Coming Next Week: The Current State of US Cross Country Skiing – Are Changes Needed?

FasterSkier.com is inviting you to join in a discussion about the current state of cross country ski racing in the United States. This discussion will include US Ski Team head coach Trond Nystad, Nordic Program director Luke Bodensteiner, FasterSkier.com writers, other coaches, and our readers.

Just a few years ago, it looked as if US skiers were gaining major ground in international competition. The future looked very bright. This year, however, the top results took a step back. US elite skiers were not close to winning World Cup races, and our best juniors had a tough time breaking top 30 at Junior Worlds. Was this season just a bump in the road to success, or was it a return to reality?

Many of our readers have asked us to assess the current situation. What is the current state of the US Ski Team? What problems does US Skiing face? Are changes needed? US Ski Team head coach Trond Nystad and Nordic program director Luke Bodensteiner have agreed to lend their insight and opinions to this discussion. We have asked several veteran coaches for their input and are also asking our readers, both coaches and skiers for comments.

We have a constructive discussion in mind. This will be a chance for everyone involved in US Skiing to better understand the situation, create ideas and improve for the future. Where are we now and where are we going?

We will start the discussion early next week with an article by Torbjorn Karlsen. The US Ski Team (Trond and Luke) have agreed to write a response to this article. After that, we will solicit opinions and ideas from our readers, which we will compile and publish. The Ski Team coaches will then have the chance to respond to our readers comments. FasterSkier will then publish a 'final thoughts' article to wrap up the discussion.

So sharpen your pencils for next week…