing and Hoffman’s result telling SkiTrax, “We felt that it was a great race for Noah. He has emerged this season as a top distance skier for the US now and in the future. I thought he skied very well for someone at his first WM. Tad and Lars were also very solid and Tad also has many years of development and gaining experience in front of him. Overall I was very impressed by our young skiers in Oslo. We have some big talent emerging. We had 10 different athletes in the top-30 and that bodes well for the future of US skiing.”

But the attention of Scandinavia was most definitely on Northug. This was his third gold and fourth medal overall at this championship. But instead of talking about himself and his race, he talked about the crowd.

“I think today we had a record with so many people. You get a kick with them at Frognerseteren if you are tired going up there,” said Northug at the press conference. Frognerseteren is a section of the trail where thousands of fans have set up tents, with camp fires going, and where a good deal of partying takes place. It has a legendary climb that is said to be the hardest on the World Cup circuit.

“People have been preparing for this race during the night,” said Northug, referring to a party that extended onto the race course well into the wee hours. “But the course was in good shape.”

Northug also paid tribute to his team when asked if the 50km gold meant the most to him of all of his victories. “As an individual yes, but the whole of Norway feels they’re part of the team when we won the relay. For me and the team it’s been a dream.” When asked what might be his highest wish, he added, “I have no wishes; I am happy.”

Russia’s Vylegzhann wasn’t quite as jubilant. “I wanted to win but I got a silver medal which is good,” said Vylegzanin. “I think it is possible to beat Northug. It is a stimulus to me. I want to beat him next time, but I must be better at the finish.”

Vylegzanin said his tactic was “to save as much power as I could – get as much [distance] away from the others and try to finish alone. That did not happen.”

Yet outside of skiing, he said he was impressed with Oslo – with the fans, who made it “very nice to run here in Holmenkollen. I like that.” He added that for his holidays he’d like to return to “…see the city and walk around. I have seen Trondheim and Oslo but only for skiing.”

Bronze medalist Gjerdalen recognized that he was coming off a slower time period and had difficulties training. “But if you do the right thing, and train properly,” he said, “You will get some medals – maybe not gold as it’s hard to beat these guys.”

He explained why he thought he had a good race when the rest of his season had not gone well. “I know I never give up… and others did.” Gjerdalen kept a straight face for most of his delivery as he said he had a plan with the team. “All five Norwegians go hard – maybe get a gap like Therese [Johaug] did – two minutes and split the gold.” When asked if he actually thought that was possible, he broke into a grin and said, “You can write whatever you want.”

Like the other skiers, Gjerdalen paid tribute to the fans. “There were so many people out on the trails – it’s cross-country skiing central here. It was a dream.” He added praise for the whole team and crew. “It was the whole team who won. The waxers too. No other wax team worked so long and so hard. Without them you cannot get a medal.”

The race started out calmly with skiers staying together with a measured pace, eyeing one another for nearly an hour, but at 55 minutes into the race, Italian Roland Clara attacked, gaining 11 seconds on the pack. His lead was short-lived as he was soon caught but Clara remained near the front, pushing the pace.

As the racers went through the feedzone, Babikov was sitting right at the back of his skis, sharing that space with Northug. The Canadian moved up and took the lead but soon after  Sweden’s Marcus Hellner took over. Not far behind Harvey and Hoffman sat a little farther back in the pack.

Hellner was followed by a sea of red suits as Norway surrounded him at 24.5km. Clara was eventually dropped to finish 28th as the attacks began to take their toll. Other  strongmen like Hellner’s teammate Daniel Rickardsson pushed the pace as skiers dropped off the back one by one. By 30km, there was a lead group of 40 with another 39 strung out behind.

This lead group made for constant excitement, especially in the last 15km. The Czech Republic’s Lukas Bauer and Hellner were eager to ensure that this race would not simply be a preliminary bout before Northug unleashed his sprint. They made him work for every kilometre.

The Swedish express of Johan Olsson and Hellner kept the fast pace into the feedzone at 1 hour 26 minutes into the race. Italy’s Pietro Cottrer Pillar was there as well making his presence known. Northug was wary of all and as the transition zone approached, the wily Norwegian surged to the front to again ensure he was free and clear during the important ski exchange.

The racers were back in a group by the next climb. Hellner made another move, followed by Cottrer Piller. The pace increased once more and soon Hellner was out solo with Norway’s Sjur Roethe chasing. Russia’s Ilia Chernousov, who would end up 12th, shadowed them. Babikov and Harvey stayed in with the lead group, skiing comfortably as the attackers never got too far with Northug marking every move.

Such aggressive skiing shrunk the group and by the 40km mark there were 21 skiers in the break strung out 9.1 seconds apart. Among them were Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, Germany’s Tobias Angerer, Canada’s Harvey and Babikov along with Hellner and Northug.

Each climb was one of attrition, but the Canadians kept pace with Harvey in the top eight as Hellner continuing to push.

At the final ski exchange again Northug moved to the front happy to let thing resettle after the transition as Bauer, the Norwegians and the Swedes accelerated the pace out of the stadium. Hellner pushed again while teammates Olsson and Richardsson tried to box in Northug, who was on Hellner’s tail, with Bauer, Harvey and Babikov keeping a watchful eye.

At 44km a decisive break included the entire Swedish team of Hellner, Rickardsson, Olsson, and Soedergren along with Angerer, Harvey, Bauer, Cottrer Piller, Babikov, Northug, Gjerdalen, Petter Eliassen, and Martin Johnsrud Sunby – all five of the Norwegians. Vylegzhanin was there as well along with Finland’s Juha Lallukka, Belarus skier Sergei Dolidovich, Russia’s Chernousov and Martin Bajcicak of Slovakia.

Rickardsson continued the pressure as Cottrer Piller fell off the back with Switzerland’s Cologna who did not have the legs today. It was a war of attrition as Babikov also struggled to maintain the pace of the leaders with only a few kilometers remaining.

Ten skiers entered the stadium and it looked like it may be a group sprint finish which favoured Northug, but Bajcicak fell on a corner and took Johnsrud Sundby with him.

With one kilometre to go Vylegzhanin attacked but Northug, also wary of Harvey, went after him. It was Harvey that Northug felt could be his biggest threat. Gjerdalen, Roethe, Harvey, Angerer and Lallukka followed, but only Gjerdalen could start to close the gap.

Northug was not going to be denied as he counter-attacked the Russian on the final uphill and soon was cruising into the lead on the inside track that would take him into the final stretch to the finish line with a comfortable lead to the delight of the packed partisan crowd in the stadium.

Northug skied in for gold and collapsed as Vylegzanin took silver and Northug’s teammate Gjerdalen earned the bronze. The big sprint was for fourth and it was the photo-finish of Roethe, Harvey and Angerer.

The 22-year-old Harvey of St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., finished just two seconds off the podium. The result was a new Canadian record at an individual World Championship distance race, set 22 years ago by Al Pilcher who was seventh in 1989 in Lahti, Finland.

“This is the toughest course on the World Cup with all of the climbs here. It is almost too much climbing so I’m really happy I was able to hang in there,” said Harvey in a Cross Country Canada release. “I was dreaming of a medal today. There was a chance for me to get one, but I couldn’t do anything more. My legs felt like concrete by the end.

“It was an amazing week. We wanted to get a medal and the gold was unexpected. We will take a lot of confidence from this. We need to focus a lot on the recovery and then if all goes right next weekend [at the WCup in Lahti, Finland], I think we can challenge for the podium again.”

As Northug shook hands with hundreds of admirers and Norwegian King Harald looked on, cross-country skiing in Norway, perhaps the world, had changed forever. The ten-day championships in the heartland of cross-country skiing was a love-in for skiers.

This is the place where it all started some 3,000 years ago, and today that history and the future merged. The Norwegians are talking about Alex Harvey as the skier who will displace Petter Northug. They admire him and teammate Devon Kershaw enormously. The love of the sport in Norway goes beyond national borders – it embraces the world.

Full results HERE.

March 06, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen overtook Germany’s Magdalena Neuner in a sharpshooting battle that lasted until the final stage. Both shot clean through the first three laps, but Neuner missed two keys targets in the second standing stage to seal Mäkäräinen’s victory. The Finnish biathlete, and overall World Cup leader, shot clean on the day for a winning time of 30:00.1.

“I am trying to believe what has happened, but it is hard to believe,” Mäkäräinen said of her victory according in an IBU release, “It has been an amazing two days. I am really happy, because the races have been really good. Both of them have been worthy of medals.”

Neuner’s two misses put her 21.6 seconds out of gold as she settled for second place with a final time of 31:21.7.

“I thought it was okay. I have had really good competitions including today and I am only human; not a machine,” Neuner said of her two costly misses, “Everybody can miss two targets…I saw that Kaisa was eight seconds ahead of me.

“I knew that I could not fight with her. She is very strong and so am I, but eight seconds is a lot…so I wanted to make a cool down in that lap and enjoy my silver medal.”

Sweden’s Helena Ekholm jumped two spots thanks to a no-miss performance, and took bronze in a time of 31:43.7. Ekholm’s result helped to solidify her 3rd place position in the overall World Cup standings.

“It was hard to win,” Ekholm said of the competition, “It took two years to get a medal; it feels really good now.”

Sara Studebaker of the United States hit 16 of her 20 targets to jump ten spots for a 38th place finish. Teammate Annalies Cook was one of 14 competitors to be lapped, and thus disqualified from finishing. There were no Canadian racers in Sunday’s pursuit competition.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Kaisa Mäkäräinen, FIN (0+0+0+0) 30:00.1
2. Magdalena Neuner, GER (0+0+0+2) 30:21.7
3. Helena Ekholm, SWE (0+0+0+0) 31:43.7

38. Sara Studebaker, USA (1+1+0+2) 37:14.3
LAP. Annalies Cook, USA (0+1+1+2)

March 06, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Martin Fourcade (FRA) jumped a podium spot to win Sunday’s 12.5km Pursuit race at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk on Sunday. The 22 year-old Frenchman’s victory marks the first of his career at such an event. Fourcade took advantage of fast skis to win in a time of 33:02.6, despite missing three targets.

“I spoke to my coach yesterday who said I should be intelligent and stay calm for a win. But my personal strategy was to attack because I really wanted this gold medal,” the elated winner told Biathlonworld.com. “I am really proud of it, but I made some mistakes. This was because I really wanted the gold and did not fight for silver. I tried to put pressure on Arnd — it was a good race.”

Coming in second place was the current runner up in yellow bib standings, Emil Hegle Svedsen from Norway, who went out 5th in the starting order and hit 18 of his 20 targets to finish just 3.8 seconds back from Fourcade.

“I felt good on the tracks and knew that if I shot 18, 19, or 20 I could possibly catch the gold medal,” commented Svedsen, “I knew it is difficult for the athletes shooting on target in the last stage. I did not give up hope, but I shot one mistake there and that is why I could not quite battle Martin for the gold. But I am quite happy with the silver…it’s a good start to the championships for me.”

Overall points leader Tarjei Boe also from Norway captured his second individual bronze of the championships as his did in Friday’s sprint competition. Boe missed two targets to finish a mere 1.6 seconds behind Svedsen, his teammate.

“I was not shooting so fast in prone. So after every round, I had five or ten seconds to fight back in the field,” Boe said of his race, “On the fourth round, I was in front. On the last round, I was a bit tired.”

Tim Burke recorded the best American result with a 30th place finish, up one spot from Friday’s sprint. Burke missed six targets for a time of 36:12.6. Jay Hakkinen jumped seven spots to finish 35th after a 2-miss performance that gave him a time of 36:25.6.

Leif Nordgren, who had a career best day at the sprints with his 26th place finish, missed six targets, dropping him to 38th. Lowell Bailey rounded out the American competitors, hitting 14 of 20 to finish 45th with a time of 37:10.0.

Canada’s Scott Perras moved up three places to finish 31st, missing three shots to finish in a time of 36:14.1. His team mate Jean-Philippe Le Guellec missed a target in each shooting stage to finish 52nd overall.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Martin Fourcade, FRA (0+1+2+0) 33:02.6
2. Emil Hegle Svedsen, NOR (0+0+1+1) 33:06.4
3. Tarjei Boe, NOR (0+0+1+1) 33:07.8

30. Tim Burke, USA (2+0+3+1) 36:12.6
31. Scott Perras, CAN (1+1+1+0) 36:14.1
35. Jay Hakkinen, USA (0+1+0+1) 36:25.6
38. Leif Nordgen, USA (1+2+2+1) 36:47.2
45. Lowell Bailey, USA (0+0+3+3) 37:10.0
52. Jean-Philippe Leguellec, CAN (1+1+1+1) 38:12.2

March 06, 2011 (Vernon, BC) – The first day of the Sparkling Hill Masters World Cup started with high spirits in the fog. As the sun came out, so did the level of competition in every age category. The men’s 30km M02 race proved to be a fast start with the likes of Glenn Bond, Nordic ski manager of neighboring Silver Star Mountain Resort, and Banff Loppet winner Kirk Howell, in the mix. But first to finish was Alexsandr Pushkarev of Russia, with Howell in third.

The fastest skier of the day in the 30km was American Eric Martin with a time of 1:18:51 in the M03 category while fellow Yank Barry Malarewicz won the M04 category. Italy’s Giovanni Gerbotto topped the M01 field.

Similar to the men, the 15km freestyle women’s races featured strong competition. Highlights of the day include a first place finish by Nikki Kassaei of Prince George, BC finishing in a time of 45:04 in the women’s F02 category.

“It’s a beautiful gliding course. When I did the pre-ski, I thought it was going to be a lot harder course but it wasn’t. It’s a fast course with snow that’s cold and dry,” said Kassel, one of the 472 Canadians taking part in the seven-day SHMWC. “I’m happy with placing first – it’s a good way to start the week.”

The women’s F01 category was won by Catherine Pendrel, an Olympic mountain bike racer, who scored the first place finish with a  time of 46:07 followed by a local Sovereign Lake skier Marta Green. “Today was great, the conditions were awesome, the snow was fast and well groomed, plus the sun is shining,” said Pendrel.

Top US master skiers, Laura McCabe and Leslie Hall, both former Olympians, showed their strength in their respective categories. McCabe’s first place in the women’s 15km skate F03 match was won in 41:12 – the fastest time for all women skiers – while Hall won the women’s 15km freestyle F04 race in 42:26, the second best overall time.

Sovereign Lake skiers were also well represented with Pat Pearce taking first place in the women’s F06 Category with a time of 50:03. She took an early lead and never looked back and was amazed with her result. “I led out to the staging area and I was ahead when I finished.”

As for the competitions coming up she says of the team, “We’re ready, we’re fit, we’ve trained well, and it’s very exciting.”

Pearce added that it was a great course. “We had quite a bit of elevation at the beginning – a fair bit of climbing – and then for 6-9km it rolls. When your skis are fast they glide really nicely and then there are some nice downhills for the last five with a hard climb to the finish.”

