Olympics – Page 2 – FasterSkier.com

Race Suits of the Olympic Games: Men’s Relay Edition

Gavin KentchFebruary 17, 2022

FasterSkier previously surveyed the national-team uniforms from last year’s World Cup fashion season, starting with more traditional nordic powers (Norway, Russia, et al.) but also taking a look at some more outré ski countries (Brazil, Nigeria, Thailand). We didn’t run a comparable article at the start of this season, as there was relatively little change in most nations’ World Cup kit from last year to this year. But when the Olympics arrive, however, all bets...

Canadian National Ski Team Community News Olympics Racing

Cyr and Ritchie faked it til they made it – to the best classic team sprint finish in Canadian men’s history

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 17, 2022

During the opening weekend of World Cup racing in Ruka, FIN back in November 2021, Canada’s Antoine (Tony) Cyr popped an 11th place finish in the first distance race – a tough 15-kilometre classic won by Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, now a gold medalist in the event. After the race, Cyr wrote to FasterSkier that the course had suited him with its long uphills and frigiddig conditions; temperatures were near zero degrees Fahrenheit ( -17 C)....

Doping News Olympics Racing

Testing agency says Ukrainian Olympic cross country skier tested positive for steroid, stimulant

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 16, 2022

A back-of-the-pack women’s skier competing for Ukraine at the Beijing Olympics has tested positive for banned drugs, according to the agency that’s overseeing testing at the Games. Valentyna Kaminska tested positive for a banned steroid and stimulants on the day she finished 79th in the 10-kilometer classic event, the International Testing Agency said in a statement Wednesday. Kaminska has been provisionally suspended until the case is resolved and is banned from participating in further Olympic...

Olympics Racing

Germany outsprints Sweden and the ROC for gold and a second team medal; Brennan and Diggins fifth for USA

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 16, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. The team sprint: two skiers racing three laps each at roughly 1.5-kilometers a piece with a long climb thrown into the middle of the course and temperatures in the single...

Olympics Racing

Norway Pulls off a Historic Team Sprint Gold Repeat; Canadians in 5th and Americans in 9th for Strong Team Debut

Ben TheyerlFebruary 16, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. The team sprint: it’s the youngest event on the Olympic program, having been contested only since the 2006 Torino Games. The event has since become a marquee event...

Biathlon Olympics Racing

(Press Release) Egan and Dunklee Conclude Olympic Careers with 11th Place Relay

FasterSkierFebruary 16, 2022

In the final Olympic race of their careers, Susan Dunklee (Craftsbury, Vt./Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USBA) and Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USBA) helped guide the U.S. women to an 11th-place finish in Wednesday’s 4×6-kilometer relay at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. Three-time Olympian Dunklee was first out of the shooting range after prone, having cleaned all five targets. She also cleaned from the standing position but admittedly was sluggish on the skis and made...

Canadian Nationals Olympics Racing

(Press Release) Ritchie and Cyr Ski to Historic Fifth Place in Team Sprints, Stewart-Jones and Beatty place 12th in Women’s Race

FasterSkierFebruary 16, 2022

Graham Ritchie and Antoine Cyr combined to deliver Canada’s best-ever team sprint result in the classic-skiing discipline at an Olympic Winter Games when they finished fifth on Wednesday near Beijing. The 23-year-olds, who were seventh at their first Nordic World Ski Championships last year in the skate-ski format, matched strides with the fastest cross-country skiers on the planet for the historic result. “This is so incredible to pull this off and throw down such a...

Community General News Olympics Racing World Cup

Ukraine tensions could scuttle World Cup finals in Russia, but FIS says no changes yet

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 15, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHN — International Ski Federation officials say they’re exploring backup options for season-ending races in Russia amid fears of a war between that country and Ukraine, though they’re still planning on holding the event as scheduled next month unless circumstances change. The final races of the top-level World Cup are scheduled to be held in Tyumen, Russia, in an oil-rich area in Siberia — about 1,000 miles away from the border with Ukraine, where American...

Biathlon Olympics Racing

(Press Release) U.S. Men Finish 13th in Frigid Beijing Biathlon Relay

FasterSkierFebruary 15, 2022

The U.S. men’s team wrapped up their biathlon competition at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games on Tuesday with a 13th-place finish in the 4×7.5-kilometer relay. The lineup of Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H./National Guard Biathlon & USBA), Jake Brown (St. Paul, Minn./Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USBA), Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Team Crosscut & USBA) and Leif Nordgren (Hinesburg, Vt./National Guard Biathlon & USBA) crossed the line 5 minutes, 42.8 seconds back with three penalties and 13 spares. The start of the relay...

Nordic Combined Olympics Racing

(Press Release) Men’s Nordic Combined Large Hill/10km Recap: Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

FasterSkierFebruary 15, 2022

After a great showing in their first competition, Men’s Nordic Combined was able to have three top 25 finishers in the Individual Large Hill/10km event on Tuesday at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Centre. Jared Shumate led the pack, as he was able to post another top 20 finish, placing 17th overall. On the Large Hill, Shumate placed 19th overall with a 127.5 meter jump, putting him +2:34 behind the leader to start the 10km. He then climbed...

