Gabby Naranja – Page 2 – FasterSkier.com

Wednesday Workout: Hitting the Trails with U.S. Para-Nordic and Head Coach Martin Benes

Gabby NaranjaDecember 5, 2018

For this week’s Wednesday Workout, FasterSkier reached out to Martin Benes, the newest addition to the U.S. Para-Nordic coaching staff. Benes joined U.S. Para-Nordic this August, after five years working as the nordic skiing director and head coach at Sugar Bowl Academy in Norden, California. He is still currently living in California. Benes’s primary work is with the Para-Nordic national team: A-team members Oksana Masters, Kendall Gretsch, and Dan Cnossen, as well as B-team member,...

News Racing Results World Cup

Tønseth Bests Røthe to Lock Up Lillehammer Pursuit Win; Harvey 16th

Gabby NaranjaDecember 2, 2018

In sport, there’s the win and then there’s the story behind the win. In the sport of nordic skiing, some of these stories seem all too familiar, such as Sunday’s Norwegian victory in the men’s 15-kilometer classic pursuit. But even among the Norwegians in the sport of cross-country skiing, there are idiosyncrasies to the success. In the case of Didrik Tønseth, the Norwegian winner of Sunday’s 15 k pursuit in Lillehammer, Norway, the victory was...

General News Racing Results World Cup

Belorukova Stuns in Kuusamo Classic Sprint; Bjornsen 11th

Gabby NaranjaNovember 24, 2018

If there is anything Russia’s Yulia Belorukova, took away from the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games, besides an individual bronze medal in the classic sprint, it’s that she is capable of sprinting with the best in the world. Leading up to the Games in Pyeongchang, the 23-year-old had yet to land on a World Cup podium. Even post-Pyeongchang, a World Cup win remained unchartered waters for the recent Olympic bronze medalist. But with the opening...

General News Racing Results World Cup

Bolshunov Bests Klæbo in Ruka Classic Sprint Opener; Harvey 8th

Gabby NaranjaNovember 24, 2018

From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway would open his World Cup 2018/2019 season with the familiarity of a win. The first FIS cross-country race of the year, a 1.4-kilometer classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland, saw the 22-year-old round the course’s final turn in first, holding off his closest competitor, Alexander Bolshunov of Russia, by close to two meters. Approaching the finishing stretch, Norway’s cross-country sprint king was still dictating the...

Interviews News Racing Results

Johaug and Røthe Wrap Up Beitostølen with Wins

Gabby NaranjaNovember 18, 2018

The FIS opener races in Beitostølen, Norway, came to a close on Sunday as competitors capped off the three day race weekend with a men’s and women’s freestyle distance event. Forty-nine athletes raced the women’s 10-kilometer skate race, with Norway’s Therese Johaug taking the victory in a time of 24:21.5. The FIS win is Johaug’s second in a row (she won Friday’s Beito classic race before skipping Saturday’s sprints) since her return to the circuit...

Biathlon News Racing US Biathlon

Egan and Schommer Close Out USBA Team Trials Week With Wins

Gabby NaranjaNovember 3, 2018

Friday marked the final competition day for US Biathlon team trials taking place this week at Soldier Hollow (SoHo) in Midway, Utah. Biathletes hit the pavement on Friday for a men’s and women’s mass start roller ski race. A total of 24 senior athletes competed; 12 women and 12 men. At stake for many U.S. biathletes competing this week are are starting spots for US Biathlon’s 2018/2019 World Cup and IBU Cup teams. Coming out...

Doping General News

Beckie Scott Describes “Disrespect” and “Laughter” From WADA Colleagues, Steps Down From CRC

Gabby NaranjaOctober 22, 2018

On September 20th, this year, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Executive Committee made the decision reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). WADA’s 12 person Executive Committee had met in Seychelles to vote on a recommendation from the Compliance Review Committee (CRC) that RUSADA’s suspension be lifted. Nine Executive Committee members voted in favor of the CRC’s recommendation, two voted against, and one abstained. Days before WADA decided to reinstate RUSADA, former Canadian cross-country skier, Beckie...

General News Racing Results Training Workouts

Wednesday Workout: Using Poles on the Ups with Caitlin Patterson

Gabby NaranjaOctober 17, 2018

This week’s workout comes from Caitlin Patterson, a Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) skier and 2018 Winter Olympian. We asked the 28-year-old Patterson, an accomplished mountain runner as well, about training and racing with poles while hiking or running. When and what type of terrain does she typically use them for, and what kind of workout would she recommend with poles? *** It may come as no surprise that many of Caitlin Patterson’s dryland workouts...

General Interviews News

Torchia on the Ups, Downs and All He’s Learned Since His First USST Nomination

Gabby NaranjaOctober 11, 2018

Two summers ago, with just five miles left of the Marquette Trails Fest 30-mile mountain bike race, all Ian Torchia could hear in his head was the voice of Krystof Kopal, his Northern Michigan University (NMU) teammate, snidely saying, “You drop out again?” Fifteen minutes earlier, Torchia had careened into a tree. After dusting himself off, he remounted his bike, but not before noticing his left wrist was badly injured. For a moment, Torchia considered...

General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Minnesota’s World Cup: One Day of Skate Sprints, $1.6-1.7 Million

Gabby NaranjaOctober 1, 2018

Following the 2017 World Cup Finals in Canada, John Munger, executive director of the Loppet Foundation, received a phone call from a fellow Minnesotan. Jessie Diggins had just completed her 2016/2017 season, and she had a question for Munger. If Quebec could host a World Cup, why couldn’t Minnesota? “She was really jealous of her colleagues in Canada,” Munger recalled in a phone interview on Sunday. The North American home crowd in Quebec City had...

