Community – Page 5 – FasterSkier.com

Hannah Halvorsen Studies Eating Disorders in Cross-Country Skiing from the Coaches’ Perspective

At 24-years-old, Hannah Halvorsen recently announced that she is ending the pro-skier chapter of her life, but it’s not the only transition she has on deck. This past weekend, Halvorsen also graduated from Alaska Pacific University (APU) with degrees in cognitive psychology and business administration. As a senior capstone project, focused on the psychology side of her studies, Halvorsen chose to research a topic she has been invested in throughout her time as a student-athlete:...

Community News Resources Waxing

MountainFLOW Fluoro Takeback Program: Giving skiers the option to safely dispose of fluoro waxes from anywhere

Ben TheyerlApril 30, 2022

The ski community has known there’s a problem for awhile now. Fluorinated waxes, whose extreme hydrophobic properties make them ideal for fast skis, also are by that same property impossible to break down in the environment, allowing them to permeate through the soil into water supplies. The compounds are also known carcinogens, and frequent exposure to these compounds, particularly when heating and inhaling the fumes of waxes in which they are contained, is linked to...

Community Feature Interviews News

Moving with the times: A look at Brennan’s “Perseverance Trail” NFT and partnership with Parity Now

Rachel PerkinsApril 28, 2022

On April 13th, Rosie Brennan wrote in an Instagram post, “The world is constantly changing and I’m trying to move with it.” The post announced the launch of an online auction for a limited edition NFT, in partnership with the organizations Parity Now and VereNFT. The NFT, titled “Perseverance Trail”, was designed by artist Kerri Schiff and features a mountainous ski trail with a variety of images of Brennan racing in her Team USA suit....

Community Feature Interviews News

The Future in Birkieland: A Q & A with ABSF Executive Director Ben Popp

Ben TheyerlApril 26, 2022

A look at what’s ahead for the Birkebeiner, and its former home at the Telemark Lodge. When I reached out to American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation (ABSF) Executive Director Ben Popp before Christmas to set-up an interview discussing the Birkie’s plans for the now-defunct Telemark Lodge property, he was already putting plans into action. An interview would have to wait until after the holidays, because that weekend ,the Birkie was hosting a SuperTour race which would...

Community Lifestyle News Resources Training

Trends in Age and Ski Performance: A Second Look by Ella DeWolf and Andrew Siegel

FasterSkierApril 25, 2022

This article was submitted by a reader. To pitch a story or article to FasterSkier, reach out to info@fasterskier.com. In 2010, FasterSkier published an article titled “Analysis: Performance and Age”, written by Joran Elias, or as he is otherwise known, “The Statistical Skier.” The piece attempted to parse the relationship between age and performance by comparing the ages of some of the world’s top skiers to their FIS points in a given year. Elias was...

Community Feature Interviews News

A Complete Person: Katharine Ogden Follows Her Own Path Toward Retirement

Ella HallApril 18, 2022

Anyone who has had the pleasure of interacting with Katharine Ogden, also commonly known as KO, can tell you that she is humorous, kind, and thoughtful – both in regard to others as well as in her own self-introspection. She is also a wicked good skier, proving herself both nationally and internationally in competition. Ogden recently shared that she was stepping away from professional skiing, having already experienced a range of career ups and downs...

Community Nordic Nation Podcasts

Nordic Nation: Jessie Diggins — Eating Disorder Awareness, Media, and Why What to Say Matters

Rachel PerkinsApril 15, 2022

It’s likely that today’s guest needs no introduction. Over the last decade, she has steadily worked to become the most decorated American cross country skier in history. As she gained more recognition beyond the niche of cross country skiing, she began to use her platform to become an advocate for causes she felt passionately about, opening up about her own experience struggling with an eating disorder and working hard at recovery through the Emily Program,...

Community Feature News Racing Regional / Local

Cross Country With a Twist: NordicX Event Lights Up Anchorage

Rachel PerkinsApril 14, 2022

What comes to mind when you think of a cross country ski race? Depending on your location and how you choose to interact with the sport, there are likely a variety of answers to the question, but it’s likely that there are some common themes. “Cross country events are pretty much all the same when you boil them down, you know?” said retired US Ski Team member and 2018 Olympian Reese Hanneman. “It’s a test...

Community Feature Masters News Regional / Local

Letters to My Younger Self: Murray Banks on Embracing Opportunity and Living Life to the Fullest

Rachel PerkinsApril 11, 2022

Editor’s note: This is the third essay in our series, “Letters to my younger self.” Lauren Fleshman provided the modern locus classicus for this genre, while John Wood and Adam Verrier kick-started the series on FasterSkier. When the private school at which my husband teaches offered him a sabbatical for the 2020-21 school year, we quickly began to fantasize about the ski town(s) in which we’d spend the following winter. A February 2020 trip to...

Community Nordic Nation Podcasts

Nordic Nation: A Backcountry Ski Race on Skinny Skis – Simi Hamilton and Ben Koons Take Second at the 2022 Montane Grand Traverse

Rachel PerkinsApril 8, 2022

Tucked deep into snowy valleys, the tiny iconic Colorado mountain towns of Aspen and Crested Butte are separated by a mere 40 miles by foot, but roughly 200 miles by car in the winter. Separating the two is the expanse of the rugged Elk Mountain range, which features six of Colorado’s 14’ers, peaks that reach above 14,000’. Now meccas of outdoor recreation, the two towns were historically established as profitable coal and silver mining sites,...

