Uliana Kaisheva crowned herself to the queen of the youth category with three individual and one team relay gold medas at the of the 2013 IBU Youth and Junior World Championships. 

IN the last indivual event she had two penalties, but was still 1:20.9 ahead of Yuliya Zhuravok of Ukraine who matched the Russian at the shooting range. Third place went to Zhuravok’s teammate Anastasiya Merkushyna with three penalties, 1:32.4 back 

Her 1st gold was in the Youth Women's 6k Sprint. With fantastic skiing and one miss she won with an amazing 1 minute advantage over 2nd place Lisa Vittozzi from Italy who shot clean and Svetlana Mironova from Russia!

her 2nd gold was in the Youth Pursuit 1st  Uliana Kaisheva ( Salomon Complete) Youth World Champion in Obertilliach. 1'15sec  ahead  of 2nd  3rd place Deigentesch Marion (SNS)  GER.

she also lead her realy team to a gold.

U23/JR WORLD NORDIC CHAMPIONSHIPS  
 
Tuesday, 22. 1. 2013 
Sprint Classic 
W (JR)
3rd Evgenia Oschepkova (Salomon Complete) (I felt very strong today. I was happy to win the qualification. In the finals I tried to be in front and to follow Stina but she was too strong today,“pictured)
M (JR)
2ND Vadim Korolev (Salomon boots/SNS) RUS
3RD Bjoern Vidar Suhr (SNS) (NOR)

Wednesday, 23. 1. 2013
10 km Free, Cross Country Skiing, M (J)
3rd  Martin Weisheit  (Salomon complete) (A very serious Martin Weisheit on the podium after pictured)
10th  Roman Schaad  (Salomon complete)
12th  Clement Parisse  (Salomon complete)
17th  Mickael Philipot  (Salomon complete)
18th  Mathias Dheyriat  (Salomon complete)
24th  Raphael Couturier  (Salomon complete)

Martin Weisheit: „It was close to second place but I am happy with my performance today. I did not feel that good in the first lap but then I could find a good pace and ski for bronze medal. I think I have laid down a good base for my future career. For the next competition, which will be skiathlon, I hope to be top 3 or 6. I am little bit weaker in the classic but if I stay with the group then everything is possible.“
   

Individual Gundersen - 10 km free, Nordic Combined, M (J)
3rd Han-Hendrik Piho (Salomon complete
6th Franz-Josef Rehrl (Salomon complete)
10th Kristjan Ilves (Salomon complete)
12th Thomas Wolfgang Joebstl (Salomon complete)
15th Hugo Buffard (Salomon complete )
3rd Han-Hendrik Piho (Salomon complete) (Han-Hendrik Piho says Han-Hendrik Piho: „I have recently been in a good shape and so I hoped to jump pretty well here in Liberec. During the race I had a good feeling as well. I am so happy now because being on the podium was all I wanted to achieve for a long time so far."
pictured)

Thursday, 24. 1. 2013
10 km Free, Cross Country Skiing, L (23)
15 km Free, Cross Country Skiing, M (23)
4TH Andrew Musgrave (Salomon Complete & Exo race suit)   (pictured at WC)
9th Baptiste Gros (Salomon complete) 
10th Mark Starostin (Salomon BB/SNS)
  
Friday, 25. 1. 2013
Skiathlon 5 km Classic + 5 km Free, Cross Country Skiing, L (J)
2nd Nadezhda Shuniaeva (Salomon Boots/SNS)
3rd Alisa Zhambalova (Salomon Boots/SNS)

Skiathlon 10 km Classic + 10 km Free, Cross Country Skiing, M (J)
5th Martin Weisheit (Salomon complete)
9th Clement Parrisse (Salomon complete)
17th Raphaël Couturier (Salomon complete)

Individual Gundersen, 5 km Free, Nordic Combined, M (J)
3RD Kristjan Ilves (Salomon boots/SNS) (EST) "Finishing on the podium for the second time here in Liberec is awesome!"

Saturday, 26. 1. 2013
Team Gundersen, 4 x 5 km Free, Nordic Combined, M (J )
2ND - Austria NC World Junior Team 3/4 athletes are Salomon Complete athletes.(pictured)

Matti Heikkinen placed 2^nd in the Le Sgambeda FIS Marathon Cup in Lavingo, Italy Sunday. While he lost out in a photo finish to fellow world cup star Petter Northug Jr.it was Heikkinen who “made the race” with his full-fledged attack at the beginning of the second and final 21km lap. Racing in Salomon Exo apparel, S-Lab Skis and Boots Heikkinen enjoyed his 1^st FIS Marathon Cup event tremendously.

Heikkinen states “We all skied a relatively easy first round and then in the second round I attacked and a group of 8 racers was built. Then, the real race started. I knew that Petter would be strong in the finish. At about 8km before the finish Petter and I talked and we said that we'll take first and second place – but somehow it ended not in the order of which I had thought! This race was a good training for me for the Tour de Ski, I was not feeling so great before so it's nice to be on the podium and get some confidence. Normally long distance races are not really on my schedule, but if the timing works out, I will certainly do one again, maybe in preparation to the Olympic Games in Sotchi!

Meanwhile Jason Lamy Chappuis regained the World Cup lead with his 2^nd place photo finish in the Ramsau am Dachstein Nordic Combined event. Chappuis states "I am not disappointed at all with today's result. It was a great finish and I have the yellow bib back. Apparently I am switching with Magnus all the time right now. We'll see if we have a battle like this going on for all season."

Also on Sunday Masako Ishida 5^th  place in the World Cup Skiathlon in Canmore Canada made everyone take notice. Ishida, who is best known for her Classic prowess, was able to move up throughout the skate portion to contest the 2^nd place sprint with a pack of 5 women.   ’s

 

Miriam Gössner won for the first time in her young World Cup career Saturday, claiming the women's 10K pursuit despite five penalties. Gössner's fast skiing on the tracks made up for the penalties, allowing her to pass Gabriella Soukalova in the last loop for the victory.  The ever-smiling Gössner was beaming after her first victory. "It is a great feeling to win but I liked the feeling in second too. It is always great to be on the podium! I really have not been waiting to win. I know that when you do your job, you can win. Regarding the conditions, she added, I like bad conditions so it was no problem for me...Of course; I had to go a little bit faster because of all of my mistakes. I had a lot of fun."

Cross-Country skiing’s long distance events have seen a recent upsurge in their popularity throughout the Nordic world. This change can be seen in an increase in participation, record sold-out times, vastly expanded live TV coverage and the dramatic emergence of professional distance racing teams. Salomon continues to be a part of this growth in the sport through its sponsorship and promotion of these events and the key athletes and teams that contest them. For Salomon Nordic these Marathons are a focus because they provide the perfect venue to work on product development with professional racers, hard core enthusiasts, and weekend warriors alike at one venue over identical conditions and terrain. 

Two such key athletes are Daniel Tynell and Sandra Hansson who have both won the most popular of all marathons, the Swedish Vasaloppet, on the complete Salomon ski, boot binding S-Lab package. One such key team is Team Coop (former Team Exspirit) which bills itself as “The World’s Leading Long Distance Cross-Country Ski Team” This team uses Salomon’s advanced apparel and footwear exclusively. Key members of Team Coop, Sereina Boner and FIS Marathon Cup champion Jenny Hansson also select Salomon boots and bindings while its rising star the young Swede Jimmie Johnsson races on the complete Salomon ski, boot binding S-Lab package.

Salomon, much like racers worldwide, is ready for this season’s marathon season to get underway this weekend with the La Sgambeda FIS Marathon Cup in Livigno, Italy. Good luck to all competitors and live an enhanced winter with Salomon Nordic.

Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall continue to make the world take notice. This past Friday in Quebec City, Canada they teamed up for the US’s first ever victory in a World Cup team sprint. Diggins skied a masterful final lap on her Salomon S-Lab skis and boots to take her team from 5^th to the lead before she tagged to Randall who one her Salomon S-Lab boots and bindings held off a hard-charging pack for the win. For the third weekend in a row the U.S.women's ski team’s Salomon athletes have made history with best ever national performances. Last January, Diggins and Randall teamed up to finish a then record second in the freestyle team sprint in Milan. In the men’s Team Sprint event Denis Volotka, Salomon Boots and Bindings, put his teammate Nikolay Chebotko in perfect position to lead Kazakhstan to its first ever Team Spring World Cup victory as well.

Jessie Diggins “ It was overwhelmingly awesome to be here and win with a crowd so close to home and to be sprinting with the girl who has been my mentor and who I've looked up to my entire life. All of the wax techs and coaches did their job perfectly and that made us do our jobs perfectly! I'm happy I stayed on my feet!”

Randall raced to victory again on Saturday with untouchable performance in the individual sprint competition. Randall was strong the whole day and put down the third fastest qualification time and dominated both her quarterfinal and semifinal. This is already Randall’s 5^th podium of the early World Cup season and places her in 2^nd place in the overall World Cup and puts her in the lead in the Sprint Cup, in which she is the defending champion.

Kikkan Randall “We always felt deep down that if we trained hard enough and wanted it bad enough we could be on the top of the podium. It took many years and many small steps to get up to that point and now we're starting to really just believe and have good confidence. We have many girls working together and pushing together so I think the real reward for us was to be able to put together really strong performances here when our friends and family get to see us in action - which does not happen very often. The whole atmosphere helped my performance today. The crowd was unbelievable to see so many American flags and face paint. To be able to do that victory lap afterwards was something I will definitely remember for the rest of my life.   

Jason Lamy Chappuis (Salomon Complete) claimed  the World Cup lead as he won the Nordic Combined competition in Kuusamo, Finland on Saturday. While the 2 time World Cup champion’s podium appearances are expected the 3^rd place finish by Sebastien LaCroix (FRA) a new Salomon Complete athlete was not. During the cross-country, Lamy-Chappuis stormed around the course in the lead throughout while LaCroix, with a great cross country performance, won his first visit to the individual podium in a great finishing sprint. We at Salomon are very happy for, and proud of LaCroix, who switched to Salomon Complete ski, boot & binding system over the off season and now is making an immediate impact on the World Cup. Sebastien states "I have been waiting for this for a long time now, so it's a very special day for me” On Sunday Chappuis and Sebastien teamed up to score 3^rd place in the team sprint. (from FISnordiccombined)

Alexis Boeuf (Salomon Complete) placed 2nd in the men’s 10K sprint in Östersund Sweden the IBU World Cup Saturday. “The last loop was the difference; I was very fast. I had a really good feeling on the skis….” On Thursday, the (until now) unheralded Erik Lesser of Germany gained his first-ever World Cup podium in the 20k in the season opening World Cup Biathlon. He came into the competition with low expectations and was a bit humbled to be in the top 3. “Top 20 was my goal but this is better…I am just a small guy from Germany who made it to the podium.  (from IBU BiathlonWorld.com)

In Cross-Country action in Kuusamo, Finland the Ruka Triple took place.  World Cup Sprint Cup Champion Kikkan Randall (Salomon Boots Bindings) continued her progression as a distance star with a 2^nd place finish in Saturday’s 10km Classic followed by at 5^th place in Sunday’s Pursuit. Randall now stands in 5^th overall in the World Cup with Theresa Johaug (NOR) (Salomon boots bindings) in 2^nd. Masako Ishida (JPN) and Holly Brooks (USA) are two Salomon Complete Athletes new impacts on the World Cup’s top 15.

Jason Lamy Chappuis (Salomon Complete) won the Nordic Combined Individual Gundersen competition in Kuusamo, Finland, with an advantage of 13 seconds on Norway's Magnus Krog. The third spot on the podium was taken by Sebastien Lacroix  (Salomon Complete) who crossed the finish line 13,2 seconds behind the winner. In the cross-country part, Jason Lamy Chappuis stormed around the course and controlled the race from the start to the finish. In the end, Lamy Chappuis had enough left in the tank to cross the finish line first. Krog and Lacroix fought in a sprint duel until the finish line and the holders of the second and third places could only be determined in a photo finish. From FISnordiccombined

Alexis Boeuf (Salomon Complete) placed 2^nd  in the men’s 10K sprint today in Östersund Sweden the IBU World Cup. “The last loop was the difference; I was very fast. I had a really good feeling on the skis…it was windy and difficult on the standing shooting...I worked really hard to put the bullets on the target…The cold weather like today is hard on your hands, feet and your eyes.” From IBU BiathlonWorld.com

The final FIS Cross Country warm-up races took place this past week-end in Scandinavia. It was the last opportunity for athletes from around the world to test themselves before the 2012/2013 FIS World Cup Cross-Country season gets underway in Gaellivare, Sweden next weekend.  Numerous Salomon athletes let it be known they, and their Salomon Nordic equipment are ready for the season to officially get under way,

In Beitostolen, Norway, Therese Johaug (Salomon boots and bindings) claimed two amazing victories in distance races (10k skating and 10k classic). She also took a good 4th place in the classic sprint, where Aurore Jean (Salomon boots and bindings) finished 2^nd.

