Noah Hoffman didn't check the elevation on the Stelvio Pass glacier in the Italian Alps while packing for a two week training camp with Kris Freeman and the Maine Winter Sports Center Olympic Development Team. It turned out to be just shy of 11,000 feet, the highest Hoffman and Freeman have ever lived and trained.
School is back in session, the days are getting shorter and there's limited time to squeeze in a workout. It's time to pull together everything you learned over the summer and be efficient and effective with the planning of your fall workouts. Pete Leonard, the experienced junior coach at the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks, Alaska, explains how.
The Watershed School in Fairbanks, Alaska, turned its sledding hill —an underused pile of dirt — into a Nordic terrain park. Picture a bunch of enthusiastic kids zipping around on cross country skis during recess. That's exactly what the principal/groomer envisions.
Liz Stephen and Tim Burke make skiing uphill for five miles look like a piece of cake. That's because there was nobody within about three minutes of either of them in their Climb to the Castle wins on Sunday.
She might make it to the Olympics this year, four years from now, or never in her career. But Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project is enjoying the process of her development as a skier, wherever it may take her.
It happens all too often. Inexperienced skier takes off from the start of a distance race as though it is a sprint qualifier, only to struggle through several more kilometers. Will Sweetser, competitive programs director at the Maine Winter Sports Center, has a workout that encourages athletes to take an honest look at their individual ability and find a sustainable pace for every distance.
Ever wonder how skiers from places like Argentina get to go to the Olympics? The meet qualifying standards just like everybody else, while also meeting their own nation's criteria. Even in a place like New Zealand, it's not easy. " I do not understand New Zealand's reluctance to support winter sport, other than those in the top 16 in the world,” national-team member Sarah Murphy says.
There's a reason APU ventures to Park City each summer, and it's all about transitioning and revving up for the season ahead. “Whether it's the altitude or not, I think everyone here has gotten two weeks of incredible training,” U.S. Ski Team and APU skier Holly Brooks said. “It's hard to say from a physiological standpoint, but I think it's been a really productive camp either way.”
In advance of his club’s facility playing host to the third annual North American Women's Training Alliance (NAWTA) camp in July, APU Nordic Director Erik Flora broke down film of last year's World Cup races in Sochi. He was studying every undulation of the race courses, with a goal to replicate the Olympic venue.
The U.S. men and Canadian World Cup skiers are right at home way down under at the Snow Farm near Wanaka, Zealand, and they haven't wasted any time with getting down to business while rehabbing some injuries.
Six years ago, a back injury put a damper on Rosie Brennan's skiing, but she didn't let it get her down and finally addressed it this spring. Now training consciously and rehabbing the injury, the 24-year-old APU skier is hoping for another career-best season leading up to the Sochi Games.
Biathletes and cross-country skiers alike from Europe and beyond descended on Sandnes, Norway, for the annual three-day Blink Ski Festival from Aug. 1-3. The rollerski mass starts, hill climbs and sprints saw some close finishes, new winners and record crowds.
Jessie Diggins loves to ski. That's a good thing because it's her full-time job as a World Cup skier training with the Stratton Mountain School T2 and U.S. Ski teams. At the same time, the 21-year-old has learned to step back, have fun and try new activities to keep things light.
With nearly two dozen athletes, the MWSC in northeastern Maine is shaping up to be a national powerhouse in both cross-country and biathlon. "From my perspective as director, this group is more of a team than we've ever had," says director Will Sweetser. "There is no doubt that our program will have one of the best men's distance teams in U.S. XC."
Peter Graves and Kevin Sweeney remember their friend and famed former Utah ski coach, Pat Miller, who passed away in late June after a brief illness. Miller went to the Olympics in nordic combined and went on to coach and direct the Utes for 23 years.
This is the third preview in our series on U.S. elite teams, which we’ve dubbed the “The 12.” With all six original members returning to Stratton Mountain's T2 squad and two promising newcomers (one of which is on the USST) in the mix, this Vermont-based team is feeding off last season's career bests to prepare for an Olympic year.
FasterSkier ventured to Vermont this week to see the entire Stratton Mountain School T2 Team working out together or one of the first times this summer. Video includes footage from bounding and strength sessions earlier this week, as well as interviews with Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton and Eric Packer.
Mikey Sinnott takes stretching seriously, doing so at least 30 minutes six times a week. "For years, I pretended stretching was an overly silly, old man ritual," he says. Now, the Sun Valley skier has a special room for it to help ward off tightness and injuries.
You probably know the players, the four main guys that make up SSCV/Team HomeGrown, but here's the scoop on what they're up to and what each is aiming for in the lead up to Sochi.
After announcing Wednesday that the Maine Winter Sports Center (MWSC) is closing Black Mountain Ski Resort in Rumford, Maine, six-time host of the U.S. Cross Country Nationals, President/CEO Andy Shepard is hoping a buyer will step forward soon.