Former US National team skier, Trina Hosmer, finished first in the F08 category with a time of 50:18 – read more about Hosmer HERE.

The last finisher of the day was also the oldest. American Daniel Bulkley, 94, of the M12 category finished his 10km race in 1:47. When asked if it was a long race, he replied, ” Yes – I haven’t gone that far this year yet.”

And at the end of the day, with the sun still shining, it started to snow. Saturday’s races will include the 30km Men 01-06, 15km Men 07-09, 10km Men 10-12, 15km Women 01-08 and the 10km Women 09-12.

Full results HERE.
For more information on the races visit www.mwc2011.com.

March 05, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – It will be remembered as a day of records. First of all, the Norwegian women skied as if they were starting their first race at the Nordic World Championships with fresh legs. Therese Johaug won an incredible gold in the 30km mass start skate while Marit Bjoergen took the silver as Norway’s women’s team totaled 9 medals after their final event. They ended this giant skiing festival by performing better than the Norwegian women ever have at the world championships – and that’s saying a lot given the rich and successful history of the team.

On the first perfect sunny warm day of the championships, the same four women who won the relay two days earlier – Johaug, Bjoergen, Krista Stoermer-Steira and Vibeke W Skofterud – managed to finish the grueling 30km freestyle event in 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th.

Only Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, who took the bronze, and Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in 4th interrupted the red train. Germany, Italy, Sweden and Finland worked together but could not catch the express engine ahead of them.

By the 2.5 km mark the Norwegians had taken control of everything, but then considering all of Norway had come to Holmenkollen, the fans expected no less. Did Bjoergen decide to let Johaug ski away from the lead group of five after 12.5km just to confuse Kowalczyk, and allow her team mate to share in Norway’s golden haul of medals?

She says she didn’t. “Therese was the strongest out there. She is a very strong woman, I knew I had to ski for the silver,” said Bjoergen who saw the gap her teammate Johaug had created by the 20km mark.

But she had reason to chase as well. With four golds Bjoergen was on the doorstep of tying Russian Elena Vaelbe’s total gold medal count at a world championship of five – adding the 30km gold medal to her collection would have done it for her.

But Bjoergen said that does not matter. “I don’t ski thinking about records. I looked forward to this,” she said, when asked about the pressure of being a Norwegian star in Norway. “I was ready to have the chance to race, with the atmosphere and track – I had a great season, but I really enjoy skiing, having fun and having fun with the team.

“That is why I think I do so well. The team win means a lot for me. We have more girls at the top.” Then Bjoergen added with her beautiful Marit smile, “I have Olympic gold and she doesn’t.” And with that she let her teammate take centre stage.

Johaug seemingly danced her way through the 30km, with her high cadence and light touch on the skis compared to Bjoergen’s more powerful but shorter strides. She seemed to float up the hills and was asked if she was the Dancing Queen. Johaug laughed that suggestion off as her clear a victory by such a wide margin that took years of hard training and planning.

“Before this championship started, it was my goal to get one gold. I have one bronze, a gold in the relay, and today I get individual gold. It is such a dream since I was a little girl – I’ve known about this distance race for a long time,” said Johaug, who took the bronze in this event at the 2007 Junior World Championships.

When asked how she tactically planned the three-lap race, Johaug said after the second lap she got a gap on Bjoergen and Kowalczyk and said to herself, “Now I do my race.” She felt she “…I had a really good day today – the skis were really good. I knew my chance was in the uphill – then I got the gap.”

She was asked if it was just the climbs she was concentrating on and taking it easier on the flats. “I also worked on the flats. I think my technique was really good today. I had fast skis and I tried to go fast the whole way.”

By 15km she had 19 seconds on her teammate and 22s on Kowalczyk. Kalla and Stoermer-Steira had dropped off the back and were well over a minute behind while the chase group  of Norway’s Skofterud, Germany’s Nicole Fessel, Katrin Zeller and Evi Stehle-Sachenbacher, Finland’s Ritta-Lisa Roponene and Krista Lahteenmaki, Italy’s Marianna Longa and Antonella Confortola Wyatt, and Sweden’s Anna Haag were strung out between one and a half and two minutes behind the leaders.

Johaug started with her second fastest pair of skis. At the 10km mark when skiers could switch to a new pair, she said she switched to her third fastest and then for the last 10km, she took her fastest.

“I will remember all things – from the start to the end,” she said of, not just the race, but the day. “It is a dream I could never think about. It is a memory for the rest of my life.”

While Kowalczyk was in the lead group, she was not having a great race. Even Bjoergen said Kowalczyk’s skis were slow on the descents and it was easy to gain metres on her. Kowalczyk, who is also the overall World Cup winner for 2011, spent the first 26km of the race in Bjoergen’s shadow, though she constantly struggled with the pace and definitely with her glide.

At approximately 26km Bjoergen, who knew she could not challenge for the gold and therefore would not pull Kowalczyk up to her teammate, stepped on the gas and closed what had been over a minute gap between her and Johaug to 44 seconds.

In the end, Johaug skied to a 1:23:45:1 time, Bjoergen  finished at 44s back, and Kowalczyk won the bronze at 1:34.1 back. Sweden’s Kalla finished 4th at 2:05.5, and Stoermer-Steira, who tripped and fell in the last 400 metres, was 5th at 2:20.8. In sixth was another Norwegian, Viebe W. Skofterud at 2:36.4 back.

A quiet but smiling Kowalczyk said she was happy with silver and one bronze. “I am the winner of the World Cup and I will start the rest of the World Cups this year without pressure and this will be more fun. Then I will rest.

“This has been a really hard track, but a lot of nice spectators. I never started with such good spirit in the track. I will go back home happy.”

While the Norwegians dominated, the Americans told the skiing world they have arrived as a team in the distant events. Liz Stephen had the race of her life placing 16th at 6:22.2 in a field of 60 of the world’s best skiers on a most difficult course. Kikkan Randall was two steps back in 18th at 7:12.2 back, Morgan Arritola was 21st at 7:24.7 behind, and Holly Brooks was 25th at 7:57.4 back.

Stephen bettered her 17th place finish in 2009 at the championships in Liberec earning her best result of the season.

“This morning I assumed that I would have a slow start. I was just going to chase right off the bat and get on a pack that I wanted to be on. If you lose it in the beginning it’s really hard to catch at it later,” said Stephen in a USSA release of her strategy coming into Saturday’s race. “I figured I’d rather blow up half way through and have not such a good result but a really good effort.”

While there were disappointments for Randall at these Worlds, she felt the crowd was a great healer and it was ironic that the top sprinter had her best result in the longest distance event.

“Today was a solid race for me and a great atmosphere out on course. The sun finally came out for us and the track conditions were awesome,” Randall told SkiTax. “The pace was realistic for about 5km and then the leaders surged and broke up the pack. I got in a group of a few skiers around the mid-20’s which ended up including Morgan and Holly. Liz made a great surge going into the first big lap and got up with the group ahead.

“I think I felt better through the race. My quads started to cramp at the end of the 2nd to last lap. I switched skis going into the final lap which helped and then I found that if I just kept a high tempo and the pressure on my arms, I could keep my legs from locking.

“My legs almost gave out on me with 2.5km to go but I was able to fight thru it and stay with Morgan. I had a strong final km mostly because I was just trying to keep the tempo up enough to keep my muscles working. I had good energy at the end, but it was the quads that were limiting.

“It was really fun to ski with my teammates today and we’re super psyched to have finished all four in the top 25. We used to be over the moon with one in the top 30. It was pretty sweet to just have the roar of the fans pushing you around the course.

“Kind of funny that my best individual result came in the 30km. I didn’t have the best of luck at these championships. I am at least satisfied that I came in well prepared and ready, and gave it my best.”

Canada fielded two skiers, top sprinter Chandra Crawford, who took on the 30km skate race and finished 42nd at 12:00.1 back, while team mate Brooke Gosling placed 44th at 13:11.5 behind the winner.

In the end it was Johaug’s day as more than 100,000 Norwegian fans shared a collective smile celebrating her victory.

Video clip HERE
Full results HERE.

March 05, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – It was Germany’s day at the IBU World Championships with veteran Magdalena Neuner claiming another title as she withstood powerful winds to shoot clean and claim gold in the women’s 7.5km Sprint with a time of 20:31.2 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

“I tried to run very fast today. I was very concentrated in the shooting range, which was very important,” Neuner told Biathlonworld.com, “When I was in the mixed zone and saw Kaisa [Mäkäräinen] had zero mistakes; it became very exciting for me. I was very nervous and had to wait, but I am the lucky winner.”

Mäkäräinen of Finland, took the silver medal, propelling her to the top of the overall World Cup standings. She also shot clean, finishing 12.2 seconds out of 1st.

“Before the race, I was pretty nervous because I had difficulties zeroing, because the wind was going all around,” commented Mäkäräinen, “But then I thought that I have had good races when the zeroing was kind of a mess, so I tried to concentrate and not look at that anymore and look forward…I am very happy now.”

Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina, who battled illness earlier in the week, grabbed the final podium spot after a one-miss performance that left her 40 seconds out of gold.

“I was sick and like any athlete, the World Championships are very important. Of course I felt disappointed after the missed target, but I did my best on the last loop,” Kuzmina said of her result, “It is nice to have this one, but as usual, I want more.”

Sara Studebaker posted the top American result with a 3-miss performance to put her in 48th place. Annalies Cook finished 57th after a 2-miss race that gave her a finishing time of 24:26.1. Finishing 72nd was Haley Johnson, who missed a pair of shots in each shooting stage, and Laura Spector finished 79th after a 5-miss performance.

Zina Kocher was the lone Canadian racer, missing five targets to finish 61st with a time of 24:34.5.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Magdalena Neuner, GER (0+0) 20:31.2
2. Kaisa Mäkäräinen, FIN (0+0) 20:43.4
3. Anastasiya Kuzmina, SVK (0+1) 21:11.2

48. Sara Studebaker, USA (1+2) 23:56.6
57. Annalies Cook, USA (1+1) 24:26.1
61. Zina Kocher, CAN (2+3) 24:34.5
72. Haley Johnson, USA (2+2) 24:58.8
79. Laura Spector, USA (3+2) 25:29.8

March 05, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Germany’s Arnd Peiffer battled harsh wind conditions to capture gold in Saturday’s 10km Sprint at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk. The victory, which he accomplished after missing just one target, marks Peiffer’s fourth top podium finish of his World Cup career.

“It is very difficult to win,” the German said according to an IBU report, “I did have self-confidence after the mixed relay. I knew my shape was good. I told someone that it would be nice if I could be in the top eight today that would be a nice race for me. But I had a good ski today and a good feeling and now I am World Champion. It’s still hard to believe.”

France’s Martin Fourcade took 2nd place, finishing 13 seconds behind Peiffer. The result marked Fourcade’s 7th of his career after hitting 8 of his 10 targets from the range.

“The range is very windy, but this is an outdoor sport and we have to fight with the conditions,” Fourcade commented after the race, “The wind is a problem here and we have to stay focused on it as it will be a part of every race here.”

Claiming the bronze medal was current yellow bib leader Tarjei Boe as the young Norwegian finished in a time of 24:59.2 after missing just one shot in his first shooting stage.

“This is a dream for me. The bronze medal for me is bigger than people think,” said Boe, “because I have the yellow jersey and stuff; people expect big things. I knew this sprint would be very hard, so I am very happy with this medal.”

Leif Nordgren of the United States pulled off his best World Cup finish ever with 26th. The American, who is coming off a collective 13th place finish in Thursday’s mixed relay, missed just one shot and finished just over a minute out of the podium.

Tim Burke finished 31st with a 3-miss performance that left him with a finishing time of 26:15.2. Fellow American Lowell Bailey finished just behind Burke with a 32nd place result after hitting 9 of his 10 targets, and Jay Hakkinen placed 42nd after a 1-miss performance.

Canada was led by Scott Perras, who finished 34th after missing a single shot in his final shooting stage. Jean-Philippe Leguellec turned in the 46th best finishing time of the day with a 3-miss effort, and Nathan Smith finished 67th with four misses. Brendan Green missed five targets on the day to finish 91st.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Arnd Peiffer, GER (0+1) 24:34.0
2. Martin Fourcade, FRA (2+0) 24:47.0
3. Tarjei Boe, NOR (1+0) 24:59.2

26. Leif Nordgren, USA (0+1) 26:03.0
31. Tim Burke, USA (2+1) 26:15.2
32. Lowell Bailey, USA (0+1) 26:16.0
34. Scott Perras, CAN (0+1) 26:29.9
42. Jay Hakkinen, USA (0+1) 26:49.8
46. Jean-Philippe Leguellec, CAN (2+1) 26:53.4
67. Nathan Smith, CAN (1+3) 27:41.1
91. Brendan Green (3+2) 28:30.1

March 05, 2011 (Vernon, BC) – Just as he opened the 2010 Olympics, Chief Fabien Alexis welcomed 1,134 athletes from 22 countries to the 2011 Sparkling Hill Masters World Cup which runs March 5-11. Participants paraded behind their flags at Silver Star Resort where the ceremonies were held. They were welcomed with singing, drumming and dancing by the Okanagan Indian Band which also sang during the opening ceremonies at the Vancouver Olympics.

There is much excitement as six days of racing are about to start. Participants spoke favorably about the courses. “We skied the 15km – it’s a good course,” said Dave Rees, former director of Cross Country Canada who is here supporting his wife Jean.

The tracks are set with 21 lanes and conditions are good, with a temperature of minus six, much better than the minus 18 degrees experienced last week by volunteers as they were setting up for these championships. Countless volunteer hours behind the scenes have led to Sovereign Lake hosting this event. Preparation of the event started five years ago when the bid was put in.

Racers are in good spirits  as the first competitions begin on Saturday. The WCup racing takes place daily from Mar. 5-11 from 9am to 3pm each day, with Tues. Mar. 8 being a rest day. The Sovereign Lake Loppet wraps the weekend up on Mar. 12. Full schedule below or visit www.mwc2011.com

Check out this pre-race video interview featuring two masters skiers from Alaska and stay tuned to SkiTrax for daily coverage of the events.

