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On February 17-18, the FIS Cross Country World Cup returns to the USA with events in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s been a long time since a World Cup was staged in the United States: 2001, in fact, when a pre-Olympic test event was staged at Soldier Hollow, Utah. Even before then, the list of American-hosted Cross Country World Cups is not long:
1978: Telemark, Wisconsin
1979: Lake Placid, NY
1983: Anchorage, Alaska
1984: Fairbanks, Alaska
1985: Biwabik, Minnesota
1989: Mountain Dell, Utah
2001: Soldier Hollow, Utah
Many fans of cross country skiing forget that the World Cup is not really that old a competition; the FIRST World Cup Cross Country race was staged in the United States . . . at Tony Wise’s Telemark Resort in the dense forests of northern Wisconsin. Labeled the Gitchi Gami Games, those first two days of World Cup racing introduced the notion of a season-long championship in cross country skiing. Ever since then, skiers and ski fans have considered the FIS World Cup Crystal Globes to be honors on par with Olympic and World Championship medals.
US Ski and Snowboard recently announced the team members who will be donning the Stars and Stripes in Minneapolis. Notably absent from this lineup is the USA’s Ben Ogden’s whose recent illness brings his season to a premature end. Ogden’s Instagram announcement outlined his situation.
Minneapolis Star Tribune published this coverage of the upcoming Minneapolis World Cup weekend.
Stifel Loppet Cup coverage will be streamed live—and free of charge—on Outside Watch. Races commence at 11am ET on Saturday (Men’s and Women’s Sprints), and Sunday at 1130am ET (Men’s 10 k Freestyle) and 145pm ET (Women’s 10 k Freestyle).
John Teaford
John Teaford—the Managing Editor of FasterSkier — has been the coach of Olympians, World Champions, and World Record Holders in six sports: Nordic skiing, speedskating, road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, triathlon. In his long career as a writer/filmmaker, he spent many seasons as Director of Warren Miller’s annual feature film, and Producer of adventure documentary films for Discovery, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, and NBC Sports.
