Deciding how to handle the “college conflict”, as aptly phrased by Alayna Sonnesyn, is a daunting and somewhat mysterious prospect, particularly for athletes and families who are unfamiliar with the process. How does a junior athlete know that they are cut out for a collegiate program? NCAA or USCSA? What about a gap year? In […]
Rollerski Safety Best Practices
Making yourself visible while rollerskiing is a must. And with a recent reminder from U.S. Ski Team (USST) World Cup coach Matt Whitcomb, the time of year has come when many skiers are training on roads in lower angle sunlight as we tip away from the Sun in the Northern Hemisphere. Below we are including […]
Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Seeks Nordic Skiing Media Intern
Description: The Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA), the east’s top-tier NCAA Division I Skiing conference, seeks a Media Intern to create and publish content to the EISA blog and social media feeds following each of the season’s Nordic Skiing races. The Media Intern is required to attend all conference races, as well as captain’s meetings […]
The Women Ski Coaches Association Launches a Grassroots Mission Toward Gender Equity in Sport
In August, the Women Ski Coaches Association (WSCA) set forth to balance the scales of gender equity in coaching. With Maria Stuber, head coach at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) and former member of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, at the helm, the WSCA strives to be “the voice and future of women in […]
Something on the Light Side: The Other News
Time to take a breath on this Wednesday. It’s a break from doping news, and the latest wax story will have to wait until at least the end of the week. Even the uptempo training spray must await. Time to slow down. Here’s just a very small sample (in four images) of the light, the […]
A Possible New Anti-Doping Tool: Dried-Blood-Spot Testing
Last week WADA sent out a press release with this catchy title: WADA leads exciting collaboration on dried-blood-spot testing. Here’s what this means: WADA signed a memorandum of understanding with seven anti-doping agencies, including the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to further explore the viability of DBS (dried-blood-spot) testing as part of its global anti-doping […]
Biathlon Canada Names Head Coach for Season: Justin Wadsworth
Last week, Biathlon Canada announced Justin Wadsworth as the Head Coach for the 2019-2020 season. In April, 2019, Wadsworth took on a temporary role as the team’s summer coach. That fill-in-the-gap stint will extend through this season’s racing. Wadsworth joins Canadian biathlon at a challenging time, with limited funding and after the retirement of many […]
Early Season at Hatcher Pass: A Photo Essay
HATCHER PASS, above Palmer, Alaska — The phrase “early season skiing” tends to evoke several things for your average skier: Dark. Cold. Rock skis. November. And so on. Think a training opportunity to be endured as much as enjoyed. Happily enough, none of these things was in evidence Sunday morning at Hatcher Pass, elev. 3,500′, […]
Mia Zutter and Kristina Trygstad-Saari: Interdependent on the Ski Tracks
One skier is twenty years old, the other thirty four. Mia Zutter, the younger of the duo, and Kristina Trygstad-Saari, the eldest, exemplify interdependence on the ski tracks. One guides for the other. They met in Canmore in 2018 at a Para World Cup that served as a qualifier for the PyeongChang Paralympics. Zutter is […]
Open Letters from RUSADA Director Yuriy Ganus
Following the thread of doping allegations, WADA statements and actions, and RUSADA responses have been dizzying. This much is true: as much as we may be steaming ahead towards a final judgment and consequence for Russian sport (WADA recently gave Russia three weeks to explain discrepancies in the Moscow lab’s data handed over to investigators), […]
Auburn Ski Club Seeks Junior Nordic Ski Coach
The ASC Training Center is a non-profit winter sports training facility located on Donner Summit, CA. We are one of the few combined Alpine Ski, Biathlon, Nordic Ski, and Snowboard facilities in the country, and operate a public cross country ski center with 25km of trails. POSITION: Junior Nordic Ski Coach REPORTS TO: […]
Peoples Academy, Morrisville Vermont, Seeks Head Nordic Coach
Peoples Academy is searching for a head nordic skiing coach for their winter 2019-20 season. We are looking for committed individuals who will be able to coach nordic skiing in a fun, competitive, safe and sportsmanlike manner. All coaches must be at least 18 years of age or a high school graduate at the commencement […]
Op-Ed: A Discussion about PFAS and Skiing
FasterSkier respects a diversity of opinions when publishing letters to the editor. Feel free to email info@fasterskier.com with your op-ed piece. You can read a FasterSkier article here regarding EPA regulations and a recent Letter to the Editor on the topic here. In comparison to known sources and inputs of PFAS into the environment, cross country ski […]
Energy Systems and Training for Cross-Country Ski Race Courses
It is well known that XC ski racers have to be incredibly “fit” to be competitive. But how do we measure “fitness”? For decades, we’ve known that a high VO2max is necessary to be a competitive ski racer. Training to improve VO2max involves a large volume of training at a low intensity and a comparatively […]
JUSTIN WADSWORTH NAMED HEAD COACH FOR 2019-2020 SEASON (Press Release from Biathlon Canada)
Press Release from Biathlon Canada Three-time Olympian and one of Canada’s most successful national team cross country ski coaches, Justin Wadsworth, has been named Biathlon Canada National Team Head Coach through to the end of the 2019-2020 season. Wadsworth, who was named interim head coach in April of this year, is excited to continue working […]
US Biathletes Enlist: Prep for Life and Racing
Career arcs have a beginning, an apogee, and an eventual end. So far, US Biathlon’s Sean Doherty has been on an ascendant path. He’s the most decorated career IBU Youth/Junior Worlds medalist with 10 total. With two Olympics to his name, and a 25th overall ranking on the World Cup last season, year by year […]
Laura Dahlmeier Running Fast
When she retired from international biathlon competition at twenty-five-years-old Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier retreated back into a more private existence. Although still arguably in her prime and flush with a treasure chest loaded with championship medals, Dahlmeier’s path was hers to define. Like many nordic sport athletes of late, Dahlmeier has taken to mountain running. Although […]
Elan/Alpina Seeks Marketing Intern
Elan Sports USA is looking for an energetic and self-motivated Marketing Intern to join the Elan-Alpina-Rottefella brands. If you’re an ambitious individual who loves to ski and enjoy the outdoors and knows how to communicate that passion to others, then we want to work with you. Your work will include assisting with promotions, conducting market […]
KO and the Long Range Plan
National team naming for American cross-country skiing tends to roughly correspond to the overall rhythm of the training year. Team nominations come out in May; World Cup Period I starts are (at least these days) announced in June; American professional skiers then know where they stand early in the summer, and can plan out their […]
Ski Wax Questionnaire Results
Last week we posted a questionnaire asking for your opinions on the use of fluorinated wax. Below are the results of the survey. We selected only a portion of written responses to publish with today’s story. Thanks again for your feedback. As of September 26, we had 160 respondents to our ski wax questionnaire. Here’s […]