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World Cup

The cream of the crop. The best in the world compete all winter long on the World Cup. We follow them at every stop with article and results. We also post occasional reports from North America’s best as they travel the globe.
Klaebo Rules 20 k Mass Start. Schumacher-Patterson Top Twenty

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. As the eyes of cross-country World Cup competitors begin to turn their gaze toward North America, one task remained for them before they could begin to focus on packing their bags for the...

Svahn leads Sweden in Goms Sprints, Klaebo Lunges Past Chanavat

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Goms, Switzerland has never hosted a World Cup Sprint competition before, so prior experience would offer no tactical advantages to racers in today’s Freestyle Sprint. The playing field would be level, and everyone...

Sweden Wins Mixed Relay, USA Crash Results in DNF

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. When it comes to World Cup racing, the Mixed Relay is the new kid on the block. And, like many new kids, not everyone is certain what to make of them. Today in...

Picking a Winner—Team Norway’s Unique Dilemma

Team Norway has swept most distance race podiums this season, and has consistently placed a rotating series of Norwegian stars atop those podiums, as well. It’s become a foregone conclusion that a Norwegian man will win the Overall World Cup title this season. Even so, if any of those Norwegian contenders miss a couple of races, their chances of contending for the season-lone Crystal Globe all but evaporate. Just ask Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo; He’s podiumed...

The Devon Kershaw Show: A French Canadian-inflected, 90-minute recap from Oberhof

Prince of Quebec Alex Harvey and his protege on the Canadian team, Tony Cyr, check in with us after a three-day weekend of racing in Germany. We went kinda long. Also: We have a first-of-its-kind waxing and service report from U.S. Ski Team technician Eli Brown. Let us know what you think: We’re at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. We’ll be back after another weekend of racing in Switzerland before the World Cup circuit heads to North...

Norway Reigns Over Close-Fought Relay

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. This weekend in Oberhof framed the Men’s World Cup’s hierarchy in stark terms. Coming into Sunday’s 4 x 7.5 k Men’s Relay, five different Norwegian skiers had combined to sweep both Friday’s classic...

Sweden Dominates Oberhof Relay

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. When it comes to success in cross country relay finishes, national nordic pride is a vital concern in only those countries where national nordic pride flourishes: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany (and, of...

Diggins-Brennan Top Ten in Oberhof Classic

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. As the women pass the halfway point in World Cup Competition individual events, focus is now clearly on the chase for Crystal Globes. In the Overall standings—after yesterday’s Sprint—Jessie Diggins (USA) retains her...

Second Day in a Row—Valnes Emerges at the Front

  This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. For World Cup racers, mass start racing is always tense, nervous, high-risk, rough-and-tumble. Long skinny skis and long fragile poles make close-quarters racing—on courses seldom more than four tracks wide—a bit of...

Sweden Sweeps Oberhof Classic Sprint—Diggins Ninth

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. After a week and a half layoff, World Cup racing resumed today with renewed vigor and renewed focus. With the draining experience of the Tour de Ski behind them—and some nice recovery time...

Norwegian Sweep—Minus Klaebo—in Oberhof Classic Sprint

  This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. It was a rare day on the World Cup, but patterns, established and emerging, were apparent too. The rare part: Friday in Oberhof marked the first time in six years that Johannes...

Sophia Laukli—One on One

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. On the last day of the Tour de Ski, Stifel U.S. Ski Team member Sophia Laukli had a first-ever win in a World Cup race. She’s also on pace to have her best...

The Devon Kershaw Show: It’s time for the yearly bag ‘o mail, and it’s a good bag

Did Devon Kershaw once jump over a cattle guard, on rollerskis, at 40 miles an hour? Is a seven-and-a-half hour classic ski a wise choice in the middle of the racing season? Where are Tiril Udnes Weng and Simone Mocellini? These are among the many questions Devon and Nat fielded during the 2024 edition of the show’s yearly mailbag episode. We had fun with your submissions; we hope you enjoy our answers. Email us more...

The Devon Kershaw Show: What do Jessie Diggins and Ron DeSantis have in common?

The Iowa caucuses were this week, and on this edition of The Daily, we have a recap of the results with our political correspondent, Reid Epstein. Wait, sorry, we got confused. This is still a cross-country skiing podcast. But this is, in fact, the crossover xc-politics content you’ve been waiting for. Epstein, a friend of the pod who is really a political correspondent for the New York Times, interviewed Jessie Diggins a few days ago...

US Team Announced for Period 3 World Cups

Dear Cross Country Community,   We are pleased to announce the Team for Period 3 of the 2023-24 World Cup season: Oberhof Sprint C Men Michael Earnhart                      Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader Ben Ogden                                Objective          8th World Cup Sprint Standings JC Schoonmaker                        Objective          16th World Cup Sprint Standings Gus Schumacher                       Objective          26th World Cup Sprint Standings Kevin Bolger                             Objective          31st World Cup Sprint Standings Zanden McMullen                     Discretion         25th Davos Sprint F Luke Jager                                Discretion         1st...

The Devon Kershaw Show: Laukli, Diggins crown a historic Tour de Ski finish for USA

They’ve reached the summit — the athletes, have, anyway. Devon certainly has not, thanks to frozen pipes in his Oslo apartment. He and Nat persevere to bring you the recap of this year’s final Tour de Ski stages, which featured some spicy and sloppy racing in Italy. Stay tuned til the end for an ode to Le Gruyère cheese. Next week, during the break from the World Cup, we’ll have a mailbag episode. Send us...

Diggins Wins Tour de Ski as Laukli Soars Up Alpe Cermis

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. If there’s one true thing that can be said of Jessie Diggins (USA), it’s that she is willing to pay the price. Today, on the unforgiving slopes of Alpe Cermis, her willingness to...

International Flair at Tour de Ski—Amundsen, Moch, Lapalus

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. The origin story of the Tour de Ski suggests that it was invented to mirror cycling’s Tour de France: multiple stages, mountaintop finishes, leader’s jerseys, thrilling competitions, glorious champions. Today’s Stage 7 of...

Mission Accomplished in Val di Fiemme—Diggins Defends TDS Lead

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Jessie Diggins knows how to race for the win, but that wasn’t her job today. Entering Stage 6 of the 2024 Tour de Ski with a lead of 44 seconds over second place,...

Amundesen Protects Big Lead Going Into TDS Finale

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. The men’s Tour de Ski (TDS) began last week with team Norway back on its heels as France and the USA challenged Norway’s domination; that seems a lifetime ago. Ever since the third...