Road to Sochi : Pre-Olympics World Championships.

[Braulio]

Men´s Giant Slalom, Third gold medal for Ted Ligety!!! he took the win by almost a second over silver medalist Marcel Hirscher (AUT) and bronze went for Italy. What a competition for Ted!! Congratulations to him, first skier since Jean Claude Killy to win 3 golds at the same championships

Now NBC has somebody else to make a story about, hope Ted doesn´t get that much hype and pressure that will come to his mind. I can see NBC storyboard with ´Ligety could win 5 gold medals in alpine skiing´ or something like that. Though the pressure will be on Ted, on the other side Bode Miller will have nothing to lose as he will compete in Sochi with no media pressure or expectations like in the last 2 Olympics (specially Torino).

In Biathlon worlds, Womens Relay: Gold for Norway, Tora Berger with her fourth gold medal of the meet and fifth overall with one race remaining. Silver for Ukraine and bronze for Italy. Russia in 4th and Germany 5th

[gingercrush]

Ted Ligerty is in amazing form. Good result for Aksel Lund Svindal placing fourth in Giant Slalom as he has been having some difficulty in that event. Tora Berger is in amazing form. Since she won Olympic Gold in the 15k Individual her form has been fab getting good results. Last years worlds were great and the retirement of Neuner has seen her dominant even more. I'm surprised at Darya Domracheva's form this year. It hasn't been great this year.

[Lara]

When Ted Ligety is on and at his best in GS, he's pretty much unbeatable it seems. Hirscher didn't have the best first run, but I don't think it made a difference to the final results (just the victory margin). And good for Svindal to come so close to the podium!

The women's relay had an amazing amount of position changes! Norway especially had a horrible start, they definitely have to thank Solemdal for her performance otherwise Berger would have had no chance to win. Germany almost got back thanks to a super run by newcomer Laura Dahlmeier, but Henkel couldn't deliver this time in the final leg. Major kudos to Italy for the bronze, it'd have been easy to fall under the pressure. Men's relay and mass start left.

[Domshabfan]

Shiffrin (USA) just won the Slalom race and she is only 17 years of age... well done to her. Kirchgasser (AUT) and Hansdotter (Swe) wins silver and bronze medals.

[Lara]

Shiffrin certainly looks set to play the Missy Franklin role in Sochi! Congrats to her. Good for Marlie Schilds to even be competing but probably needed more time after her injury.

Men's relay and yet another gold for Norway with Svendsen anchoring. France had to work to move up to silver with a good performance from Fourcade. Mixed for Germany as they were happy to get a medal, but it'd have been silver instead of bronze had anchor Lesser not taken two penalty loops on the final standing shoot. At least he escaped better than poor Russia, who'd have been in the hunt had Garanichev not had a disaster in the third leg. Apparently he did the same at Worlds last year so you do have to wonder why he was placed in the exact same position...for their sake I hope the team has better luck in Sochi next year.

[gingercrush]

Marcel Hirscher wins Slalom Gold. Well done. He has been the best all year so his win wasn't unexpected. Darya Domracheva finally wins a Gold and I suspect is a real contender for multiple medals come Olympics. Tora Berger wins silver to have medaled on every Biathlon event and a suprise win for Poland who once again eek out a medal. Tarjei Boe wins his first individual World Championship in the Mass Start and Svedsen medals again but proves to be tired as he is out-skied by the Russian.

The Germans will be very disappointed with their biathlon results. Though if Miriam Gossner can shoot cleaner she is going to be in contention thanks to her ski speed.

[AragornElessar]

Shiffrin (USA) just won the Slalom race and she is only 17 years of age... well done to her. Kirchgasser (AUT) and Hansdotter (Swe) wins silver and bronze medals.

And what a second run too. She just flew through and down the flats like she was being chased by something.

CBC showed something pretty cool yesterday after the race was over. They had all three medalists superimposed//following each other down the hill, so you could see where each skier either made their move or lost the gold or silver on the course. Pretty neat and I hope they keep it for Sochi next year too, as you could really see where Shiffrin took off and won the Gold and where the other two made mistakes.

