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2018 PyeongChang Olympics

Nordic Nation: The Finding Your Voice Episode with Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson

Putting yourself in another’s shoes – or ski-boots —  is an age-old tenant. But it would be truly hard to imagine being twenty-one years old and thrust into the biathlon world spotlight. At least year’s Olympics in PyeongChang, Swedish biathlete Sabastian Samuelsson literally arrived on the scene in his canary yellow race suit — he won a silver in the pursuit and gold as a member of Sweden’s men’s relay team. During his post-race press...

World Cup Preview: #6 Switzerland

Welcome to FasterSkier’s World Cup Preview, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka weekend in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24 with a classic sprint. *** Switzerland Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: 6th Women’s Ranking 2017/2018: 7th Men’s Ranking 2017/2018: 4th However lopsided Switzerland World Cup profile appears – think Dario Cologna prime time all the time – the team...

Nordic Nation: Way, Way North with APU’s Tyler Kornfield

Skiku. Kornfield is not alone in this endeavor: many skiers and coaches have volunteered their time to “to foster the health and recreational benefits of skiing, biathlon and running through sustainable programs across Alaska”. We spoke to Kornfield on May 3 to learn more about his commitment to Skiku and get the rundown on his year. (To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Nordic Nation: Two Words … Jessie Diggins

Olympic gold medalist, her time and attention have been in high demand. Just a few of those commitments have involved the following: an appearance at the Minnesota State Capitol where she advocated for a Minneapolis World Champs. And just last Wednesday, April 25, Diggins was in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Protect Our Winters (POW), lobbying members of Congress about the effects of climate change on winter snow sports. Reflecting on...

FasterSkier’s Coach of the Year: Eileen Carey; Runners-Up: Matt Whitcomb and Robin McKeever

With the 2017/2018 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to coaches of North American teams in any nordic discipline, at any level – although in an Olympic and...

FasterSkier’s Canadian Breakthroughs: Collin Cameron and Zina Kocher

With the 2017/2018 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to Canadian athletes in any disciplines who had a major breakthrough at some level of competition. Previous categories: Collegiate...

FasterSkier’s Biathletes of the Year: Tim Burke and Rosanna Crawford

With the 2017/2018 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to outstanding North American biathletes on the international circuit. *** Rosanna Crawford, Biathlon Canada Rosanna Crawford had been close to...

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, reigning 15 k classic world champion, Niskanen said that he has embraced a selective peaking strategy. For the last two years he has focused on two championship classic races: the 15 k in Lahti, and Saturday’s 50 k.   “Two years after Sochi, I trained so hard and tried to do too many things and have too much races and I got easily sick,” Niskanen said....

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, U.S. women’s team sprint Olympic gold medal and all. But now that we’ve had a little time to breathe, FasterSkier wanted to bring you the best of the interviews that didn’t make our initial race reports. (Don’t worry, plenty more on this historic gold to come!) Kikkan Randall, Team USA’s first-leg skier: “It’s an amazing feeling. This is something the American team has been working for...

Saturday Olympic Rundown: Norway Tops Women’s Relay, U.S. 5th; Kuzmina Dominates Mass Start

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, International report Full report Not even a miss in the final stage could keep Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina from her third medal of the 2018 Olympics, this time gold, in the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start on Saturday at the Alpensia Biathlon Center. Kuzmina took charge early in the five-loop race, leading Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier into the range for the first prone shooting stage. There, Kuzmina cleaned all five targets quickly...

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, event’s gold-medal. Diggins was the leading U.S. skier in qualification, slotting into seventh place, 7.02 seconds off Nilsson’s time. Sadie Bjornsen placed ninth (+7.38) and Sophie Caldwell 12th (+8.32) in a qualifier featuring a 15.28-second spread from Nilsson to 30th-place Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland. The fourth U.S. starter, Ida Sargent, just missed the quarterfinals in 33rd. She finished 17.06 seconds behind Nilsson’s time. Three American Women in the...

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2, men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Sunday wasn’t frustrating. It was disappointing. “It was a really strange feeling,” Fourcade said after Monday’s 12.5 k pursuit. “… I was disappointed because yesterday I did not understand why I missed three, and I wanted this Olympic gold in the sprint more than any of the competitions. I worked really hard for this competition. I worked on my shooting for being good in the...

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Concept2,  women’s sprint when his teammate Laura Dahlmeier won gold, while the presumed favorites such as France’s Martin Fourcade and Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø missed too many targets to contend for the medals. In his prone shooting, Peiffer reacted correctly to a strong gust of wind from the left side of the range, adjusting his sights with several clicks on his rifle. Then in the standing shooting he took...

Nordic Nation: Vordenberg’s Call to Action/Climate Challenge

Part 1, and here. Does your team already have a climate or climate activism project?  Let us know what it is and we can share it with our community! Contact Pete Vordenberg with questions, ideas and to register your team. pvatuphillskier@gmail.com (To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

From Biathlon to XC: Kocher Un-Retires for a Run at PyeongChang

“I’m un-retiring for six months,” 34-year-old Zina Kocher said with a laugh on the phone earlier this week.  Kocher, who lives in Canmore, Alberta, announced via Instagram on Oct. 2 that she was returning to elite-level racing with the one-and-done hope of making the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. As she referenced in her social-media post, Kocher’s return to the trails will be “4k” (kilograms) lighter — her current run at the Olympics...

Stephen on Switching It Up and Staying Fresh

There is no faking a smile. As a visual social-media feed, Instagram places a premium on how we’d like to be perceived by the viewing world. Instagram’s editing tools come with an assortment of beautifying filters. But smiles? Fake smiles are filter-proof. Although not a habitual Instagram poster, scroll through U.S. Ski Team (USST) athlete Liz Stephen’s account, @lizhillstephen — it’s hard not to notice her genuine grin and the smiles of those around her. Those...

Canada’s Olympic Cross Country Team: Who’s In, Who’s Close, and What Comes Next

As athletes enter their final preparations for the Olympic season, some Canadian cross-country skiers have a pretty good idea that they’ll be heading to PyeongChang, South Korea, in February to compete. That’s because they have already achieved explained in a separate article.) So the list of athletes meeting “Alternate Qualifying Criteria A” could grow. “We have men that have top-30 World Cup sprints, so they could do it,” Holland said. “But I don’t expect on...

On the eastern side of the Northern Michigan University (NMU) campus, where Fair Avenue and Presque Isle Ave intersect, a righthand turn presents visitors with a view of the Berry Events Center and the school’s 26-year-old Superior Dome — a semi-Star-Trek-like outcropping in an otherwise conventionally secular setting. Between the two recreational buildings sits another building, the college’s Physical Education and Instructional Facility (PEIF). Designed predominantly as a practice venue for basketball players, the complex...

Kalla Cranks Out Win in Blink’s Lysebotn Opp; Stephen 6th

There’s a little more than six months to go until the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. For the recently turned 30-year-old 2014 champion,Stephen finished sixth overall (+3:35.7) on Thursday, after  Norway’s Ragnhild Haga in fourth (+2:43.4) and Pärmäkoski in fifth (+2:47.0). Prior to winning three years ago, Stephen also placed third in the famous rollerski hill climb in 2012 (the Lysebotn Opp was Women |