Jun 09
Feb 23
The Austrians have soared to the gold medal in the Olympic team ski jump, capped by 20-year-old Gregor Schlierenzauer’s final amazing 146.5-meter jump.
Austria defended its title from the Turin Games with 1,107.9 points Monday.
Germany won silver with 1,035.8 points, and Norway took bronze with 1,030.3 points.
Oct 16
The International Figure Skating Union’s Grand Prix Series enters its 15th season this weekend with its first event: The Trophee Eric Bompard Cachemire, in Paris. Competition starts Friday in competition, the first of six that will lead up to the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in December and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It will feature some interesting storylines.
Ladies’ Singles
Carolina Kostner
This event has perhaps the most stacked ladies’ field of the Grand Prix season. Two of figure skating’s greatest rivals will meet in this event as Korean World Champion Kim Yu-Na and 2008 World Champion and faces Grand Prix Final champ Mao Asada of Japan.
Kim, who has been training with Brian Orser in Toronto, blew away the field at the worlds in Los Angeles with a record score. She will show off new programs choreographed by David Wilson – George Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F Major” in the long program and a short program to a medley of music from “James Bond 007″, considered unusual music for figure skating.
The archrivals will also be joined by Italy’s Carolina Kostner, but the hotly-anticipated comeback of American Sasha Cohen has been iced as the 2006 Olympic silver medallist who is making a comeback, has pulled out of the competition after suffering an injured calf in practice. Japan’s Yukari Nakano and Caroline Zhang of the U.S. may also challenge. There are no Canadian women in this event.
Entries: Mao Asada (Japan), Candice Didier (France), Sasha Cohen, United States, Gwendoline Didier (France), Elene Gedevanishvili, (Georgia), Alexe Gilles (USA), Yu-Na Kim (South Korea), Kiira Korpi (Finland), Carolina Kostner (Italy), Yukari Nakano (Japan), Caroline Zhang (USA), Anna Jurkiewicz (Poland)
Men’s Singles
Brian Joubert, the 2007 world champion from France, launches his season in front of his home fans and will no doubt be trying to vindicate himself after finishing with what he considered a disappointing bronze medal at the 2009 Worlds.
A five-time world medallist known for his big jumps, Joubert is likely to be challenged in Paris by Nobunari Oda. The Japanese skater is in top form, winning last year’s NHK Trophy, after being banned for three months by his national federation in 2007 for drunk driving. Russia’s Sergei Voronov and Tomáš Verner of Czech Republic will also be in the running for spots on the podium. Vaughn Chipeur is the only Canadian man in the event as he begins his quest for the nation’s second spot at the Olympics.
Entries: Vaughn Chipeur (Canada), Chao Yang (China), Tomas Verner (Czech Republic), Brian Joubert (France), Yannick Ponsero (France), Alban Preaubert (France), Peter Liebers (Germany), Nobunari Oda (Japan), Sergei Voronov (Russia), Javier Fernandez (Spain), Ryan Bradley (USA), Adam Rippon (USA)
Pairs
Canadians Bryce Davison and Jessica Dubé will face the world’s finest pairs competition right off the bat in Paris when they return to the romantic style of skating that so suited them before their experimental season last year. They will meet world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, the reigning world champs. It’s the first of two meetings between the two teams during this Grand Prix season. The second will be at Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ont., in late November.
Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, coached by Olympic champ Oleg Vassiliev, may also figure into the podium.
Entries: Adeline Canac and Maximin Coia (France), Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir (USA), Huibo Dong and Yiming Wu (China), Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison (Canada), Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur (France), Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov (Russia), Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, Germany
Ice Dance
Canadians Tessa Virtue, of London, Ont. and Scott Moir, of Ilderton, Ont. are making their return to the Grand Prix circuit after missing the series last season when Virtue had to have surgery on both of her shins. They returned late in the season to earn bronze at the world championships, and they feel confident now that they are the best ice dance team in the world. They will debut their highly-anticipated new programs: a flamenco original dance and a free dance to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
Virtue and Moir enter the competition as the clear favourite but can expect some good competition from the French team of Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, Sinead and John Kerr of Great Britain, and Americans Emily Samuelson and Evan.