[Domshabfan]

Consolidated result : Alpine skiing world championships

Ladies :
Super G
Gold : Tina Maze (SLO)
Silver : Lara Gut (SUI)
Bronze : Julia Mancuso (USA)

Super Combined
Gold : Maria Hoefl-Riesch (GER)
Silver : Tina Maze (SLO)
Bronze : Nicole Hosp (AUT)

Downhill
Gold : Mario Rolland (FRA)
Silver : Nadia Fachini(ITA)
Bronze : Maria Hoefl-Riesch (GER)


Giant Slalom
Gold : Tessa Worley (FRA)
Silver : Tina Maze (SLO)
Bronze : Anna Fenninger(AUT)


Slalom
Gold : Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)
Silver : Michaela Kirchgasser(AUT)
Bronze : Frida Hansdotter(SWE)

Men :
Super G
Gold : Ted Ligety (USA)
Silver : Gauthier De Tess (FRA)
Bronze : Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR)

Super Combined
Gold : Ted Ligety (USA)
Silver : Ivica Kostelic (CRO)
Bronze : Romed Baumann (AUT)

Downhill
Gold : Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR)
Silver : Domnik Paris (ITA)
Bronze : David Poisson (FRA)


Giant Slalom
Gold : Ted Ligety (USA)
Silver : Marchel Hirscher (AUT)
Bronze : Manfred Moelgg (ITA)


Slalom
Gold : Marchel Hirscher (AUT)
Silver : Felix Neureuthier(GER)
Bronze : Mario Matt (AUT)

Team (not an olympic event)
Gold : Austria
Silver: Sweden
Bronze : Germany

[Domshabfan]

Biathlon World Championships : Czech Republic

Mixed Relay:
Gold : Norway
Silver: France
Bronze : Czech Republic

Men's Event
Men's Relay
Gold : Norway
Silver: France
Bronze : Germany

10 km Sprint
Gold : Emil Svendsen (NOR)
Silver: Martin Fourcade (FRA)
Bronze : Jako Fak (SLO)

12.5 km Pursuit
Gold : Emil Svendsen (NOR)
Silver: Martin Fourcade (FRA)
Bronze : Anton Shipulin (RUS)


20 km Individual
Gold : Martin Fourcade (FRA)
Silver: Tim Burke (USA)
Bronze : Fredrik Lindstrom (SWE)

15 Km Mass Start
Gold : Tarjei Boe (NOR)
Silver: Anton Shupulin (RUS)
Bronze : Emil Svendsen (NOR)


Women's events
Women's Relay
Gold : Norway
Silver: UKraine
Bronze :Italy


7.5 km Sprint
Gold : Olena PidHurshina (UKR)
Silver: Tora Berger (NOR)
Bronze : Vita Semerenko (UKR)

10 km Pursuit
Gold : Tora Berger (NOR)
Silver: Krstyna Palka (POL)
Bronze : Olena Pidhurshina (UKR)

15 km Individual
Gold : Tora Berger (NOR)
Silver: Andrea Henkel (GER)
Bronze : Valentina Semerenko (UKR)

12.5 Km Mass Start
Gold : Darya Domrcheva (BLR)
Silver: Tora Berger (NOR)
Bronze : Monika Hojisk (POL)

Norway won 8/11 gold medals, this is one of most dominant performance by any country ... Only comparable performance to this is by USSR in 1986 winning 5 out of 6 gold medals and Germany 6/10 in 1999

[Braulio]

Just some corrections, it´s Ligety not Legety, and in the men´s slalom Felix Neureuther it´s from Germany, not Slovenia. In Biathlon, Valentina Semerenko is from Ukraine, not Poland.

World Nordic Ski Championships started today with the sprints, Gold for Marit Bjoergen (NOR) who continues her dominance of cross country skiing, silver for Ida Ingemarsdotter (SWE) and bronze for Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR). In the men´s sprint Russia is golden with Nikita Kriukov, silver for one of the called to win multiple medals Petter Northug (NOR) and bronze for Canada! with Alex Harvey

[Domshabfan]

Just some corrections, it´s Ligety not Legety, and in the men´s slalom Felix Neureuther it´s from Germany, not Slovenia. In Biathlon, Valentina Semerenko is from Ukraine, not Poland.