Master WCup 2011 Race Schedule

Saturday, March 5 – Medium Distance – Free Technique
– 30 km (2 x 15) Men 01-06 (age 30-59)
– 15 km (1 x 15) Men 07-09 (age 60-74)
– 10 km (2 x 5) Men 10-12 (age 75+)
– 15 km (1 x 15) Women 01-08 (age 30-69)
– 10 km (2 x 5) Women 09-12 (age 70+)
– Team Captains Meeting 5 pm
– Awards Ceremony 6 pm

Sunday, March 6 – Medium Distance – Classic
– 30 km (2 x 15) Men 01-06 (age 30-59)
– 15 km (1 x 15) Men 07-09 (age 60-74)
– 10 km (2 x 5) Men 10-12 (age 75+)
– 15 km (1 x 15) Women 01-08 (age 30-69)
– 10 km (2 x 5) Women 09-12 (age 70+)
– Team Captains Meeting 5 pm
– Awards Ceremony 6 pm

Monday, March 7 – Short Distance – Classic
– 10 km (1 x 10) Men 01-09 (age 30-74)
– 5 km (1 x 5) Men 10-12 (age 75+)
– 10 km (1 x 10) Women 01-08 (age 30-69)
– 5 km (1 x 5) Women 09-12 (age 70+)
Short Distance – Free Technique
– 10 km (1 x 10) Men 01-09 (age 30-74)
– 5 km (1 x 5) Men 10-12 (age 75+)
– 10 km (1 x 10) Women 01-08 (age 30-69)
– 5 km (1 x 5) Women 09-12 (age 70+)
– Awards Ceremony 6 pm
– Mountain Film Festival 7 pm Vernon (see Events Page HERE)

March 8 – Rest Day
– WMA Meeting 9 am (NATC at Silver Star)
– Team Captains Meeting following WMA meeting
– Check out region page HERE for exciting touring events

March 9 – Relays
– Relays 4 x 5km (legs 1 & 2 Classic, legs 3 & 4 Free technique) – Men and Women
– Team Captains Meeting 5 pm
– Awards Ceremony 6 pm

March 10 – Long Distance – Free Technique
– 45 km (3 x 15) Men 01-06 (age 30-59)
– 30 km (2 x 15) Men 07-09 (age 60-74)
– 15 km ((3 x 5) Men 10-12 (age 75+)
– 30 km (2 x 15) Women 01-08 (age 30-69)
– 15 km (3 x 5) Women 09-12 (age 70+)
– Team Captains Meeting 5 pm
– Awards Ceremony 6 pm

March 11 – Long Distance – Classic
– 45 km (3 x 15) Men 01-06 (age 30-59)
– 30 km (2 x 15) Men 07-09 (age 60-74)
– 15 km ((3 x 5) Men 10-12 (age 75+)
– 30 km (2 x 15) Women 01-08 (age 30-69)
– 15 km (3 x 5) Women 09-12 (age 70+)
– Awards Ceremony 3 pm
– Banquet and closing ceremony 6:30 pm (Wesbild Centre, Vernon)

March 12 – Sovereign Lake Loppet – Free Technique – 30km, 15km
Sovereign Lake Loppet (see Sovereign Lake Loppet HERE and Register for the Loppet HERE)
– Mass start at 10 am.
– Awards ceremony at Sovereign Lake following end of race. Registration closes Wed March 9

March 04, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Once again Norway proved they were the masters of these cross-country ski championships taking the men’s 4x10km relay as the home town roared in the Holmenkollen while Petter Northug anchored the team to yet another gold

Yet many wondered if Northug planned his controversial finish? He hung back in the pack, attacking a couple of times in the last skating leg, but realized the field was just too strong to let him get away, and conserved his strength. In this wild and exciting event nothing can be taken for granted except what will happen if Northug is anywhere near the front in the last 800 metres – he will unleash a trademark sprint that makes him appear to have been shot out of a sling-sho

He and Sweden’s Marcus Hellner were fighting it out on the last serious climb before the finishing stretch. Earlier in the championships, Hellner had used the climb to win the individual men’s 1.5km sprint. It has been renamed Hellner Hill, but later Northug said he’d have to attack harder than he did in the sprint in order for it to be seen as his hill historically.

This was just one of many fiery remarks Northug made about the Swedish skier who appears to have been his nemesis since the Swedes won this event last year at the Olympics. The two Scandinavians were the main protagonists at the end powering to the finish with a turnover pace beyond comprehension as they sprinted up the climbs, trying to kill all oxygen in one another.

Behind them Germany’s Tobias Angerer held on best he as he could, while Finland’s Matti Heikkinen had to drop off the back, after setting the pace for this five-man lead pack on the first half of the last leg of the relay

Northug simply flew up the final hill, gained more speed on the following descent, hit the one small climb left as if it was a slight bump, as he unleashed his trademark attack. In a matter of metres it was as if Hellner and Angerer had glue on their skis. Heikkinen was now dropped. Once on the straight away, he played to the fans, putting one finger to his mouth, kissing his index finger signaling the number one position. He said later, “This is something I am learning from the young kids. I have to say I am really impressed with Alex Harvey’s skiing.”

But it was not the only theatrics. He looked back casually at Hellner, who had beat him in the individual sprint on the opening day, as if to say, “Can I help you with anything?” and then skied in a more leisurely style to the finish, where he pulled up just before the line, looked at Hellner again and crossed the line doing a 90 degree turn just as the Swede arrived.

He said he’d wanted to do a 360, but there wasn’t time. The Norwegians took the relay in 1:40:10:2, Sweden was up next 1.3 seconds back, while Germany was 5.7 seconds back. Finland took the fourth spot at 15 seconds back, Italy was 5th at 31:3 back and Japan had the race of their lives, moving from last ranked 17th, to 6th at 1:39:2 minutes back. Canada, with Devon Kershaw sick and replaced with Stephan Kuhn as the lead-off man, finished in 12th at 5:01:9 minutes back, while Team USA was 14th at 6:54:8 minutes back.

Hellner was subdued and polite at the flower ceremony while the Norwegians were true to their Viking past, delighting over the spoils. The centuries old rivalry here between Norway and Sweden is very real. People may joke about it, but nowhere is it more apparent than at Holmenkollen.

Yet the Norwegians had not dominated this race. In the first of two classic legs, it was Sweden’s Daniel Rickardsson leading off and setting a blistering pace that only Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhann could match as Norway’s Martin Sundby Johnsrud held on in third while the others chased at about 20s behind. Then Vylegzhann attacked overtaking Rickardsson, setting a 25:43:0 pace as they hit the exchange with the Swede only half a second behind.

Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby was then a distant 22.7 seconds back. “Sweden and Russia skied very fast. It has never been like this for two years [in the first leg of the relay.] I was attacked by Russia and Sweden out there” he said. “ For me it was awful. For me too, though, I have the world’s best team. I really love those guys today,” Johnsrud Sunby added when asked if he thought the rest of the team would bring them to the podium

The first leg saw Estonia, Kazkhstan, and Germany following in 4th, 5th and 6th, another 20 seconds behind the Norwegian, with Italy, Japan and Finland chasing them. The pace pushed by Russia and Sweden had shattered the field by the 2.2 km mark. Canada and USA had fallen off the back at this point.

The second classic leg saw the tables turn as Norway’s Elder Roenning caught Russia’s second skier Stanislav Volzhentsev and Sweden’s Johan Olsson at the 5km mark and pushed past them to establish a 22-second gap over the Swede and 42 seconds over the Russian by the third hand-off.

Meanwhile, Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi was another key story taking his team from 9th to 1st and powered by them all, skiing a 25:35 for the fastest classic lap. As the Finns moved forward so did Italy, Japan and Germany – in that order. While the Norwegian dominance at the Worlds is the first and foremost story, certainly the emergence of the Japanese skiers must be the next.

As the skiers hit the third hand-off which was the start of the skating legs, Finland’s Jauhojaervi touched off to Juha Lallukka and led Norway by 9.5 seconds. The first skater for Norway was Tord Asle Gjerdalen, followed by Italy’s Roland Clara in third place, 25:50 seconds back. Japan’s Masaya Kimura went out in 4th one second behind Clara.

Germany’s Axel Teichmann touched off to Franz Goerging, 28.5 seconds back. Later, Teichmann, who won two silver medals at the Vancouver Olympics and seven World Championship medals said the German team, including him, have suffered a series of endless illnesses this year and lost much of their form. He has been sick four times and has been on antibiotics. That the team eventually claimed the bronze was a great relief and the relay was the last race of the season for him – perhaps the last of his career as he thinks about what lies in his future

Every leg was a race within itself as strong second and third leg skiers caught those who had been given a lead by their teammate but could not maintain it. But Finland’s Lallukka kept the lead handed to him by Jauhojaervi and came into the final hand-off zone to touch Matti Heikkinen, who had won gold in the 15km classic race two days earlier

Italy’s Clara had a great leg, closing the gap on the Finn as he touched off to Pietro Cottrer Piller just 0.8 seconds back, gaining 14 seconds. Germany’s Franz Goering had also made up time, bringing the team up from 5th to 3rd 9.1 seconds back and handing off to Tobias Angerer, while Sweden’s Anders Soedergren was the 4th man in, handing off to Hellner, who would have to make up a 34.8 second gap.

But the Norwegians were in a similar situation as Gjerdalen came in as the fifth man and tagged off to Northug, who had to make up 35 seconds. This third leg was also the leg that saw Canada’s Ivan Babikov with the 6th fastest leg in 24:40, but the Canadians still sat in 13th place.

This last leg became overwhelmingly exciting as the Swedes and the Norwegians – avowed enemies – had to work together to catch the Finn and the Italian who had nine seconds on the Germans. Hellner and Northug, who have had a war of words for a year now, cooperated and with Angerer soon caught the leaders. Then there were five.

Hellner pushed the pace and later said he liked to be in front and did not see it as a disadvantage. But Northug was right on him, matching every move. Soon after the last big climb – Hellner’s Hill – Heikkinen and Piller Cottrer could not match the pace. Heikkinen tried to bridge the gap but by then the Northug Machine had been turned on and he left them all behind, allowing himself room to perform his theatrics.

Later Hellner remarked, “The way of ending this race is Northug’s way. I would not do it this way.” Northug countered saying if the Swedes found his gestures arrogant, then he had succeeded.

Hellner ended the jousting by saying, “My legs were not so good. I wanted to follow [Northug] on the course. It’s hard and Northug’s a very, very good skier. We congratulate him that was so good today. We will go home and train and beat him next year.”

Northug played with the paper in front of him and stared into his water bottle while his teammates spoke at the press conference, but he came alive once questions were directed at him. “I think today was the very best day. Thanks to the Norwegian crowd it’s easy to give it all – it’s easy to race here in Holmenkollen,” he told the crowded room. “Maybe to race in the relay team here is the biggest thing – the most important thing in your life. We will most likely remember this day for the rest of our life.”

When asked if he thought what he did at the end was fair play he replied, “We both had a pair of skis and a pair of poles. I was not blocking anyone. I planned to do a 360, but didn’t have enough time so I did a 90.”

Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth was not disappointed with the Canadian showing. “The guys all skied well today, and I think it was a positive experience for each of them. Ivan skied easy for the first 2/3rds, and then put on a spurt. George also skied well today, which he needed leading into the 50k. It was also a good experience for Lenny today, as we are continuing to groom him for more distance starts in the future.”

George Grey, who skied anchor for Canada was equally happy with their effort, given they started without Devon Kershaw, who was sick and Alex Harvey, who did not want to race the relay.

“We did not start with our strongest team but we all skied with our hearts and enjoyed the grand spectacle that Oslo has been. Stefan, Lenny, Ivan, and I were proud to start today. I raced my leg alone and was able to hold a decent pace and gave up just over a minute to the best skate time, with which I was relatively happy

“I passed Kazakhstan and closed a minute on the French team who finished just ahead of us. To race for Canada at such a big event gave me a huge sense of pride.

The American men’s team, who have not had the championship breakthroughs they were hoping for, still appreciate the love of skiing that is so apparent in the nearly 100,000 strong spectators.

“It was a really tough day for all of us on the American team. I think we are capable of a lot more than we showed today” said Noah Hoffman, who skied the third leg. “Hopefully we can all show it in the 50km. My leg was really tough because the Canadian Ivan Babikov started six seconds ahead of me. I started fast to catch him, but blew up and lost 50 seconds in the last 3km. I was disappointed not to hold it together better than I did.”

Full results HERE.

March 04, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Last night we decided that we would take in the WC action and Oslo from a different perspective if the weather was foggy again. Well, it was foggy. We spent the morning with my cousin (Ahvo’s niece) looking at the Oslo Opera House (some fantastic architecture), Akershus Fortress, Vigeland Sculpture Park and a local ski shop (that sells about 5,000 pairs of skis per year!!) before watching the team sprint on the Jumbotron downtown. View more photos HERE.

The Oslo Opera House is relatively new building – construction completed in 2007 – and is an architectural masterpiece. The building is situated on the shore of the fjord and is home to the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Click HERE for more info.

Akershus Fortress is also situated by the fjord and can be seen from the Oslo harbor. The fortress is one of the oldest structures in Norway (dating back to 1299) and includes a church, as castle and a number of museums. The fortress is still a site for official government events and military guards still patrol the area. More info HERE.

Vigeland Park (also known as Frogner Park) is Northwest-ish of downtown and is made up of both bronze and granite sculptures designed by Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures depict men, women, and children at different stages of life and is definitely a must-see if you are a tourist in Oslo. Click HERE for more info.

We could see more from the Jumbotron than if we had been in the stadium today and it was one heck of a final (actually two)! As you have probably already read, Krista Lähteenmäki overpowered the Norwegian ladies to take silver behind a solid Swedish team and Alex Harvey axed the Norwegian men in the final stretch of the race.

Needless to say, downtown got pretty quiet. The Norwegians were clearly disappointed that they missed out on gold in back-to-back home-stretch sprints. The areas around the Jumbotron emptied quickly and quietly. A single shout of “Go Canada” was all that could be heard above Ahvo and myself shouting “Yes!!!” (which were admittedly preceded by “oh nohs” when the Finnish team slipped out of the medals… but these were drowned out by Norwegian fans having cardiac problems).

We found the source of the “Go Canada” when the park emptied before the flower ceremony (which we stayed to watch). It was from three Alaskans standing in the empty plaza who happened to be watching the race close by. We are a bit bummed that we were not near the finish line up at Holmenkollen for this one, but we think it is fate. Had we been up at the stadium, things could have been different and this was meant to be. Way to go Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey!

We did make it to the medals ceremony – got stuck in the back row, but were in the main area of the square – and got some comments from Canadians we met in the street.

Vigeland Park

Oslo Opera House I

Oslo Opera House II

Oslo Ski Shop

Canadian fan and Ahvo post-medals ceremony

Another Canadian fan (from Montreal) and Ahvo

March 03, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – This time it was four gold jackets, and a bit of a squeeze to fit Vibek Skofterud, Therese Johaug, Kristin  Stoermer and Marit Bjoergen into the royal box above Holmenkollen, but the Norwegian team took yet another bow, finishing the tough 4×5 km relay course in a total time of 53:30.

It was the exact same team that took the Olympic gold just over a year ago. When they went for their morning jog, they did not discuss the race – in fact they didn’t really speak at all. They knew what they had to do.

The Swedes were 36:1 seconds back and the Finns, who traded places with Sweden throughout the race, settled for the bronze at 59:8 seconds back. Italy, who led the first leg, finished 4th at 1:26:1 minutes back, with a young, relatively new German team in  5th at 1:41:8 back, and Russia in 6th at 2:15:4 back.

