For the Canadian World Cup Team, September entailed a trip to the Italian Alps for altitude training. Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw, Lenny Valjas, Graeme Killick, and their coaches ventured to Livigno and Stelvio Pass, and joined the Norwegian men's team for some workouts.
On the final days of the FIS Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix, Taylor Fletcher raced to 15th overall for the U.S. while teammates Ben Berend and Ben Loomis proved they can fly. "Throughout the two-week Grand Prix Tour I had some of the furthest jumps on the hill," Berend told FS. “By the time we got to Oberstdorf my confidence was through the roof."
It's a full three weeks until the end of summer, a perfect time for the FIS Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix. Last Sunday, Taylor Fletcher scorched in the 90-degree heat to ski the fastest time on the day and place seventh overall for the U.S. Racing wrapped up in Austria on Wednesday.
Sixteen years in close to top-form -- a grind no matter how you look at it. That's how long this former U.S. Ski Team member has raced at the top-tier of nordic sport. Despite his near-constant management of his Type 1 diabetes, Freeman, recently married, maintains that he has two more years of racing left.
In this episode of the FasterSkier podcast, Devon Kershaw speaks his mind from Oslo, Norway -- where he's living and training. From learning Norwegian to how many more years he plans to stay in the game, it's all here.
Exertional compartment syndrome can ruin a ski season if not a career. In this Wednesday Workout, physical therapist Dave Cieslowski presents two exercises designed to tame a compartment syndrome flare-up.
The FS podcast takes you on a mid-August jaunt to Alaska for an interview with Alaska Pacific University (APU) skier David Norris. Having won this year's Mt. Marathon Race and ending last ski season with a slew of Super Tour victories, Norris is cautiously optimistic about his skiing prospects.
For many years the Maine Winter Sports Center (MWSC) was a staple of cultivating domestic biathlon and cross-country talent at the elite level. There's been a name change; MWSC is now OSI, Outdoor Sport Institute, and its focus is on fostering long-term healthy living across the state.
During her short time on the U.S. Ski Team, Holly Brooks made the most of it. From the magic of the relay socks to a fifth place in a 5 k World Cup skate race, she put many exclamation points on an unconventional ski racing career. In this podcast, Brooks talks retirement and her new mission to educate female athletes.
A jam-packed episode of the FS podcast -- the McLaren report, athlete commission responses and some analysis from FS Editor-At-Large Chelsea Little.
Strengthen the glutes and the skis will follow. Well, maybe it's not that simple. In this Wednesday Workout, physical therapist Dave Cieslowski, of Bend, Ore., explains how we can build stronger glutes in hopes of becoming more efficient skiers.
This morning, Professor Richard McLaren disclosed his findings after looking into claims of Russian state-sponsored doping and its cover-up. Here's a quick summary of his findings, which were enough to prompt WADA to call for Russian athletes in all sports to be banned from the 2016 Olympics.
Two years ago, the U.S. nordic combined community suffered a moment of letdown as its major source of funding, USSA, changed course with regard to its sport. Now, the newly formed USA Nordic Sport is spearheading efforts to rejuvenate interest in jumping and nordic combined. Its leader is Olympic gold medalist and former team veteran Billy Demong.
It's a tall task to find perfect pavement for rollerskiing, but harsh road vibrations can be a downright downer. Rundle Sport, based in Canmore, sells the FLEX rollerski. In the niche world of rollerski design, they may just have developed a rollerski that makes rough pavement tolerable.
Prior to June 24, Canada's Ivan Babikov was training in Canmore, prepping for the upcoming World Cup season. Then "boom", he's retired and named Cross Country Canada's national-team coach. We caught up with coach Babikov while he was in Quebec, where he is helping lead the national team's first camp of the summer.
Athletes at all levels of the competition spectrum constantly seek the missing piece of their performance puzzle. For many years now, sport psychology has played an increasing role in solving that puzzle. From the World Cup to the junior ranks, FasterSkier explores how some skiers and coaches make use of sport psychology.
We recently caught up with U.S. Ski Team member Noah Hoffman -- which is not such a easy thing to do lately as he's training big hours -- to discuss his new training paradigm and how it came to be. If you're training big hours too, this podcast serves as good recovery.
High-quality hours and lots of them: that's a focus for U.S. Ski Team member Noah Hoffman this offseason. Currently in Park City, Utah, Hoffman began a two-week block earlier this week during which he'll accrue 53 training hours. FasterSkier got a snapshot of what Day 1 looks like.
At the helm of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team since 2010, head coach Chris Grover sits down with FasterSkier to talk what success might look like in the future and the challenges he faces as a coach. The snow may be gone, but Grover and the team are in full preparation mode for the 2016/2017 World Cup season.
Amidst a health scare in Canmore and a job opening in Bend, former Bridger Ski Foundation coach Bernie Nelson takes over as head nordic coach at Bend Endurance Academy in Oregon.