World Nordic Ski Championships started today with the sprints, Gold for Marit Bjoergen (NOR) who continues her dominance of cross country skiing, silver for Ida Ingemarsdotter (SWE) and bronze for Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR). In the men´s sprint Russia is golden with Nikita Kriukov, silver for one of the called to win multiple medals Petter Northug (NOR) and bronze for Canada! with Alex Harvey

Changed, Thanks for noting those mistake..

I watched the sprint races yesterday... It was shocker of an event from the qualification onwards. Firstly, the performance of world cup sprint leader Kikkan Randall (USA), she almost did not qualify for the knockout stages by finishing 28th. Then in the heats got knocked out very easily. Second was the performance of Mona-Lisa Malvalehto (FIN), she qualified in the first position and then was very lacklustre in the knockout stages. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) was the favourite after her win at the last world cup, then Justyna falls at the beginning of the race to finish last in the finals. Norwegian promptly increased the pace of the race to take gold and bronze medal. Norway has such a strong Cross country team especially in the women's event that they could win all 6 events.
Men's race was all about Nikita he was the top qualifier and won the finals with great strategy, Nikita is now both Olympic and World champion in the sprint event.

Next years sprint event will be in Freestyle unlike this years world champions (which was in classical skiing ) l... so the result could be influenced by this change. Anyway this years sprint team race is in Freestyle mode and next years team sprint will be in classical skiing.

World Nordic championships continue with women's ski-jumping and men's Nordic combined events today.

[Lara]

I watched the sprint races yesterday... It was shocker of an event from the qualification onwards. Firstly, the performance of world cup sprint leader Kikkan Randall (USA), she almost did not qualify for the knockout stages by finishing 28th. Then in the heats got knocked out very easily. Second was the performance of Mona-Lisa Malvalehto (FIN), she qualified in the first position and then was very lacklustre in the knockout stages. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) was the favourite after her win at the last world cup, then Justyna falls at the beginning of the race to finish last in the finals. Norwegian promptly increased the pace of the race to take gold and bronze medal. Norway has such a strong Cross country team especially in the women's event that they could win all 6 events.
Men's race was all about Nikita he was the top qualifier and won the finals with great strategy, Nikita is now both Olympic and World champion in the sprint event.

Thanks for the summary Domshabfan! Was wondering about Randall and Kowalczyk. Bjorgen seems the counterpart to Tora Berger in cross country for Norway.

[Domshabfan]

Thanks for the summary Domshabfan! Was wondering about Randall and Kowalczyk. Bjorgen seems the counterpart to Tora Berger in cross country for Norway.

Yes, Bjorgen is absolutely fabulous, whole Norwegian women's team is just great.

In last night's action Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) won the HS106 hill + 10 Km sprint of the Nordic combined event. He beat Mario Strecher (AUT) and Bjoern Kircheisen (GER) in a close sprint finish. Germany's Eric Frenzel finished 4th, in a race where top 4 was separated by less than half a second.

In the women's ski jumping event USA's Sarah Hendrikson won the gold beating Japan's Sara Takanashi. Hendrikson won on her superior style points on the last jump, she gained 3 points higher than her opponent with the final gap between the two being 2.7 points. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger (OMG, what a name... it has a fired and a berger in it... if only it was a burger) of Austria won the bronze medal. This event has changed a lot since the induction into olympic program.

[AragornElessar]

In Paralympic World Championships News...

Cdn Curling Association ~ Canada Claims Gold Medal At Wheelchair Worlds

The 2013 Wheelchair Worlds were the first curling event staged at the Ice Cube, which will play host to the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic curling competitions.

“It speaks well of the facility,” said Armstrong. “I really think Sochi should be proud. It’s been a tremendous experience and I really look forward to having the opportunity to come back here next year.”

The World Jr Curling Championships either next week or the week after is also going to be held at The Ice Cube and is the Olympic Venue Test Event. However, it sounds like the building is more than ready to go and made quite the impression on the Curlers this past week.

Congratulations Team Canada!! WTG!!!