The American team of Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Liz Stephens and Jessica Diggins claimed a solid 9th at 2:54:7 minutes back. Canada’s team of Daria Gaiazova, Perianne Jones, Chandra Crawford and Brooke Gosling brought up the rear in 14th place at 4:49:2 minutes back.

Bjoergen now has four gold medals from these championships and the 30km is still to come. Right now she has tied Russian skier Elena Vaelbe’s record. Church bells rung as the sun made a valiant attempt to burn away the fog, and a suspicious “Norwegian Army” band that wore an interesting assortment of “uniforms” (and smelled like they had had their favourite drinks for breakfast) struck up the their version of Norwegian marching songs.

The mix if royalty, crazy fans, and drunk musicians swirling about her fourth gold medal win, made it impossible for Bjoergen to do anything but give us that beautiful confident smile as she slowed down enough to play to the crowd in the finishing stretch.

When she was asked why, as the anchor leg, she sped up around the course and had the fastest lap time of the race (12:45) even though she was given a 34-second lead by her teammates, she said, “It is not so easy to slow down in the track. There are lots of people around – I knew 34 seconds was enough, but you have to stand on your skis. All the other girls did a good job for the team. Also there are other girls on the team who didn’t race today – but we are together 200-250 days a year. For sure we had this goal for a long time.”

The crowd, which was at beyond capacity as thousands also camped along the ski trail, was so loud she couldn’t possibly hear the split times, so they were to be written on a piece of paper instead. But the paper had no numbers – just the words “Gold Medal.”

Bjoergen added that it was also a goal to find a Norwegian flag and come across the line waving it, which meant she wanted the team to be so far ahead, there would be no need to sprint. She was certainly able to do this.

Barring terrible wax, which their technicians would never allow, the Norwegians were unbeatable after the second leg.  Italy’s Marianna Longa led on the first classic leg (2×5 classic followed by 2×5 skate) with a time of 13:47, followed by Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter (13:49), who said afterwards that her gold medal race in the Team Sprint classic on the previous day before did not tire her.

“I hoped the team would feel good confidence,” commented Ingemarsdotter. “When you have had such good skis on the downhill you can keep a smile on your face. Maybe people thought we were going to be tired after such hard work, but we went with the flow. We are doing what we love to do – ski fast.”

Ingemarsdotter’s confidence was passed on to her teammate Anna Haug on the second leg, who dropped Italy’s Antonella Confortola Wyatt (14:56), and gave the three Scandinavian countries control of the race as Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, who had won bronze in the team sprint classic, went out fast, with Norway’s Therese Johaug soon matching her.

It didn’t take too long during Johaug’s leg for the Norwegian gold machine to take command and create a gap that Finland and Sweden traded places trying to close. But the Norwegian was just too strong for them and by the time she handed off to Norway’s first skate racer, Kristin Stoermer Steira, they had a 13-second lead.

Stoermer Steira increased it with a 12:58 5 km skate, Sweden’s Britta Norgren Johansson tried to bridge, but her time of 13:24, and Finland’s  Riitta-Liisa Roponen’s 13:20 couldn’t do it. Stormer Steira entered the transition zone giving Bjoergen a 34 second lead.

The Swedes may have understood that the Norwegians were going to be unbeatable, but afterwards Charlotte Kalla said she “felt quite good after doing a hard race yesterday. I am in good shape and have good recovery. I have looked forward to this relay for a long time. I think that’s the most important thing – to look forward – it’s more psychological than physical.”

It was, without question, a Scandinavian sweep, but Italy fought back with anchor Arianna Follis flying with a 12:53:2 lap, giving them the fourth spot.

Team USA was pleased with their top ten result, but no doubt it is the experience of racing in a Nordic-mad city like Oslo that is making the biggest impression.

Randall skied the opening classic leg handing off to Brooks in eighth who lost a bit of ground tagging Stephen in 11th. Stephen skated to the ninth fastest time moving them up to 10th and Diggins pulled a strong anchor leg to pass Japan for ninth, finishing at 2:54.7 back.

“I was really happy with our day,” said Diggins in a USSA release. “It was pretty nerve wracking with Marit Bjoergen and Charlotte Kalla anchoring for their teams. The noise was incredible – pretty much every single inch of the course someone was cheering. They were chanting USA. Some of them had a start list and would say your name. That was really cool.”

Brooks said she felt they had a decent race adding ,“Our team was really happy to come in 9th – potentially the best we’ve done in a while. Kikkan brought us in right behind Russia and Japan and I did my best to stick with them. I kept Russia in sight the whole time but Japan was gone – Masako Ishida usually skis top 10 in classic World Cup so I knew that sticking with her was a stretch.  Two k into the race Petra [Majdic] and Justyna [Kowalczyk] passed me. I skied with them for a short while and then they took off. After that it was me and the crowd…”

“It was a really fun day today and great to see the sun,” Liz Stephen, who ran the first skate leg, told SkiTrax by email. “The tracks were super fast and our wax texchs and coaches nailed the skate skis today too. Every day the fans have been amazing, but today was out of hand. Relay days are what I live for! It is great to be part of such a fun and inspiring team right now. And how cool to see Canada on the top step yesterday – as exciting for me as it would be if it was the USA anthem playing.”

Full results HERE.
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March 03, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – What a day for Finland (or two days). Ahvo and I cheer for everyone, but there is an innate tendency for us to cheer for Finnish skiers and American skiers just a little bit louder – and now Canadians as well, since we’re writing for a publication based in Toronto. Ahvo was born in Finland and made his career in the US whereas Ritva was born in the US, but currently makes her home in Finland.

Norwegians are great sport fans as they cheer for everyone out on the trail or coming into the finish, but an eerie silence can fall over the crowd for a spell if the Norwegians are not in the number one spot. After Matti Heikkinen’s win he thanked the crowd for their support throughout the race. The hometown crowd certainly cheered for Heikkinen, but naturally they cheer louder for their countrymen.

Throughout the World Championships we have observed excellent sportsmanship on the part of the competitors and the fans. Every day you can see fans congratulating fans from other countries – this is truly a celebration of the sport and not just championship races.

View more photos HERE.

Today we caught up with Oddvar Bra, reps from Salomon and Fischer and some members of the Finnish team:

Oddvar Bra

Salmon (Alexander Haas) Part I

Salmon (Alexander Haas) Part II

Fischer (Thomas)

One of the Finnish Team Leaders

Toni Roponen (Matti Heikkinen’s personal coach)

March 02, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Neither Alex Harvey nor Devon Kershaw could wipe the smiles off their faces, and the Nordic skiing world was smiling with them. It was just a matter of time before these two fast guys would win a world championship, even if it came at the expense of their Norwegian hosts.

Today was the day as the Team Sprint end up in a photo-finish with Harvey up against Norway’s Ola Vigen Hattestad who was 0.2 seconds back. Russia’s Sochi 2014 machine of Alexander Panzhinskiy and Nikita Kriukov were 0.5 seconds back for the bronze.

As he emerged from the fog, that once again enveloped the Holmenkollen, and flew down the finishline straightaway, Harvey knew he had it. Kershaw remembers his teammate crossing the line and kissing his finger – Number One. How very sweet this victory was – Canada’s first at the Nordic World Championships.

Alex’s father the great Pierre Harvey, who won the 50km event here at the Holmenkollen Festival in 1988, had tried to prepare him. “My father said it’s the best place in the world to race. It was his first world championships in 1982. Winning the Holmenkollen later was the biggest thing in his life.” At this point teammate Kershaw reminded Harvey that having him and two other kids was probably the biggest thing in his father’s life.

“Ya, besides his three kids” continued Harvey, with energy that belied the effort he had just put out. “He said, ‘Have fun – it’s going to be a blast.”

And blast they did – around the 1.5km course six times, patiently allowing their strategy to unfold as Norway, Russia, Germany, Finland, Kazahstan, Sweden and France fought through the dense fog and difficult waxing situation. They wanted to stay in the front of the 10 man field, which included the U.S. team of Andy Newell and Torin Koos, and let the pace unfold. “The pace was pretty slow in the first couple of legs,” said Kershaw, which is what they wanted.

In the semi-final somehow another ski hit Kershaw’s binding and undid it. All of a sudden almost as soon as the race had begun his ski was going in the opposite direction. “I calmly went back and got my ski,” said a still grinning Kershaw. “I thought ‘thirty seconds into the race and it’s over.’ But the adrenaline was pouring through my system. I lost around 10 seconds, but I caught up. I felt like garbage after the semis so I was happy about the slow pace at the beginning [of the final].”

It didn’t last though. “Panzhinskiy [the Russian skier] went – he jumped me. It was a surprise attack and I was caught out,” admitted Kershaw, but in many ways it worked for him. “Northug was going past me with the Finns on him.” This meant Kershaw could tuck in and hit the transition right in the pack and let the Norwegians and Finns help him get back in.

Meanwhile Harvey, a marked man, tended to mix it up a bit more, initiating attacks and counter attacks, especially on the climbs. The Canadians had excellent grip while the Norwegians gambled, at least on Northug’s skis, and went for glide. But they couldn’t use this decision as an excuse. It was Harvey who got by Norway’s Hattestad with his powerful double poling at the finish.

As the sixth and final leg hit the final 700 metres, it was Russia, Canada, Norway, Germany and Finland. Hattestad was in an outside track while Harvey was smartly on the inside. The Norwegian made his final move just before the last, fast corner and took the lead crossing over into the inside lane. Then it was up and over the short roller-coaster hill and into the straight away to the finish.

He had that great Norwegian glide and it may have appeared to the millions of Norwegians watching that there would be another gold to add to the 100 they have won at the World Championships, but Harvey moved into the centre lane and wasn’t going to let that happen.

He too had great skis and with each double pole moved in closer. It was clear he would catch Hattestad, but could he do it before the line? Harvey went into overdrive to take the win as Kershaw recalled, “After the last tag I was standing at the finish line staring into pea soup.  Out of the fog – there he was.”  Harvey and Kershaw made history winning Canada’s first gold at a World Championship.

It was a sprint for the history books as Germany followed Russia in fourth at 0.9 seconds back, with Finland, who had been so aggressive in the last two legs at 1.1 seconds behind. Kazahstan was the surprise 6th place team at 11.5 seconds behind, while Sweden and France lagged well behind on their last leg finishing 12.0 and 22.4 seconds back. Italy took 9th, 29.1 seconds behind, and the USA’s Koos and Newell grabbed 10th at 51.6 seconds back.

“This feels absolutely amazing to win the real World Championship medal and not just the World Juniors,” said Harvey, who added that he and Kershaw were quickly escorted to meet the King of Norway immediately following the race. “The Norwegians have like 100 World Championship medals and we won our first today for Canada. To do it at the birthplace of the sport is incredible.”

“It is a dream come true and to do this in in Norway is amazing,” said Kershaw. “I was nervous heading into the World Championships and this race, but we did it. I’m just so happy.”

“Devon handed off to me in a perfect position. I just skied my stride and picked my lines,” said Harvey. “With 300 metres to go I knew where I wanted to be on the last downhill. I have been practicing it all week and then I just went as hard as I could to the finish. It was just incredible with all those people going crazy.”

“This was such a team effort. Even the guys not racing today played a key role in training in helping us get ready.”

While the Canadians were gregarious and happy to talk about their strategy and strengths, the Russians and Norwegians were rather subdued. Both had come into this event very much wanting the gold. Norway’s Northug sat at the press conference with his waterbottle over his face until someone asked him how the race went.

Without breaking into even a slight smile at winning silver, he replied. “I am happy with the medal. It was a close fight with Canada and Russia in the last leg.” Teammate Hattestad said it was a tough race, but, “Harvey was too strong in the end. I missed one poling twenty metres before the finish line. Harvey was all of a sudden beside me. We knew they would be strong. Harvey is the fittest.”

When asked to comment on Harvey still being at the U23 World Championships while winning here, Northug was matter-of-fact. “I saw the race of his on TV. If you’re winning the U23 world championships, you’re also on top in the seniors.”

Panzhinskiy said his tactic was to “not use too much power in the first two legs, but to come into the transition in a position that would give Nikita an advantage. I wasn’t able to do that – other racers were stronger today.”  He added that in the morning he’d said to his teammate that they should win a medal today.

Kriukov commented saying, “Yes, he did a very good job. Four plus as we say in the Russian school system. We have to prepare for the next World Championships and the Olympics.” The Russians performed poorly at the 2010 Vancouver Games and it seems they’ve been told they have three years to get themselves beyond the bronze podium.

Kershaw said he and Harvey also had a morning discussion about the race. “We woke up at 9:45 this morning and Alex said to me ‘So how will it feel to be the world champion tonight?’ I said, ‘don’t, don’t say that. I don’t want to jinx us. I knew we could be world champions, but I didn’t think we were going to be.”

Both agreed they’d stay downtown tonight at university square after the medal ceremonies. It was definitely time to celebrate.

March 02, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Canada’s Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey brought the entire cross-country ski world to its feet with an incredible gold medal performance in the men’s Team Sprint Classic race (6×1.5km) in the hallowed Holmenkollen stadium in Norway, the cradle of Nordic skiing. Here’s an interview with the two winners in the finish area courtesy of fromsport.com.

March 02, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Matti Heikkenen gave Finland its second Nordic Worlds medal with a gold medal performance in the men’s 15km classic besting all the favourites. Heikkenen scored the win with a comfortable margin of 13.3s over Norway’s Eldar Roenning who jetted out on the course and looked strongest but in the second half paid the price for his heady start. Martin Johnsrud Sundby delivered yet another medal to the Norwegian hosts claiming the bronze.

The USA’s Kris Freeman placed a respectable 24th, short of the mark the American hoped for but a decent result after his run began to fall apart en route to the finish. Team mate Noah Hoffman energized the team with his 29th place finish showing that his classic form is on track.

The top Canadian was veteran Ivan Babikov just behind Hoffman in 30th also with sub-par performance. Both Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey did not race as it was decided to rest them up for the Team Sprint on Wednesday. Len Valjas finished 48th, Stefan Kuhn was 52nd and George Grey finished 57th.

The USA’s Lars Flora (Anchorage) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO) also competed in Tuesday’s 15k classic finishing respectively in 39th and 51st.

Full results HERE.

March 01, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Today we visited the camps up on the top of Holmenkollen. This place has to be the camp of all camps! Between a man prepping his skis for pine tar, a couple of big-screen TVs next to a bonfire by the trail-side and some “old-time” outhouses, we saw a lot! Many of the folks we talked to have been camped out all week and some will be staying until after the 50km this coming Sunday. Check out the pictures in the picasa album HERE.

We missed this in the local news a few days ago, but this is an important news story. With all the people in the woods, it seems that moose feel like their home has been invaded. At least one moose took matters into his own hands (err… hoofs) and decided maybe there would be more space for him to breathe in the city (and it would be quieter too, none of the blow horns or cowbells and loud fans waving things around). He came into the center of the city… and unfortunately met an untimely death because he scared a few people who had not made it up to Holmenkollen.

