I just finished getting dressed to go ski on the first day of our recent trip to West Yellowstone. I was about ready to step out the door when my wife said, “You look good”. I stopped dead in my tracks. My wife does not frequently disburse compliments to me. In fact, it is a rare occasion that I do anything right at all. She must have noticed the slightly incredulous look on my face...
Spring Series got underway this weeekend in Houghton Michigan. Originally scheduled for Marquette, the races were moved last week due to less-than-ideal snow conditions in Marquette. This weekend was a freestyle, individual start on Saturday, followed by a classic pursuit on Sunday. Most of the US Ski Team is not attending these races, due to a long couple of months racing in Europe. But the fields are still very competitive, with many US development team...
In the Shadow of King Gunde Journalists are there, always, everywhere. Without them it would be much duller, but also simpler. So I wanted to write about my relationship to newspapers, radio and TV. If I should use one word to describe the development for the almost ten years I have been on the national team, it must be change. The cross-country skiing national team relationship to the media has changed, the media have changed,...
Norwegian web news sources are reporting that the Norwegian national ski program has lost another of its stars to retirement. This morning Bente Skari won her 16th Norwegian National Championship by out-sprinting Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen in the pursuit event. After the finish she had few words for reporters. Instead, she insisted that she would be issuing a statement at a press conference scheduled for that afternoon. At the press conference she confirmed what came as...
Go West The Karlsen’s took off from Park City,Utah by car right after school on Thursday March 20th – heading west for the California Gold and Silver Rush at Royal Gorge, North America's largest XC ski area on March 23rd. Royal Gorge is located in the Sierra Mountains about 50 minutes from Reno, Nevada. This is usually my last race of the season and the family- wife Kris and children Solveig (7) and Annika (11) were...
Ski Racers and Coaches: Are you looking for better results? Coaching and Team work opportunities with Torbjorn Karlsen, John Aalberg and Dr. Jim Stray-Gundersen Torbjorn Karlsen and John Aalberg are two of the better known XC skiing personalities in the US, and they have now teamed up to create a unique coaching opportunity for ambitious Olympic hopefuls and master skiers, as well as for coaches needing new ideas, education or a more structured program. For...
Presque Isle, ME (March 25): After battling illness through the World Championships, LLBean/Maine Winter Sports Center's David Chamberlain came back to win the final race of the season and the $1000 prize, the Men's 30km classic race at the Nordic Heritage Spring Series. Chamberlain skied all but the final kilometer with Team Atomic's Patrick Weaver, and Rossignol/USST's Justin Freeman. In the final meters Chamberlain pulled ahead to win by 3 seconds ahead of Weaver, with Freeman just 2...
The snow may be melting in your neck of the woods, but we just want to remind all our readers that FasterSkier will continue to bring you great features on xc skiing throughout the year. Coming up soon we have a Year In Review feature by US Ski Team coach Pete Vordenberg! It is a comprehensive article about the US Team and their year on the tracks as documented by US Ski Team coach, and...
Copyright 2003, David Susong, used by permission I don’t want to go skiing! I stopped in my tracks when my daughter offhandedly said these words. I slowly turned around and gave her a piercing glare. She again said, matter of factly, “I don’t want to go skiing today” and finished with a slight turn of her head and for final punctuation raised her nose in the air. As a skiing obsessed parent these words sent...
Saturday Pursuit FALUN, Sweden (March 22) — World Cup champions Mathias Fredriksson of Sweden and Norway's Bente Skari won the final races of the season Saturday, capturing a skiathlon at the Swedish Ski Games. Fredriksson won the men's race, a 10-km classic leading into a 10-km freestyle, in 57:17.0 with Frode Estil of Norway second at 57:34.1. Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) was 31st in 58:35.7 with Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT) 48th and Carl Swenson (Boulder,...