[gingercrush]

World Ski Championships has ended. Norway as with Biathlon dominated Cross Country skiing and added 8 golds (1 in Ski Jumping) to their 8 golds from Biathlon. If they kept up that next year they will smash the current record gold tally Canada got in 2010 of 14 gold medals.

[Braulio]

World Ski Championships has ended. Norway as with Biathlon dominated Cross Country skiing and added 8 golds (1 in Ski Jumping) to their 8 golds from Biathlon. If they kept up that next year they will smash the current record gold tally Canada got in 2010 of 14 gold medals.

Yes they have been incredible strong in biathlon and cross country, add what Aksel Lund Svindal could do in the alpine skiing and some other medals in freestyle or snowboard and they could have a big medal haul, though in the previous Olympics they were also big medal contenders and a mix of bad luck, pressure hit their athletes and just didn´t deliver though still won many medals but few gold

[AragornElessar]

If anyone's interested, the IPC Alpine Ski World Cup Finals are taking place in Sochi right now and can be viewed over at the Intl Paralympic Committee's YouTube channel, w/the various Classifications in Slalom and the second runs from them.

Second Slalom Runs All Classifications ~ Sochi IPC World Cup Finals ~ YouTube

This is also the Alpine Test Event for the Paralympics next year.

[Seerek]

World Short Track Speed Skating Championships wrapped up over the weekend

Sin Da-Woon with 3 medals in the individual events + overall gold. Charles Hamelin with 3 individual bronzes + relay gold + overall bronze.

Wang Meng dominating the sprints, plus won overall and relay gold. Marianne St. Gelais with 2 individual medals + relay silver

[Domshabfan]

Short Track Speed Skating Result :

Ladies
500mts
Gold: Meng Wang (CHN)
Silver: Seung-Hi Park (KOR)
Bronze: Kexin Fan (CHN)

1000mts
Gold: Meng Wang(CHN)
Silver: Jorien Ter Mors(NED)
Bronze: Elise Christie (GBR)

1500mts
Gold: Seung-Hi Park (KOR)
Silver: Suk Hee Shim (KOR)
Bronze: Marianne St-Gelais (CAN)

3000mts : not an olympic event
Gold: Suk Hee Shim (KOR)
Silver: Marianne St-Gelais (CAN)
Bronze: Jorien Ter Mors(NED)

3000mts relay :
Gold: China
Silver: Canada
Bronze: Japan


Men
500mts
Gold: Wenghao Liang(CHN)
Silver: Victor Han (KOR)
Bronze: Frek Van Der Wart (NED)

1000mts
Gold: Da Woon Shin (KOR)
Silver: Sjinkie Knert(NED)
Bronze: Charles Hamelin (CAN)

1500mts
Gold: Da Woon Shin (KOR)
Silver: Yun Jae Kim (KOR)
Bronze: Charles Hamelin (CAN)

3000mts : not an olympic event
Gold: Yun Jae Kim (KOR)
Silver: Da Woon Shin (KOR)
Bronze: Charles Hamelin (CAN)

3000mts relay :
Gold: Canada
Silver: Russia
Bronze: Netherlands

Kudos to Dutch they really have done well in short track speed skating. They really are using their expertise in speed skating into short track events. Russia is also showing good progress in men section.

[Domshabfan]

World Speed Skating Championships Sochi (RUS)

Day 1 and 2 results :

Men 1500 mts
Gold : Denis Yuskov (RUS)
Silver : Shani Davis (USA)
Bronze : Ivan Skobrev (RUS)

1000mts :
Gold : Denis Kuzin (KAZ)
Silver : Tae-Bum Mo (KOR)
Bronze : Shani Davis (USA)

5000 mts
Gold : Sven Kramer (NED)
Silver : Jorrit Bergsma (NED)
Bronze : Ivan Skobrev (RUS)

Women 3000 mts
Gold : Ireen Wust (NED)
Silver : Martina Sablikova (CZE)
Bronze : Claudia Pechstein (GER)

1500mts :
Gold : Ireen Wust (NED)
Silver : Lotte van Beek (NED)
Bronze : Christine Nesbitt (CAN)