In Bruksvallarna, Sweden, Charlotte Kalla (Salomon boots and bindings) started the weekend with a 2^nd in the 10k classic, and followed that with a victory in the next day’s 10km skate.  On the men’s side Marcus Hellner (Salomon Boots and bindings) raced to 2^nd in the 10km classic on Sunday followed by Alex Harvey 4^th  (Salomon Boots and bindings)  and Calle Halfvarsson 5^th (Salomon Boots and bindings). On Saturday the Canadian Ivan Babikov (Salomon complete skis, boots and bindings) took a 3rd place in the 15k freestyle Saturday.  In the final day of competition, the rising star Calle Halfvarsson (Salomon boots and bindings) finished t 3rd in the skate sprint.

The 3^rd major Scandinavian warm-up event took place in Munio, Finland.  In Saturday’s 5k classic ladies race, Masako Ishida (Salomon Complete skis, boots and bindings) confirmed her good classic skills and form with a 3rd place. In Sunday’s 10km skating, three Salomon Complete ladies, raced to top 10 performances with Holly Brooks 7th, Jessie Diggins 9th, ant Riikka Sarasoja-Lilja 10th.

The weekend’s racing culminated with World Champion Matti Heikkinen claiming victory Munio’s 15km freestyle. Heikkinen is a Salomon complete athlete who also trains and races in Salomon apparel in non-National Team events such as this.  Winning this highly competitive event let the world know that Matti, and his Salomon Nordic equipment, is ready for the World cup opening in Gaellivare next week.

 Follow Salomon Nordic on Facebook and ski Salomon Nordic to keep your winter enhanced.

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Matti Heikkinen stormed to a 10 second victory in Sunday's 10km freestyle event in Munio, Finland.  Winning the final warm-up event before the Wold Cup kicks off next weekend is a great sign of the season to come. Matti's vistory in skate technique, when he is usually known for his classic success, made people really take notice both of Matti, and his Salomons.

Oh Canada! In the World Cup Finals Prologue on Friday Harvey took his first ever stage win. Making it more special was the presence of his father Pierre who claimed two World Cup victories in 1987 and 1988 in Falun. Devon placed 3^rd on the day. On Sunday Devon placed 2^nd to complete the overall World Cup Season in 2^nd as well. And with his 6^th on Sunday Alex finished 6^th overall in the 2012 World Cup standings.

Alex Harvey (CAN) - Winner of the day
“It was a great day today for me. The prologue here is always. I was some seconds behind at the intermediate point. But after Mörderbacken the track goes down and gained some seconds there. Tomorrow's classical competition will be important with many bonus seconds. There are many strong guys out there who can the World Cup Final. My day won in Falun twice but back then it was a different course. But still the atmosphere in Falun in great and it's fun to be competing here. The Canadian team did really great today with Devon in third place in the prologue.”

Chappuis had five victories and six second places this season.

Jason Lamy Chappuis, "Today is a very nice day for me. I was quite nervous about this weekend because Akito was in very good shape and I was struggling with my ski jumping. It was a long and tiring season and I did not have any feelings in my legs anymore. So, I tried to think about nothing and just soar through the air. On the whole, the season has been great. I managed a lot of victories and second places and of course, the overall." "It is great having won the overall again. I don't know how many of these days will follow, but I'm not chasing a special number of overall victories."

Final World Cup standings: 1. Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) 1306, 2. Akito Watabe (JPN) 1238, 3. Mikko Kokslien (NOR) 1061, 4. Bernhard Gruber (AUT) 765, 5. Björn Kircheisen (GER) 728, 6. Eric Frenzel (GER) 727.

Kikkan Randall (USA) has secured an insurmountable lead going into the World Cup season’s sprint finale next week in Stockholm. It's the first cross-country World Cup title by an American since Bill Koch won the overall in 1982. And it is the first cross-country World Cup title by any American women ever.

Randall led the World Cup sprint from the start, winning back-to-back races in Duesseldorf and Davos. She maintained consistency all season in both freestyle and classic sprints.

Kikkan Randall “The sprint overall World Cup was my goal and focus all season. It's been a long season, a lot of racing and it's been an exciting competition to the end. But I am happy to finally secure it now. We have had an incredible team this year - coaches, staff and athletes during the entire season - and it's definitively a team effort to win the globe.

This year I raced more races and was more consistently in the top 10.  It took some victories as well as scoring points in every race. It's definitely more grueling chasing all the races and racing all the heats in addition to all the distance races, but it was worth it!

I’m looking forward to the upcoming races. This is the time of the year when the training is done and now it's time to use what is left in the tank.  My plan is to race all the remaining World Cup events and I'm actually going to stay in Scandinavia an extra week and do some fun invitational sprints before I head over to Vermont for the last U.S. races.

It's been really important to have a great team around me this season. Spending the whole winter in Europe, away from home has been challenging at times. But the girls have helped me keep it fun and positive and it's been great to be able to celebrate some of their achievements as well. I also have to credit the guys on our team and, of course, our staff. Everybody has worked incredibly hard and been upbeat through all the highs and lows. My team is my family on the road.”

In Nordic Combined:

Jason Lamy-Chappuis won Sunday’s FIS Nordic Combined World Cup competition and further extended his World Cup lead.

Chappuis started the cross country portion 11^th, 42 seconds behind. He made this disadvantage up by beginning of the second 3.3 km lap with seeming ease and then rested in the lead pack for the remainder of lap two. With two kilometers to go Jason put in a decisive surge to breakaway and sped away to a solo victory 15 second free of his pursuers. With his victory, worth 100 points, Lamy- Chappuis increased his World Cup lead to 238 points against Akito Watabe with 5 events remaining. Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA), “At the cross-country, I knew that I had to go fast but delivered a nice race breaking away on the last incline."

In Cross Country:

Devon Kershaw won the World Cup sprint in the free technique on Friday and World Cup sprint leader Kikkan Randall extended her lead despite crash.

The World Cup win for Kershaw was achieved after Morilov attacked quite early in the race and made a great move but Devon Kershaw came back on the last 100m and overtook Nikolay Morilov just before the finish line. Kershaw, who is currently third in the overall World Cup ranking, is now only 146 points behind Petter Northug. Devon Kershaw (CAN), “I was feeling very strong in the finishing stretch. The final straight is a little bit uphill and that suits me well. I was not thinking much and I was just trying to the finish as fast as I could. I will try my best to catch Petter Northug in the overall ranking. It has been amazing in Poland. I was 11 years ago at the Junior World Championships. The course is beautiful and the fans are great.”

Meanwhile World Cup sprint leader Kikkan Randall powered her way back into the race to finish third after an early crash in the finals - as Randall extended her World Cup lead in the final skating sprint of the season. Randall now has a 129 point lead in the battle for the World Cup sprint red leader's jersey. Randall tangled with Russia's Natalia Matveeva shortly into the finals, with both going. Randall never gave up and actually skied back up to the pack and into the lead before succumbing in the final straight. She controlled both quarter and semifinal heats, but in the finals got tangled in the opening straights with Matveeva. She was able to cover a huge deficit and caught the pack by the top of the course. In the final 100 meters when Ingemarsdotter and Falla were surging, she just didn't have the power she needed. It had been burned recovering from the crash.  Her podium today was an amazing performance. While she wanted this win badly, she was all smiles - vintage Kikkan.  Kikkan Randall,  “The skate sprints are done for this season and there are only classical technique ones left. It will be exciting to the finish of the season. I am getting quite attached to the red bib so I hope I will keep till the end!”

In WorldLoppets:

Team Exspirit women sweep again, while Jimmie Johnsson keeps proving that he belongs among the absolute best long distance skiers in the world this time in Tartu Maraton, Estonia.

Jimmie matched the best in the business again over 63 km of classic. With 3km to go he actually established a 10 meter gap to the rest of the field. Finally the race ended up in sprint finish where Jimmie placed 3rd, just behind today’s winner Jörgen Brink, and Daniel Rickardsson. I felt strong during the whole race. When it was a few kilometers left I tried to push as hard I could get a little gap, but on the last kilometers these two guys pushed together to kill the gap. It was the third place today and I’m very satisfied with that, says Jimmie Johnsson”

For the second race weekend in a row Team Exspirit sweeps the women’s podium in the WorldLoppet Ski Classic. The Team Exspirit women took off right at the start in Otepää and left the rest of the women’s field behind. They gave each other a hard fight to the finish line with only 4 seconds between the three of them. Susanne Nyström made a distinct move with 300m to go and could cross the finish line as the winner for the third Ski Classics race in a row just ahead of Jenny Hansson and Seraina Boner, both Team Exspirit.

Masako Ishida raced to her best ever World Cup finish with a 5th place in the 15km classic mass start in Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic Saturday.  This results puts the Japanese star Ishida in 13th on the Overall World Cup Distance Cup.

On Sunday Jessie Diggins backed up last weekend’s top 10 results with another stunning performance in the Women’s 4 * 5 km Relay.  Skiing anchor leg for USA, Diggins took the tag in 6th place just and went head to head with Olympic Medalist Charlotte Kalla of Sweden.  These two battled throughout the entire 5km course and caught then Team Germany along the way. The head to head battle continued all the way to the finish line where Kalla persevered by one Salomon boot length ahead for 4^th while Diggens finished with the fastest anchor leg of the race and Team USA’s best World Cup relay ever.

Jessie Diggins
I was so incredibly proud of our team today - racers, athletes cheering, coaches, wax techs. Everyone was a little tired after yesterday and it was so amazing how everyone just woke up ready to give this race everything they had. My Salomon skis were unreal today - our team nailed it and I'm positive we had the fastest boards of the day!

One of the benefits of being anchor leg is only having to do one tag off, which is always good news for me. As soon as Liz (Stephen) came through the tag zone and I realized I was right behind (Sweden's Charlotte) Kalla. I threw my plans of "skiing my own race" out the window and proceeded to glue myself to Kalla. It was great to ski with her and though I couldn't get around her in time to pull a great sprint at the end, I'm psyched out of my mind to have been in a photo finish with Charlotte Kalla!

The girls had fun dressing in knee-high striped USA socks and putting on some USA face paint. We really had fun out there today as a team, and it definitely showed.

Despite the deep freeze engulfing Europe and Russia, athletes in their warm Salomon boots and apparel, and fast skis continue to speed to victory.

In Cross-Country,

Jessie Diggins, a 20 year old World Cup rookie from America, made everyone double check their watches when she qualified 1^st , 2.5 second ahead of the field in the freestyle sprint race in Moscow on Thursday.   As she eased her way through the rounds to make the A final the circuit soon realized that Jessie Diggins, and the speed of her Salomon skies where for real.  Jessie continued to impress with a 5^th place finish in Saturday’s Freestyle mass start and a 12^th in Sundays Skiathlon. Diggins states “I had no idea - no idea on where I stood (in qualifications). The course was really long and hard – it was cold and with new snow skied a lot longer. There were two pretty steep but short bridges. You had to be ready to change up your pace but (my) skis were awesome.”

Devon Kershaw scored a sensational victory in 15 km mass start freestyle on Saturday in Rybinsk. Kershaw from Canada, made a decisive move on the finishing straight as he overtook llia Chernousov. Ketshaw states “I’m happy, it’s my first World Cup victory in distance races. I felt very comfortable today and I liked a new course because I am strong now in finish sprint. It is very good we have a strong team – it helps a lot. My today’s win is the win of the whole Canada team.”

Therese Johaug won Sunday’s 15 km World Cup Skiathlon under the most frigid temperatures in Rybinsk Russi. Johaug from Norway won with a big margin of +27 seconds over Justyna Kowlaczyk and Marit Bjoergen. Therese Johaug, “I’m happy to be the first today in such a company. It is my first time in Russia and I like the place. I’m in a very good shape at the moment so I felt enough strength to attack. With such rivals as Marit and Justina you have to work hard and go forward.”