Plowing in the Oslo City center would make even the heartiest of northerners cringe. As previous pictures that we posted in the picasa album indicate, marching through soft snow and slush have been a daily experience, and this is in downtown! We have a theory based on some of the news that we have heard. We think that since the budget of the new jump increased significantly over its planning and construction that the City maybe had some problems with the snow removal budget. Now that tourists and spectators have been here for six days (or more) and have replenished the budget, the plows are running. We saw TWO last night and our boots are almost dry as we head to the races today.

It was Ahvo’s birthday today, so we visited a local bar for a birthday drink. State-side Ahvo’s birthday drink would cost about $12.00 but here it was closer to $50.00. You only turn 65 once though, so we think it was worth it (but that’s probably the last time we will celebrate Ahvo’s birthday in Norway). Happy 65th Birthday to Ahvo!!

We chatted with some Swedish women who came to watch the races:

Campers on top of Holmenkollen:

More campers on top of Holmenkollen:

Prepping skis with pine tar:

Huge camp site with big screen TVs:

We also ran into Jessie Diggins on the trail and asked her what she thought about the camps:

March 01, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – U.S. Ski Team athletes, coaches, staff and trustees gathered on Monday evening for a social reception at the US Ambassador’s residence located in a lovely, historic building in Oslo. US Ambassador Mr. Barry White and Mrs. White welcomed guests for a chance to mingle and chat about the on-going 2011 FIS World Nordic Skiing Championships underway in Oslo. Here’s is a small selection of photos from the evening – read more HERE.

February 28, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – The strong Austrian Nordic Combined squad of David Kreiner, Bernhard Gruber, Felix Gottwald and Mario Stecher were in fourth following the ski jumping event on the normal hill, but turned on the jets in the xc leg to take the gold medal with a time of 48:07.8 at the FIS Nordic World Skiing Championships on Monday.

The German squad showed its characteristic depth in claiming the silver with a team of Johannes Rydzek, Bjoern Kircheisen, Tino Edelmann and Eric Frenzel. Their jumping results put them starting only 13 seconds behind France and they used that to great advantage. They finished a breathtakingly close 0.4 seconds behind Austria in a sprint finish.

The French team led following the jumping with a huge 110.5-meter leap from Maxime LaHeurte setting a new hill record on the Midstubakken jump. Despite having a solid team with the likes of Francois Braud, Sebastien Laccroix and world cup leader Jason Lamy Chappuis, the French faltered in the xc portion and ended up in fifth behind the USA at 1:30.4 back. Norway took home the bronze with a total xc time of 48:48.4.

The US Team of Johnny Spillane, Bill Demong, Bryan Fletcher and Todd Lodwick picked up a lot of time in the xc race. Following the jumping they were one minute-six seconds back, but after the cross-country they were just 54.8 seconds back. Bryan Fletcher had the longest jump of the day for the Americans with a 101.5 meter leap.

Demong was successful at seriously eating into the deficit as the first US skier in the xc,. The Olympic large hill champion cut the margin all the way down to 29.6 seconds behind Germany with the fastest cross-country leg of the day.

Fletcher took the tag for the second leg and was matched up to Austria’s Bernhard Gruber. The rookie matched Gruber stride for stride through the first lap and into the second, rapidly closing the gap on third place France.

“Bill did a great job of catching up to the Austrians and I went out with a goal of just hanging with them and trying to move up to France,” said Fletcher. “I went out and the pace felt pretty easy and I could put in some effort to reel in France. Then Gruber just took off like an animal and I just didn’t have it.”

On the second of two laps, Fletcher led Gruber on a short herringbone uphill chasing France’s Sebastian Lacroix. They came within two ski lengths before the Frenchman took off. As the lap wore on, Gruber hit a new gear. He took off from Fletcher, attacking Lacroix and moving into the bronze position just 19 seconds off the lead.

His countryman Felix Gottwald was also up to the task on the third leg, crushing the field and moving Austria into the lead as Spillane moved the USA up past France and into fourth. But as Spillane handed off to Lodwick, they still a minute off the lead and 37 seconds out of the medals. Despite Lodwick skiing the fastest anchor leg and Norway’s Magnus Moan fading in the final lap, the defending World Champion Lodwick couldn’t quite close the gap enough, finishing 14 seconds out of bronze.

“It’s bitter sweet,” said Demong reflecting on a strong U.S. performance that just wasn’t quite enough. “We couldn’t medal but at the same time we’re still doing well. The impressive thing today is that we jumped better as a team. And Bryan just went for it. He led the Austrian who just took him at the end of the race. We’re growing the depth of our team.”

“I think everyone can be satisfied with what they did today,” said Spillane, who is returning from a knee injury. “It wasn’t as good as what we’re capable of but overall it was a pretty good day. Fourth place is always a little bit tough, but everybody did a good job.”

“It was a good day but not quite good enough,” said Head Coach Dave Jarrett. “We were hoping for medals but we put ourselves in a position to fight for medals, and that’s all you can ask. In the end we came up short. But it’s still good and something to be proud of. The service guys did a good job and the boys jumped well and skied well.

“But you have to take your hats off to the top three teams,” he added. “They were better and we have to keep working hard and we know the results will be there.”

Full results HERE.

February 28, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Two days ago, I raced my first 15km pursuit ever… at the World Championships! Maybe not the ideal time to experiment with pacing, but it sure was fun while it lasted. It was an interesting day with heavy fog that made it hard on the spectators and racers alike; you couldn’t see the turns on the fast downhills till you hit them! I almost fell face-first a couple of times but managed to stay upright.

The crowds were fantastic; they lined the course and although 95% were totally intoxicated, the noise and enthusiasm really gave me a boost during the race. It’s impossible to give up when people are screaming “HI-YA!” at you! (it means GO! in Norwegian)

I had the best mass start I’ve ever been in, because I was situated #42, on the right outside track. I was able to hop out of the track and double pole up the outside while on the first hill out of the stadium people were going ballistic and tripping in the tracks. I snuck around the corner and caught onto the end of the big pack to be in the top 30. I was so excited because our skis were so fast – we had the perfect mix of good kick up the steep climbs and fast glide on the downhills.

However, I’d done a really poor job of hydrating and fueling up the days prior to my race, which proved to be a painful lesson to learn the hard way. I started to hit the wall at only 6km, and could taste iron in the back of my throat the rest of the race. I shouldn’t have needed a feed in a 15km, but the coaches had three stations ready, just in case.

And you know what? I missed all three! So embarrassing. I dropped the first bottle, and the second time around, I managed to grab the bottle… and gave myself a Gatorade facewash! So now every coach in the world knows that I had the worst feed in the history of world champs. What a prestigious title! To be fair, I’ve never tried to take a feed in a big race before. But now I’ve got good incentive to practice!

At the end of the day, Marit Bjoergen took the women’s title (surprise, surprise!) but the US women had a great day – Liz led the charge in 24th, Holly came in 25th, I finished 28th and Mo wrapped up our top 45 day in 43rd! Full results are linked HERE.

The next day was the men’s 30km pursuit, and Holly and I had a great time cheering them on. We got to be part of an international cheering squad as we hiked down a steep snowy hill to get right alongside the classic part of the course. It was really cool to see all the people camping in the snowbank; some had even shoveled out benches and settled down for the afternoon!

We hiked back to the stadium in time to see Alex Harvey of Canada pull the most ballsy move I’ve ever seen in a 30km pursuit – he broke the pack with like 6km to go and went off the front on his own! Sadly, his legs cramped up with about 3km to go and the pack sucked him back in. But it was super cool to see him off the front for a lap with a chase pack of 20 guys all scared to death that a U23 was going to beat them.

The men finished thus: Northug won, with Russians in 2nd and 3rd. Kris Freeman led the US guys in 29th, Noah Hoffman came in 37, Lars Flora finished in 53rd and Tad Elliott came in 55th. Full results are linked HERE.

Then we had a bit of a transportation snafu – due to the pedestrians crowding the street and the King of Norway getting back down the hill safely, they totally shut down the roads and we had to sit on a bus for an hour and a half before getting back to the hotel. It was a long day, but still worth it to see such an exciting race.

Today is the women’s 10km classic… and I’m headed out to cheer!

February 28, 2011 (Rumford, Maine) – Skiers reconvened at Black Mountain on Sunday for the second day of NCAA Eastern Regional Championships. The mass start classic races saw exciting action at the finish line, with skiers sprinting for top five positions and finishing within a few seconds of each other.

In the women’s race, a sprint finish saw Rosie Brennan (DAR) upset series leader Caitlin Patterson (UVM), securing the win by three seconds, finishing in a time of 52:35.6 for the 15km mass start classic race. Patterson narrowly out-sprinted her UVM team mate Amy Glen, who settled for third by half a second. With Brennan’s team mates Erika Flowers and Annie Hart sprinting for fourth Dartmouth put three skiers in the top five, Flowers crossing 4.8 seconds ahead of Hart.

Eric Packer (DAR) repeated his performance on Saturday, taking the win in 1:01:33.2 for the men’s 20km race. On Packer’s heels were UVM’s Scott Patterson in second place, down 8.3 seconds, and Dimitri Luthi (WIL), 12 seconds down. Packer’s Dartmouth team mate David Sinclair was fourth, crossing in a time of 1:02:11.9, Benjamin Lustgarten (MID) picking up fifth in 1:02:47.6.

UVM lead the weekend with 501 points squeaking by Darmouth with 500 in second followed by UNH in third with 327 points.

Skiers are gearing up for NCAA Championships which will be hosted by the University of Vermont with the Nordic events running from March 9-11.

Women’s results HERE.
Men’s results HERE.

Women’s Overall XC Ranking HERE.
Men’s Overall XC Ranking HERE.

Top Combined Nordic Team Scores HERE.

February 27, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Every Norwegian today was either at the 30km pursuit trail at Holmenkollen or parked by a TV as Norway’s Petter Northug won a dazzling gold in 1:14:10:4 and made good on the signs that read, “Heile Petter” along the race course.

But this was not an easy win for the Norwegian as Canada’s Alex Harvey broke away soon after the transition zone at the 15km mark and had up to a 15-second lead. Even the Russians, who have once again have become a formidable train internationally and won silver and bronze today, say Harvey is a dangerous man to have ahead of you.

Northug said they were talking to one another in the pack, wondering who would have the guts to chase Harvey down as he glided ahead, looking confident, comfortable and determined to make up for Friday’s sprint event where he was caught up by a Swiss skier falling and lost four seconds which shut him down in the semi-final.

Russian Maxim Vylegzhanin took the silver at 0.22 seconds behind, while teammate Ilia Chernousov was the bronze medalist at 0.38 seconds back. Sergei Dolidovich of Belarus was a surprise 4th having not won a World Cup race since 2001, and not finished high up in World Cup points. He was 0.82 seconds back while Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sunby and Sweden’s Marcus Hellner had a photo finish for 5th spot, 3.1 seconds back.

Canada’s Devon Kershaw, who took over the lead soon after Harvey was caught with 3km to go, was swallowed up as well, ending up in a photo finish with Germany’s Tobias Angerer for 8th place. Kershaw was awarded 9th both at 6.5 seconds behind. Harvey finished in 12th place at 10.3 seconds behind while teammate Ivan Babikov rounded out the three Canadians in the top 15 placing 15th at 11.8 seconds behind Northug.

Kris Freeman, who was with the lead group for most of the race and generally around 8-12 seconds back, was the first American in at 29th at 2:09:9 minutes behind. He was followed by Noah Hoffman at his first senior World Championships in 37th at 3:03:7 minutes back, Canadian George Grey in 46th behind by 4:24:7 minutes, Lars Flora (USA) in 53rd at 5:52:0 back, and American Tad Elliott, also at this first Nordic Worlds, in 55th at 5:58:4 minutes back.

As Freeman put it last weekend in Drammen at the WCup wasn’t great so today was a step in the right direction. He recalled that this was the event that ended his 2010 season abruptly. As a diabetic he ran into blood-sugar problems in the 30km pursuit at Vancouver 2010 so was he a little nervous coming into today’s race?

“Sure I was apprehensive – this is my first 30km since the Games. I guess I should be happy with 29th but I want more and know I can do better. This classic course is one of the hardest out there with a 1-km climb just after the start. I lost some ground during the exchange and on the skate leg and I’m still about a week behind where I’d like to be after getting sick during the break.”

Freeman’s blood-sugar levels were stable today but not where he wants them to be as he continues to fine tune. His target at the Worlds is the 15km classic on Mar. 1 and tomorrow he’ll spec out the course again and do a light training session.

“Kris was encouraged by his race. He is feeling better with each start,” said Chris Grover U.S. Ski Team XC Head Coach by email. “We were really excited for Noah. He skied very well in both classic and skate, and I feel can do even better later in the week.”

Hoffman is optimistic as well. “It was a really fun race, but pretty hard. I had a good start and was able to ski in the pack for 8km or so. I started going backwards at that point and was struggling to hold it together. I had some guys to ski with that were helpful. I felt better in the last two skate laps. It was an incredible experience. I really enjoyed it and I’m hoping to build on it during the rest of the week.”

For Tad Elliott it was an experience he won’t forget too soon. “It was a great day out there. The weather could not have been better and the crowds were huge – the cheering was so loud that it literally shook you. My experience at the senior world championships could not be better. It is like the super bowl of skiing. My skis were fast and feeling good. Thanks to all the wax techs from the US they were great.”

The race started under sunny skies as thousands upon thousands of spectators skied to the race trails, but by the time the gun went off, clouds had moved in, luckily without the fog from previous days. The 12km trail from Songsvann to Frognersettern, which houses the trails at Holmenkollen, were clogged with skiers the way major freeways in North American cities are grid-locked when a professional sports team is playing.

The forest area surrounding the trails is one big happy international family from newborns in pulkes to great grandparents still striking a tent and building a fire along the course. Times become even merrier with considerable amounts of beer and spirits as well as the friendly rivalry between Sweden and Norway, both of whom claim to have the best Viking skiers.

But both Scandinavian countries, along with the Russians, predict that Harvey will soon be the man to beat. It took a combined international effort to reel in the 22-year-old who earlier this year took the gold in the 30km race at the U23 World Championships.

After several attempts by the chasing field to run him down first by Dario Cologna (SUI), then by the Russians and Italians, Harvey was able to stay away. But as the finish line approached a more concerted effort was launched by Northug and the Norwegians and Harvey’s lead began to dwindle. At 3km he was caught. For the first time he says he experienced leg cramps not in his quads, but in the psoas, which is a muscle deep in the hip flexor area.

“I felt really strong today. The classic part was easy for me and I had good skis,” a disappointed Harvey told SkiTrax after the race. “Early in the skate leg I realized I was having a very good day and once again, my skis were fast. I went to the front of the group on the last climb of the 1st lap and got a gap on the field.