Entries: Zoé Blanc and Pierre-Loup Bouquet (France), Kristina Gorshkova and Vitali Butikov, (Russia), Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbell (USA), Sinead Kerr and John Kerr (Great Britain), Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre (USA), Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (France), Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer (Russia), Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates (USA), Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canada)
May 30
Novak Djokovic becomes the most high-profile casualty so far at this year’s French Open as he loses to Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Go to Source
Mar 26
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy snatched a comprehensive victory to retain the pairs title at the World Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday.
Mar 17
Defending champion Novak Djokovic moves into the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters with a 6-2 7-6 (7-1) victory over Germany’s Tommy Haas.
Go to Source
Mar 06
Lindsey Vonn won her fourth straight super-G race Sunday and promised to chase more trophies on the women’s World Cup circuit after a successful stop in Bulgaria.
“There is no conservative skiing for me,” the 24-year-old American said. “I have to be really aggressive—that’s my strategy.”
After three races here, the defending overall World Cup champion widened her lead in the standings to nearly 400 points. She also moved into contention for the super-G trophy a day after clinching the downhill title, joining her idol, Picabo Street, as the only Americans to win back-to-back titles in the discipline.
On Sunday, Vonn won the super-G in 1 minute, 14.49 seconds, sweeping aside concerns caused by an injured thumb and a bruising fall in training three days ago.
Two of the tournament’s standouts, Fabienne Suter of Switzerland and Tina Maze of Slovenia, lagged by 0.58 and 0.91 seconds for second and third place.
Bulgaria’s bumpy and icy course—used for the first time on the women’s circuit—hurt Vonn’s main rivals in the overall standings.
Germany’s Maria Riesch, who tied for fifth place Sunday, is now 391 points behind Vonn’s tally of 1,556 in the overall standings. Anja Paerson of Sweden, third overall with 986 points, finished her first race in Bulgaria for 10th place in the super-G.
“I think all my disciplines are better this year,” Vonn said. “Super-G has been the best season in my life, above and beyond what I expected this year.”
The American closed within 15 points of Suter in the super-G standings.
Mar 04
Japan’s men were the shock winners of the Nordic combined team title at the world championships here on Thursday.
The Japanese claimed gold after finishing fifth in the ski jump and winning the cross-country skiing 4x5km relay by the smallest of margins.
Germany finished second with the much-fancied Norwegians third.
In a tight race to the line in the relay, Japan’s team of Yusuke Minato, Taihei Kato, Akito Watabe and Norihoto Kobayashi pipped the Germans by just 0.1 seconds, while Norway finished 3.6 seconds off the pace to take bronze.
Pre-competition favourites Finland suffered the late withdrawal of World Cup leader Anssi Koivuranta and finished eighth, while the United States finished outside the top ten after Bill Demong lost his bib number and was unable to take part in the ski jump.
It was Japan‘s first team world championship success since 1995, when the inspirational Kenji Ogiwara was behind his country’s ascent to the pinnacle of the sport.
The Nagano native won Olympic team titles in 1992 and 1994 and world team titles in 1993 and 1995.
An individual world champion in 1993 and 1997, Ogiwara dominated the World Cup between 1993 and 1995 before succumbing to the rise of the Finns and the Norwegians and retiring in 2002.
Since then Japan’s Nordic skiers have acquired a reputation for being accomplished ski jumpers but unreliable cross-country skiers.
“The Japanese team has been revived by young skiers who, like me when I was 12 years old, followed the exploits of Ogiwara, Masashi Abe and Takanori Kono. I dreamed about emulating them,” said Kobayashi, the highest ranked Japanese competitor in the world rankings at 22nd.
