Nathaniel Herz – FasterSkier

She almost retired at 26. Now, at her first Olympics, Astrid Øyre Slind has a gold medal at age 38.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 16, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — When Astrid Øyre Slind was 26, she almost retired from cross-country skiing. She was a good skier, just not quite good enough to break into the international circuit from her home country of Norway, where...

Feature Olympics

After son’s fourth straight gold in Italy, Klæbo’s father says “we’re just having fun”

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 15, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is four for four — and officially the most golden Winter Olympian in history. By anchoring Norway’s relay team to first place Sunday, Klæbo claimed his ninth Winter Olympic gold —...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: Mayhem in Tesero in the women’s relay

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 14, 2026

This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. That was a banger. We’re deep into the Olympics now, and Devon and Nat return for the third straight night to recap the women’s relay. One more race — the Norwegian men versus the world — and then everyone gets two days off. Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and...

Feature News Olympics US Ski Team

‘Hard things are what’s cool about sport’: Gus Schumacher on a tough Olympics start

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 14, 2026

Gus Schumacher is one of the stars in U.S. cross-country skiing, and he was one of the team’s top medal hopefuls coming into the Winter Olympics in Italy. Against the same field that competes at the Games, the Alaskan won a World Cup race in Minnesota in 2024. Then, Schumacher, 25, was on the World Cup podium twice more just last month, in Switzerland. So far, though, his Olympics haven’t gone as planned, with tough...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: Klaebo, Hedegart and the rest gun for 10 k gold

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 13, 2026

This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. We’re back for the second day in a row with a recap of a lights-out 10-kilometer freestyle race. It was a good one. Devon and Nat are here with the deets. It’s been surprisingly light on the hate mail recently. Reach Devon at devon[at]fasterskier.com and Nat at nat[at]fasterskier.com. A...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: The Ben Ogden bonus episode, with cheese

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 13, 2026

This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. America’s first man to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing, Ben Ogden, joins the show for a cheese-tasting and a description of his past 72 hours. He covers everything from the doping test to the phone deluged with texts to Ogden dream sponsors — he only wants old...

Feature News Olympics US Ski Team

For Olympians, a medal changes your life ‘overnight.’ Here’s how it changed Ben Ogden’s.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 13, 2026

PREDAZZO, ITALY — Ben Ogden, the U.S. cross-country skier, was ready to celebrate his historic Olympic silver Tuesday with his signature backflip off the podium. But there was a problem: He had to pee. After Ogden won the first men’s medal in cross-country skiing in a half-century, doping testers needed a urine sample. So, he did the obvious thing and “drank, like, three bottles of water, immediately,” he said. The need to relieve himself, he...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: Diggins vs. the Scandinavians in the Olympic 10 k

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 12, 2026

This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. The one Jessie Diggins was waiting for: Nat and Devon were both on hand for the Olympic 10-kilometer freestyle and have this recap. It gets pretty heated! But in a good way. We’ll be back tomorrow after the showdown between Johannes Klaebo and Einar Hedegart in the men’s race....

Feature Olympics

Einar Hedegart has only been a ‘cross-country skier’ since November. On Friday, he could dethrone the sport’s Olympic king.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 12, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is, almost without question, the greatest cross-country skier who’s ever lived. The Norwegian athlete has won gold in eight consecutive championship races spread across two seasons — including the first two events...

Feature Olympics

Slovak Indirect: How an Alaska-raised skier ended up representing Slovakia at the Olympics

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 11, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — On Denali in Alaska, there’s a famed climbing route called Slovak Direct — a nod to a group of skilled alpinists from Slovakia who established it in 1984. Now, as this year’s Winter Olympics...

Feature Olympics US Ski Team

American Skier Wins Hearts Amid Political Tension

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 10, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — Particularly among the citizens of the Scandinavian nations where cross-country skiing is religion, bringing up the United States right now does not exactly elicit warm fuzzies in Europe. U.S. President Donald Trump, after all,...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: The Ben Ogden hardware episode

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 10, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. If you watched, you already know what happened. If you didn’t, we won’t spoil it for you, other than to say: You should watch. Ben Ogden won a medal today. A bunch of Scandinavians did too. We break it down. Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com. It’s really expensive...

Feature News Olympics US Ski Team World Cup

The new Diggins documentary is a crucible of elite sport and mental health

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 9, 2026

Two years ago, U.S. cross-country skiing star Jessie Diggins was battling a relapse of an eating disorder — an episode that she publicly acknowledged at the time. What she didn’t share until now, though, was how close it came to derailing a year in which she won cross-country skiing’s season title and celebrated the return of the top-level World Cup circuit to the U.S., in her home city of Minneapolis. In the middle of that winter,...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show, Tesero Day 2: A skiathlon showdown in the sun 44 minutes

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 8, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Men’s racing is underway at the Olympics, and there were some surprised on Sunday. Norwegian legend Pål Goldberg joins us to break down a day that included some strong and some less-than-strong performances from his country’s squad. Devon is still out of commission, but you can reach us at...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: Milan is on, and Holly Brooks guest hosts to recap Day 1

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 7, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. The race was ON from the gun: We recap the women’s 20-kilometer pursuit, which was a rough go for Jessie Diggins and a tight fight between the Scandinavian heavyweights. Alaskan Holly Brooks, the retired Olympic World Cup racer, joins us after watching the race in person. We hope...

Feature Olympics

This Australian skier had never raced a skiathlon event. Until the Olympics.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 7, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. TESERO, ITALY — There’s having your Olympic debut. Then there’s having your Olympic debut in an event that you’ve literally never raced in before. That was the story Saturday for Maddie Hooker, a 21-year-old Australian for whom Saturday’s...

Feature Olympics

Outside Olympic glamour, cross-country skiing’s broadcasters face late nights and solo calls

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 7, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — By day, Andrew Kastning’s life sounds conventional: He’s a father of three, with a desk job in Alaska doing permitting work for a federal agency. During the winter? It’s another story. On periodic Friday and Saturday mornings, you’ll find Kastning awake at 1 a.m., 2 a.m. or 3...

Feature Olympics The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: A Swedish rivalry and Olympic preview with Expressen

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 6, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. The bad news? Devon is indisposed and isn’t here for the Olympic preview podcast. As a consolation: We have a great guest in Philip Gadd, a sports reporter with the Swedish tabloid Expressen. Philip takes us through his new podcast about Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson’s rivalry, the...

Feature Olympics

Olympics face new blowback from skiers, activists over oil sponsorship

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 6, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — Two months before the Winter Olympics were set to kick off in Italy, the torch relay, carried by runners from Greece to the Olympic venue, made an unusual stop: the headquarters of Italian oil giant ENI, where an executive from one of the company’s lower-carbon subsidiaries acted as...

Feature News US Ski Team

In Italy, four years after the COVID Games, Olympic teams are still isolating

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 4, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. PREDAZZO, ITALY — The Olympics have traditionally been known as a kind of sports melting pot, where competitors from different backgrounds and countries could share meals and trade pins at tight-knight athletes’ villages. For winter sports, though, those social traditions ground to a halt at the COVID Olympics in China in...

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