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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Ritva Taipale

  • From Ahvo’s Vantage-point: Last Update from Kuusamo with Videos

    From Ahvo’s Vantage-point: Last Update from Kuusamo with Videos

    Greetings from Central Finland (where the temp was a balmy -25C upon waking up this morning)! The sun has set on the Nordic Opening and everyone has packed their bags and headed either to the next races or homeward.

    Stadium (this is actually mid-day).

    As a final wrap-up, the weekend was packed with lots of action. The Nordic Opening is one of the only places where you can see Nordic skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined all in one weekend in the same area (the stadium and jumping hill are right next to each other and schedules (barring unforeseen delays because of temperature or wind) are such that one can take in pretty much every event). The Nordic Opening is also a great place to connect with representatives from our favorite skiing-related companies, to see old friends and to make new friends/connections. It’s too bad that the action only lasts 3 days. I guess we just have to go back next year!

    The US Ski team had an excellent weekend (I am sure many of you have already read the official reports). It was great to see so many solid performances in spite of the cold temperatures and a little bad luck (Freeman’s broken pole in the skate race yesterday).

    Ahvo got in a few more interviews on Saturday (our internet connection got goofy so I didn’t post them earlier – maybe the air was too cold for mobile services…?).:

    Leena Peltonen and Silvano Barco from REX

    The stadium during the sunday skate race.

    During the races, Ahvo caught the action on the steepest hill on the course (which the skiers climbed multiple times during the race) while I hung out in the stadium doing my attaché thing start lists in hand (while having a technique discussion with another attaché). Make sure your sound is on so you can hear how cold and dry the snow is… ahhh winter!.

    Marit Bjorgen

    Kikkan Randall

    Nordic Opening, Men’s 15 km skate, Uphill

    Men’s 15 km skate, Early in the race (with a glimpse of Kris Freeman)

    Men’s 15 km skate, lead group

    Stadium videos and pictures were at a minimum this year (frozen fingers and batteries, camera swapping, fences that were 15cm higher than last year, being too caught up in the action to watch it from behind a lens….). Nevertheless, here are a couple of the stills that I got from my position in the stadium:

    Marit Bjorgen
    Chasing Marit Bjorgen…

    Until next time, all the best from Finland and have a great ski season!

    Ritva and Ahvo Taipale

  • From Ahvo’s Vantage-point: Another Update Kuusamo

    Aside from some frozen toes and fingers (temps still between -17 and -14 most of the time), the action in Kuusamo just keeps getting better (though photos are somewhat limited). Bjorgen continues her lead with a second win today while Cologna took over the top spot for the men (the top two Norweigian men did not compete today). A total of 15 athletes who started the tour did not compete today an will not continue tomorrow. The USA had some solid performances today, and looks fit. Check out http://www.nordicopening.com/en/ and http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/cross-country/results.html for results.

    Tomorrow will wrap up the Kuusamo mini tour with women’s 10km and men’s 15km skate (pursuit format based off of the sprint and today’s classic race). It should be an exciting end to a fantastic weekend of world class racing.

    Ahvo caught up with the US ski team for a couple of quick interviews before the races today.

    Randy Gibbs

    Chris Grover

    Ahvo also got some video out on the course, but the connection today is being finicky and slow, so uploading will happen tomorrow along with our final report from the north.

    Ritva and Ahvo

  • From Ahvo’s Vantage-point: The Kuusamo World Cup Sprint

    From Ahvo’s Vantage-point: The Kuusamo World Cup Sprint

    Andy Newell and Kein Einaste (EST) – Quarter Finals.

    The race action started today at 10:45 this morning with ladies sprint followed immediately by the men.  Today’s format included a qualification round from which the top 30 are distributed into 5 heats of 6 skiers. The top 2 skiers from each skier and the next two fastest skiers advance to the semi-finals. From the semi-finals, the top two skiers from each heat and two lucky losers advance to the final.

    The weather remains close to perfect with -14C today and dry snow. It is a bit on the windy side though, so while Nordic combined was able to complete their competition today, the ski jumpers’ competition has been cancelled for tonight.

    Newell had a good day, check out the official results and official news from:

    http://www.nordicopening.com/en/

    For some videos from Ahvo’s vantage point, check out the following youtube links:

    Kris Freeman

    Swedish Skier

    Andy Newell

    Marit Bjorgen

    Andy Newell – SemiFinal

    On a non-skiing related note, I met Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus at the finish line. They actually have FIS accreditation! Proof that Santa is from Finland (Korvatunturi) and that he’s the real deal. (Finally!!)