“I didn’t plan on getting away or anything like that, it just happened. I skied my own pace for the next two laps. I was feeling relaxed and I was pretty convinced that I would go to the line alone, then I started cramping in the hipflexor. I never had that happen to me before. I’ve had cramps in the quadriceps before, when I have a rough day skating and the legs are full of lactate, but today I felt amazing until it happened.”

From behind Northug moved it up another notch, swallowing Harvey, who became part of the pack but remained near the front group with teammates Kershaw and Babikov when things really went wild. Skier after skier, including Kershaw, attacked pushing an unrelenting pace.

Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth reflected after the race. “I think Alex had the fitness to win, but just cramped with 3km to go. Devon moved too early at the end. Ivan skied well the whole day. It’s so great to have the guys firing so well.”

Northug, meanwhile, was playing it safe. He did his part at the front of the pack catching Harvey, but he admits it is the last lap in the four-lap race where he believes the winner is determined and within that last lap, as long as he is near the front, he conserves his strength until he unleashes his unmatched sprinting ability.

“It was a great day,” Northug said after the race. “Also we had better weather than last days and a lot of crowds. The skiing track had a lot of people – I got a lot of help from them.”

Northug also mentioned that he didn’t want to give his father a heart attack so when he came through the stadium he tried to go to the front so he wouldn’t worry, but he knew he had to “..save some power for the second part of the skating.”

As usual, he skied conservatively early on, entering the transition zone in 15th spot, at three seconds behind the Italian Giorgio di Centa who hit it at 39:59:5. But at this point the lead pack was still large, numbering 33 skiers with Sweden’s Marcus Hellner at the back as he struggled with the wrong classic wax. All Canadians and American Freeman were in this lead pack.

“It was a tough classic part, but the first part of the second laps when Alex Harvey attacked, I felt really good,” continued Northug. “I was ready to do my work if the gap was too high, but the Russians were strong , and they did not want him too long in front of the field. I was sure Harvey was tired – it is difficult for him to stay in his spot with a big pack behind him.

“I think it’s the last two rounds that count where you go really hard. I knew we would catch Harvey and then just I had to stay at the front. The last round [lap] was pretty tough. People attacked all the way. It was really hard. But I have gone through this race for one year in my head and I have done this track many times. I was in third and then in second on the last long uphill.

“I looked toward Dario [Cologna] on my left side. ‘This time I’m going to take him’ I said in my head. Maybe this is my only chance to get gold – so try hard. I was smiling, trying to say that I’m feeling okay. I like to sprint when the field is a bit tired.”

Meanwhile Russians Vylegzhanin and Chernousov were like a tag team in their press conference, speaking on behalf of one another and the Russian team in general. Teammate Alexander Legkov, who was 4th in this event at the Vancouver Olympics, broke his pole earlier in the race.

Vylegzhann and Chernousov did not get a message to wait for him, and so worked to finish on the podium. “I had a good preparation, and thought about the world championships, not the world cup races – they are not a priority,” said Vylegzhann through an interpreter when asked why he had not been at too many world cups.

Meanwhile Chernousov said he has known Northug since they raced together at the Junior Worlds and knew he is a very good skier.

“Of course we know he is the best in the finish – so we try our best to beat him and have something in the reserve to beat him…but we shall see later in the championships,” he added, in reference to races where Northug may not dominate.

In terms of Harvey’s lead, they said they “…were very, very concerned. We know he is strong, and he could get away, therefore we couldn’t let him get to far and had to use some strength to get him. That was our tactic – not to let him get too far.”

As the weather closed in once again on Holmenkollen Northug paid tribute to the historic site. “It is the biggest achievement for a Norwegian skier,” Northug said to win on the Holmenkollen circuit at the World Championships in front of Norwegians – even bigger than winning at the Olympics.

For complete results click HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Petter Northug (NOR) 1:14:10.4
2. Maxim Vylegzhanin (RUS) 1:14:11.1
3. Ilia Chernousov (RUS) 1:14:11.6

9. Devon Kershaw (CAN) 1:14:16.9
12. Alex Harvey (CAN) 1:14:20.7
15. Ivan Babikov (CAN) 1:14:22.2
29. Kris Freeman (USA) 1:16:20.3
37. Noah Hoffman (USA) 1:17:14.1
46. George Grey (CAN) 1:18:35.1.
53. Lars Flora (USA) 1:20:06.3
55. Tad Elliott (USA) 1:20:08.8

February 27, 2011 (Park City, Utah) – The NCAA Western Regional Championships opened on Friday with the Nordic events taking place at Soldier’s Hollow in Park City, Utah, with athletes vying for a final chance to qualify for NCAA Championships.

Miles Havlick (UU) scored a home turf win in the men’s 10km freestyle event, posting a time of 30:29.3. Tor-Haken Hellebostad (UNM) picked up second, 25.3 seconds down on Havlick with Reid Pletcher (CU) third at 49.9 seconds. The University of Utah put three skiers in the top five with Havlick’s team mates Tom Smith and Rolf Figi in fourth and fifth at 31:23.6 and 31:34.3 respectively. The University of Utah took the team win scoring 130 points, followed by UNM with 108 and CU with 105.

University of Colorado skiers picked up the top two spots in the women’s 5km freestyle race with a win by Eliska Hajkova in 16:45.9, followed by Joanne Reid in second at 25.7 seconds behind. Utah Unversity’s Maria Graefnings spoiled Colorado’s podium sweep, taking third in 17:21.4 ahead of Colorado’s Alexa Turzian, who crossed the line in 17:42.1. Utah’s Zoe Roy was fifth in a time of 17:53.6. The Universty of Colorado took the team prize with 138 points, followed by UU with 109 and UNM with 92.

With their score the University of Utah collected enough points to win the overall 2011 RMISA regular season championship which was awarded on Saturday when skiers reconvened for the women’s 15km classic while the men contested a 20km course.

The University of Alaska Anchorage took the top two spots in the men’s race with Lukas Ebner winning in 1:05:11.4, followed by Lasse Nielsen Moelgaard, 54.7 seconds down. Hellebostad nabbed his second podium of the weekend in third, a further 19 seconds down. Ian Mallams (CU) and Havlick (UU) were fourth and fifth crossing at 1:06:51.0 and 1:07:24.9 respectively. UAA won the team score with 134 points, followed by CU with 103 and UU with 92 points.

Hajkova as on fire repeating her performance from the opening day to take the women’s race in 56:11.2, while Greafnings bettered yesterday’s result grabbing second, down 21.6 seconds on the winner. Greafnings’ team mate Roy also improved on her result from Friday, claiming third, a further 30.7 seconds behind the leader.

Chris Lovelald (UNM) and Kate Dolan (DU) were fourth and fifth, with times of 57:09.5 and 57:23.6, respectively. The University of Utah won today’s team score with 128 points, followed by Colorado and UNM both with 109.

Classic results and standings HERE.
Freestyle results and standings HERE.

February 26, 2011 (Rumford, Maine) – The NCAA Eastern Regional Championships, hosted by Bates College, opened today with Nordic events taking place at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine. Packed powder and a temperatures around 16-20F greeted skiers as they gathered under cloudy skies for their last chance to qualify for NCAA Championships.

It was a decisive victory for freestyle series leader Eric Packer (DAR), who crossed the line in the men’s 10km freestyle event in 27:58.0. While Packer finished 42 seconds ahead of team mate Scott Lacy, the remaining top five skiers posted times that were within five seconds of each other. Third place finisher Alexander Howe (UVM) crossed the line 1.7 seconds behind Lacy, who edged out his UVM team mate Scott Patterson by less than a second. Erik Fagerstrom (DAR) picked up fifth in 28:45.5; three seconds behind Patterson.

In the women’s freestyle race, series leader Caitlin Patterson (UVM) nabbed yet another win, posting a time of 15:10.4 for the 5km event. Lucy Garrec (UVM) and Clare Egan (UNH) rounded out the podium 21.7 and 27.5 seconds down on Patterson, respectively. Dartmouth team mates Erika Flowers and Rosie Brennan were fourth and fifth, crossing the line 31.3 and 35.3 seconds behind Patterson.

In the combined Nordic team scores University of Vermont is leading over Dartmouth in second with Middlebury in third. Racing resumes tomorrow with mass start classic events with men starting their 20km race at 10am with women begin the 15km at noon..

Women’s results HERE.
Men’s results HERE.

Women’s rankings HERE.
Men’s rankings HERE.

February 26, 2011 (Hayward, WI) – In a very tight finish Tore Martin Gundersen from Norway topped the field in the 50km freestyle race at the 38th annual American Birkebeiner in very cold conditions on Saturday with a time of 1:59.57.6 nipping Benoit Chauvnet (France) by 0.6s with Andre Tyuterev (Russia) in third a further 18 seconds behind.

CXC’s Bryan Cook lead the USA contingent in 4th only 2.4 seconds off the podium while Ottawa XC’s Karl Saidla was the top Canadian in 9th with a time of 2:00:23.4.

Caitlin Compton (CXC) from Minneapolis, MN was the fastest woman placing 75th overall with a time of 2:16:07.3 followed closely by Park City’s Morgan Smyth (APU) in second only 3s behind with Evelyn Dong (XC Oregon) in third place another 5 seconds back.

For complete overall results click HERE.
For all gender/age results click HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Tore Martin Gundersen (Norway) 1:59.57.6
1. Benoit Chauvnet (France) 1:59.58.2
3. Andre Tyuterev (Russia) 2:00:16.4
4. Bryan Cook (USA/CXC)  2:00:18.8
5. Vetle Thyli (Norway) 2:00:19.1

9. Karl Saidla (Can/Ottawa XC)  2:00:23.4

75. Caitlin Compton (USA/CXC) 2:16:07.3  – top woman
77. Morgan Smyth (USA/APU) 2:16:10.3
80. Evelyn Dong (USA/XC Oregon) 2:16:15.9

For complete overall results click HERE.
For all gender/age group results click HERE.

February 26, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – The Marit Bjoergen magic worked again in the women’s 15km Pursuit (7.5km CL + 7.5km FR) even on slow, new warm snow, along with yesterday’s fog, as all of Norway showed up to watch the Queen of Holmenkollen triumph once more.

In total she blazed the course in 38:08 and is the nemesis of Polish star, Justyna Kowalczyk, who was 3.5 seconds back at the ski transition, and 7.5 seconds back by the finish for the silver. Bjoergen commented that she could see from the first skate downhill that she had faster skis than her Polish shadow. Thus made this part of her tactic in the second half, initiating her attack with just under one kilometre to go on the climb before entering the stadium. Her teammate Therese Johaug had a stellar race taking the bronze at 8.8 seconds behind.

These three leaders broke away during one of Bjoergen’s attacks on the climb during the skate leg. Sweden’s top distance skier, Charlotte Kalla, chased but could not connect and finished on her own in 4th 53:9 seconds back. Italian Marianna Longa and Sweden’s Maria Rydqvist had a photo finish for 5th at 1:08:8 seconds behind the winner.

US skiers were the first North Americans with Elizabeth Stephen in at 2:54.9 minutes back for a solid 24th overall – her strong fast time in the skate of 18:23.2 put her 18th in that leg. Holly Brooks was next in 25th at 3:21.9 behind, while junior Jessie Diggins put in another a strong performance at her first major international event placing 28th at 3:25.2 back, followed by Morgan Arritola in 43rd at 5:00:9 behind.

The lone Canadian skier, Brooke Gosling was 51st and seven minutes behind. It was Brooks, Diggins and Gosling’s first World Championships – quite the baptism considering the competition at the front of the pack.

American xc head coach Chris Gover was more than pleased as the team coped with unexpected deep snow, and promising results for the future. “Conditions were different than anything we’d seen so far and from what was predicted but the wax team adjusted quickly and we had a great skis. Different teams found different kick wax solutions,” Grover told SkiTrax. “I was proud of the effort of our young skiers. A great race for Liz. Holly’s first Euro WC points. A second day in the top-30 result for Jessie.”

Veteran Stephen agreed. “It was a great day for our team for the most part, with Holly, Jessie and I all in the top 30. That’s real progress for us as a country. The race was really fun and the tracks were super fast – I had awesome skis today, both for the classic leg and the skate.

“My race had some really good parts to it, including the classic leg, which may well have been my best classic race all year. I was able to ski hard, but relaxed and hang on to the pack enough so I could be in the mix with the skate race and go out feeling strong with a goal to catch as many people as possible. I skied a pretty strong skate leg, and feel like today was a really good tune up for the rest of the week.”

Diggins continued to perform after being called up from the junior ranks following her seventh place result in the 5km skate at the Junior Worlds with as fast or faster times than many seniors. Not only was this her first senior worlds, but it was her first pursuit ever and she couldn’t overstate her enthusiasm for the race and the entire experience.

“Today was a really interesting day with all the fog…it was crazy racing because going down the hills you couldn’t see the corners until you came right up to them! But the fans were great and all the cheering really helped,” said Diggins in a post-race email to SkiTrax. “I had a great start, but did a poor job keeping hydrated and hit the wall pretty hard around 6km, and felt pretty sloppy in the skate portion of the race.

“I also tried to get a feed…twice…and every coach in the world now knows that I had the worst feed in the world! I dropped the bottle the first time around and gave myself a Gatorade face-wash the second. How embarrassing! But I’m super proud of the US girls and the coaches gave us super fast skis. It was a good day!”

For the USA’s Brooks it was a day for the record books. “Yes it was a great day for the US – three women in the top 28 – and my first WC points in Europe. The past weekend at the WCup in Drammen I had a rough start in my weakest disciplines after not having raced in over a month.

“We had great skis – thanks to our techs and my coach, Erik Flora. The first time up the big sprint hill before entering the stadium I looked up and saw bib 6 – Italy’s Arianna Follis was in front of me. That was extra motivation to ski fast!  It was super fun to be skiing with the skier who took the silver medal only two days before in the sprint and I hope our momentum carries through to the guys on Sunday! Despite the fog, the crowd was fantastic.”

Arritola felt the stress of competition. “I had a rough day in the pursuit but I’m happy for my teammates who skied well. I just have to figure some things out and get ready for the 30km.”

Team leader Kikkan Randall was impressed with the US women in the 15km pursuit emailing SkiTrax her observations, “I’m super psyched and impressed to see three of our women in the top 30 today. It looked like a tough race and it’s great to see the shift in performance on our team.  We used to dream of one result in the top 30 and now we got three in. I know Morgan didn’t have her best day so she could have possibly been in there too. Jessie skied an impressive race, not afraid to go up and ski with some fast girls. I am really excited for the future of this group.

“I think my fall in the sprint the other day, while it was definitely disheartening, has made us all appreciate the hard work we’ve done together as a team to prepare for these championships and we know that the most important thing is to put ourselves out there and go for it.  The door has been opened on what is possible and we want more of it!”