“We’ve rediscovered how to win. It’s a surprise for us as well, but we made the right choices in terms of tactics and the waxing of our equipment.”
from: AFP via google.com
Jan 05
Former world number one Ana Ivanovic kicked off her 2009 season ahead of the Australian Open with victory over Petra Kvitova at the Brisbane International.
Serbian Ivanovic, 21, who reached the Australian Open final last season, overcame the Czech 6-4 6-2 to set up a second-round match with Roberta Vinci.
Another former world number one Amelie Mauresmo also opened with a win in the ATP-WTA Australian Open tune-up event.
The Frenchwoman edged past Australia’s Jelena Dokic 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-5).
The victory will provide a welcome boost for Mauresmo, whose ranking has slipped to 24 from a high of number one in 2006 when she won two Grand Slam titles.
She has been working with new coach Hugo Lecoq since failing to finish in the top 20 last year – the first time in a decade.
But she had to fend off two first-set points before overcoming Dokic, who herself has slumped in the rankings to 177th from a career high of number four.
“It was a tough first match – she was playing some good tennis and gave me a bit of trouble,” Mauresmo said. “But there were good things. Physically I felt good on the court. That’s a key point for me.”
It was a lot more comfortable for Ivanovic, who ended last season at five in the rankings following an injury-hampered mid-season.
“The end of last season was a bit of a disappointment for me so I was looking forward to a good start,” she said.
Three seeded players suffered an early exit, though, with fourth seed Daniel Hantuchova of Slovakia beaten 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-0 by Italy’s Sara Errani.
Italy’s number eight seed Francesca Schiavone also fell, ousted 7-5 6-2 by Olga Govortsova of Belarus, and Ai Sugiyama of Japan, seeded ninth, was defeated 6-2 6-3 by home favourite Samantha Stosur.
Italy’s Vinci beat Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld 0-6 6-3 6-1 to earn her place in the second round.
source: bbc.co.uk
Jan 03
Felix Neureuther of Germany won the World Cup parallel slalom here on Friday in an event staged on an artificial slope to help promote Russia’s readiness to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange was second with American superstar Bode Miller taking third ahead of compatriot Ted Ligety in a competition held in the shadow of the Kremlin.
“I feel great,” Neureuther said. “It’s natural to feel great when you win.
“It was very interesting to compete on this artificial ramp. It’s completely different to a natural slope, but still a really challenging and interesting experience.”
The 24-year-old Neureuther defeated Bernard Vajdic of Slovenia in the opening round, Austria’s Mario Matt in the quarter-final and Ligety in the semis before beating FIS World Cup slalom section leader Grange in the deciding races.
Neureuther won the first leg of the final and finished even with the Frenchman in the second.
The referees decided to give the finalists the third deciding attempt but Grange missed his chance as he fell in the middle of the distance.
A special 200m artificial ski slope, with a 56m drop in height, was constructed within the campus of Moscow State University specially for the event.
The organisers however had to bring to Moscow a caravan of refrigerators with more than 3,000 cubic metres of natural snow from Siberia to provide the competitors with a top-class surface that fit strict FIS demands.
from: google.com
Jan 02
Semmering, Austria – Reigning World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) marked her third slalom podium of the year, taking the number three spot in Semmering Monday. Hailey Duke (Boise, ID) had a career-best finish, coming in eighth. Germany’s Maria Riesch won for her second slalom victory in a row.
Riesch, the leader after the opening run, beat out Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen by 0.21 seconds. Vonn finished in a two-run time of 1:56.69.
“Slalom has been going really well for me this season. It’s such a big difference from last year and I feel really good about it,” Vonn said. “Today, for sure, I didn’t have a great first run but I was able to come back. I fought hard.”
According to Vonn, the second run course was more her racing style and that’s where she gained her speed.
“The second run was a great course and it definitely suited me better so I tried to use that opportunity,” Vonn said. “I was able to make up some time. It wasn’t enough to get the top spot, but it’s OK, I’m really happy with third.”
