By Karen Jenkins On Saturday, January 29, 2022, a field of 77 classic skiers toed the line to stride and glide 30km in the annual Tour of Meissner just outside Bend, OR. While Bend is known as host to the US Ski Team spring training camp on the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center ski trails there are other groomed Nordic ski trails in the greater Bend area. The Meissner Nordic Community Ski Trails are located entirely...
As January draws to a close, energy, excitement, and perhaps anxiety surrounding the rapidly approaching 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing is steadily building. In an effort to better manage her time and energy heading into these Games, Jessie Diggins offered a media conference facilitated by U.S. Ski & Snowboard cross country communications manager Tom Horrocks to answer questions about her preparation, outlook, and plans for the remainder of the time before the team heads to...
The Planica World Cup cancellations this month brought the skiing world to the perilous edge of what it feared most, but hoped wouldn’t happen – the central focus of this ski season, and the sport’s biggest moment, the Olympics – affected by the Omicron COVID-19 variant. Over the last week in the Italian Alps, the sport went over that edge. This Olympics, as with everything in the world right now, will have to deal with...
By U.S. Ski & Snowboard January 25, 2022 U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced 24 athletes to represent the United States at the FIS Junior & U23 World Cross Country Championships Feb. 22-27 in Lygna, Norway. “Following a year filled with constant changes, I am so pleased to see a team fielded with such depth among our roster,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Cross Country Development Coach Greta Anderson. “We have several spots on...
Three-time Olympian, gold and silver medalist, long-time chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Athlete committee, Officer of the Order of Canada, company founder and CEO, the list of Beckie Scott’s achievements is both lengthy and remarkable, and those included here only scratches the surface. In the nordic world specifically, Scott made history as the first North American woman to earn a medal at the Olympics in cross-country skiing. She has also been a long-time advocate...
CANMORE (January 21, 2022) – Team Canada will now have five women and four men on the cross-country skiing start line as Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt and Rémi Drolet are heading to Beijing for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.) and Drolet (Rossland, B.C.) were the final two athletes nominated by Nordiq Canada to the Canadian Olympic Committee after an additional two quota spots were handed down to Canada by International Ski Federation...
This article originally appeared on Wednesday January 19th, 2022 in the Anchorage Daily News. Reposted with permission. The organizers of next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing have imposed a rigorous regime of testing, quarantines and isolation for incoming athletes and staff. Among the casualties is Steve Patterson’s pickleball game. Patterson has two adult children, Scott and Caitlin, who grew up in Alaska and are both Olympic hopefuls in cross-country skiing. They’re planning to prepare for...
PARK CITY, UTAH (January 20, 2022) — U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced today its nominations for the U.S. Olympic Cross Country Team to represent Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 from February 4-19, 2022. Nominations are to be confirmed by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee when it formally announces the U.S. Olympic Team. Fourteen athletes were nominated to Team USA, including the 2018 Olympic gold medalist and defending World Cup overall and...
PARK CITY, UTAH (January 19, 2022) — USA Nordic Sport announced today its nominations for the U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined Team that will represent Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Nominations are to be confirmed by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee when it formally announces the U.S. Olympic Team. Athletes to Watch The team will be headlined by three-time Olympian Taylor Fletcher, who looks for his first Olympic podium. Fletcher’s top finishes at the Olympics include...
When I began skiing halfway through high school, I remember my coach telling our team that cross-country skiing was a “lifelong sport”. Now, more than a decade and a half later, I don’t have to look far to see the truth in that statement. While out for a ski on local trails, I might see a 65 year old retiree who is training for the Korteloppet, a 50 year old former bike racer who has...
As the largest NCAA circuit in the nation prepares for a return to a full schedule, anticipation, anxiety, and lessons from a pandemic year abound in New England. Carnival, as a noun, has perhaps had its moment. We’ve been building towards ennui, not excitement, for nearly two years now. Maybe it’s time to dispel the anticipation, let the moment fade, and let “Carnival” go along with it. But then again, calling a collegiate race circuit...
In November, FasterSkier interviewed Kristen Bourne, assistant coach at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) in Duluth, MN, after she was selected as a Women’s Sports Foundation Van DerVeer Fellow, which came with a grant totalling $17,500. The objective of the fellowship is to improve representation of women in elite level coaching by supporting the development of rising coaches at the college level. The majority of the funds from the VanDerveer Fellowship went directly to...
For the past decade, the World Cup Dreams Foundation has been helping to fund skiers, of all ages and disciplines, as they chase their goals on snow. In the spring of 2021, the World Cup Dreams Foundation merged with the T2 Foundation, perhaps better known in the Nordic community because of its support of the SMS T2 team. Now working together the two organizations aim to “keep the best athletes in the game, not just...
Editor’s note: This is the second essay in our new series, “Letters to my younger self.” Lauren Fleshman provided the modern locus classicus for this genre; Adam Verrier ably takes up the mantle here. While the first two essays, from Adam now and John Wood before him, have set a high bar, the general theme of this series is clear: If you were writing a letter to your younger self, what would you want to...
As Period I wanes and the Tour de Ski approaches, curiosity is naturally piqued as to how various athletes are analyzing their first four weekends of World Cup racing. In particular, our focus is drawn to Olympic medal hopefuls, like last year’s World Cup Overall Champion Jessie Diggins. How is she feeling as she heads into the holiday break, with two individual and one team sprint podium already under her belt and another six weeks...
The rapidly approaching year of 2022, and the upcoming Beijing Olympics, will mark 50 years since women cross-country skiers first began competing in the Winter Games. With multiple World Cup podiums already achieved this season and strong chances for medals in February, the origins of the U.S. women’s program might not be at the forefront of one’s mind. We’ve become accustomed to seeing our women at the top of the results lists; with almost an...
The sport’s governing body joins a UN campaign to fight climate change, and save Biathlon too. *** Östersund, Sweden markets itself as Vinterstaden (The Winter City), a reputation it earned a century ago when the Nordic Games – the precursor to our modern Winter Olympics – were moved there from snowless Stockholm in 1905 and 1913. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) routinely puts Östersund at the very beginning of its world cup calendar, as...
In the fall of 2018, on the heels of a season that included representing Australia at the PyeongChang Olympics, Jessica Yeaton applied to physical therapy programs. What she did not expect as she focused her lens on a new goal is that the 2018-2019 season would include some of the top results of her career, which reinforced the vision that she was not quite ready to fully hang up her skis. During that season, Yeaton...
CONTENT WARNING: This article includes stories of an individual experience with an eating disorder, including numerical values of weight. If you’re struggling, you can contact the NEDA Helpline, which has options for text, chat, or phone support. INTRODUCTION: This opinion piece is a response to some recently publicized experiences of women of the University of Oregon track and field program who were routinely scrutinized for their body composition, underwent DEXA scans to measure body fat...
Written in collaboration by Gavin Kentch and Rachel Bachman Perkins. We’re excited to announce some additions and changes to the FasterSkier staff as we approach the next World Cup season. Read on for more. First, after many quality years on the team, Jason Albert has moved on from the managing editor position. He now writes about wider skis, higher elevations, and deeper snow as the editor over at WildSnow, a backcountry ski publication; we...