In Nordic Combined, Jason Lamy Chappuis was victorious for the 4^th time this season.  This time it was in the World Cup penalty race in Val Di Fiemme, Italy. The defending World Cup champion from France extended his World Cup lead to a nearly insurmountable 208 points.

In Biathlon, Germany’s Arnd Peiffer moved from second in the sprint Friday to first Saturday in the men’s 12.5K pursuit. Peiffer’s time of 31:44, put him 31.2 seconds ahead of Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen.

In World Loppet action, Team Exspirit’s women Susanne Nyström, Jenny Hansson, and Seraina Boner, dominated the field once again. This time they swept the podium at the in König Ludwig Lauf 50km Classic in Oberammergau, Germany.  Rookie teammate Jimmie Johnsson repeated his string of great performances with a 4^th place finish. Despite the frigid temperatures Team Exspirit in their Salomon apparel remand warm and comfortable.

Andrew Musgrave, a member of the British National Ski Team, finished 2nd in the 15K Freestyle at the Norwegian National Championships Jan 26. The result of a Brit beating the much of the Norwegian National Tam caused quite a stir in Norway. Perhaps he just had faster skis than the Norwegians!

The 2012 Worldloppet season is underway and Salomon Nordic Apparel is well represented on the bodies of TEAM EXSPIRIT. The team consists of 8 of the world’s best long distance skiers; Mathias Fredriksson, Oskar Svärd, Rikard Andréasson, Anton Sjöholm, Jimmie Johnsson, Susanne Nyström, Jenny Hansson and Seraina Boner.  They have chosen to race and train in the advanced Salomon Nordic Apparel and Footwear. Billed as the world’s leading team in long distance cross-country skiing they contest the world’s premier marathon events.

Together these events comprise the popular Wordloppet, FIS Marathon Cup and Ski Classics series’.  With over 100,000 Nordic enthusiasts participating in these increasingly popular events annually and millions more watching expansive TV and media coverage Team Espirit has the opportunity to inspire a vest and engaged audience. 

Last winter the team members had come to rely on the personal climate control, freedom of movement, and silence in motion that Salomon Nordic Apparel provided them.  Now weather they are contesting a brutally cold Ski Classic like the Vasaloppet, enjoying a six hour trail run in the heat of summer, or undertaking rollerskiing intervals during autumn‘s rain, they will be outfitted properly and able to perform at their protential.

We recognize Team Exspirit as a change agent and significant contributor to the increase in long distance skiing’s participation, popularity and media coverage. The team has uniquely influenced the development of the live event coverage on major TV channels across Europe. This coverage is helping show the beauty of the sport as it reminds millions of people that one of the best ways to enjoy winter is to get outside and cross-country ski.

The season got under way Jan. 8th with the Jizerska Padesatka in the Czech Republic. There Rookie sensation Jimmie Johnsson also on Salomon skis/boots/ bindings shocked the established names with a 2^nd place finish and veteran Jenny Hansson, Salomon boots and bindings, placed 3^rd.  The good results continued this weekend Feb. 22 with the 60km Austrian Dolomitenlaf Seraina Boner finished 2^nd.  Next up is the 70 km Italian Marcialonga Feb. 29.

 World Champion Matti Heikkinen has made Salomon‘s Complete Ski, Boot, and Binding System his choice.  The 27 year old Heikkinen has chosen to become a Salomon Complete Athlete in what should be the peak years of his career.  Heikkinen states, "Salomon as a company shows today the greatest potential to develop the near perfect equipment which is necessary to achieve my goals."

At the recently completed 2011 World Ski Championships in Oslo, Norway, Matti was crowned World Champion in the 15km Classic.  In so doing, Matti brought to Finland its first victory at major competition in over 12 years.  This medal complements two bronze medals he won at the 2009 World Championships. Matti aims to use his World Championship success as a stepping stone for his country and himself to reach much grander skiing goals.  He continues to be outspoken advocate for the sport and is working to find ways to build a successful future for Finland in the sport.  Personally he believes the change to Salomon will aid him to become a more consistent figure on the World Cup podium in 2012 with continued success at the 2013 World Championships in Fiemme, Italy the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia and the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

Salomon’s Racing Services Director, Bertrand Regard, is pleased and excited that Matti has found Salomon’s complete system his best choice.  Regard states, “We are pleased that more and more World Cup skiers are seeking out Salomon for their ski, boot and bindings needs.  If you do the same thing you get the same result. If you wish to make improvement, change is not only good, it is necessary!”

 Salomon, as the Nordic brand that develops each and every aspect of the development, integration and production of its skis, boots, and bindings is uniquely capable of rapidly developing and delivering the state-of-the-art concepts and technologies.  An endless list of advancements in its boots and bindings since 1979 has delivered a comenserate endless list of Olympic, World Championship, and WorldCup success by athletes selecting its product. And in just seven years since the inception of its first racing ski, Salomon has developed and delivered three complete generations of  WorldCup winning skis, an impressive feet.

 
We at Salomon are already preparing for the 2011-2112 World Cup season just 210 days away.  We are excited to see what the changes by Matti’s and all of the athletes will deliver as we continue to rapidly bring our advancements in the technology to the sport so all skiers can better glide through winter.

  ((NordicFocus Image)

At Salomon we celebrate "our" Nordic athletes' victories as we simultaneously suffer with those competitors who did not reach their own lofty goals.  We congratulate the victors with a holler, a handshake and a hug rather than an advertisement. We acclaim the athlete's trust in Salomon equipment, applaud their choice, but do not boast of the equipment's achievements.  The praise and the medal deservedly go to the athlete.

That being said, throughout the 2010-2011 season those athletes who trusted their dreams to Salomon Nordic equipment had numerous results worth celebrating and worth revisiting:

Jason Lamy Chappuis, Salomon Complete, earned a World Championship, won four World Cup events, and the Overall World Cup Title in Nordic Combined.

Marcus Hellner, Salomon boots & bindings, roars to World Championship opening individual sprint. Hellner also won two World Cup races.

Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey, Salomon boots & bindings, stun the entire field to become Canada’s first World Champions by winning the Team Sprint. Kershaw also wins World Cup event.

Charlotte Kalla, Salomon boots & bindings, anchors Team Sprint to become World Champion.

Therese Johaug, Salomon boots & bindings, skis away from field to become World Champion in 30km freestyle.

Emil Joensson, Salomon boot & binding athlete, claimed 5 individual World Cup events on his way to his 2^nd consecutive overall World Cup Sprint Title.  

Justina Kowalczyk, Salomon boot & bindings, claimed 6 individual World Cup events including the Tour de Ski title on her way to her 3^rd consecutive World Cup Overall and World Cup Distance Titles.

Anna Carin Zidek, Salomon Complete, wins Season Opening IBU World Cup.

Alex Boeuf, Salomon Complete, makes breakthrough IBU victory and earns Bronze World Championship medal.

Peiffer Arnd, Salomon boots and bindings, wins gold at IBU World Championship.

Sandra Hansson, Salomon Complete, wins Jizerská Padesatka, Tartu Marathon, Konig Ludwigs Lauf to also win the season long FIS Marathon Cup.

Celebrate the athlete in each of us!

Jason Lamy Chappuis, Olympic Champion and World Champion, is once again Overall World Cup Champion with a third place in Lahti, Finland March 11, 2011.

For French Lamy Chappuis this was probably the most beautiful third place of his career. In the overall World Cup ranking the 24-year-old is now 208 points ahead of Norwegian Mikko Kokslien. This means that Lamy Chappuis wins the trophy for the overall World Cup winner for the second time in a row. With an insurmountable lead of 208 points, the final competition on Saturday will be a showcase in front of many Finnish winter sport fans for Lamy Chappuis.

After the Ski Jumping portion Lamy Chappuis was in fourth place, 20 seconds behind, Norway's Haavard Klemetse.  The Cross-Country race developed more or less as expected. Jason Lamy Chappuis was able to close the gap to the leading Klemetsen, Denifl and Kaarel Nurmsalu in the first lap; in the second, the Frenchman broke away together with Denifl, but with Kircheisen, Frenzel and others just 7.5 seconds behind. In the third lap, a five men strong group was leading the race, and in the fourth, Kircheisen went for victory. At the finish line, Kircheisen had an advantage of 5.4 seconds on Frenzel and 13.2 seconds on Lamy Chappuis. 

Jason Lamy Chappuis, "My intention was to win the necessary points to secure the overall. However, I competed for victory….The jump was okay but not my best one. During the Cross-Country race, I thought that Frenzel would catch me earlier and that we would ski together. But when he came up, he brought a whole group with him..."

Overall World Cup standings one event remaining

1. Jason Lamy Chappuis 849 winner

2. Mikko Kokslien  641

3. Felix Gottwald  578

Source www.fisnordiccombined.com Images Nordic Focus

He is the greatest. He won the overall World Cup and will probably receive this trophy for the second time ten days from now, he is Olympic Champion and now he's also World Champion. Not many athletes could win all of these three titles: That's why: Jason Lamy Chappuis is the greatest, at least for the moment.

It was one of these days with almost no sight at the Holmenkollen, where the red lines at the jumping hill were almost invisible and could only be seen in very rare moments. It was one of these days, with the greatest of atmosphere, on which the fans celebrated themselves and enthusiastically cheered on the athletes.  And of course it was also positive for this atmosphere that a Norwegian was in the lead after the jumping portion. Haavard Klementsen jumped on 133.5 m through the fog. But, it was clear that Lamy Chappuis (on his fast gliding Salomon skis) would soon close the gap to Klementsen and then ski onward to become World Champion.

Behind him in an exciting final sprint Rydzek beat his teammate Frenzel and shouted out his joy in the fog at the Holmenkollen while Klementsen came in fourth, 1.2 seconds ahead of Todd Lodwick and 11.8 seconds ahead of defending champion Bill Demong from the USA. And so the cross country race ended like so many did before today: exciting and spectacular. Behind the greatest of the day the sport opened the curtain of the future and allowed a look ahead.

If the greatest of the moment, will also become the greatest of all time, remains to be seen. But Lamy Chappuis, who won the first gold medal for France at Nordic World Championships since 2005, didn't think that far ahead in the moment of triumph. "I would be happy if I could win another medal together with my teammates on Friday. We would all deserve it."(Content from fisnordiccombined/images from NordicFocus)

With an unmatched burst of seed to the line in the Classical Team Sprint Alex Harvey brought Team Canada its first Gold Medal in the men’s category at any major event.

The race was a tactical battle between Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Russia and Canada. Leads were exchanged numerous times and each and every position and cm was battled for.

Petter Northug, who surprisingly was not the anchor man of the Norwegian team showed teeth many times and always sent Hattestad to his leg on front positions. Until the second last leg Norway, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Russia and Canada were together. In the second last leg Sami Jauhojaervi shook off the rest of the athletes and created a solid margin. He sent compatriot Ville Nousiainen to the last 1.5 km loop on the first position. Group of chasers led by Hattestad and Harvey was coming close.

When entering the stadium Nousiainen was caught by Hattestad and Harvey. In the last uphill Nousiainen did a tactical mistake by letting the inner track free and offered a chance to Hattestad. At the same time Tim Tscharnke attacked and soon there were five athletes fighting for only three podium places.

In the home straight Hattestad and Harvey were fighting side by side for victory but the Canadian had more power left and brought Canada to historic success and first male Gold Medal. Hattestad brought Norway to silver and Nikita Kriukov showed his strength bringing Russia to bronze.

When crossing the finish line happy Alex Harvey, son of legendary Pierre Harvey, kissed his forefinger to celebrate this first gold medal for Canadian Men. (content fiscrosscountry images nordic focus)

With an impressive show of final leg sleep Charlotte Kalla secured gold for herself and teammate Ida Ingemarsdotter in the World Championship Team Classic Sprint.  Kalla stated, “This morning I didn't dare to hope for this. It feels great!  I just raced as fast as I could.  My dreams came true today.”

The Swedish duo edged out Fins Aino Kaisa Saarinen and Krista Lahteenamaki to second place. Maike Caspersen Falla and Astrid Jacobsen team Norway won bronze medal.

Aino Kaisa Saarinen and Krista Lahteenmaki were very active in the front of the field and were setting the pace most of the race. Finland, Sweden and Norway built up a gap on the remaining teams. Before the last exchange team Finland made a small mistake and Charlotte Kalla for Sweden gave it all and attacked.

