Nordic Nation: Straight Up Erik Bjornsen

No longer the young guy on the U.S. Ski Team, at 26 years old, Erik Bjornsen often carries high expectations on his shoulders. And frankly, they are strong shoulders. After a summer and fall of solid training, the younger of the two Bjornsens on the U.S. Ski Team (his sister Sadie is a teammate) has high expectations for this Olympic year. Rather than a product of stats and results, Bjornsen is a believer in himself. He studies the sports’ stars, analyzing what makes them technically efficient. He makes the hard workouts count. It’s a method Bjornsen hopes will serve him well in a tightly packed World Cup men’s field.

Erik Bjornsen leads fellow U.S. Ski Team member Noah Hoffman during the men’s 15 k freestyle pursuit at Stage 4 of the 2015 Ski Tour Canada in Quebec City. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com/NNF)

Bjornsen jumps to Europe on Nov. 15. He won’t be dipping his toe into the race season — his first races of the season will be the World Cup’s Ruka Triple mini tour in Finland from Nov. 24-26.

Nordic Nation spoke to Bjornsen on Oct. 25 from his home in Anchorage, Alaska. The discussion covers sprinting and distance, his growth as a skier, and yes, how he’d like to see FasterSkier improved. Who would have thought the youngest Bjornsen would like to see a bit more nordic gossip on the FS site? With that in mind, old news we know, Bjornsen was engaged this summer.

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Jason Albert

Jason lives in Bend, Ore., and can often be seen chasing his two boys around town. He’s a self-proclaimed audio geek. That all started back in the early 1990s when he convinced a naive public radio editor he should report a story from Alaska’s, Ruth Gorge. Now, Jason’s common companion is his field-recording gear.