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Keeping the Shop, Part I: Past, Present, and Future at Finn Sisu

Finn Sisu may not have been the first place to sell skis in the Twin Cities, but it was the first “ski shop.” Ahvo Taipale, a Finnish immigrant and Agricultural Engineer, had spent a decade competing (and often winning) cross-country ski races across the Midwest before he looked around at the growing number of Twin Cities skiers doing new races like the American Birkebeiner and realized that someone would need to provide all those skis....

Staying the Course at an Ontario Gem

At one time or another, many fervent cross-country skiers may have harbored the thought that it might be a great thing to own a ski center, and maybe a really big one. Walking out the front door onto your own groomed trails would unquestionably be fantastic. But that sunny image might blind you from seeing the other side of the equation: the hard work and the time-consuming, weather dependent stress that is the reality of...

That guy rollerskiing around Utah by himself? Yeah: it’s 5x Olympic champ Johannes Klæbo

  PARK CITY, UTAH — Five-time Olympic champion Johannes Høsflot Klæbo could be cross-country skiing’s answer to Michael Jordan — a bona fide sports superstar in his home nation of Norway, where photographers and fans tail him after events. But to the up-and-coming ski racers in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, and their parents? Klæbo is just another dude on the local trails. “The novelty has, sort of, worn off,” said Silvester Williams, a junior...

Sophia Laukli’s Cinderella Story Continues

  When Stifel U.S. Ski team member Sophia Laukli’s foray into the world of professional trail running began, the prevailing question was when would this fairy tale string of world class domination end? The answer to that question is now clear; it will end when Sophia Laukli wants it to end. That conclusion reached a thundering crescendo when Laukli notched another victory in the Golden Trail Series competition. Laukli took first place today in the...

Skiers Giving Back: Julia Kern on Physical and Mental Health

BENNINGTON, VERMONT – FasterSkier is excited to team up with The Memory Clinic to present an evening with Olympic Athletes Julia Kern, Jessie Diggins, and Ben Ogden to discuss the Integration of Physical and Mental Health. On Monday, September 25, in Bennington, Vermont these SMS T2 team members will be on hand to discuss the importance of goal-setting and maintaining motivation for athletes and non-athletes, alike. The evening’s keynote speaker will be World Championship bronze...

Jessie Diggins to Race American Birkebeiner in 2024

In 2008 and 2009, a teenage skier from Minnesota won the 23 kilometer Korteloppet race at the Telemark Resort in Cable, WI: that’s how Jessie Diggins got her start. Way back then, she probably imagined that her future would one day include contending for the win in the full-length Birkebeiner race. That was many years, and many kilometers, and many races, and many headlines ago. Now, Jessie Diggins will finally get her chance to line...

Back to School

And, so, it’s back to school . . . The day after Labor Day: it’s always been the day of packing lunches and organizing pencils, of combing cowlicks and catching buses, of searching for new classrooms and picking new desks. Friends re-met after a summer off, and teachers newly met in topics as yet un-mastered. But every few years—every six, or eight, or twelve—the first day of school is a different sort of thing. Some...

Finding Mountains and Meaning in Crested Butte

Even for the US Postal Service, delivering mail to the end of the road at 9,000 feet is a challenge. Home delivery is out of the question: in Crested Butte, Colorado, you need a PO box, no matter who you are. As a consequence, a trip to pick up packages at the Post Office is something you make a day out of, and each member of the disparate factions that make up life in our...

Eating Your Vegetables: Performance Diets

Diet is an important aspect of performance in all sports, while Nutrition is a field plagued with poor—or even false—information. The crossroads of the two is where many athletes find themselves, especially since questionable information (in the field of nutrition) is often presented as “research,” but is just as likely to be marketing-speak masquerading as facts. There’s a lot of money in the supplement industry; an industry that is is loosely regulated, at best. Sports...

Rosie Brennan Blue Collar Skier? She’s OK With That: Part III

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.  FasterSkier concludes its interview with Stifel U.S. Ski Team member, Rosie Brennan (Part I, Part II). In Part III, Brennan continues to share her candid thoughts regarding her future, the financial and personal strains of being a professional athlete, and her...

Rosie Brennan Blue Collar Skier? She’s OK With That: Part II

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.  Stifel U.S. Cross-Country Team member, Rosie Brennan, continues her one-on-one interview with FasterSkier. She picks up from last week’s interview and talks about the stress of close finishes, her relationship with the media, and her reputation as a blue collar athlete....

Strong Skiers—Skiing and Resistance Training

Cross country ski trails—and the grooming strategies that prepare those trails for race events—have changed dramatically in recent seasons, especially since artificial snow became commonplace at Nordic venues. Commensurately, skiing speeds have increased, and so has the reliance on upper body power for propulsion. This has been most visible in classic skiing where technique zones are put in place down to the junior level to ensure that striding remains part of the sport. These changes...

Laukli Wins Again on Golden Trail Marathon Series

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.  Sophia Laukli’s dominance of professional trail running continued this weekend with her victory at the 50th running of the Sierre-Zinal trail race in Switzerland. The Stifel U.S. Cross-Country Team member took the victory by a surprisingly wide margin—over four...

Beginner’s Guide: The Season of Roller-Skiing

For decades, my summers were filled with roller skiing. First as a junior, then as a collegiate racer, followed by nearly 15 years as a coach: summers meant endless hours logged on New England roads on roller-skis. In recent years, I’ve shied away from the unique click and clack of pole tips on asphalt in favor of running, cycling, swimming and paddling. But this summer—with cooler autumn days approaching—I find my body longing for some...

Rosie Brennan Blue Collar Skier? She’s OK With That: Part I

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.  Rosie Brennan has been a fixture on the Stifel U.S. Ski Team for several years, weathering the ups and downs of professional athletics with grace, aplomb, and stoic professionalism. Her determination and perseverance have created scores of admiring fans,...

Ben Ogden, In His Element: Part III

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.  People are always asking Ben Ogden, “How does it feel to be on the start line with Klaebo, Jouve, Chanavat?” His response reveals much about both Ogden’s attitude as a competitor, and his character as a young man: “For...

Sophia Laukli Returns to Lysebotn Opp Hill Climb for Second Podium Finish

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.  7.5 kilometers, 27 hairpin turns, up a fjord. For the better part of two decades, the climb up the Lysebotn Opp has marked the high point, figurative and literal, of cross-country skiing’s summer calendar.  Last year, that point was...

Ben Ogden, In His Element:  Part II

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com.  Ben Ogden was kind enough to spend a recent afternoon with FasterSkier assessing his 2022-2023 World Cup season, and discussing the sorts of plans he has for training in this off-season. We met in the barn at the Ogden...

Injuries are Inevitable

Injuries are inevitable . . . As a physical therapist, I am often preaching prevention through maintenance exercises and training strategies; however, despite very well intended plans, injuries can still happen. Some of these will be short term, quite manageable, and maybe just a product of bad luck. Other injuries are longer lasting, will likely require some medical management, and are certain to impact training, whether from an acute trauma or from symptoms that have...

Ben Ogden, In His Element:  Part I

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall, and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.  Ben Ogden is in his element . . . in a secluded valley surrounded by tree-covered slopes of Vermont’s Green Mountains, in a barn by the side of a winding dirt road, only...