We caught up Canadian Head Coach Justin Wadsworth for his take on the pursuit. “For sure it was a tough one out there for Brooke with the new (hard) courses here at Holmenkollen, and the huge crowds. This is a tough place to cut your teeth for your first high level racing in Europe. Brooke showed some guts out there on the skating leg today, so I look for better things to come from her as the championships continue.”

But not everyone was happy about that situation. Kowalczyk noted that on four different occasions Johaug blocked her from chasing Bjoergen. When asked whether she thought it was fair play, Kowalczyk replied, “It’s cross-country skiing.”

Johaug denied trying to block Kowalczyk and Bjoergen said she had no knowledge of it – as all had taken place behind her, but she was sure Johaug would not do that.

Instead, she said, her tactic to “…not do too much work in the classic part, but I was first in. Then I knew I had very good skis [in the skate leg] and Therese was in front; I wanted to be behind, because I knew I had better skis than Kowalczyk. I attacked and got a gap, and I knew I could go. I wanted Kowalczyk in front but Kowalczyk wanted Therese in front.”

Kowalczyk had little to say. It is difficult to ski against strong teams like the Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Italians and Finns when the other members of the Polish team while good, were not there to work for her.

Bjoergen admitted Johaug played a part in her victory. “A big thank you to Therese who wore out Kowalczyk.”

Johaug, meanwhile, said the biggest “thank you” went to the “boys in the cabin” meaning the wax crew who waxed skis to perfection. “My goal was to reach an individual medal at these Games,” she said, “and now I have reached my goal. It was a big thing for me. The people in the track were great. At the last world championships I was 6th, so it is my best place at the world championships and the Olympics.

“I knew they [Bjoergen and Kowalczyk] would be strong in the end. I would fight to the last lap – all the way. When I was skating, I thought I could go hard all the time – I thought there was a chance. I did the best I could and it was a bronze today.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Norway commented, in a slight nudge to the competition and the rivalry between Norway and Sweden, “It is very typical Norwegian to perform as well as Marit Bjoergen did today.”

Full results HERE.

February 25, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – On a day that the women’s best ski jumpers had to compete against each other, they also had to deal with Mother Nature on the famed Midstubakken normal hill. Austrian flyer Daniela Iraschko had a pair of lovely jumps both 97 meters to claim the gold medal in thick fog on the hill.

The 27 year-old, who suffered with a knee injury recently, won her first world championship title with Italy’s Elena Runggaldier in second while France’s young Coline Mattel takes home the bronze.

Jessica Jerome lead the U.S. finishers in 14th with jumps of 84 and 90 meters while Taylor Henrich, the lone Canadian jumping, was a solid 18th today having jumps of 84.5 and 92.0 meters. The crowd watched the men’s normal hill qualifying and then enjoyed the women’s competition, and no one left – the spirit on the hill was captivating.

Jerome spoke for many saying, “The weather was not amazing. For the last three days we’ve been training well with good weather. Unfortunately on the day that it counted, it wasn’t the best. I didn’t do what I am capable off.”

After the first round American Alissa Johnson had a jump of 91 meters, good enough to land her in sixth place, and US hopes were high. Yet her second jump of 81m placed her in 20th.

In a Women’s Ski Jumping USA release Johnson said the conditions were as bad as she’s ever seen. “I couldn’t see anything and I could barely hear anything. It was a bizarre feeling, but I had a job to do. I was happy with my first jump. My second jump, I was definitely nervous, but still having a good time.”

Sarah Hendrickson, 2010 Junior Worlds bronze medalist, had a first round jump of 90.5 m and added an 84m leap that gave her a 16th place finish. Hendrickson told Women’s Ski Jumping USA that the winds were hard to deal with and were all over the place, but felt her jumps were technically not that bad. “It was a little intimidating, but it’s an outdoor sport and we have to take what we can get,” said Hendrickson who donned the words, “Wish it, Dream it, Do it” on her gloves.

The defending world champion, Lindsey Van had a first round jump of 75 meters, which failed to qualify her for a second ride. “I caught a wicked side wind on my jump. I can’t believe they sent me down in that. But, hey, that’s the way it is. Obviously I am not totally psyched,” she told the US Ski Team Press Service.

According to Women’s Ski Jumping USA a International Olympic Committee was paying close attention to Friday’s competition and the IOC is “looking favorably” at adding a women’s ski jumping event to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games program.

“The announcer just kept saying how important this competition was because of the pending IOC decision and that for these women to jump as well as they did in these conditions was very respectable,” said Vic Method, Women’s Ski Jumping USA vice president.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Daniela Iraschko, Austria, (97.0, 97.0), 231.7
2. Elena Runggaldier, Italy, (97.5, 93.5), 218.9
3. Coline Mattel, France, (92.0, 97.0), 211.5
4. Eva Logar, Slovenia, (91.0, 88.5), 197.9
5. Maja Vtic, Slovenia, (88.5, 97.0), 196.0

14. Jessica Jerome, USA, (84.0, 90.0), 177.8
16. Sarah Hendrickson, USA, (90.5, 84.0), 177.0
18. Taylor Henrich, CAN, (84.5, 92.0), 175.9
20. Alissa Johnson, USA, (91.0, 81.0), 169.0
24. Abby Hughes, USA, (86.5, 83.0), 156.5
34. Lindsey Van, USA, (75.0), 61.4

February 25, 2011 (Rossland, BC) – Dave Wood was Canada’s most successful National Team cross-country ski coach, with career highlights including Beckie Scott’s legendary Olympic pursuit gold in 2002, Sara Renner’s sprint bronze at the Nordic World Championships in 2005, Chandra Crawford’s sprint gold in 2006 in Torino, and nine top-10’s at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Wood spent 18 years with Cross Country Canada (CCC) and lead the program for 12 of those years. He resigned in May 2010 and  is still very much involved with skiing, currently coaching the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, B.C. He talked with SkiTrax’s Marty Hall about his new New Nordic Academy program.

It’s been 9 months since your departure from the Canadian National Team, what’s been happening with you and your career – bring us up to speed?
Dave Wood: In the spring I began working with the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, BC. The program here has younger skiers ages 13 to 17, all in high school. We have an ideal natural environment for Cross country skiers in Rossland.

Most of the training can be completed “out the door”. We have to travel for Roller skiing to find different terrain, but we have everything from flatter gentle terrain to long continuous uphills (10 to 25 km). The trails are superb and with the Red Mountain alpine area only 15 minutes running from town we can do as much ski simulation on foot as one can stand!

The program had a couple of training camps in the summer, the Haig Glacier, and a dryland camp in the Bow Valley. This is an opportunity to begin to introduce these skiers to training at altitude. We began skiing in Early November up at the Paulson trails (local). There are 3 areas for Cross Country here, and the Paulson trails (maintained by the Castlegar club) have snow a little earlier than Black Jack.

I went to Boston in September for a NENSA seminar. I made a presentation and sat in on the rest of seminar. Always good to get into other areas. As well I went to a COC function (Olympic Excellence series) for summer sports in November.

The club hosted a very successful NorAm in December. I did not have involvement with the event, except I worked with the club to build a better sprint course. The tracks and the event were well received.

The club and the Red Mountain Academy are joining forces to create an educational component to our Nordic Program. Al Fisher (Racing Program Director) and I initiated this in the spring and over the summer when we hammered out the details. At the end it has been Wannes Luppens (Club President), Al Fisher and I that are spearheading this initiative.

Now we are into the racing season and going full blast. Life in Rossland right now is being very good to Coach Dave Wood!

I hear you’re announcing a new high school aged skiing program at one of the best training and skiing locales in North America – tell us more about the Red Mountain Academy and its new educational component for your Nordic Program.
DW: The Red Mountain Academy (RMA) has been in operation for many years. It began as an academy program with the Red Mountain Racers (Alpine racing) and over time has expanded. The cooperation with the Black Jack Cross Country ski club was initiated this spring and we finalized the association this past fall with a three pronged program. Read more about the Academy here: www.redskiacademy.com

With the Home Stay Plan athletes that are not local in Rossland are placed with families in Rossland. We also have service providers such as physiotherapy, mental training, etc.

The home stay is organized and delivered through the administration end of the academy program. The athletes stay with families in the area. There is an education for the home stay families with respect to the nutritional needs of the athlete. The cost for this is $750/month, which includes some of the travelling needs. With their application to academy the process for home stay is initiated.

Another component of this program is transportation to and from the training venue to the school. In Rossland you can walk from “home” to school

The Educational Component of the Academy is delivered at Rossland Senior Secondary school. This will provide the athletes with a flexible academic schedule that allows time for proper training and competition programs. Read more about RMA here: www.rss.sd20.bc.ca

The third component of the program is the Training and Competition Program that is managed and delivered by myself. I have several coaches and experts who are assisting me in the Black Jack Racing team. We provide an intensive, individualized training and preparation programs.

Athletes in the academy program will train alongside the athletes training with the Club Program. Currently we have athletes from Rossland, Nelson, and Trail that work with the Black Jack Racing Team.

General program for 2011/12
– May 1 is the training year start
– Will plan for a spring snow camp where it can happen, likely Vernon, however we can do it here in some years
– June is dryland, going into the local mountain trails as the snow melts
– July will have a week at the Haig glacier
– August will have two weeks in the Bow Valley with two trips to the Haig glacier
– Fall camp with altitude. Most likely the Bow Valley if the stored snow works out
– December NorAms
– World Junior trials
– National Champs
– Other racing as is available

In Rossland we enjoy the perfect natural environment for developing Cross Country Ski Racers. We have an extensive network of trails and paths that are ideal for running and ski simulation on foot. As well we have mountain trails that are up to 2200 meters in elevation.

This means we can train between 400 meters and 2200 meters, an ideal situation for altitude training and lower elevation for speed work. We have long continuous roller ski climbs, up to 25 km, or we can have gentle rolling terrain to roller ski on. A lot of this roller ski terrain has very limited traffic.

We have access to a rubber surface running track in Warfield (6km away), an aquatic center in Trail (10 km), gyms in Rossland, and the alpine area (Red Resort) is about 5km from town, a perfect distance for warm up for a hill session. This is as good as it gets for dry land training!

We have three areas where we can ski. The Black Jack Club (www.skiblackjack.ca) is about a 10 min drive from anywhere in Rossland. The club has about 30 km of trails that are groomed daily by one of the two Pisten Bulleys the club owns. The normal season at Black Jack would be December to April. There is a biathlon facility up the highway from Black Jack. There is a 5km loop with the shorter tracks inside the 5 km track. The biathlon facility is about 300 meters higher than Black Jack, and gets earlier snow (2 to 3 weeks) and the snow lasts much longer in the spring. Finally the Castlegar ski club operates a trail system at the Paulson Summit. This is about a 30 min drive from Rossland, and it is also higher (about 1500 meters) so it is another option for early skiing

We can offer a training environment that is very high quality and lets the athletes maximize their training time do to the proximity of all training venues.

Dave, I think that wraps it up for any young teenage skier it doesn’t get any better. Sort of a home away from home feeling with the Home Stay Program and one of the best facilities and training centered programs you could want to be involved with – how do I sign up?
DW:

February 25, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Check out this Fischer video interview with 2011 World Champion Marcus Hellner (SWE). A true competitor, Hellner won the men’s 1.5km sprint yesterday in Oslo and snatched two gold medals at last year’s Olympic Games.

Story and results HERE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gufdJa_LvI

February 24, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Despite the partisan crowd of Norwegians at the Holmenkollen, it was the Swedes who dominated the men’s 1.5km sprint from the qualifications to the final with Jesper Modin setting the fastest qualifying time and teammate Marcus Hellner taking the gold in commanding style, while fellow Swede, Emil Joensson, grabbed the bronze.

Norway’s Petter Northug crashed the Swedish party by besting Joensson for the silver but Norway could not defend the title as Northug’s teammate Ola Vigen Hattestad, the reigning world champ settled for 4th, as Modin placed 5th and Estonia’s Peeter Kummel was 6th.

The Swedes were relentless in the final going to the front and sprinting up both climbs on the 1.5 km course. With three members of their team in the final, they showed no mercy and had great gliding ability on the flowing descents that put them out in front with Northug constantly fighting to keep contact.

Hellner charged up the first hill with Hattestad in tow as Northug smartly took the inside lane. But Hellner was going for broke and as he kept accelerating the others lagged not expecting his ferocious move.

At the second climb Hellner attacked again and only Joensson and Northug could muster a counter attack but all was in vain. On the finishing straight the wily Swede romped in for the gold as Northug passed Joensson for the silver but ran out of track to catch Hellner who was in a class of his own today.

“I was focused to have good shape for the world championship,” said the winner, “I haven’t thought so much about particular races. I was expecting maybe I could make it to the final, but honestly never thought that gold was a possibility for me.”

Canada’s Alex Harvey lead four North American qualifiers in 9th and had stellar races in the quarter and semi finals to finish 7th overall. Yet teammate Devon Kershaw, who won his first WCup in the freestyle sprint this year at the Tour de Ski, was not one of them just out in 31st.

North America’s bad luck was like a dark cloud over the sprints on day one at the Worlds as Harvey fell at the start of his quarter final yet recovered to come second behind Joensson in a photo finish and advanced to the semis. Clearly the Norwegian crowd loved the grit Harvey showed as he caught and then moved through the pack to catch Joensson.

In his semi he tangled with Switzerland’s Martin Jaeger and lost precious seconds coming third behind Hellner and Joensson and was out. Harvey didn’t like missing the final, especially after his silver medal at the World Cup sprint in Drammen the week before.

“I’m quite disappointed with my semi-final,” Harvey told Trax. “I felt really strong and in control but then all of a sudden, the Swiss skier got pushed into me, broke a pole and we both almost crashed. I stopped skiing for 3-4 seconds and that’s how the two Swedes got a gap. I was able to catch on back near the end, but it was too little too late.”

Andy Newell, who finished 10th on the day said it was tough to recover from the qualifications where he placed an uncharacteristic 24th. Newell went out too fast and “really bonked pretty hard.” But as the day went on, he felt better. He had Hatesstad and Swiss skier Dario Cologna in his quarter-final which meant a blistering pace that put Newell into the semis as a lucky loser.

“I continued to feel stronger for the semi finals and was able to put a charge in on the big uphill and get into a good position. But before we came down into the stadium I ran into Alex Harvey and a Swiss skier,” Newell told SkiTrax post-race.

“It knocked me back a few spots. I actually had to push Alex out from between my legs in order to stay on my feet and it really killed my speed. But at the end of the day it was a decent race. Of course I wished for more, but it was still a really fun race and it’s hard to complain with a top 10. I’ve never raced in front of such a loud mob of people. It was also great to see so many Americans in the heats especially some of our younger rookie skiers.”

Canada’s Lenny Valjas qualified 21st showing strong form but had to settle for third in a tie with Italy’s David Hofer in his 1/4 final but his slower heat meant he did not move on as a lucky loser.