General Interviews Para Nordic Racing

Former Swimmer Kendall Gretsch on Unexpected Paralympic Golds, Hunger for More

Gabby NaranjaSeptember 11, 2018

As a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Kendall Gretsch stumbled across an article that would change her life. It was the spring of 2012, just a few months before the Summer Paralympics in London. Gretsch had been reading the local news when she came across a story about a St. Louis college student who hoped to attend the London Games as part of the U.S. Paralympics Swimming team. Born with spina...

Continental Cup General Interviews US Ski Team World Cup

Bolger Spends His Summers Training with Big Guns in Norway

Gabby NaranjaAugust 30, 2018

There’s a reason Kevin Bolger has spent his last four summers in Trondheim, Norway, rent free. You could say it started in 2014, when his older brother, Conor, began his Ph.D. work at the Centre for Elite Sports Research in Trondheim. As a doctoral candidate in the center’s neuroscience department, Conor’s work involved lab time. Specifically, lactate and VO2 max testing on Norwegian cross-country and nordic-combined national team members. Conor soon established a relationship with a number...

Dryland General News Racing

Sinclair, Hamilton Go 1-2 at USATF 50 k Trail Championships

Gabby NaranjaAugust 24, 2018

David Sinclair winning in record time at the Ragged 50 K, also 2018 USATF 50 k Trail Championships, on Aug. 12 in Danbury, N.H. (Photo: Richard Bolt)It wasn’t the delusionally fast pace he was setting, nor the hazy mist of East Coast rain playing tricks on his eyes. When David Sinclair clamored past the 35-kilometer mark of the Ragged 50K trail marathon, which served as the 2018 USA Track & Field (USATF) 50 k Trail...

General Interviews News

How Blinkfestivalen Began and Where It’s Headed

Gabby NaranjaAugust 10, 2018

In 2005, Norway’s government-owned broadcasting network, NRK, lost production rights for its national football league. In search of a new program to air in place of summer soccer games, NRK, which still held broadcast rights for biathlon and cross-country skiing, approached the Norwegian Ski Federation and the Norwegian Biathlon Federation with a question: Could they find an organizer willing to create a large summer event encapsulating the winter sports of biathlon and nordic skiing? NRK’s answer came...

Dryland General News Other Racing Results

Johaug, Krüger First to Top in Lysebotn Opp; Harvey 10th, Torchia 13th

Gabby NaranjaAugust 3, 2018

The Blink Ski Festival’s famed Lysebotn Opp hill climb returned on Thursday, and with it, a familiar name landed at the top of the results. After serving last year’s Lysebotn Opp in 33:18.3, telling NRK at the time that “it’s been long since I’ve been in this good a shape in July.” Kalla’s 2017/2018 season went on to be one of her best. She racked up 10 individual wins, including a gold medal in the Olympic...

Dryland General News Other Racing

Bolshunov, Gjeitnes Win Blink Classics Distance Races on Opening Day

Gabby NaranjaAugust 1, 2018

A predictor for the winter ski season ahead? Could be. Either way, Norway’s Blink Ski Festival, or as it’s called in Norway, Blinkfestivalen, remains the ultimate in rollerski racing and returned for the 12th year in a row on Wednesday. The festival opened with elite men’s and women’s distance rollerski races, known as the currently training with the British national team in Norway. Following the Blink Classics on Wednesday, the Blink Ski Festival will turn to the...

Continental Cup General Interviews News Other

Heather and Brooke Mooney on Where Skiing Led Them and What’s Next

Gabby NaranjaJuly 27, 2018

Perhaps you have heard of them. Or at least seen them. At 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall, respectively, the Mooney sisters, Heather and Brooke, are hard to miss. But their height is not the only reason the two women stand out. The sisterly pair also share a talent for the sports they pursue. At one point, for both of them, that sport was skiing. And at one point, for both of them,...

Continental Cup General Interviews News Racing

Back in Bozeman, Flowers Switches Gears

Gabby NaranjaJuly 20, 2018

It wasn’t until recently that Erika Flowers learned the meaning of her middle name. At the time of her birth, her father had been cutting around Montana’s mountain slopes on Elan alpine skis. Though the brand’s company is based out of Slovenia, the definition of élan, according to Webster’s dictionary, is a vigorous spirit or enthusiasm. Whether Flower’s father, Pat, had researched the word’s meaning or whether the name had simply struck him, the skis...

Collegiate Interviews Resources Training Workouts

Wednesday Workout: Hill Repeats with Utah Junior Logan Diekmann

Gabby NaranjaJune 27, 2018

This week, FasterSkier caught up with Bozeman, Montana, native Logan Diekmann, who’s entering his junior year at the University of Utah. Diekmann, 21, is spending this summer training in Salt Lake City, taking summer classes toward a degree in mechanical engineering. Diekmann grew up in Bozeman, skiing with the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF) through elementary, middle and high school. After graduating as Bozeman High School’s valedictorian in 2015, he took a gap year with BSF....

Dryland General Interviews News Other Racing US Ski Team

After Winter Marred by Mono, Brennan Breaks Record at Alaska Run for Women

Gabby NaranjaJune 22, 2018

The last time Rosie Brennan was focused on competitive running, she was sporting a red, white and black singlet as a senior at Park City High School in Utah. In the 11 years since, the former U.S. Ski Team member’s running has shifted from a seasonal sport to supplemental training for her true passion: cross-country skiing. Yet earlier this month, on June 9, Brennan surged to the front of the Alaska Run for Women in...

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