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Dryland

Reports from dryland races such as roller-skiing, hill climbs, mountain running and other off-season competitions.
U.S. Part of Collaboration at Largest International Junior Camp (with Video)

Earlier this month from Aug. 2-8, nine top American junior athletes had the opportunity to participate in the largest International Junior Camp to date. In total, 146 athletes and 37 coaches from nearly 20 nations gathered in Sjusjøen, Norway, for a week of training and collaboration. The camp offered athletes the opportunity to gain confidence by training with the best junior skiers in the world against whom they will soon be competing, and to learn...

Sinclair, Hamilton Go 1-2 at USATF 50 k Trail Championships

David Sinclair winning in record time at the Ragged 50 K, also 2018 USATF 50 k Trail Championships, on Aug. 12 in Danbury, N.H. (Photo: Richard Bolt)It wasn’t the delusionally fast pace he was setting, nor the hazy mist of East Coast rain playing tricks on his eyes. When David Sinclair clamored past the 35-kilometer mark of the Ragged 50K trail marathon, which served as the 2018 USA Track & Field (USATF) 50 k Trail...

Big Results for Geraghty-Moats, Harvey at Summer GP, Toppidrettsveka

Two North Americans posted impressive results at nordic events in Germany and Norway over the last week, with Vermont native Tara Geraghty-Moats racing to first overall in the first-ever Women’s Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix and Quebec’s Alex Harvey placing second, fifth and 10th in three races at the Toppidrettsveka rollerski series. Geraghty-Moats 1st and 2nd at Inaugural Women’s NoCo Grand Prix Brand new to nordic combined as well as the jump hill in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, Geraghty-Moats...

Putting on a Show: Photos, Videos from NENSA Super Sprint and App Gap

Last week was a big one for the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA). On Wednesday, Aug. 8, in conjunction with a U.S. Ski Team U16 (under-16) camp, NENSA hosted rollerski events at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid, N.Y., starting with agility courses designed by NENSA Competitive Program Director Justin Beckwith and Olympian and former nordic combined national-team coach Joe Lamb (complete with rollers, gates, jumps, backward skiing, and a grass runup). buy birth control...

Blink Ends with Jam-Packed Friday/Saturday

The 2018 Blink Ski Festival continued in full force on Friday and Saturday, with cross-country and biathlon prologues, 10- and 15-kilometer cross-country races and biathlon mass starts all taking place on Friday, followed by sprints on Saturday.  Results: Men’s cross-country prologue After the elite men’s prologue, athletes geared up for a men’s and women’s biathlon prologues. Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø took the men’s biathlon prologue win in a time of 10:30.2 after two misses (1+1)....

Johaug, Krüger First to Top in Lysebotn Opp; Harvey 10th, Torchia 13th

The Blink Ski Festival’s famed Lysebotn Opp hill climb returned on Thursday, and with it, a familiar name landed at the top of the results.  After serving  last year’s Lysebotn Opp in 33:18.3, telling NRK at the time that “it’s been long since I’ve been in this good a shape in July.” Kalla’s 2017/2018 season went on to be one of her best. She racked up 10 individual wins, including a gold medal in the Olympic...

Bolshunov, Gjeitnes Win Blink Classics Distance Races on Opening Day

A predictor for the winter ski season ahead? Could be. Either way, Norway’s Blink Ski Festival, or as it’s called in Norway, Blinkfestivalen, remains the ultimate in rollerski racing and returned for the 12th year in a row on Wednesday. The festival opened with elite men’s and women’s distance rollerski races, known as the currently training with the British national team in Norway. Following the Blink Classics on Wednesday, the Blink Ski Festival will turn to the...

Wednesday Workout: Team Sprinting with the U.S. Ski Team

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — This past Sunday, July 15, FasterSkier visited the U.S. women’s cross-country team in Lake Placid, where the team has been holding a dryland camp since July 11. Most all of the team’s top athletes are there — sans those that train with Alaska Pacific University (they’ll largely stick to Anchorage and nearby Eagle Glacier for summer training) — for a “semi-intensity focused” camp that will last through Friday, July 20. Their...

Yeaton, Norris Take Dramatic Mt. Marathon Wins

The 91st annual Mount Marathon Race, one of the oldest footraces in the country, once more descended on the small town of Seward, Alaska, on July 4. Crowds estimated at up to 30,000 perennially throng to the waterfront community, population less than 3,000, to watch racers push themselves up a steep mountain and hurl themselves back down. At the end of the day, a pair of Alaska Pacific University (APU) skiers, Jessica Yeaton and David...