The USA’s Simi Hamilton qualified 29th setting an unprecedented US record with five athletes in total (three women and two men) qualifying for the heats – more than any previous World Championships or Olympics. Hamilton placed 5th in his quarter final to finish 25th overall.

Other North American skiers that did not advance included the USA’s Torin Koos in 36th, Stefan Kuhn (Can) in 51st and Kris Freeman (USA) who placed 58th.

“Andy had a bit of bad luck in his semi final getting tangled with Alex [Harvey],” said US xc head coach Chris Grover. “He admitted that he did not pace the qualification well but felt better as the day went on. On a positive note, we were excited to have five Americans in total make the final – the most athletes we have had in a sprint final at a major championships which bodes well for Sochi and beyond.”

Northug was a bit philosophical at the press conference. “It’s good to get a good skate in at the championships. There has been extra pressure before the race with a home crowd. But I know I was an outsider in this event, so it feels good.

“To start the championships with a medal in the sprints is good for me. The world’s best sprinter attacked at the last hill – he was so strong today, but the other guys were tired. He used his weapon which was to attack on the last climb. I am amazed he was so strong that he could ski away from the rest of us.”

Joensson looked at the Swedish program on the whole for his success. “We have a good sprint team and are having a good season. A lot of guys are pushing each other. The distance and the sprint train skiers together and everyone ends up going fast. Marcus showed how it is done.”

When asked if he had planned in advance to attack on both hills, Hellner was non-committal. “I took the chance. I am very happy I could hold it and felt like I was going for gold – but tried not to think about it. In the heats I focused on skiing and learning the parts of the track for my tactics – that was my weapon today. I could do a strong uphill today.”

Hellner, who had a bit of a war with words with Northug prior to the Worlds, skied the perfect race and day, and said he didn’t worry about who to beat, but rather, on how to ski and win.

“To have a medal in the first distance is good for me and the team. You want to get out on the tracks and compete. I feel joy in the tracks. I just went for it,” said the Hellner.

Qualifications HERE.
Finals HERE.

February 24, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Marit Bjoergen is nearly everywhere on the streets of Oslo, smiling from countless posters with her Norwegian version of a Cheshire Cat smile. If she was the Queen of Vancouver after the 2010 Olympics when she brought home a record number of gold medals, it’s hard to imagine what her status will now be in this Nordic-mad country.

To prepare for the Olympics Bjoergen visualized herself as a tiger, out to devour its prey. She admitted she still practices that technique and found someone had left a tiger – not the real thing, but a scare nonetheless – on her bed the night before this race.

And devour she did dominating the women’s 1.3km freestyle sprint from start to finish. In the qualifications she was 1.5 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and continued her prowess through the quarters, semis and the grande finale for gold.

The international press conference was held up as the Norwegian media kidnapped her from the rest of us. Bjoergen did not sport the usual red Team Norway jacket, but a golden one – a surprise gift from Swix.

“This has been an amazing day. I enjoyed it out there today With gold you really can enjoy. I had fun with it – go out and don’t think – just do the work,” Bjoergen said at the post-race press conference. “The snow was not that fast. I went very fast in front and the other girls got tired.”

Italy’s Arianna Follis, who fought back after a brief fall in her semi to make the final as a lucky loser, took home the silver at 0.2s behind Bjoergen, while officials deliberated over a photo finish between Slovenian teammates Petra Majdic and Vesna Fabjan for third. In the end Majdic was awarded the bronze at 0.5 seconds behind as Fabjan recorded the same time.

Follis felt redeemed after not medaling at the Olympics. “I hoped to win a medal because I was the World Champion in 2009 and for the silver medal I am very, very happy.” But she said being up against Bjoergen is so very tough. “In every heat you have to fight with Bjoergen. When I tripped on a hill in the semi, I thought the race was finished for me.” But she was able to catch the leaders and finish 3rd making the final as a lucky loser.

Majdic could not stop smiling about her bronze medal win. She has proven, without a doubt that she was able to come back from the terrible crash she suffered at the 2010 Olympic Games one year ago.

She too liked the tougher, slower course. “I told myself that hopefully this track would be better [than the icy World Cup track the week before]. It’s a sprint so you never know if you’ll win – that’s impossible. I’m happy – this [bronze] is not a problem for me. I love to stand on the podium.”

While Bjoergen reigned supreme the match up with American star Kikkan Randall the race favourite, touted by the local press, never materialized.

Randall who qualified 9th (at 5.86 seconds behind Bjoergen) met with heartbreaking disaster as she caught a ski on a downhill section at the half-way mark of her quarter final heat and spun out dropping to her knees – her race was quickly over. In her heat was rising US star Jessie Diggins, at her first Nordic Worlds, coming in 5th with Randall 6th.

“I’m not exactly sure what happened,” Randall told SkiTrax. “One moment everything was going fine and the next moment I was sailing down the trail backwards. I think my ski got hooked by the Swede and it just spun me around. There was a lot of contact out on their course today.

“Definitely a bummer because I was feeling really strong today and ready to go. I knew the key today was going to be staying out of trouble and unfortunately I wasn’t able to do that.”

But Randall saw the silver lining too. “While I’m definitely disappointed with the fall and not making it into the semis, I came into today prepared and confident and determined to give it my best. And I gave it everything I had. Still a great day for our team qualifying five into the heats. Great to see the younger girls getting their first taste of the big time. And Andy [Newell] skied strong in the semis.”

A similar fate ended Canada’s Chandra Crawford hopes as well in her quarter final. The 2006 Olympic champ was leading with her trademark long powerful glide on her first trip through the stadium when she too got tripped up and spun out losing her momentum – she said later that Justina Kowalczyk (POL) had stepped on her pole. The USA’s Sadie Bjornsen in the same heat finished fifth with Crawford 6th.

Despite no North Americans in the final, having eight skiers qualify for the quarter-finals was a record, and they were in the mix in every heat.

Canada’s Daria Gaiazova was only 0.4 seconds back in her heat to take the 4th spot while teammate Perianne Jones was 2.1 seconds back in 6th spot in the same heat. Gaiazova just missed advancing as a lucky loser and her time of 3:06:4 would have taken first place in two of the four heats.

”I feel happy with my effort today,” she told us. “I raced with grit and some smart tactics. Perhaps I could have squeezed into the top-12 if I made a better lane choice at the finish stretch, but nonetheless my speed was very good.”

Bjornsen, a young and talented American skier at her first senior World Championships was all about the silver lining. “It’s my best ski experience so far,” said the 21-year-old. “Wow, there is nothing like 50,000 fans screaming for you…makes ski racing that much more enjoyable.”

Diggins echoed Bjornsen on the wow factor. “This is the first really big event I’ve ever been in. There was a wall of sound and flags,” she said in a USSA release. “It was overwhelming. I had to remind myself ‘Ok, focus. Stop watching the people dancing in the stands’. It really gets me fired up and is inspiring.”

“It was a bittersweet day for the US. We started with the sprint World Cup leader, Kikkan Randall, who had won her previous two skate sprints,” commented US head coach Chris Grover. “She’s in amazing shape, so if she had not gotten tangled up, would have had a good shot at victory – but that’s sprint racing, it’s a tough business. But it was also very exciting to see our younger developing skiers, including one junior, Jessie Diggins, qualify.”

World Cup leader Kowalczyk took 5th at 0.18 seconds back, while Slovakia’s Alena Prochazkova was a surprise in 6th place, displacing veterans such as Sweden’s Kalla and Bjoergen’s teammates Maiken Caspersen Falla, who also crashed during the competition (as did several others), and Astrid Uhrenholdt.

As Bjoergen stepped onto the podium the Hollmenkollen erupted. Even inside the media centre all could hear the Norwegians screaming her name in unison.

Bjoergen also said the longer length of the course favoured her along with her strategy of preferring to ski at the front. “I am always in front. Back in the group something can happen. It has been a great day, with people around the track saying my name. Amazing.”

It was a great way for Bjoergen and her hometown fans to begin the 11-day Nordic World championships…

Qualifications HERE.
Final results HERE.

February 24, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Tonight I got to experience the crowds lining the most famous street in Oslo, that leads from the palace past the National Theatre. People showed up to cheer and wave flags for their favorite countries, as the athletes, accompanied by a flag-bearer and a group of school kids decked out in the country’s flags, proudly marched past.

While it’s true that I race on Thursday, and I probably shouldn’t have spent so much time on my feet the night before, it’s super important to me to stay relaxed and really soak up the experience. So I had a blast!

The palace is pretty neat; when the flag is all the way up, it mean’s the King is present. And guess what? DA KING IS IN THE HOUSE!

There were two loooong lines of kids waving flags from every country, and it took a while for us to finally get to the street!

I’m very excited for tomorrow’s sprint! Wish the USA luck!

February 23, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Holmenkollen venue, Oslo, Norway. It’s just too amazing! Yesterday was my first training day at the venue, and my eyes were WIDE open the whole time. We are staying at a Radisson Blu hotel in Oslo, and the organizers arranged for shuttles that zoom back and forth to the venue every half hour, making training times very convenient and flexible.

The shuttle takes you up a winding road, and when you reach the Holmenkollen at the top, you can look down on the whole city. It’s a really cool view. The ski jump hangs up at the top, and when they light it at night, it can be seen from pretty much everywhere in Oslo.

You drive through a tunnel at the base of the jump to reach the venue, and there is a huge building with wax cabins. Team USA has four of them! It’s really professional, and our coaches and wax techs are doing such an amazing job testing and getting prepped for the first race – a skate spring – this Thursday.

There’s a system to the race trails; a blue course and a red course. The blue is a 3.75km, and the red is a 6.3km with cutoffs at 2.5km and 5km. All the distance races are combinations of these loops. For example, the women’s pursuit does a 2.5km + 5km on the red, switches skis in the stadium and then proceeds to hammer out 2 loops of the 3.75km blue course.

The sprint makes a loop of the stadium and cuts part of the blue course to make a 1.3km for the women and a 1.5km for the men.

Somehow, they’re going to pack THOUSANDS into this stadium! Tickets are sold out, and the latest rumor I’ve picked up is that on relay day, there will be 40,000 people out there. Not sure if that’s true yet but I’ll find out exactly how loud it can get in Norway with the sprint race tomorrow!

There are some seriously hard core fans in Norway. I mean it! They’ve set up camps in the woods along the trail weeks before, and when you ski the trails you can see them sitting around campfires, often next to large signs declaring which athlete they’re there to cheer on.

I’m getting excited to race tomorrow! Tonight will be the opening ceremonies, and I’ll be sure to post some pictures and stories.

For those of you who didn’t hear, last weekend my computer was stolen from my hotel room in Drammen, and I lost all my pictures and documents. But luckily I’ve got some really awesome teammates, and Noah Hoffman’s been letting me use his computer and Holly Brooks has also let me borrow her computer and pictures! So I can keep updating and writing through the week.

February 23, 2011 (Hayward, WI) – Watch the only live webcast of the 2011 American Birkebeiner on Saturday, February 26, 9:00am – 12:00pm. Livestream.com will be streaming the elite men’s and women’s finish, classic and skate waves finish, recaps of other American Birkebeiner events, and various interviews throughout the weekend. Watch the events live and catch up-to-date commentary with your host Dennis Kruse. If you can’t catch the Birkie outdoors, grab a blanket and cozy up to your computer or watch later at www.birkievideo.com.

February 23, 2011 (New Gloucester, Maine) – The U.S. Biathlon Association’s International Competition Committee is pleased to announce the roster for the 2011 IBU World Championships, March 3-13, 2011 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The eight-member squad is comprised of six Olympians and two talented newcomers.

U.S. Biathlon 2011 World Championship Team
– Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, N.Y.) 2006, 2010 Olympian
– Tim Burke (Paul Smiths N.Y.) 2006, 2010 Olympian
– Annelies Cook (Saranac Lake, N.Y.)
– Jay Hakkinen (Kasiloff, AK) 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 Olympian
– Haley Johnson (Lake Placid, N.Y.) 2010 Olympian
– Leif Nordgren (Marine, MN)
– Laura Spector (Lenox, MA) 2010 Olympian
– Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) 2010 Olympian

“At the World Cups in Maine, Sara Studebaker posted her best ever performance with a 14th place, as did Lowell Bailey with his dramatic ninth place finish in the the Mass Start. Those results were the best of this season for both the men and the women and demonstrate that the team is on it’s way up for the World Championships,” said Max Cobb, U.S. Biathlon CEO.

“It’s still new for us to have the World Championships in March, so the peaking this season has been tricky. Tim Burke is getting back to his training after some weeks of illness in February so we hope he’ll be fit for the worlds. I think we will see our women in the top-15 at the worlds and this is a very exciting for all of us.

“It is also particularly exciting to have Leif Nordgren on the World Championship team given that he is only in his first year after being a junior competitor. He’s done a great job on the relays and has scored a few World Cup points too – it’s a great start for his World Cup career,” added Cobb.

– A complete World Championship schedule is available HERE.
– Watch live video of the World Championships, and follow all the competition results HERE.

February 22, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – With light snow falling and the downtown area festooned with banners, flags and conviviality, the 2011 FIS World Nordic Championships are slated to begin Wednesday with qualifying rounds and gala opening ceremonies in downtown Oslo.

Light snow and -10 (C) temperatures greeted this journalist upon arrival in Oslo. The city is alive and you could feel it. For us Nordic fans, a return to this fabled venue is like coming home. The locals are very happy to welcome the world. I have long noticed that while the Norwegians like winning, they are very generous with their cheers for everyone.

I will be doing some PA announcing with friends Kjell Erik Kristiansen and Jens Aas in the stadium and I must say the mood is electric. As I look out from our broadcast booth I have a bird’s eye view of the stadium and the massive new ski jump at Holmenkollen. Many of the athletes are now out on the track here at Holmenkollen training and conditions are excellent. Many teams were wax testing for glide in the stadium.

NRK will be doing the world TV feed and I just looked at their camera positions and they will have 55 cameras out of the course, assuring that rights holders see nearly every meter of the course. Kristiansen, long time Olympic voice, called the course “very hard.”

I talked with Alex [Harvey] and Devon [Kershaw] today and they said the hills are “very tough”. So expect some great, and epic racing, along with superb Nordic combined and ski jumping on the new hill that is breathtakingly beautiful.

This is the first time I’ve seen the new ski jumping facility and while it is ultra-modern, it has sweepingly soft and elegant lines, or as one observer put it today  “imposing without being pretentious” – I liked that.

Following the races in Drammen, the North Americans have arrived with very strong teams and expectations are high. SkiTrax hopes to talk with the athletes on Wednesday, as Fischer will host a big press conference at 1:30pm local time.

Wednesday will really start things off and the locals think there will be snow and cold temperatures in the coming days.

That’s it for now – look for more from SkiTrax more tomorrow. By every standard it feels like we are on the brink of truly magical championships.