Neither Krista Lahteenmaki nor Astrid Jacobsen could follow and the Swede broke away. In the longest uphill Jacobsen decided to attack and tried to catch Kalla. Lahteenamki was close behind Jacobsen and the chasing duo came together in the stadium. Charlotte Kalla was hammering hard and crossed the finish line first. Lahteenamaki gave everything she had and edged out Jacobsen to third place. (content from fiscrosscountry images NordicFocus)

Marcus defeated all the Norwegians on their home snow and stole the gold medal in sprint free. Peter Northug claims silver medal and Emil Joensson, Salomon Boots and Bindings, takes bronze.

Hellner showed great speed all day left no doubt that he is a threat in each and every freestyle event. The Olympic Champion now ads World Champion to his titles. Hellner opened a 10 meter gap at half distance and had spare time to enjoy his victory at the line. Petter Northug took silver medal just ahead of event favorite Emil Joensson (SWE) and claims bronze. Defending World Champion Ola Vige Hattestad finished fourth. Jesper Moden, Salomon boots bindings, added to Sweden’s great day in 5^th.

Marit Bjoergen gave to Norwegian fans first Gold medal. Probably the least expect one. Bjoergen dominated the sprint and beat Arianna Follis (Salomon Boots Bindings) of Italy and Petra Majdic of Slovenia. Marit Bjoergen was very strong the whole day. She won qualifying session and dominated all the heats. In the final she spurted everybody and seized gold medal. Defending champion Arianna Follis of Italy finished second. Petra Majdic brought to Slovenia bronze medal. 4 Fabjan Vesna 5 Justyna Kowalczyk (Salomon Boots Bindings) 6 Alena Prochazkova (Salomon Boots Bindings).

 From FisCrossCountry Images Nordic Focus

SANDRA HANSSON, SALOMON COMPLETE ATHLETE, WINS TARTU MARATHON IN ESTONIA FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE TIME LEADS FIS MARATHON CUP!

Sandra Hansson, a Salomon Complete Athlete on Team United Bakeries, won the women competition of the 63 km Classic 2011 Tartu Marathon FIS Marathon Cup. Sunday February 20, 2011.

Jerry Ahrlin from Team Xtra Personell was the fastest man on the 63 km track today in 2:41:23. He was a second faster the runner up Anders Aukland and third Simen Oestensen both from Norway.

The race was held in brutal cold weather and was delayed 1 hour at the start in hope of warming to legal race conditions. Hansson is now leading the FIS Marathon Cup.

Tartu Marathon, with more than 8000 participants events, 63 km race and 31 km journey, took place on 20th of February in Southern Estonia. The event belongs to the event calendar of most important long distance skiing competitions – FIS Marathon Cup and to the list of the biggest skiing marathons in the Worldloppet. Tartu Marathon was held for the 40th time.  Info from www.tartumaraton.ee

S-LAB SERIES

100mm Precision Racing Last

Carbon 3 D Cradle Chassis

Custom Fit Thermo Moldable Liners

Energized-RS17 Buttressed Pilot 3 Outsole

S-LAB VITANE SKATE- Women’s Precision Fit Lateral Envelopment

S-LAB SKATE - Micro Adjustable Precision Fit Power Hold+Medial Envelopment

S-LAB SKATE PRO- Men’s Precision Fit    Lateral Envelopment

CARBON SERIES

102mm Sport Racing Last

Carbon 1D Chassis

Custom Fit Thermo Moldable Liners

Energized-RS10 Pilot 2 Outsole

VITANE CARBON SKATE -Women’s Sport Racing Fit

RS CARBON - Men’s Sport Racing Fit

ACTIVE SERIES

102mm Sport Racing Last

Custom Fit Thermo Moldable Liners

Energized-RS10 Pilot 2 Outsole

VITANE 8 SKATE -Women’s Sport Racing Fit

ACTIVE 8 SKATE-Men’s Sport Racing Fit

Alexis Boeuf, a Salomon Complete athlete from France with “very good skis” moved from ninth position at the start of today’s men’s 12.5K pursuit competition to first place at the finish for his first career International Biathlon Union World Cup victory.

Boeuf cruised to victory for the first win of his career in a time of 36:02.4. Russia’s Ivan Tcherezov came in 10.3 seconds back passing Carl Johan Bergman, who ended up third 14.3 seconds back and over the final loop at the IBU pursuit race in Presque Isles Maine, USA.

Boeuf admitted that there was little pressure before the start. “I was very calm today. I like this kind of snow and I know that anything is possible in biathlon, especially in a pursuit. This was perfect snow for me today because I am really light and can glide over soft snow.  I was really strong on the skis today. For me, when I am strong on skis, everything is well and I can shoot good; today I was really focused. Our team all had very good skis, so everything was great.”

(Source: IBU Jerry Kokesh/Images Nordic Focus)

Sandra Hansson, a Salomon Complete Athlete on Team United Bakeries, won the women competition before Seraina Boner, Engadin Skimarathon and Susanne Nyström, Team Exspirit of the 42 km Classic 2011 König Ludwig Lauf

Jerry Ahrlin from Team Xtra Personell won he was strong during the whole race trying to get away split up the leading group at several times. Finally after 42km, just before the finish line, he sprinted down Stanislav Rezac, Patria Direct, and Oskar Svärd, Team Exspirit. (from skiclassics.com)

Hansson is now leading the FIS Marathon Cup as well as the SkiClassic’s Cup

Women
1. Sandra Hansson TUB 1.50.23
2. Seraina Boner ENG 1.50.24
3. Susanne Nyström EXS 1.53

Men
1. Jerry Ahrlin XTR 1.38.56
2. Stanislav Rezac PDT 1.38.57
3. Oskar Svärd EXS 1.38.58

Markus Weeger (GER) outclassed the rest of the start field in the 10 km + 10 km Pursuit race at the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Otepää and came in the finish with a gap of 19.5 seconds on runner up of Russia Konstantin Kuleev. Perttu Hyvarinen of Finland took bronze.  It is the second medal for Weeger at this year’s Junior World Championships after finishing second in the 10 km free technique race.

Start field remained quite compact the whole 10 km classic part.  About 20 skiers came together to the exchange zone. In the first free technique 3.3 km loop Weeger tested couple of times his opponents. In the second loop the Weeger attacked in the uphill and nobody could respond to his speed. Weeger increased the gap constantly and came to finish with a clear margin.

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Markus Weeger (GER) “I felt very good at the beginning. The wind was very strong, but the race was amazing. The win was a surprise for me; I didn’t understand how I won. I didn’t have any tactics for this race, I just wanted to see, how does it go and now I am a champion. When I saw that I was 25 seconds in front, I knew I was a winner. “

The three virtues of Salomon Nordic Apparel are;

Personal Climate Control

Freedom of Movement

Silence in Motion

Personal Climate Control is crucial because Nordic skiing takes place throughout winter’s vast and varied temperature range, precipitation levels, and terrain and is enjoyed by skiers whose exertion level can be just as varied. To deliver Personal Climate Control, Salomon Nordic Apparel is built with advanced textiles that insulate skiers from the cold while allowing perspiration to readily escape and simultaneously resisting both wind and moisture penetration.  Their advanced ventilation systems can be rapidly adjusted while skiing to vent excess body heat on climbs or spring days and trap heat on speedy downhills or in the outings first cold kilometers in the depth of winter.

Freedom of Movement allows each skier to have unimpeded range of motion through their arms, legs and torso to properly execute both skate and classic techniques.  To deliver Freedom of Movement, Salomon Nordic Apparel is precision tailored to fit the moves and bodies of skiers and built with sophisticated and varied fabrics that move at one with the body.   

Silence in Motion allows everyone to fully enjoy the beauty and sounds of the snowscape without noisy distractions. Salomon Nordic Apparel achieves Silence in Motion with quite, soft-shell fabrics tailored to not flap in the wind. 

Images include Momentum Jacket and Pants for Women and Men

Jason Lamy Chappuis won Sunday’s event in front of over 6000 home town fans in Chaux Neuve.  The 24-year-old celebrated his fourth victory and extended his world cup lead to an almost insurmountable 180 points. Running alone and pursued for the entire competition Chappuis stated he did not feel alone, "Actually I don't really like to run the race alone, but with this great audience it was a lot easier."

The World Cup will be decided at the season final in Lahti (FIN) on March 11th and 12th. Lamy Chappuis has a lead of 180 points ahead of Mikko Kokslien with only two more competitions left.  Everyone praised the great atmosphere in Chaux Neuve. "I would have loved to have such an atmosphere when I won at home in Lillehammer", said Kokslien. And also Felix Gottwald said it was a "great experience for all athletes" and already looked ahead to the World Championships: "There we will make it more difficult for Jason." (from fiscordiccombined)

Event Results

1.      Lamy Chappuis, J 22:00

2.      Gottwald, F + 7.2

3.      Kokslien, M + 7.4

WorldCup Standings

1.      Lamy Chappuis, J 789

2.       Kokslien, M 609

3.      Gottwald, F 556

The 26 year old Paulina Maciuszek, a Member of the Polish National Team, is enjoying her most successful FIS Cross-Country World Cup season.  This success coincides with her becoming a Salomon Complete Athlete on Salomon skis, boots, and bindings.  Since her switch to Salomon, Paulina has scored her first ever WorldCup points and done so three times.  A successful Tour-de-Ski saw this distance racer get stronger with each stage and place 26^th overall after a 24^th on the most demanding Val-Di Fiemme hill-climb. In the race pictured the 15km freestyle in Le Clusaz, France on Dec 18 Paulina placed 21^st.  We at Salomon, are pleased to part of Paulina Maciuszek’s continued WorldCup success.

We suggest you become Salomon Complete an enjoy success as well.

Olympic Champion and overall World Cup title holder Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) won the DKB FIS Nordic Combined World Cup competition in Seefeld (AUT) Saturday to retake WorldCup lead.  On Sunday in front of 8300 cheering spectators, Jason Lamy Chappuis extended his World Cup lead with a 2^nd place performance 1.6 second behind the days winner Magnus Moan.

Overall World Cup standing:

1. Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) 639, 2. Mikko Kokslien (NOR) 469, 3. Mario Stecher (AUT) 466, 4. Felix Gottwald (AUT) 416, 5. Eric Frenzel (GER) 362, 6. Tino Edelmann (GER) 324.

Jan 15^th  Top Three:

1. Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA)               139.5 points (1)/25:33.2 min (23)        25:33.2

2. Magnus Moan (NOR)                             111.2 points (25)/24:09.5 min (1)        +29.3

2. Mikko Kokslien (NOR)                            118.1 points (8)/24:40.1 min (3)          +32.9

Jan 16^th Top Three:

1. Magnus Moan (NOR)                             118.7 (24)/23:36.8 (3)                      24:36.8

2. Jason Lamy Chappuis(FRA)                133.7 (1)/24:38.4 (28)                      +1.6

3. David Kreiner (AUT)                                120.5 (22)/23:46.4 (5)                      +2.6

From www.fisnordiccombined.com Images Nordic Focus

Kikkan Randall USA (Salomon Boots Bindings) won today on exactly the same freestyle sprint km course as she won a silver medal at the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Swede Hanna Falk (Salomon Boots Bindings) took second whilst Celine Brun-Lie took the third spot.

Randall attacked Falk on the last uphill just before the finish and was able to hold the lead until the finish. It was Randall’s second World Cup victory and her third podium appearance this season.  

Randall is now leading the sprint World Cup ranking with 291 points just three points ahead of Arianna Follis. Petra Majdic is on the third place.

Kikkan Randall (USA) “It was great to race again here in Liberec. The organizers did a very good job and prepared the course very well. I felt very good today. It was pity that Marit Bjoergen was not in the finals. It is always awesome to race against her. Hanna set a really hard pace. I had to give everything I had to win today. For sure I have the Tour de Ski in my legs but I believe that this makes me even stronger.”

Hanna Falk (SWE)
“I am very happy with the second place today. It has been more than one year since I was on the podium. Kikkan was strong today. I feel that my shape is on the rise and I a getting better and better.”

From Fiscrosscountry, images nordic focus

January 9, 2011.  The women’s 50km classic Jizerská Padesatka race was won by Sandra Hansson, a Salomon Complete Athlete.  

Photo Credit: Magnus Östh.

