Let’s cut to the chase … this will be a long long 10 days of race coverage here at FasterSkier. Those 10 days include eight stages and two rest days. Phew. Today, Friday, January 1, saw Val Müstair, Switzerland host a stout skate sprint. Two laps of curves and whoops and hills at some altitude. Kershaw brings us into the action and susses out the trends. One major trend coming into the day, Rosie...
Full disclosure, we do get to the Dresden sprints, we swear, but it takes a few minutes in this episode. On a day when Devon’s began his 39th trip around the sun – it was his birthday on December 20th – the discourse shimmied to a full spectrum of topics – most of which directly tie into sliding on snow. (For the most part.) There’s the chat about backcountry skiing and the lovely video...
Davos is many things and brings to mind fine high-mountain living, deep mountain valleys, and an old-school vibe stop on the World Cup. The weekend began with a zippy skate sprint that at least for the moment brought a familiar feel to sprinting when Italy’s Federico Pellegrino took the win. However, on the women’s side, a persistent and tenacious athlete, Rosie Brennan, took her first career World Cup win. She can sprint. But had we...
Not two weeks ago, despite the pandemic, it appeared the FIS World Cup had dodged the proverbial positive-test bullet. The Ruka, Finland round of the World Cup went down with fantastic racing, and, as far as we know at the time of dropping this episode, no positive Covid-19 cases among the athletes in Ruka. The cracks began to appear shortly after the racing in Finland concluded. Several of Norway’s star skiers independently withdrew from World...
This episode of The Devon Kershaw Show is supported by Boulder Nordic Sport. We appreciate their ongoing partnership as we cover the World Cup. So much to break down. Ruka, Finland presented a challenge on several fronts. The women and men contested a classic sprint, a 10 k / 15 k interval start classic, and a 10 k / 15 k skate pursuit over a three day period. A great way to exhaust...
This episode of the Devon Kershaw Show is brought to you by The Craftsbury Outdoor Center. The Outdoor Center is excited to offer a Collegiate Winter Term training program in 2021. Beitostølen, Norway and Bruksvallarna, Sweden hosted FIS Cup racing over the weekend. The news from Norway tells of a Johannes Høsflot Klæbo who might be back on form when it comes to his distance racing chops. He’s also keyed in for the sprints....
Like so many organizations, FIS, the governing body for international skiing, is a slow-to-change entity. Doping reforms, for example, have evolved but at a yawn-worthy rate. So in rather atypical fashion, like a finger snap, FIS voted to oust its Secretary General, Sarah Lewis, on October 9th. Lewis had been considered a lifer at FIS. She’d been on staff for two decades. News on the “why” of her removal remains sparse. Yet it was an...
We mix things up in the episode. We deviate from the norm and jump into a discussion about the science of sport with journalist and author Alex Hutchinson. Some of you may know his work from Outside Magazine where he pens the “Sweat Science” column. Hutchinson is also the author of Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, published in 2018. His “Sweat Science” pieces unravel the latest research exploring human...
March 31st is the last day we posted a new episode. Depending on where you stand in the COVID time machine, that might as well be a light year. Or a nano-second. From Oslo, Norway Devon chats about the time that was and the time that will be as we lurch into fall and then winter. In other words, it’s about time we rebooted this project. On the list of topics discussed, staying put...
Kershaw is free from quarantine and back at home in Lillehammer. As we all know, the race season has been shut down. That means it’s time to discuss news items of note. Like…the “flexing” of some skiers as they ski an un-godly number of kilometers, Stina Nilsson’s switch from cross-country to biathlon, the Norwegian Ski Federation’s financial crisis, and, the retirement of Norway’s Eirik Brandsdal. (The U.S. Ski Team’s Erik Bjornsen also announced his retirement...
Canceled. The North American leg of the World Cup became a blip as the weight of a pandemic became too much to bear for organizers. Minneapolis canceled. Canmore canceled. And….finally…Québec canceled. We discuss what was a crazy week when, accordingly, the globe shut down pro and amateur sport. We spoke with Kershaw when he was six days into a 14-day quarantine. Kershaw had been in Germany for World Juniors and upon his return to...
It is Monday after all. A day late for the Lahti relay recap but right on time to discuss U.S. skier, Gus Schumacher’s 10 k classic win at World Juniors. The 19-year-old Schumacher from Anchorage, Alaska can close – and he did that Monday with a burning fast final 3.3 k loop in taking the win. And yeah, the women’s 4 x 5 k and the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relays played out at...
Post-Ski Tour 2020 it was back to the basics for the World Cup: Interval start classic races for the men and women. The local boy, Iivo Niskanen, still claims the 15 k classic as his race, especially when it goes down in Finland. For the women, Norway’s Therese Johaug pipped it out the win over Ebba Andersson of Sweden. This was good solid racing in the 10 k and 15 k, respectively. Devon, by...
Stage 6 of the Ski Tour 2020 was, by any stretch of the imagination, a steamroller for Norway. A clean sweep on the men’s and women’s podium. On the men’s side, that’s not exactly what we expected. Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov looked like a sure thing for the overall win. A 30 k classic for the 23-year-old, I mean who would have predicted anything different? The weather was all over the place. As Devon has said...
A full-on championship course in Trondheim, Norway where the World Championships will go down in the mid-2020s. That’s a long way off. This much was true: the venue, like this tour, has been kind to Norway. Maiken Caspersen Falla and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo pleased the home fans. And yes, with all the fans, it seems this might be a venue to revisit in the near future. One more day, a Stage 6 15 k/ 30...
The race ended where it began: Stage 4 of the Ski Tour 2020. In between, it was 34 k mass start skate bliss through the Norwegian countryside for those watching from home. For those racing on course, it was not such a comfortable vibe. Pain cave anybody? We discuss the unstoppable Johaug and an Alexander Bolshunov who sent it … and stuck it, as he made a one-skier-show of the front of the race. We...
Åre, Sweden — the site of the national (alpine) ski area in Sweden. Also the site of Stage 3 of the Ski Tour 2020’s skate sprint. Short at 0.66 k, but oh so steep with a finishing climb with slopes at 28 percent. Yah! 28 percent. Maybe part sideshow, maybe not. Either way, athletes had to get themselves to the top. In what was a leg-burning affair, for a one-off event, it was sporting entertainment....
The Ski Tour 2020 show continued Sunday in Östersund, Sweden with the men’s and women’s classic pursuit races. Again, as we discuss in the podcast, it was Norway and Russia heavy on the men’s side. Actually more Norway than Russia. For the women, Johaug did her thing, but the racing was gritty. A chase pack of three and a speedy group from fifth through sixteenth made the 10 k affair a fun watch. Like...
It was all Norway in both the men’s and women’s Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020 from Östersund, Sweden. Sjur Røthe on the men’s side was pacing perfection while Therese Johaug simply steamrolled. This was clear, Norway had the best skis, and perhaps by default, the fastest skiers almost across the top-10 board. Yet, it is a long week ahead, and we are one stage into a six-stage event. Here’s the debrief from Devon:...
Sometimes when the unexpected happens, it’s a good thing. That’s what went down today in Falun, Sweden. In the men’s 15 k mass start skate, it was not a scrum of 20 to 30 skiers in a cluster at the finish. A fast and furious pace set by Hans Christer Holund turned that concept on its head. Although the race was won by Alexander Bolshunov, the wily Norwegian that is Holund, took it out hot...