For U.S. Ski Team Women’s Alpine Tech Coach Trevor Wagner, Vonn’s second runs are her strength this season.
Jan 02
NOVE MESTO NA MORAVE, Czech Republic — Axel Teichmann of Germany won a 15-kilometre cross-country race Wednesday and Virpi Kuitunen of Finland won the women’s event in the fourth leg of the World Cup’s annual Tour de Ski series.
Teichmann completed the classical style race in 39 minutes 3.7 seconds. Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway was five seconds behind and Nikolay Chebotko of Kazakhstan was third, 10.5 seconds off the pace.
Devon Kershaw, a native of Sudbury, Ont., finished in 14th place. Dario Cologna of Switzerland was 15th and remains the tour’s leader with an overall time of one hour 24 minutes and 36.9 seconds. Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., was 25th and George Grey of Rossland, B.C., was 49th.
Kuitunen led a Finnish double, completing the women’s 9K race in 24:45.4 to take the overall tour lead. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen was second and Norway’s Marit Bjorgen third. Sara Renner of Canmore, Alta., was 11th.
The tour will continue with sprint events in the Czech resort on Thursday.
The races are part of the third edition of the Tour de Ski. The tour includes seven races in nine days, and the overall time winner gets 400 World Cup points.
source: google.com
Dec 15
World Cup slalom leader Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) skied two great slalom runs but still finished second behind Germany’s Maria Riesch, who won both the first and second runs, at the Audi FIS World Cup in La Molina, Spain on Sunday. Riesch built nearly a full second lead on the field with her first run and dominated the day.
“For a second I thought Lindsey may get the win, but Maria’s first run was too good,” Women’s Alpine Head Coach Jim Tracy said. “Maria pretty much schooled everyone on the first run. But Lindsey is super confident and it definitely showed today.”
According to Tracy, while challenging course conditions presented themselves, Vonn was on a mission after Saturday’s giant slalom where she missed a gate.
“Today’s conditions were challenging with about a foot of new snow over the ice. But, Lindsey rose to the occasion,” Tracy said. “She didn’t like what happened yesterday and today she put her game face on and executed really well.”
Vonn came into the second run in fourth place, but laid it all out on the course to end up second. While disappointed not to win, she was the first to give a high five to her friend Riesch on her first victory of the season.
“She was maybe a little conservative on the first run and obviously Maria wasn’t, but being slightly conservative on the first run enabled her to lay it down on the second run knowing that she could certainly win the race if she wanted to,” Tracy said.
The course, with or without unexpected snow conditions, presented a challenge to anyone who skied it with technical sections that challenged all racers who encountered them.
Dec 14
World champion Mao Asada‘s skill with the triple axel earned her a victory over longtime rival Kim Yu-na at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating finals on Saturday.
Jeremy Abbott of the United States won after hitting every jump in the free skate.
Asada’s triple axels — two launched at the start of her free skate_ proved decisive as she won with a total of 188.55 points, just 2.2 ahead of South Korea’s Kim at the Goyang Ice Arena north of Seoul.
“I am happy that I could land two triple axels in my program and that I was able to win here in Korea,” Asada said. “It is really special.”
It was a particularly satisfying victory for Asada of Japan, who had finished second to Kim at the last two Grand Prix finals.
Abbott breezed past Takahiko Kozuka of Japan for gold in his first Grand Prix final. Abbott earned 237.72 points, while Kozuka had 224.63.
Ice dancing world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder capped off a victorious Grand Prix season with gold, and Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China rallied to win the pairs title.
But it was the showdown between Kim and Asada, rivals since their days as juniors, that took center stage at the sellout event. Even South Korea Prime Minister Han Seung-soo was in the audience.
Kim, the world bronze medalist, had won her last five consecutive Grand Prix series events. Asada, the reigning world champion, won the NHK Trophy but the finals title had eluded her.