1.       Sandra Hansson         SWE   2:36:49.0        Team United Bakeries

2.       Seraina Boner             SUI     2:38:20.4        Engadin Ski Marathon Team

3.       Susanne Nystroem     SWE   2:39:24.          Team Exspirit

4.       Jenny Hansson           SWE   2:40:00.7        Team Exspirit

The Men’s race was won by Anders Auklund who also selects Salomon Nordic System binding along with his Atomic boots and skis. Mathias Fredrickson a Salomon Complete Athlete placed 4^th.

1.    Anders Aukland             NOR   2:05:40,5        Team Xtra Personell

2.    Oskar Svaerd                  SWE   2:07:30.9        Team Exspirit

3.    Stanislav Rezac             CZE    2:09:53.5        Team Patria Direct

4.    Mathias Fredriksson    SWE    2:10:42.          Team Exspirit

Sandra Hansson now leads the 2011 FIS Marathon Cup after 2 events.  Fabio Santus leads the overall ranking for men.

The 8 stage FIS Tour-de-Ski drew to a conclusion Sunday with the infamous Alpes Cermis hill climb.

At the end Justyna Kowalczyk lead home stream of Salomon Boot/Binding athletes.

Final Tour de Ski Standings - Women
1. Justyna Kowalczyk, Poland, 2:47.31.0 Salomon Boot Bindings
2. Therese Johaug, Norway, +1:21.5 Salomon Boots Bindings
3. Marianna Longa, Italy, +2:40.7 Salomon Boot Bindings
4. Arianna Follis, Italy, +3:19.9 Salomon Boots Bindings

5. Charlotte Kalla, Sweden, +4:27.7 Salomon Boot Bindings

Final Tour de Ski Standings - Men
1. Dario Cologna, Switzerland, 4:28:02.0
2. Petter Northug, Norway, + 27.3
3. Lukas Bauer, Czech Republic, + 1:44.41

Athletes Selecting Salomon Boots and Bindings won 9 of the 16 (8 men and 8 women) stages.

Stage 1 Justyna Kowalczyk-Salomon Boots Bindings , Marcus Hellner-Salomon Boots Bindings

Stage 2 Justyna Kowalczyk-Salomon Boots Bindings, Dario Cologna

Stage 3 Petra Majdic Emil Joensson-Salomon Boots Bindings

Stage 4 Anna Haag-Salomon Boots Bindings  Matti Heikkinen

Stage 5 Petra Majdic, Devon Kershaw-Salomon Boots Bindings

Stage 6 Justyna Kowalczyk-Salomon Boots Bindings, Dario Cologna

Stage 7 Justyna Kowalczyk-Salomon Boots Bindings Petter Northug

Stage 8 Therese Johaug-Salomon Boots Bindings, Lucas Bauer

The 2011 US Cross Country Ski Championships came to a conclusion Saturday in Rumford, Maine.  Under trying snow conditions, race organizers created a truly remarkable, challenging, fun and fair week of competition, an event where the best athletes were crowned National Champions.  As Pete Vordenberg once stated (more eloquently than I am about to quote him) “A race, is a race, is a race. Give true competitors are starting line a finish line, make it 1 km or 50km, we will race and the best competitors will end up on top.”  

Salomon Complete Athletes; Holly Brooks (APU), Tad Elliot (CXC), Jessica Diggens (CXC) and Michael Sinnott (SVSEF) made Salomon the most successful Ski-Boot-Binding System choice at Nationals. They amassed 3 National Championship Titles and 2 Silver Medals. These Salomon Complete Athletes won more hardware than all other ski/boot/binding systems combined.  Athletes selecting Salomon Boot & Bindings also won more National Titles and made more podium appearances than every other Boot brand or Binding system combined.

The race week kicked off on January 2 with classic sprint races on a demanding 1.4k loop.  The men were originally scheduled to ski 1.6k, but the low snow forced organizers to use the same loop for both men and women.  The conditions on this day could best be described as wet and dirty!  There were a handful of top skiers using “zeros” skis, but the vast majority of skiers chose klister skis.  Salomon Racing Service recommended choosing warm construction skis with a higher (relative) camber height, medium flex and medium/heavy broken linear structures.  Mikey Sinnott of the Sun Valley Olympic Development Team skied tough all day and ended up with a Silver medal for his hard work.  He went with an Equipe 10 warm with a flex right in the middle of the range for his weight.  For example, our recommendations for warm skis are to take the skier’s half body weight in kilos and add 7-12.  Mikey weighs about 145lbs (66 kilos) so his ideal warm skis would be between 40 and 45.  He went on a pair of 42s and had great kick and glide!       

The day after the classic sprints, Mother Nature decided to cooperate a little more and temperatures cooled off enough that organizers could begin to make snow!  In an effort to get as much snow made as possible, the first distance races were delay a day.  By the time the distance races rolled around, we had a tough 2.7k loop that was a mix of artificial snow, dirt, a few rocks, and a little natural snow.  The course included one long mostly-gradual climb of about 1k in length.  The steepest pitch of the climb occurred right near the end making for a lot of tired skiers on their final loops during the race.    

Wednesday’s classic distance races were pretty standard waxing with blue/violet klister covered by temperature specific hardwaxes. Salomon athletes were choosing high cambered skis in either warm or cold construction with a universal stonegrind. Salomon Racing Service suggested a medium to fine linear, or broken linear, structure for both distance race days.  The reason for this was that there was a ton of dirt present in the snow.  Linear structures are less likely to “pick-up” dirt when compared to crossing patterns; and dirt makes for SLOW skis!

Thursday’s distance skate races were scheduled to be mass-start format, but with the small (2.7k), narrow loop, organizers decided that an individual start would provide a fairer race for top competitors.  The men and women got to ski 11 and 7 loops respectively which made for some difficulty trying to keep track of which lap they were on.  As one coach from a college team stated, “I don’t know if some of the guys on our team can count to 11.”  All of the loops made for great spectating especially when coupled with the top-notch announcing from Peter Graves.  At the end of the 30k for the men, Tad Elliott (Team CXC) took the win by less than 1 second over Lars Flora.  Crazy! 

Racing finished up on Saturday with skate sprints utilizing the same course as the classic sprint a week earlier.  Unlike the classic day, racers had firm and fast conditions making for some extremely tight racing.  With these fast conditions, it was very difficult for anyone to make a break-away and many skiers took advantage of this and sat in the pack, waiting for the final push to the finish line to make their move.  Overnight temps dropped to the lower teens with highs in the mid-twenties, the snow remained mostly artificial, with a little bit of dirt in places.  After thorough testing, Salomon Racing Service recommended choosing a stiff, cold construction ski with fine broken-linear structures.  The stiff skis would allow great power transfer onto the hard packed snow, and the cold base and fine structures would eliminate dirt accumulation.  CXC’s Jessie Diggins (still a junior racer) won a crazy women’s final which saw her at the back of the pack for a while before rocketing past all of the other women to win by inches.    

CXC Images Toko 

APU image Swix.

SALOMON NORDIC’S CLASSIC PROPULSION PROJECT

MOVING YOU FORWARD

The key moment in each classic skiing stride is the transition from glide to kick.

While this transition can take a mere 1/10 of a second, it is the most influential moment in all of classic skiing.  For classic skiing to be exhilarating this transition from glide to kick must be seamlessly delivered by the skier’s boot, binding and ski.

If the transition comes too late or is incomplete you slip loosing forward propulsion.  If the transition happens too early or is ongoing throughout a longer portion of the stride, your wax drags and forward momentum is lost.  But when the wax pocket closes completely and instantaneously to the snow the joy, beauty and ease of classical skiing is revealed.

Using results of its Propulsion Project, a dynamic analysis of skiing, Salomon has engineered its S-lab Classic boots, SNS Propulse RC bindings and S-Lab Equipe 10 Classic skis to work together as a fully integrated extension of your body to deliver the delights of classical skiing to every skier, every day.

S-LAB CLASSIC BOOT

The S-Lab Classic boot is the crucial first link from skier to snow.  Its heat moldable custom fit inner-sock is mated to a Sensifit overlap and adjustable heel strap with spoiler. Together these comfortably deliver every foot movement to the classical forefoot flexing 3 dimensional carbon cradle chassis.  The carbon chassis with buttressed sole guarantees your kicking and controlling impulses are delivered immediately and without energy loss to the RS 17 sole. It also delivers crucial feedback from the ski and snow to the skier without interference. The RS17 sole is your direct link to the SNS Propulse RC binding.   It locates the front binding axes 17mm underfoot which delivers your kicking forces downward through your strong metatarsal joint, rather than forward through the weaker toe joints used in more rudimentary boot/binding systems.  The light weight S-Lab Classic boot makes every stride comfortable and perfectly delivered to the SNS Propulse Binding.

SNS PROPULSE RC BINDING

The SNS Propulse RC binding is low, light, lean and linked 17mm underfoot to the S-Lab Classic boot to direct your kick and control forces downward to the S-Lab Equipe10 ski immediately without loss of energy.  The SNS Propulse RC binding is securely mounted to the ski to deliver all forces to the ski without sway or play. A full length guide ridge without heel tabs places much of the S-Lab boot directly on the S-Lab Equipe10 Classical ski for the lowest possible ride height, unobstructed ski and snow feel, direct underfoot control and instantaneous kick. 

S-LAB EQUIPE 10 CLASSIC SKI

The S-Lab Equipe 10 Classic Ski is the final link between skier and successful classic skiing.  To deliver perfectly timed and seamless transitions between kick and glide Salomon has crafted S-Lab Equipe 10 Classic Cold and Warm models that deliver the kick and gliding forces started in the S-Lab boot and transferred through Propulse RC binding efficiently to the snow.  Both models feature variations of the extremely long Propulse camber and come with a DNA Ski ID that identifies 6 characteristics of each ski including closing flex, camber lengths and camber heights. 

The Cold ski is engineered to work flawlessly in colder conditions when thin layers of hardwax are used and little moisture is present. Its signature Propulse camber is extremely long while a thin laminate of light weight Poplar is the key to its low riding cold properties. The cold ski also features balanced glide zones and cold Zeolit G5bases and grinds. The ski’s uniquely long and low kick zone allows for instantaneous and complete transition from glide to kick while simultaneously delivering a kick zone that remains completely engaged with the snow throughout your entire stride. This allows the skier to start his kick on time and continue kicking without fear of premature release.

The Warm ski is engineered to work flawlessly in warmer conditions when thick layers of klister or stick hardwax are used and moisture is prevalent. Its signature Propulse camber is extremely long while a carbon laminate is the key to its high riding properties. For moisture management the warm ski features short splayed glide zones and warm Zeolit G5 bases and grinds. Its uniquely long and high riding kick zone allows for instantaneous and complete transition from glide to kick while simultaneously delivering a long kick zone that remains completely engaged with the snow throughout the entire stride without fear of premature release.

To experience the joy of classic skiing test the complete Salomon Propulse Classic System: S-lab Classic boot, SNS Propulse RC binding and S-Lab Equipe 10 Classic skis. Feel how they work together as one unified extension of your body allowing you to enjoy the beauty and ease of classic skiing every day.

Jason Lamy Chappuis, 2010 Nordic Combined Olympic Champion starts winter exactly like he finished last season, with a World Cup victory ! He won at Kuusamo last week-end the 1^st World Cup of the season.  In 1^st position after the jumping contest, he managed the cross-country race with a very good tactic and such a good glide !

On the 2^nd race, Jason took the 3^rd place and keep the yellow the overall World Cup winner.

Jason is very confident with his new equipment, he raced with S-Lab Skate Pro boots, SNS Pilot Equipe skate bindings and S-Lab Equipe 10 skate skis (structure P6F).

bib of

Congrats Jason !

Salomon Tech Setup
 I arrived on Feb 10th at the Whistler Olympic Park to join the Salomon Support Team (Bertrand Regard, Anthony Marguet and Patrice Frison-Roche) who were already in place since Feb 7th.
Two Salomon Service cabins were setup...1  for Cross-Country Skiing events + 1x Biathlon eventsOur ‘cabins’ were made of renovated ‘shipping containers’.

Salomon Service Team Objectives:    

Support our Team Salomon racers for all their needs – This included:

Ski Support:

·         Salomon brought approx 125 pairs of skis of all models, mixes, sizes to the Olympics.  These were used to ‘fill in the blanks’ and complement the quivers for our team skiers from Canada (2), USA (3), Japan (1), Australia (1), NZ (1), Ukraine (1)

·         Skis were also used to leave as test skis for international skiers who are interested in making the switch for future years – Some of these went to potential Canadian additions...