3/24 Spring Series Update Over the past few days, the Marquette and Ironwood areas have had further melting which would make putting together quality race courses in either area relatively difficult. However, the Houghton area has held up very well and the recently renovated MTU trails are in excellent shape this spring. There is significant base and they are running their bombardier groomer on a regular basis. Given these circumstances, the Marquette General Health Systems...
The 2003 Gold Rush (along with its siblings Silver, Bronze and Junior Rush) was held on Sunday, March 23, in a drizzle, but that didn't stop 300+ skiers from enjoying the relatively good trail conditions and fast times. As always, this event is one of the main fundraisers for the Far West Nordic Junior Ski Programs. Atomic's Justin Wadsworth outsprinted the Factory Team's Scott Loomis for the Californai Gold Rush title on Sunday, while NCAA...
Saturday's Classic Races Atomic's Pat Weaver and Caledonia Nordic's Jaqui Benson Win $1000 and the Nordic Heritage Spring Series' 10 and 5km classic Presque Isle, ME (March 22): Team Atomic's Pat Weaver charged one of the strongest fields of men since U.S. Nationals to win the second event of the Nordic Heritage Spring Series, the men's 10km classic race. His time of 28:51 earned him $1000, and put him 18 seconds ahead of Middlebury College's Colin...
(Editor’s note: The Norwegian language contains the word “ildsjel†which has no direct translation. Some potential translations would be enthusiast, fanatic or zealot — but those all miss the mark. Ildsjelene are those who give selflessly of themselves as leaders and support personnel in community activities and are quite simply the backbone of the Norwegian sport club system. I have chose to use the phrase “dedicated soul†in this chapter’s translation.) Behind most all elite...
Presque Isle, ME (March 20): The Canadians got down to business and Devon Kershaw and Rhonda Sandau outsprinted the field for the $1,000 winners' prize in the first event of the Nordic Heritage Spring Series, on the courses of the Maine Winter Sports Center, in Presque Isle, ME.  The men's final sprint consisted of Kershaw, U.S. Ski Team's Andrew Newell, Subaru Factory Team/LLBean's Dave Chamberlain, and Middlebury College's Colin Rodgers. Kershaw won but the...
In today's World Cup sprint event in Borlange, Sweden, Beckie Scott of Canada took second place, only 0.3 seconds behind World Cup Champion Bente Skari of Norway. World Champion Marit Bjoergen of Norway was third, while Claudia Kuenzel of Germany took fourth in the final. Beckie, who qualified 9th, had a tough road to the final. She had to go up against Skari in every heat. Scott held her own, and held off the other...
Thomas Alsgaard will wrap up a very successful World Cup career this weekend in Falun, Sweden. In Falun, Alsgaard will be skiing the Pursuit (skiathlon). Fittingly, he won the first World Cup skiathlon ever last year, which was also held in Falun. Alsgaard struggled this season due to a hand injury during the summer, but he did manage to win two gold medals at the recent World Championships. With the recent wins in Val di...
The Nordic Heritage Spring Series at the Maine Winter Sports Center: The best in the world come to Maine for the best of spring ski racing Presque Isle, ME (March 20-25): The snow is far from melting up in Aroostook County, but the country’s best cross-country skiers soon will be seeing green. Over $16,000 of prize money is up for grabs at the Nordic Heritage Spring Series at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Presque Isle. The...
As I mentioned last time, finding a great place to ski in the east is not hard. The problem is finding a great town near the great ski trails. Last time we looked at Maine and New Hampshire. During our exploratory jaunt through the east, we also had a chance to investigate Vermont and upstate New York. So lets venture over the Connecticut River into Vermont. Because of their proximity and similarities, Vermont and New...
LAHTI, Finland (March 16) — Sweden's Mathias Fredriksson clinched the World Cup overall title by winning a 15-km freestyle race Sunday at the Finnish Ski Games with Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) 17th and Carl Swenson (Boulder, CO) 28th. Gabriella Paruzzi of Italy won the women's 10-km FR race as the top three skiers were 1.6 seconds apart. In collecting the World Cup cross country crown for Sweden — coincidentally on a day when Anja Paerson...