Kim admitted to nerves Friday but pulled off a narrow, half-point lead over Asada in the short program. Fans showed their love for “Queen Yu-na” by throwing more than 550 stuffed animals and 500 flowers onto the rink, organizers said.
Dec 13
GOYANG, South Korea : South Korean starlet Kim Yu-Na took first place in the ladies short programme at the ISU Grand Prix Friday, held in Goyang on the outskirts of Seoul.
In front of a huge home crowd, Kim scored 65.94 points to take top ranking despite making one mistake in her routine.
After nailing her opening jump combination of triple flip and triple toeloop, she botched the takeoff on her triple lutz, managing only a single rotation in the air.
A solid skate in the remainder of her routine enabled Kim to narrowly edge her Japanese rival Mao Asada, who is second at 65.38 points.
Nov 09
IOC pressure Great Britain to change doping laws ahead of London Olympics 2012
information, olympics No Comments »The IOC are growing increasingly frustrated at Britain’s refusal to introduce legislation to outlaw the possession, supply and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs.
Their stance leaves them out of step with other European countries such as Sweden, France, Italy, Greece and Germany where anti-doping laws mean athletes and their suppliers can go to jail.
Arne Ljungqvist, the chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, said he would be pressing for a change in the British law, which would be an important legacy of the 2012 Olympics.
The subject will be raised by the IOC when Olympic host and bidding cities gather in London later this month for a post-Beijing debrief.
The IOC are considering making it a condition of bidding for future Olympic Games that candidate countries have anti-doping laws. In the meantime, just as the Chinese authorities were persuaded to introduce new legislation in the run-up to this summer’s Games, Britain will be under pressure to fall into line.
Ljungqvist, who is also a board member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said: “I think legislation is very important that criminalises certain offences as detailed in the WADA code because it allows public authorities to intervene where we cannot.
“We as sports authorities have our limited possibilities regulated by our code. We can do testing but we cannot do searches.”
Nov 05
There are endorsements that no one welcomes, however enthusiastic: Hamas for Obama, Osama for McCain. But what of the entire globe? Barack Obama goes into today’s vote with the overwhelming backing of the world beyond America’s borders in a presidential race that has gripped audiences like no election before.
Obamamania is at fever pitch across Europe, where his ratings regularly exceed 80 per cent. Germany, the Netherlands and France form the cheer-leading front row. Not since John F. Kennedy has France so fallen for a presidential candidate; if citoyens had the vote, Mr Obama would trounce Mr McCain by 72 points.
Urbane, intellectual and idealistic, Mr Obama “is the kind of American we love”, said Jack Lang, a Socialist and the long-serving Culture Minister of the late President Mitterrand. “His is the America of jazz and Fitzgerald and Falconer and Kerouac and Kennedy.”
In Russia, ordinary people are fascinated by the notion that America may elect its first black president, not least because even Moscow has almost no black population. Such is the expectation that Mr Obama will win that matrioshka “Russian nesting” dolls bearing his face have already been spotted for sale at Russian markets.
At an official level, Russia blames the US for the global economic crisis and the government line is that whoever wins must rein in imperialist ambitions and concentrate on the economy. But fears remain that Mr McCain would more hostile to Russia and more hawkish on Georgia, Nato expansionism and the Eastern European antimissile shield.
Oct 06
Norway drops bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics due to estimated costs
information, olympics No Comments »Norway has dropped plans to bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics after new estimates doubled the projected cost of hosting the Games in the Arctic city of Tromsoe.
“It was a difficult decision,” Tove Paule, president of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, said Monday.
Last week, a government-commissioned study estimated that the cost of hosting the 2018 Games would be about 29 billion kroner (C$5.1 billion), or nearly double the figure used by the Tromsoe organizing committee.
In March 2007, the Olympic committee picked Tromsoe, about 400 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, as Norway’s 2018 candidate city over the central Norwegian city of Trondheim and the capital Oslo, which hosted the 1952 Winter Games.
Recent Comments