The U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships conclude today with the biggest endurance test yet — classic-technique marathons of 30 kilometers for women and 50K for men.
Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, March 28. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) finished 8th in today’s 12.5K Pursuit competition at the Biathlon World Cup here, moving up from 25th position at the start.
The charter flights from Trondheim to Khanty Mansiysk, Russia represented the beginning of the end of the season as well as a long year of travel. Four more days of competition and this season will be history.
A handful of races-within-the-race provided the real drama at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships on Friday night — not Ivan Babikov’s expected domination of the skiathlon event at Birch Hill Recreation Area.
Liz Stephen’s strategy Friday evening was to keep her deficit manageable in the classic portion of the skiathlon so she could unleash her superior skating in the second half of the 15-kilometer race.
Liz Stephen made it back to back titles as she won the women's 15K pursuit for the second year at the 2009 U.S. Distance Cross Country Championships. Canada's Ivan Babikov won the men's 30K and Leif Zimmermanntook the title as the top US finisher in 2nd.
The FIS Continental Cup series allow the younger athletes to prepare themselves for the World Cup level. Some of those held during the Northern hemisphere winter period are the OPA Cup (Central Europe), the Scandinavian Cup as well as the US Super Tour.
Bill Demong, third place overall in the World Cup Nordic Combined, finished the season with 97,250 Swis francs or about $85,038 at today's currency conversion rate.
Most are in Fairbanks. A few are on the way up there from Sweden. Some are cooked and not rare but all the way through. I'm in Rodby, Denmark on the way to Munich, then home. I'll get some more stuff up then.
First there was the World Cup finale on Sunday. Then the blow-out bash in Sweden. Next came a flight across the pond only to be stranded in Seattle for 36 hours due to the Mount Redoubt eruption.
“To be totally honest, I think it’s the first sprint-out I’ve ever won,” said Stephen, who teamed with Morgan Smyth to take the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships title.
Morgan Smyth , alongside teammate Liz Stephen, took her second U.S. title in as many days as the duo finished first in the team sprint at the 2009 U.S. Cross Country Championships in Fairbanks Wednesday night. Chris Cook and Torin Koos won the men's.
CXC Jr. Cup / Midwest Division - Classic Sprint
Cable, WI - American Birkebeiner Trailhead