Community News Olympics Opinion Racing

Opinion: “Her! I do the same sport as her!” Jessie Diggins won a Medal, Who She Is Goes Way Beyond That

Ben TheyerlFebruary 14, 2022

Diggins’ historic accomplishment was glanced over by the giants of American media, falling back into harmful tropes that are all-too-common regarding women athletes. Reflecting on it re-centered how meaningful her vulnerability in sharing her struggle to overcome an eating disorder was to the skiing community, and was a source of strength for me. The Olympic sprint race on Tuesday in Beijing was perhaps one of the most nuanced and complex races in Olympic history. We...

Community Feature Olympics Racing

In harsh Olympic glare, Gus Schumacher demonstrates how to struggle with grace

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 14, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHN — Imagine being 21 years old. You’re in a foreign country, 4,000 miles from your family, where you can’t really socialize. Thousands of people are scrutinizing your job performance. Your job performance is not meeting their expectations, nor is it meeting yours. Reporters are asking for an explanation, and you don’t really have one. Welcome to U.S. cross-country skier Gus Schumacher’s world at the Beijing Olympics. Schumacher, who’s seen as America’s Next Great Hope...

News Olympics Racing

Double Gold: ROC Dominates Men’s 4 x 10 k Relay in Lengthy Race; USA 9th, CAN 11th

Ella HallFebruary 13, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. After a thrilling women’s relay event on Saturday, it was the men’s turn to compete, each athlete skiing the laps of 3.3-kilometers for a total of 4 x 10 k....

Olympics Racing

Stepanova Anchors ROC to Gold in the Women’s 4 x 5 k Relay; USA 6th

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 12, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. A relay medal evaded the American women’s 4 x 5-kilometer team for another Olympic quadrennial today, as Hailey Swirbul, Rosie Brennan, Novie McCabe, and Jessie Diggins finished sixth,...

Community Olympics Racing

An accountant, a summer flooring salesman and an Estonian helped Diggins deliver bronze. Here’s how.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 12, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU — Patrick Moore is a cheerful accountant from Edmonton, Alberta. Tim Baucom spends his summers working sales for a Vermont plank flooring company. Oleg Ragilo runs a cosmetic shop in Estonia with his wife. Jessie Diggins, the American cross-country ski star, couldn’t have won her Olympic bronze without them. Moore, Baucom and Ragilo all belong to America’s nine-member ski service team here — a mix of mostly paid staff and a couple of volunteers like Moore....

Community News Olympics Racing

“Burmania”: Swedish xc skier’s snack-sampling video goes viral in China

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 12, 2022

A clip of Jens Burman tasting Chinese snacks on his vlog racked up hundreds of thousands of views on a Chinese social media platform. The sport of cross-country skiing has not, exactly, become a sensation in China during the Winter Olympic Games. In spite of the country’s massive investment in training cross-country skiers and biathletes, none has cracked the top 10 in Beijing, and Chinese journalists complain that athletes have dodged them after races. What...

Biathlon Olympics Racing

(Press Release) Brown and Doherty Qualify for Olympic Pursuit

FasterSkierFebruary 12, 2022

Jake Brown (St. Paul, Minn./Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USABA) and Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H./National Guard Biathlon & USBA) qualified for the first Olympic pursuit of their careers Saturday at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. Brown, competing in his first Olympic Games, and Doherty, racing in his third Games, both finished in the top-60 of the men’s 10-kilometer sprint at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Center to achieve pursuit qualification. Brown shot clean from prone and had two...

Olympics Racing

(Press Release) Canadian Women’s Relay Team Skis to Ninth in Beijing

FasterSkierFebruary 12, 2022

Canucks celebrate best Olympic relay result since 2002 BEIJING, Chn—The Canadian women’s relay squad skied to its best result Olympic result in two decades, finishing ninth on Saturday at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Ski Centre. Skiing on a mission for eighth spot, the women’s team of Katherine Stewart-Jones, Dahria Beatty, Cendrine Browne and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt mixed together their best relay result on the sport’s ultimate stage since the 2002 Games, skiing into the top-10...

News Olympics Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Niskanen with the golden stride in 15 k classic, while North American men hold strong on tough tracks

Ben TheyerlFebruary 11, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. In the sport of cross country skiing, the Olympic 15-kilometer individual start classic might be considered the “granddaddy of them all.” The technique was classic, as was the...

Community Feature News Olympics Racing

Athletes weigh in on NY Times statement that Diggins looks like a “sprite” relative to her competition

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 11, 2022

On February 8th, cross country skiing made the New York Times headlines as Jessie Diggins collected an historic bronze medal in the 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint. No American woman had ever won an individual medal in cross country skiing, and no American cross country skier of either gender had won multiple Olympic medals. Diggins had earned gold in 2018 racing the freestyle team sprint with partner, and current NBC analyst, Kikkan Randall. Normally, attention given to...

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