·         The goal of our tech team was to support our main skiers:  Ivan Babikov (CAN) and Ishida Masako (JPN), and help them increase the depth of their ski quivers.

Salomon Ski Story: In preparation for the men’s 50km classic race, our goal was to find faster skis in our fleet than what Babikov currently had – Of the 10 pairs tested by our team, 4 were identified as ‘very good’.  We then teamed up with Babikov’s Canadian Team tech, Joel Knopff, to compare against his current best.  In the end, we found that 2 pairs were at par or better than Babikov’s current.  Mission accomplished.

·         Since the conditions at the Games were always above 0C and consisted of primarily wet conditions – No cold skis were tested.

·         All skis included specific ‘aftermarket’ grinds applied at the factory prior to the Games

·         As most skis were built based on 2 specific moulds (meaning that all skis in one specific length were of very similar flex values), skis were selected for athletes based on grinds instead of flex values. 

·         Some pairs were provided to some ‘exotic’ teams for day use or races, such as team Bermuda (!), who simply didn’t have the wet skis required to ski on the Callaghan Valley snow (a good connection to keep in your back pocket!)

Binding Support: 

·         This was by far the biggest category of support

·         Fischer brought over 500+ pairs of skis to the Games to support their athletes – of these hundreds of pairs, hundreds were mounted with Salomon bindings.

·         A full day was dedicated to mounting Salomon bindings exclusively – Bindings were mounted on both flat and NIS plate skis.  The trickle of Fischer skis continued throughout the Games, with Salomon mounting/swapping/upgrading bindings an average of 6 pairs of skis/day.

·         The only other brand mounted with Salomon bindings included Madshus (German, Russian and Swedish athletes)

Binding Story: Every brand of skis at the Games have a few pairs of ‘podium’ skis on standby for their athletes to use during podium photo shoots, and media interviews.  As Fischer skis come with black NIS plates, our Salomon bindings don’t ‘pop out’ as much – getting limited exposure. We asked Fischer if they could use regular flat skis as podium skis – they said “NO” of course.  So we thought of another plan... Since we share our SNS System with Atomic, we used Atomic’s  white Propulse RC ridge plate and applied our Salomon sticker...et voila - Fischer podium skis with Salomon Propulse bindings that get noticed!

Binding Stats: Classic
o    SNS Propulse RC = 85% of classic bindings mounted
o    SNS Propulse RC2 = 10% of classic bindings mounted
o    SNS Equipe Pilot Classic = 5% (select Norwegians, Russians still prefer this system over the Propulse)
o    All skis mounted as per skier preference which varied from balance to 0.5cm to 1cm behind

Binding Stats: Skate
o    SNS Equipe Pilot Skate = 100% of skate bindings mounted
o    SNS Wedge = 70% of skate skis were mounted with Wedge. All skis mounted as per skier preference which varied from balance to 0.5cm up to 2cm behind the balance point

Boot Support:

·         5 big duffle bags of boots were brought over to support Salomon athletes – The key was to have boots available in case of breakage, need of replacement or sizing issues.

·         ONLY Top contenders were given the new S-LAB Classic (and S-LAB Vitane) boots (with heel spoiler)

·         S-LAB Pro Skate, S-LAB Skate (regular and Vitane) and S-LAB Classic w/ RS-17 sole were distributed to others according to preference

·         All S-LAB Skate boots were distributed with the Carbon Cuff to complement the performance of the boot.

·         A few athletes were athletes required their boots to be ‘punched’ out or modified with the help of a heat gun and footwear tools. 

Salomon Boot Story:  Marcus Hellner (SWE) came by for a visit the day prior to the 30km Pursuit, He was having sizing issues with his new boots – they were a bit too big.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have his size (8US) ‘in stock’ so we took a 7.5 and increased it to an 8...The following day he won GOLD on those same boots!

The day before the final event – the men’s 50km Classic race, Johan Olsson (SWE) bumped his big toe on some stairs, causing swelling. In training, he realized that the boots were irritating his injury...After a late night boot retrieval mission from the athletes’ village, we modified his classic boots to provide more room around the toe and alleviate the  pressure – He picked up his boots at 8am, and went on to win Olympic Bronze!

Weather Issues:
 As you may have read, the weather at Callaghan Valley was extreme, going through almost every single possibility out there. Rain, fog, snow, heavy snow, flurries, wind, sun and freezing temperatures – we got it all!

Temperature never went below -3C, but reached as high as 15C!

By Phil Villeneuve

Marcus Hellner, of Sweden “the man with the hand stretched boots” won today’s 30 km Pursuit with a little help from his friends.

This mass start race started with 4 laps of a 3.75km classic course which was followed by classic to skate ski and pole change (they keep the same Pursuit boots) and then another 4 laps of a different 3.75km freestyle course. At lap one there were still 50 competitors within 12 seconds of the leader Lucas Bauer from the Chech Republic. After 7.5 km there was a still a lead pack of 25 skiers within 15 seconds. After 2 more laps at the classic to skate exchange the lead pack held 22 skiers within 11 seconds of still leader Bauer. 

Johan Olsson from Team Sweden came out of the exchange zone first and immediately attacked. By the 16.5km mark he already built a lead of 9.7 seconds over Bauer and a gap 28 seconds over Canadian favorite Ivan Babikov who “now on his favorite and fast skate skis” was making a valiant pursuit of the front. Over the next 10 km Olsson continued to pull away while teammates, Marcus Hellner and Andres Soedergren skied at, or near, the front. When at the front they would back off the pace ever so slightly to allow their teammate to continue his escape. Then a competitor from another team would be forced to take the lead pulls in chase.  These “bike racing” tactics allowed Olsson to eventually build a lead of 24 seconds at the 25 km mark while Babikov’s skating speed allowed him to bridge up to the tale-end of the chase group.

Just then the final case was on with Russian Alexander Legkov being the chief prognosticator. At 26.25 km the lead was 15 seconds over a pack of 5 with Babikov another 4 seconds back. At 28 km, and with 2 km remaining, Olsson’s lead over Legkov was just 5.3 seconds with Hellner hanging 3 places and 3 seconds further back with Tobias Angerer (Germany) and Petter Northug (Norway) between them. 

At the top of the last hill, with under 1km to go, Legkov caught Olsson and immediately Hellner counterattacked down the hill and around the corner into the stadium. Before reaching the finish line Hellner, in his hand stretched boots, had opened up a substantial lead and had time to celebrate before even reaching the line. 

Despite leading for most of the last 14km Olsson was not done and battled Angerer to the line before settling for 3^rd followed 1.2 seconds back by Legkov. The never say die Ivan Babikov finish next, just 6 seconds off the podium, having made up 20 seconds while recording the fastest skate time of the event!

Overall this was easily the most exciting event thus far!

Charlotte Kalla of Sweden captured victory in the first Cross-Country race over 10 km Free. She occupied front positions the whole race and was first in the finish with time of 24:58.4 sec. Kristina Smigun-Vaehi (EST) made an outstanding comeback and took silver with a time gap of 6.6 sec. Marit Bjoergen of Norway broke bad luck in big events and captured bronze medal 15.9 sec behind Kalla.

For the 22-year-old Kalla, native from the Gällivare region, it was her first Olympic start. She won Sweden’s first female gold medal since the Olympics in 1968. She took the race like a World Cup race and her tactic went totally out: "I tried to focus on my plan that I set up yesterday and take it as a World Cup competition and do everything as similar as possible. I tried to not focus so much on the time. Just doing my own race, because I couldn't do anything about the others."

Kristina Smigun-Vähi took her third Olympic medal and was very satisfied with her race after making her comeback at the beginning of this season. ""I am extremely happy. I feel that I am blessed to be here. I am so glad that I get the opportunity to start." Also Marit Bjoergen got her third Olympic medal.

In the Mens 15km event

Dario Alonso Cologna of Switzerland won the 15 km Freestyle with a victory of 24.6 second.over Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA).  A tough fight between Bauer (CZE) and Hellner (SWE) took place for bronze. Hellner started very fast and was leading in first kilometers. He could not keep the pace till finish. Thus Lukas Bauer (CZE) with his consistent pace captured bronze 35.7 sec behind with Marcus Hellner another 1.5 seconds back in 4th.

 Ivan Babikov finished 8th to bring home the best Olympic performance ever for a Canadian man. Babikov was 18th after the first split and then kept improving. He was 13th with 2km to go and then finished in 8th.

The snow was transformed with round and crystals and high humidity and never set up solidly.  From the start the course was very soft with 3-8cm of sugar on the climbs and 10-20 cm ruts on the inside curve of the downhills for both men and women. Skiers needed great downhill technique and the ability to float over the corn.

Ski structure was very important. Testing showed that the difference between the best and the worst structure made as much of a difference as racing on straight flouros vs.hydrocarbon waxes.  

some text from www.fiscrosscountry.com

4th Annual- TOUR de SKI - January 1-10, 2010 

Salomon Nordic Summary

The Tour de Ski consists of eight World Cup Cross-Country Skiing competitions over ten days, at five different venues, in three countries. Much like the famous “Grand Tours” in professional cycling, the Tour de Ski (TDS) includes time bonuses, time trials, staggered starts, mass starts, individual stage winners, sprint and distance leaders, and the overall Tour de Ski grand champions with the lowest compiled time over the eight demanding stages.

The TDS is another testing and proving ground for Salomon products. Athletes trusting their athletic dreams to Salomon gear had numerous world beating performances with stage victories, podium finishes, fastest splits and also the TDS overall title being won on Salomon equipment.  

 Oberhof, Germany

Stage 1: Petra Majdic and Petter Northug win the prologue.

As last year, the FIS Tour de Ski kicked off in Oberhof with a prologue. On the challenging 2,8 km course for the ladies, last year's Tour de Ski 3rd-ranked Petra Majdic won the race clearly in a time of 6:35.3min. She finished 2,1 seconds ahead of Natalia Korosteleva (RUS). Justyna Kowalczyk from Poland finished third, 6,3 seconds behind the winner. In the men's race, Petter Northug kept increasing his speed from the start to finish, beating the time of Markus Hellner (SWE) who finished second by 0,8 seconds. The third place went to the winner of last year's prologue, Axel Teichmann (GER), 2 seconds behind the winner on his home trails.

Salomon Highlight: Markus Hellner places 2nd  on Salomon Boots and Bindings.

 Loris Frasnelli (ITA) 6th place with Salomon Skis, boots and bindings!

A very good comeback for Loris after 2 years out of the World Cup circuit. 

Stage 2: Kowalczyk the new Tour leader as Northug extends lead:

In the second race of the Tour de Ski, a handicap start race over 10km classic, Justyna Kowalczyk took the victory and is now as well in the red bib of the Tour de Ski leader. The Polish athlete finished the today's race 2,8 seconds ahead of Aino Kaisa Saarinen from Finland.  Petter Northug (NOR) claimed victory on the 15 km classical handicap start in Oberhof on the second day of the Tour. He won in an extremly tight photofinish 0,1 seconds ahead of Maxim Vylegzhanin (RUS). Matti Heikkinnen (FIN), who was in the leading more then the half distance, took the third place 0,8 seconds behind the winner. This is also the current Tour de Ski standing. In this exciting race, where 23 men finished within 30 seconds, Matti Heikkinen were one of the dominator of the race. The athlete from Finland started his attack quite early in the race and was in the lead until the last 1,5 kilometers where Maxim Vylegzhanin closed then the gap. Petter Northug impressed once more by his final sprint and won on the last meter the race.

Salomon highlight: Justyna Kowalczyk Salomon boots/bindings winner and new Woman's Leader! 

Stage 3: Petra Majdic and Eldar Roenning are the days winner, overall leaders remain Kowalczyk and Northtug.

Majdic claimed clearly victory ahead of the current Tour leader Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) on the challenging 1,6 km classical course in Oberhof. Justyna Kowalcyzk is still leading in the Tour ranking, now with 4,3 seconds ahead of Aino Kaisa Saarinen. On third position is currently Kristin Steira, 30,1 seconds behind Kowalczyk. Eldar Roenning won the first sprint of the Tour also clearly ahead of Petter Northug (NOR) and Axel Teichmann (GER). 

Salomon highlight Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) claims 2nd,  Marcus Hellner (SWE) Salomon boots/bindings 2nd

 Prag, Czech Republic

Stage 4: Natalia Korosteleva and Emil Joensson win, Saarinen  & Joensson TDS leaders.

