By virtue of his marriage to Beckie Scott, one of Canada’s all-time greatest cross-country skiers, it’s obvious that Justin Wadsworth would be tied into that country’s ski community. But few anticipated his recent appointment as the head coach of the national team, which came after he worked for several years on the World Cup with the American squad. In one sense, Wadsworth doesn’t face too much of a challenge: the Canadian men pulled down half...
Kris Freeman is healthy, and his training for the 2010-2011 season is underway. That means his brother Justin had better watch his back. The two typically go head-to-head in a handful of running races and uphill time trials each summer, and this year is no different. After Justin got the upper hand in April’s 14-mile Muddy Moose, the brothers will toe the start line in the granddaddy of all mountain runs on June 19th: the...
Following his resignation last week, longtime Canadian coach and team leader Dave Wood said that he was leaving to take a coaching opportunity with a club closer to his girlfriend, and that his parting from Cross Country Canada (CCC) had been amicable. Current and former CCC athletes all praised Wood’s contributions to the organization over the last dozen years. But in interviews, they also acknowledged that Wood’s last year with the program was marked by...
By this point, Billy Demong should need no introduction, but we’ll give you a quick one anyway. A stalwart on the American nordic combined team for the last ten years, he won his first World Cup in 2002, his first World Championship medal in 2007 in Sapporo, and then walked away from this year’s Olympic Games with a gold and silver, from the individual large hill and team event, respectively. The gold was the first-ever...
The nation’s biggest clubs have likely seen an influx of applications this spring, after the U.S. Ski Team (USST) cast off several athletes and eliminated its domestic waxing staff. But there was at least one athlete who didn’t throw his hat into the ring: Noah Hoffman. Instead of joining a heavyweight club like Alaska Pacific University or Sun Valley, Hoffman will stay affiliated with his home program, the Aspen Valley Ski Club (AVSC). “I reviewed...
Bill Holland, a screenwriter who lives in Montpelier, VT with his wife and two daughters, has been cross-country ski racing for over 40 years. You can’t know East Montpelier native Liz Stephen even a little bit and not be struck by her zest for living and her positive energy. So it’s not surprising that while her blog (
With its mysterious powders and liquids, secret chemical formulas, and lung-choking clouds of toxic smoke, one could mistake World Cup ski waxing for evil sorcery, with eastern-European alchemist-technicians doing their dirty work in dank, dark trailers. Until, that is, you stepped into the U.S. Ski Team (USST) wax room at the pre-Olympic World Cup races in Canmore, Alberta. There, you’d find a pair of affable Swedes calmly going about their business in a tidy, well-lit...
For the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA), the winter of 2010 was one of ups and downs. High points included Tim Burke’s podium performances in the early season, which culminated with his donning of the yellow bib of World Cup overall leader after a race in Slovenia. The Olympics were less successful, with Jeremy Teela’s ninth-place leading the way—but the team’s dissatisfaction with a single top-ten is a testament to how far the program has come...
From strippers to Cirque Du Soleil, there’s a lot to see in Las Vegas. But one spectacle setting up for this July is strange even by Sin City’s standards: a rollerski race between Olympic gold medalists Petter Northug (NOR) and Marcus Hellner (SWE). “Hopefully this will be something new in Las Vegas,” said Alex Øystå, editor-in-chief of the Norwegian magazine Vi Menn. “I don’t know how many people use skis there, but I guess not...
Athletically, Tad Elliott and Torin Koos don’t have much in common. At 21, Elliott is a distance specialist, and still developing. Koos is a sprinter, and at 29, he’s in the latter half of his career. The two things they do share? Both had hopes of making the 2010-2011 U.S. Ski Team—and both were left off the roster. As part of a shift in strategy under new Head Coach Chris Grover, the team announced last...
Before this year’s mini-tour in Fort Kent, and even before the inaugural Tour de Ski in 2007, there was the Colorado International Spring Series (CISS) in 2004 and 2005. CISS was a stage race much like those coming into vogue today, and it was one of the first of its kind—if not the very first. Nathan Schultz, now the owner of Boulder Nordic Sport, had the idea for the event, and FasterSkier caught up with...
Wilson Dippo is a sophomore on the
Axel Teichmann always thought that the stabbing pains in his legs at the end of races were a normal consequence of exerting himself. But revelations have emerged from Norway that he has actually been hamstrung by Haitian voodoo, practiced by none other than Teichmann’s chief rival, Petter Northug. The news of the witchcraft came out when reporters from Norway’s Dagbladet found Northug in the team’s locker room before one of the races at the World...
Since Kikkan Randall began Sunday’s 5 k hill climb with a 1:30 advantage over CXC’s Rebecca Dussault, the biggest question was not who would win. Rather, it was why Randall was racing in the German national team’s suit. Turns out she traded for it after the Olympics were over. But regardless of the reason, it didn’t get in the way of her skiing, as Randall rolled to another victory in the mini-tour in Fort Kent....
Today’s 7 k men’s hill climb in Fort Kent was scripted to end with an exciting finish. It didn’t disappoint. At the bottom, Andy Newell (USST) started the day with a 1:20 advantage over Ivan Babikov (Canada), one of the best pure climbers in the world. By the time they arrived at the top, Babikov had made up all the time. But he couldn’t shake Newell, who had saved just enough for the one kilometer...
A third of the way through the finals in Saturday’s classic sprint in Madawaska, Ida Sargent (CGRP) was doing something that nobody else had done over the last two days: giving Kikkan Randall (APU) a run for her money. At the bottom of the course’s main climb, Sargent shot past Randall out of the draft, then went stride for stride with the Alaskan up the first half of the hill. Randall ultimately pulled away over...
Andy Newell (USST) and Torin Koos (USST) are the two best male sprinters in the United States. But not until this frigid March day, in one of the furthest-flung corners of the country, did they finally go head-to-head in the classic sprint at the 2010 SuperTour Finals in Madawaska. It was worth the wait. After a qualifying round, a quarter, and a semifinal heat, the battle came down to a double-pole drag race in the...
Tim Burke wrapped up a banner season on the World Cup by finishing 16th in Saturday’s 15 k mass start event in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. He finished 1:14 behind the winner, Austria’s Dominik Landertinger. Arnd Peiffer (GER) and 40-year-old Halvard Hanevold (NOR) were second and third. Like in yesterday’s sprint, Burke was again one of the strongest on the course, finishing with the fifth-fastest ski time. But he couldn’t overcome four misses. “My skiing shape was...
It’s a difficult prospect after a half-dozen personal bests, a World Cup podium, and a front-page article in the New York Times sports section, but Kikkan Randall just keeps finding ways to impress this winter. After grinding out a victory in Wednesday’s 30 k just three days removed from competing in Europe, a better-rested Randall delivered an Alaska-sized beatdown to her competitors in Friday’s 7 k classic mass start race, the opening event of the...
On his way to the line for what he thought would be a second-place finish in Friday’s men’s 10k classic mass start, Andy Newell (USST) came across a surprising sight: Canadian skier Ivan Babikov skiing backwards in a parallel lane. Babikov had missed the sign where the finish split off from the lap lane, and was backtracking. In the process, Newell cruised by to take the victory, with Lars Flora (APU) and Torin Koos (USST)...