After Winter Marred by Mono, Brennan Breaks Record at Alaska Run for Women

The last time Rosie Brennan was focused on competitive running, she was sporting a red, white and black singlet as a senior at Park City High School in Utah. In the 11 years since, the former U.S. Ski Team member’s running has shifted from a seasonal sport to supplemental training for her true passion: cross-country skiing. Yet earlier this month, on June 9, Brennan surged to the front of the Alaska Run for Women in...

Wednesday Workout: Kris Freeman on Prepping for Tuckerman Inferno Run-Bike Transition

Four-time Olympian Kris Freeman may be settling into post-elite-level nordic ski racing by broadening his training opportunities. The 37-year-old New Hampshire native is slated to enter a grueling multi-sport race this Saturday that will certainly test his end-of-season nordic fitness. Here’s a detailed glimpse of Freeman’s workout — as he explained it in an email — to soften the blow to the legs when transitioning from the run portion to the bike. “I plan to...

Closing the Gap: Brain Training

Editor’s Note: The following is part of a series proposed by Maks Zechel, a 20-year-old Canadian cross-country skier embarking on his first season training abroad. In August, he recently made the big move to Norway, where he’ll be training and racing with Team Asker for the entire winter. Through these updates, Maks hopes to share his personal “observations, stories and lessons learned” to help close the gap between North American and Scandinavian nordic skiing. Previous posts: #2, #4, #6....

Closing the Gap: A Game of Seconds

Editor’s Note: The following is part of a series proposed by Maks Zechel, a 20-year-old Canadian cross-country skier embarking on his first season training abroad. In August, he recently made the big move to Norway, where he’ll be training and racing with Team Asker for the entire winter. Through these updates, Maks hopes to share his personal “observations, stories and lessons learned” to help close the gap between North American and Scandinavian nordic skiing. Previous posts: #2, #4,...

How Skiing Saved My Life: Part II

In March of 2016, we published an article penned by Scott “Bjorn” Cummings, a Postbaccalaureate student working towards his Academic Behavorial Strategist K-12 (ABS) Special Education License at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), titled “FasterSkier article written last year after the conclusion of ski season. The 2017 ski season did not go well for many others and me as a lack of snow in the Upper Midwest shortened or canceled races. Almost every race I did...

Bender, Brown Top Balmy Climb to the Castle

(Note: This article has been updated with comments from Adam Terko in regards to rollerski safety.) WILMINGTON, N.Y. — On what may be the hottest day in memory for the annual Climb to the Castle (C2C) rollerski race, hosted by the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF) up Whiteface Mountain, Jake Brown and Jennie Bender were fastest to the top. Both have spent at least part of their summer training with the US Biathlon Association (USBA) in...

North American Biathletes Test Speed at German Nationals

Dozens of German biathletes from all parts of the country descended on the small town of Langdorf (Arber) in the Bavarian Forest mountain range last weekend for their national championships. Since guests are allowed to compete in the races (a sprint and a pursuit), a number of international biathletes — including a handful of North Americans — made use of this opportunity during a training block in Europe for a performance test against some tough...

Grand Prix Continues: Bryan Fletcher 15th in Tschagguns, Taylor Fletcher Wears Red Bib (Updated)

After during a provisional competition round (PCR). Beyond the top-tier competition, the Summer Grand Prix offers the opportunity for athletes to test equipment and experience how new rules are enforced. One of the key rules has to do with suit permeability. “I got DQ’d in the first PCR because my suit didn’t pass enough air,” Fetcher wrote in an email. “I wasn’t trying to cheat, but actually it was very warm and I was sweating...

Taylor Fletcher Leads U.S. in 11th on Day 2 of NoCo Grand Prix

Green grass, plastic jumping surfaces, big jumps, sunshine, rollerskis and no snow means one thing. It’s August in Europe and it’s time for the International Ski Federation (FIS) Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix 2017. Last weekend Aug. 19-20, Oberwiesenthal, Germany hosted a two-day Grand Prix event. Day 1 featured a two-person team event with the requisite jump and 2 x 7.5-kilometer cross-country race to determine the winners. Czech Republic’s first team (Czech Republic I), comprised of...

Halfvarsson, Weng Top Toppidrettsveka; Newell and Bolger Compete

This past weekend was once again the time of the year for the Toppidrettsveka ski festival, a three-day rollerski mini tour held annually since 2005 in the region of Trondheim, Norway. In addition to the individual stages, points for the top-30 finishers were awarded to compile an overall ranking similar to the Tour de Ski. The elite field of athletes was mostly comprised of Norwegian and other Scandinavian skiers active on the International Ski Federation...