Natalia Korosteleva (RUS) finished on the 1,2km course on Strahov ahead of the Norwegian Celine Brun-Lie and Alena Prochazkova (SVK). Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) took the fifth place and overtake with that Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), who finished today 19th, in the Tour overall ranking. Saarinen is leading now with 24,9 seconds ahead of Kowalcyzk and Petra Majdic has a gap to Saarinen of 29,7 seconds. In the men's race, Emil Joensson was clearly the strongest. He won the Prologue and was also always ahead in his heats. In the final, Joensson beat his team mate Markus Hellner and the Norwegian Simen Oestensen. Joensson is now also leading the Tour overall ranking with a 43, 8 seconds to Markus Hellner. The Tour de Ski is still quite tight, so far eight to races are still in 1 min. Also the Tour favourites Petter Northug (NOR) and Axel Teichmann (GER), who both didn't qualify for the finales today, are among the top eight as well the Tour de Ski winner from last year, Dario Cologna (SUI).

Salomon Highlights: Joensson takes Prague Sprint and overall lead while 4 SNS system athletes in 6 man final.

 Cortina-Tobach Italy

Stage 5: Arianna Follis and Petter Northug new leaders 

Petter Northug won a three-man sprint finish to claim the fifth stage of the Tour de Ski from Cortina D'Ampezzo to Toblach. He took the victory after this tough race over 36 km on his birthday 0,4 seconds ahead of last year's Tour de Ski winner Dario Cologna (SUI). Markus Hellner from Sweden took the third place, 0,8 seconds behind Northug.  Arianna Follis (ITA) was able to made a home victory in Italy on the 17 km long course from Tre Cime to Toblach in a time of 34:34.8min. She won after an amazing finish on the last 400m 3,4 seconds ahead of Petra Majdic (SLO). The Polish top athlete Justyna Kowalcyk took the third place 4,1 seconds behind Follis.

Salomon Highlight: Ivan Babikov claims fastest stage time! Climbs from 36th to 9th overall!

Stage 6: First WC victory for Rickardsson as Kowalczyk wins another and leads with Northug.

Daniel Rickardsson from Sweden won the 6th stage of the FIS Tour de Ski. For the 10 km individual start competition in classical technique he needed only 23:14.5 seconds and finished 1,7 seconds ahead of Lukas Bauer (CZE), who lost the victory in the last few meters. On third place finished Tour leader Petter Northug (NOR), 6,2 seconds behind Rickardsson.  In the overall ranking, Northug increased his lead and is now 20,1 seconds ahead of Markus Hellner (SWE) who finished 5th today. Axel Teichmann is on the third position with a gap of 29,5 seconds while Dario Cologna is 4th. Justyna Kowalczyk from Poland is back in the Tour de Ski lead. She took today the stage victory in the individual start over 5 km in classical technique clearly 11,6 seconds ahead of Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN). On third rank finished Petra Majdic 14,8 seconds behind the winner. The winner of yesterday's race, Arianna Follis showed as well a strong race despite prefering the skating technique and finished 6th.

Salomon Highlight: Marcus Hellner 5th and Kowalczyk 1st !

Val di Fiemme, Italy

Stage 7: Majdac wins and takes lead Bauer wins closes gap to Northug

The Slovenian Petra Majdic won todays 10km classical Mass start race in a tight finish and took all 45 possible bonus seconds from the intermediate sprints and the finish. Majdic is leading now the 4th FIS Tour de Ski with 31,4 seconds ahead of Justyna Kowalczyk who had a crash on the last lap of today's race and finished only on 23rd place. Majdic, crossed as first both intermediate sprint line and took the victory in a photo finish final ahead of the surprising Elena Kolomina (KAZ). The home favourite Marianna Longa finished third, 1.0 seconds behind the winner. After the second last stage today for the ladies, only three ladies have a good position to win the 4th edition of the Tour. Petra Majdic as the leader, Justyna Kowalcyzk and Arianna Follis (ITA), who is 56,5 seconds behind the leader. Aino Kaisa Saarinen has already a gap of 1:35,4 min to Majdic after the todays tough race where she finished 28th.

Lukas Bauer (CZE) was the strongest in men`s challenging 20km mass start race leaving Petter Northug (NOR) 31,5 seconds behind. On third place finished Axel Teichmann (GER), who was 32,3 seconds behind the winner of the day.  On the last round Lukas Bauer was close to take over the Tour lead but Northug was fighting hard and managed to keep the overall leader bib with 8.3 seconds ahead of Bauer. Axel Teichmann is third but with already a gap of 1.30,3min to the Norwegian athlete

Salomon Highlight: Babikov in 13th overall position before final day...

Stage 8: Justyna Kowalczyk and Lukas Bauer win stage and overall titles.

The Polish skier arrived on the Alpe Cermis after a demanding last stage 19,6 seconds ahead of Petra Majdic (SLO), who started into the race as a leader. On third place finished Arianna Follis (ITA) 1:12.1 min behind the winner. Aino Kaisa Saarinen gave her best to close the gap between Follis and her but at the end the home favourite was faster.  The fastest lady of the day on the 9 km long course with an uphill of 3,7 km was Kristin Steira (NOR) 35:49,4min. Czech Lukas Bauer became the first man to win two Tour de Ski titles with an impressive climbing performance in Val di Fiemme.  Bauer, who claimed his first victory two years ago, started the final stage of the 10-day Tour just over eight seconds behind the leader Petter Northug. But he 24-year-old Norwegian was not so strong, Bauer overtook him and then hammered down his advantage to the finish on the Alpe Cermis. Northug, who was also second last year, finished 1:16min behind while reigning champion, Switzerland's Dario Cologna, moved from fourth to third on the challenging 10km final stage to complete the podium.

Salomon Highlight: Ivan Babikov (Salomon Skis, Boots, Bindings) started the day in 13th overall and finish at the 9th place in the overall standings! Babikov's individual stage time was 4th fastest and only 5 seconds short of claiming the 'King of the Hill' title, which he won last year.  Justyna Kowalczyk takes Tour de Ski title on Salomon Boots and Bindings. Arianna Follis (ITA) 3rd in Tour Overall ranking while Marcus Hellner lead Salomon athletes in 4th overall.

SALOMON; SKIS, BOOTS & BINDINGS

With 1st and 4th place times in the most demanding TDS skate races, Ivan Babikov has shown the world that Salomon’s production EQUIPE 10 SKATE SKI is fast.  Ivan is also using the WEDGE under all his skate bindings and telling the world “the wedge makes a ski glide forward like a wet bar of soap slips forward out of your hands”. He has also chosen the new classic bindings SNS PROPULSE RC, and loves it! He states that it provides the “under the foot kick he loves from the pilot classic, while being lower lighter and leaner”.

It was very exciting 10 days of racing at the 'Tour’ and a great week for our Salomon international team of athletes. Next up are next week’s World Cups in Otepaa and Rybinsk. But center on most athletes minds are February’s Winter Olympic Games.

Take the time this week to read up on Salomon's new race blog:  www.salomonracing.com  

but specifically on the Nordic News: http://www.salomonracing.com/us/insiders/nordic.html  

You could also follow in live on Twitter: http://twitter.com/salomonnordic

And become a fan on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Salomon-Nordic/99067927679

(Content from www.fiscrosscountry.com  Images from www.NordicFocus.com  )

Lukas Bauer (CZE) was the strongest in men`s challenging 20km mass start race leaving Petter Northug (NOR) 31,5 seconds behind. On third place finished Axel Teichmann (GER), who was 32,3 seconds behind the winner of the day.

On the last round Lukas Bauer was close to take over the Tour lead but Northug was fighting hard and managed to keep the overall leader bib with 8.3 seconds ahead of Bauer. Axel Teichmann is third but with already a gap of 1.30,3min to the Norwegian athlete.

With his today 65 bonus seconds, Petter Northug (NOR) took over the lead of the Tour Sprint ranking. He will win the ranking tomorrow when he is arriving at the Alpe Cermis 37 seconds ahead of his team mate Simen Oestensen (SWE).

For women the Slovenian Petra Majdic won todays 10km classical Mass start race in a tight finish and took all 45 possible bonus seconds from the intermediate sprints and the finish. Majdic is leading now the 4th FIS Tour de Ski with 31,4 seconds ahead of Justyna Kowalczyk who had a crash on the last lap of today's race and finished only on 23rd place.

After the second last stage today for the ladies, only three ladies have a good position to win the 4th edition of the Tour. Petra Majdic as the leader, Justyna Kowalcyzk and Arianna Follis (ITA), who is 56,5 seconds behind the leader. Aino Kaisa Saarinen has already a gap of 1:35,4 min to Majdic after the todays tough race where she finished 28th.

The Tour Sprint ranking will win Petra Majdic with an advantage of 1.04min ahead of Arianna Follis and Aino Kaisa Saarinen, when they arrive tomorrow at the finish on the Alpe Cermis.


from www.fiscrosscountry.com

Petter Northug won a three-man sprint finish to claim the fifth stage of the Tour de Ski from Cortina D’Ampezzo to Toblach. He took the victory after this tough race over 36 km on his birthday 0,4 seconds ahead of last year’s Tour de Ski winner Dario Cologna (SUI). Markus Hellner from Sweden took the third place, 0,8 seconds behind Northug.

The exciting race mixed up the Tour de Ski ranking a bit. Northug reclaimed the lead while Cologna is now on second place. Hellner is now on third position while still Jena Marc Gaillard (FRA), Matti Heikkinen (FIN) and Axel Teichmann (GER) have still good chances to be on the podium in the Tour de Ski. So far between Northug and Teichmann are only 22,3 seconds gap.

In the Sprint Tour ranking, Simen Oestensen (NOR) took over the lead with 1:24min while Markus Hellner is second in this ranking with 1:22min.

Arianne Follis (ITA) was able to made a home victory in Italy on the 17 km long course from Tre Cime to Toblach in a time of 34:34.8min. She won after an amazing finish on the last 400m 3,4 seconds ahead of Petra Majdic (SLO).  The Polish top athlete Justyna Kowalcyzk took the third place 4,1 seconds behind Follis. The inrun of today’s race is also the new Tour overall standing. In a good tactical race of Follis, Majdic and Kowalcyzk, which all worked together to caught up Aino Kaisa Saarinen, Majdic was the first who was attacking for the victory. About 2,5 km ahead of the finish, Majdic increased her speed and made a gap to Follis and Kowalczyk, but on the last uphill Follis contered and claimed victory in the rebuild stadium of Toblach.  

After the fast race, it seems that only four female athletes have chances to take the overall victory: Follis, Majdic, Kowalczyk and as well Saarinen (27,6 seconds behind Follis).

In the sprint ranking Majdic is still leading with 1:55min and Saarinen is in the runner up position with 1:36min.

Tomorow an invidual start competition over 5 km (ladies) and a 10km (men) in classical style will take place as the 6th stage of the Tour de Ski in Toblach.

The victory in the 4^th stage of the FIS Tour de Ski – the Prague sprint – took Natalia Korosteleva (RUS) and Emil Joensson (SWE).

Natalia Korosteleva (RUS) finished on the 1,2km course on Strahov ahead of the Norwegian Celine Brun-Lie and Alena Prochazkova (SVK). Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) took the fifth place and overtake with that Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), who finished today 19th ,  in the Tour overall ranking. Saarinen is leading now with 24,9 seconds ahead of Kowalcyzk and Petra Majdic has a gap to Saarinen of 29,7 seconds.

In the sprint Tour ranking Petra Majdic (SLO) is 13 seconds ahead of Natalia Korosteleva, who took today her first victory on a World Cup level. Aino Kaisa Saarinen is third.

In the men’s race, Emil Joensson was clearly the strongest. He won the Prologue and was also always ahead in his heats. In the final ,Joensson beat his team mate Markus Hellner and the Norwegian Simen Oestensen. Joensson is now also leading the Tour overall ranking with a 43, 8 seconds to Markus Hellner. Currently third is Simen Oestensen 44,3 seconds behind Joensson, who will leave the Tour and not be at the start at the following stages.

The Tour de Ski is still quite tight, so far eight to races are still in 1 min. Also the Tour favourites Petter Northug (NOR) and Axel Teichmann (GER), who both didn’t qualify for the finales today, are among the top eight as well the Tour de Ski winner from last year, Dario Cologna (SUI).

In the Tour Sprint standing, Emil Joensson is 12 seconds ahead of Teodor Peterson (SWE). On third position is Simen Oestensen.

The Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear will continue after the first rest day on Wednesday, 6^th with the 5^th stage, a distance race from Cortina to Toblach (for the men) and Tre Cime to Toblach (ladies):   

Weather:  cloudy -4° C
Snow Conditions: soft
Spectators: 5.500 

from www.fiscrosscountry.com

Majdic claimed clearly victory ahead of the current Tour leader Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) on the challenging 1,6 km classical course in Oberhof. Justyna Kowalcyzk is still leading in the Tour ranking, now with 4,3 seconds ahead of Aino Kaisa Saarinen. On third position is currently Kristin Steira, 30,1 seconds behind Kowalczyk.  

In the Tour Sprint ranking. Petra Majdic is after her victory clearly in the lead with now 1:15 min, 14 seconds ahead of Justyna Kowalczyk and on third position is Aino Kaisa Saarinen.

Eldar Roenning won the first sprint of the Tour also clearly ahead of Petter Northug (NOR) and Axel Teichmann (GER). Ivan Alypov (RUS), who finished in the race originally second, was later on ranked last in the heat by the jury due to obstractions in the final.

Petter Northug (NOR) is still the leader of the Tour ranking 9,8 seconds ahead Axel Teichmann (GER). Emil Joensson, who finished today fifth is third 20,9 seconds behind the winner. In the Tour sprint ranking, Northug is leading with 1:11 min , 11 seconds ahead of Eldar Roenning. Axel Teichmann is third in this ranking.

Weather:  cloudy, sometime some light snowfall,  -5,6° C
Snow Conditions: hard packed

Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear in Oberhof, 2 stage, Prologue, 2nd January 2009 

Justyna Kowalczyk is the new Tour leader

In the second race of the Tour de Ski, a handicap start race over 10km classic, Justyna Kowalczyk took the victory and is now as well in the red bib of the Tour de Ski leader. The Polish athlete finished the today’s race 2,8 seconds ahead of Aino Kaisa Saarinen from Finland. The third place took Kristin Stoermer Steira (NOR), 5,7 seconds behind the winner. The inrun of todays race is as well the new Tour de Ski overall standing.

In the tight race, the winner of yesterday’s race Petra Majdic couldnd’t follow the leading group and finished as 10th in the race with a gap of 35,7 seconds to Kowalczyk. But the Slovenian athlete is still in the lead of the Tour Sprint ranking.

With the today’s victory, Justyna Kowalczyk is now as well in the lead of the overall World Cup ranking ahead of Marit Bjoergen (NOR) who is not competing in this year’s Tour de Ski.

The third stage in the Tour de Ski will take place tomorrow in Oberhof with a sprint in the classical technique. This race format was never in the schedule of the Tour de Ski.

Weather:  cloudy, sometime some light snowfall,  -7,6° C
Snow Conditions: hard packed
Spectators: 5.000

The Slovenian Petra Majdic and Petter Northug (NOR) are the winners of the first race of the 4^th Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear in the year 2010. 

all mens results http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/events-places/race-results/oberhof,16171.html

womens http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/events-places/race-results/oberhof,16170.html

Like last year, the FIS Tour de Ski kicked off in Oberhof with a Prologue. On the challening 2,8 km course for the ladies, the third of last year Tour de Ski Petra Majdic won the race clearly in a time of 6:35.3min. She finished 2,1 seconds ahead of Natalia Korosteleva from (RUS). On third place finished Justyna Kowalczyk from Poland, 6,3 seconds behind the winner.

The race, which took place under slightly snowfall was exciting. Justyna Kowalczyk started quite fast and had after 1,5 km the best time but then on the last kilometer she lost the lead.

With including 15 bonus seconds, Petra Majdic will start now in tomorrow’s 10 km classical race seven seconds ahead of Natalia Korosteleva while Justyna Kowalczyk will go into the race 16 seconds behind the leader.

In the men’s race, Petter Northug was increasing his speed from the start to the finish, beat the time of Markus Hellner from Sweden who finished second with a gap of 0,8 seconds. The third place took the winner of last year’s Prologue, Axel Teichmann (GER), 2 seconds behind the winner.

Also here the spectators saw a very tight race where all the favourites for the overall Tour de Ski are in front.

In tomorrow’s 15 km classical race, Petter Northug will start with an advantage of 6 seconds to Hellner while Axel Teichmann is going 12 seconds after Norhug on the 5 x 3,3 course.
 
Weather:  snowfall,  -6,8° C
Snow Conditions: hard packed
Spectators: 3.000
from www.fiscrosscountry.com

 Day 1 - Individual

A very fast, and icy freestyle track greeted the athletes in Norway for this season's opener. Norwegian biathlete Ronny Andre Hafsaas surprised everyone taking 1^st place. With 28 men within 1 minute of Hafsaas, the season's opener proved that time, and world cup positions, wait for no one.   In the women's event Norwegian Marit Bjoergen scored a decisive victory and let everyone know she is ready, once again.

15kmM - Freestyle

1. Ronny Andre Hafsaas          NOR   34:42.10.

2.Vincet Vittoz,                          FRA    34:42.30

3. Mattia Heikkinen                   FIN     34:48.7

10kmW- Freestyle

1. Marit Bjoergen                    NOR   24:48.3

2. Charlotte Kalla                    SWE    25:18.0

3. Anna Haag                          SWE    25:25.5

Day 2- Relay

With this being the only World Cup relay before the Olympics, every nation, and athlete, wished to make a good impression. Peter Nortung stamped his signature on the men's race, as anchor skier he caught and then dropped the leading Russian and German and Finnish teams.Swedish women's team was anchored by the Charlotte Kalla who made it look easy as she put 15 second on the field in the last 2.5 km.

4*10km M mixed technique relay

1 NORWAY 1:48:50.7

2 RUSSIA 1:48:55.8

3 GERMANY 1:49:02.5

4*5km M mixed technique relay

1 SWEDEN                58:37.1

2 NORWAY               58:53.8

3 FINLAND               58:59.1

Best ever World Cup finishes for 2 athletes on Salomon S-lab skate skis! 

Masako Ishida (Salomon-Skis Boots Bindings) (Japan) had a personal best World Cup skate result placing 22^nd.  For her, a classic specialist, the season will really start in Kuusamo, Finland this weekend.

 
Ben Sim (Salomon-Skis Boots Bindings) (Australia) was extremely pleased with his performance, and that of his skis. His 30^th place, was the first ever World Cup points for an Australian.

 
Ivan Babikov (Salomon-Skis Boots Bindings)  (Canada) placed 28^th - was content with surviving the freestyle and a putting in a solid relay in his first effort of the season.  

"Well, that was first WC race, not great but ok, we just wasn't ready for "ice ring skiing", but there is new day tomorrow, new race...." "skis were great, but my body felt it was still in Canada" http://twitter.com/ivanbabikov

 Charlotte Kalla (Salomon-Boots Bindings) (Sweden) placed 2^nd in Saturday's Freestyle and also anchored the Victorious Swedish Women's relay. 

Justyna Kowalczyk (Salomon-Boots Bindings) (Poland) had a tough time in the individual race falling 2 times during the 10k on the very icy trails but made up for in Sunday's relay with the fastest split or her relay leg.

It was a big day for the young German biathlete who achieved his first victory on a World Cup, winning the sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk.  
Arnd Peiffer skis on Salomon SLab Skate Pro boots and SNS bindings.

Mats Larsson won last week end the title of national  XC champion finishing a brillant race 4.11 min before the second Jesper Modin.
Nice end of season for Mats ! 
Salomon Slab boots, SNS Binding and SLab 10 Equipe skis

After her recent victory at the famous Vasaloppet, Sandra HANSSON achieved a brillant 2nd place at the last stage of the Marathon World Cup, the Birkebeiner, finishing 2nd at the overall Marathon World Cup ranking (though she took part in only 4 races out of 10 !) S-lab boots, SNS bindings, Equipe 10 skis.

Jenny HANSSON, winner of the overall Marathon WC (ladies) on Slab boots and SNS bindings

Following her pursuit success, Justyna took a second gold medal in the 30km mass start competition - free technique - during the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec (CZE). This is her third 2009 World Ski Championships medal!

Bronze medal went to Valentina Shevchenko from Ukraine, 9,3 seconds behind Kowalczyk, while Therese Johaug (NOR) was just edged off the podium in fourth place.

Their good places last weekend confirmed that Martii JYLHÄ (9th place in Sprint on Saturday), Mats LARSSON and Ivan BABIKOV (respectively 7th and 12th in the 15km Cl) will compete in one week now at the LIBEREC (CZE) World Championships.
They all ski with Salomon SLab skis, boots and bindings.
We're confident they'll all have excellent races.

RYBINSK - 01/02/09 World Cup - 10 km mass start
Marianna Longa (ITA) is the winner of the first ever 10 km (ladies)  mass start race in free technique carried out in Rybinsk, Russia. She finished the race just 0,4 seconds ahead of her teammate Arianna Follis (ITA). Both were racing on Salomon Slab boots.

It was Marianna's second podium this month and the first ever World Cup victory in her career. We hope she'll continue !

Arianna also took the second place of the 1.3 km Sprint on Saturday Jan. 31st. whilst Renato PASINI (Salomon Slab boots) was winning the Sprint race Men.

Congratulations to them all ... E viva Italia !
 

TOUR DE SKI 2009 : Women athletes racing on Salomon SNS system monopolyze the podiums !
27/12/2008 : Oberhof (Ger) - Sprint Skate : Claudia Nystad, Ariana Follis and Justyna Kowalczyk are on the podium with Salomon SNS system.
28/12/2008 : Oberhof - 10 CL : Justina Kowalczyk is again on the podium
29/12/2008 : Prague (CZ) - Sprint Skate 
01/01/2009 : Nove Mesto (IT) - Sprint Skate : two other podiums for Ariana Follis
04/01/09 : Val di Fiemme (IT) - 9 SK final : There Johaug, Kristin Steira, Valentina Shevchenko take place on the podium, the three of them racing with Salomon boots and bindings !

Excellent World Cup Debut for Babikov, 8th in 30 km Freestyle
La Clusaz – Dec. 6th
Ivan Babikov (CAN) fresh of the plane from North America skied to an impressive 8th place finish in the World Cup 30km Freestyle, In spite of the jet lag, the Russian-turned-Canadian citizen posted the second best World Cup result of his career.Babikov skied with the lead pack the entire race, leading at 9.8km. He ultimately finished 10.2 seconds behind winner Petter Northug of Norway,
He was racing on the new salomon skis and boots.

Norwegian Kristin Steira triumphs in 15km Freestyle
In the ladies' 15km Kristin Stoermer Steira won clearly by 13 seconds.
For 27-year-old Steira it was the second World Cup victory ever in her career.
Congratulations also to the youngster Therese Johaug (NOR) who finished third.
They both run on Salomon boots and bindings

Chinese first World Cup victory in Biathlon
Ostersund – Dec. 6thChunli Wang has been an excellent cross country skier for some time, only the shooting hasn't worked so well so far. Today, however, the 25-year-old sent all her bullets home – and finished in first place. She runs on Salomon boots and bindings.

OSLO XC World Cup - 50 km skating M/ 30 km skating W

The dream of many XC skiers has come true for Valentina Schevchenko and Anders Soedergren : they both won the mythic Holmenkollen World Cup , in spite of very tough conditions : rain, slow snow... Valentina really deserved this victory for she made an excellent season, always being well placed.
Congratulations also to Charlotte Kalla who hardly recovered from her Tour de ski but finally took the 2nd place, and Therese Johaug, 4th place. That good result in front of her Norwegian public was very important to her.

Anders Soedergren made a magnificient race, finishing 3 minutes ahead of the 2nd, Lukas Bauer.
Emmanuel Jonnier, on Salomon skis, took the 6th place. Another very good place to

NOTA : On the women race, the 4 best competitors were running on SNS binding system.

STOCKHOLM, CLASSIC SPRINT WORLD CUP, Feb. 27 : 

29th after the qualifications, Jens Arne SVARTEDAL, won and made the show with an amazing fast climb on the last uphill,  downtown Stockholm . 

Emil Joensson, dominating the quarter and semi-finals, also running on Salomon boots and bindings, took a great  3rd place.
"I'm not very happy tonight because I wanted to win in Sweden, but I'm sure tomorow, when I'll wake up, I'll be happy with this podium", said the Swede Emil after his race.