Community Feature News World Cup

Saying Goodbye to Some Big Names in Cross-Country: an International Retirement Roundup

Ella HallApril 5, 2022

Each year at the conclusion of the race season, there are always a few athletes who hang up their skis and step away from professional racing. The end of the four year Olympic cycle inevitably means a higher concentration of such announcements. Whether it was a fourth or a first appearance at the Games, or a near miss, the Olympics are always a target and their completion provides a good moment to move on. While...

Community News Racing Regional / Local

The mountainFLOW Eco Wax team takes on the Birkie: Part 2

Rachel PerkinsApril 3, 2022

Just over a month ago, the American cross country ski community descended upon the small town of Hayward, Wisconsin. Skies were clear, the snow was cold and firm, and lycra was everywhere. But one set of race suits stood out, both because of the noteworthy athletes wearing them and for their bold neon colors. It was the MountainFLOW Eco Wax race team of Simi and Sophie Hamilton, Sylvan Ellefson, Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, Erik Bjornsen, Matt...

Community General News Product News

Cross-Country Meets Aeronautics: Structuring Aircraft Skis

FasterSkierApril 1, 2022

By Kevin Brooker Increasing the value of a product is important. Consumers are drawn to the idea of high tech being better than run of the mill technology. To catch the attention and dollars of consumers, the marketing team will often use terms like “Aircraft Grade” or “Medical Grade” to make the ski manufacturers’ offerings more attractive. The idea being, if some material is good enough for the high tech and safety conscious aviation industry, it...

Community Feature News Olympics Racing World Cup

China spent millions on cross-country skiing in the leadup to Beijing. What happens now?

Nathaniel HerzMarch 31, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA — A month ago, I met with a source close to the Chinese government in a tiny room in this mountain resort outside Beijing, which hosted the 2022 Olympic cross-country skiing events. There, the source explained how a decision by international skiing officials to disqualify a Chinese cross-country skier from a race was like killing a baby. China does not have, exactly, a long tradition of success in winter sports like cross-country skiing. But...

Community Feature News US Ski Team

A PT in Sweden: Pandemic, War, or Plague of Locusts?

Ned DowlingMarch 30, 2022

Click here to read an account of physical therapist Ned Dowling’s first stint overseas with the US Ski Team in March, 2020. Holmenkollen, Norway. March 8, 2020 – Men’s 50k Classic World Cup. 33 degrees and raining. The ski jump was engulfed in clouds. Spectators were forbidden from attending the Super Bowl of cross country skiing due to the impending COVID pandemic. My first stint as a physical therapist traveling with the US Ski Team...

Community Lifestyle News Product News Resources Tech

Nordic Pulse Uses GPS Tracking to Improve and Accelerate Communication Between Groomers and Skiers

Rachel PerkinsMarch 23, 2022

If there’s a generalization that can be made about cross country skiers, it might be that we like to “know before [we] go.” As the ski season waxes and wanes, or mid-season storms roll through, we relentlessly check the weather forecast and our local grooming report as we fantasize hungrily about the fresh corduroy or classic tracks we hope to enjoy that day. But we can’t always know before we go. Timely grooming reporting asks...

Community Feature News Racing World Cup

Spotlight on Richard Jouve: the First Cross-Country Skier to Bring Home a Crystal Globe for France

Ella HallMarch 22, 2022

For the past six seasons, men’s World Cup sprinting has been almost entirely about one athlete. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has raced in 28 World Cup, Championship, or Olympic sprint events since November 2018, and remarkably, has won all but three of them. Incidentally, all three of those times have occurred in Ruka, Finland, and he has ended up a mere second place each time. In his first year on the circuit (2017), Klæbo took home...

Community General Interviews Lifestyle News

From Athlete to Technical Delegate: A Q & A with Kelsey Phinney

Rachel PerkinsMarch 18, 2022

When reaching out to Sun Valley’s Annie Pokorny to learn more about her decision to become a technical delegate and her experience so far, it was also on the radar that Pokorny’s friend and former teammate Kelsey Phinney was also engaged in the process. As it turned out, Pokorny had been a leading influence in Phinney’s decision to become a TD herself. Like Pokorny, Phinney is a 2016 graduate of Middlebury College, before continuing with...

Community Feature News Racing World Cup

David Norris: Missing out on 2022 Olympic Team selection, “making the best of it”, and what’s to come.

Rachel PerkinsMarch 15, 2022

It’s hard not to root for David Norris. Often affectionately described by Devon Kershaw as a “grinder”, the humble 31-year-old Fairbanks, AK native has been an eternal underdog, despite consistently performing among the best American distance racers of his generation on the World Cup. Highlighting his career, Norris has finished in the top-20 three times during his appearances in the 2019 and 2021 World Championships. His best result arrived in last year’s Championships in Oberstdorf,...

Community Interviews

Lizzie Larkins on Learning on the Job as a Wax Tech at World Juniors

Ella HallMarch 9, 2022

The role of a wax technician seems both secretive and extremely public. As spectators, we don’t see what happens on race day inside a wax truck or trailer. We aren’t privy to the tips and tricks that are employed to work magic on an athlete’s skis. Conversely, when the wax is off for a racer, that error is on full display for the public as we watch an athlete struggle through a race on skis...

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