HomeCategory

General

All other miscellaneous news.
News Roundup for 8/12/19

New IBU Secretary General Named On August 6th, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced Sweden’s Niklas Carlsson as its new Secretary General. At 44-years-old, Carlsson comes to the position with considerable experience in the world of alpine ski racing. According to the IBU press release, Carlsson served as the Secretary-General of the Swedish Ski Federation from 2011-2014. He has also worked for the International Ski Federation (FIS), and served on the Boards of two Swedish...

Quick Wrap from Blink

If you didn’t burn your Sunday watching the 2019 Blink Ski Festival re-runs you can still do that here. If you’d rather invest less time, here’s a rundown from some of Friday’s and Saturday’s rollerski racing. (Need a refresh on the festival’s earlier racing? You can find a link to last Wednesday’s distance classic race, and Thursday’s Lysebotn Opp hill climb results here.)                              ...

Call for Questions

Here’s a call for questions and comments about a May 2019 article titled “Energy system contribution during competitive cross-country skiing” published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. Longtime cross-country coach and athlete mentor Adam St. Pierre will be writing a story about these academic findings. FasterSkier will publish Adam’s story at the end of the month. We’d love your questions and feedback about “Energy system contribution during competitive cross-country skiing” to help Adam shape his...

Ski Clubs and the Urban Hurdle Part 1: Momentum Northwest Makes it Work in Seattle

This is part one of a series featuring urban based cross-country clubs and how they make it work in the concrete jungle. It’s no mystery that some kids simply have better access to snow than others. When looking at population density clusters and access to snow, some win, some lose, and some make the best with what they have.  Since the early nineties when great coffee, grunge, the outdoors, and tech jobs made Seattle a...

Recover Smarter, Not Harder: A Review of “Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn From the Strange Science of Recovery” and Interview With Author Christie Aschwanden

If you’ve ever set a lofty athletic goal, one that required full commitment, going all in and pulling out all of the stops to optimize your training, you may have searched for strategies to similarly optimize your recovery between sessions, getting you back on the ski trails feeling strong as quickly as possible. In this process, you may have found yourself perusing a seemingly endless array of devices, foods, and drinks, each promising to improve...

Organizing the Winter World Masters Games in Innsbruck/Seefeld

Innsbruck, Austria has a long history of hosting big winter sports events. It is the self-proclaimed “Capital of the Alps,” and is truly one of the most memorable winter sports venues in the world. Innsbruck hosted the Olympic Games in 1964 and 1976. The annual Four Hills ski jumping tournament attracts 30,000 spectators to the iconic Bergisel jump that overlooks the university town of about 120,000 residents. In 2019, the Nordic World Championships were hosted...

Cross Country Ski FIS World Cup on track for March 2020 Season Finale (Press Release)

  Press Release Cross Country Ski FIS World Cup on track for March 2020 Season Finale  The Season Finale to be held at the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park will welcome the world’s best skiers from around the world to compete for 3 days in March 2020.  CANMORE, ALBERTA July, 22 2019 – The Alberta World Cup Society (AWCS) just completed a successful pre-World Cup site visit by FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski), accompanied by FIS Marketing AG...

Masters Minds: Life at 71 on Two Artificial Knees: 2019 World Masters

Editor’s note: John Wood is a septuagenarian racer who lives in Eagle River, Alaska, outside of Anchorage. Four years ago he wrote a first-person Masters Mind piece for FasterSkier detailing his return from a full knee replacement to winning his age group at the American Birkebeiner classic race 18 months later. This article provides an update on what happened next, including competing at the 2019 Masters World Cup in Beitostølen, Norway, following a second knee...

News Roundup for 7/19/19

Bodensteiner Hired on with the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation Luke Bodensteiner left U.S. Ski & Snowboard as Chief of Sport on July 15, he was named the Soldier Hollow General Manager and Chief of Sport Development on July 17. Bodensteiner’s new positions are under the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation umbrella.  As part of his duties, Bodensteiner will oversee daily operations at the Soldier Hollow (SoHo) venue. According to the July 17 press release announcing the hire,...

Alaska Solstice Junior Flyer Camp by Jed Hinkley

As I flagged Josie Johnson and Augie Roepke at midnight on the longest day of the year, a smile came to my face, and I let out a big hoot. I have been around Ski Jumping for over 30 years, but I had never experienced what I was experiencing at that moment: the 2nd 12-hour jump-a-thon on the Summer Solstice. The previous year’s event was the impetus for this year’s USA Nordic Alaska Junior Flyer...

Weekly News Round Up

FIS Rollerskiing in Beijing With the 2022 Winter Olympics only a few years out, it’s time to begin promoting cross-country skiing in the most populous country.  The International Ski Federation (FIS) opened the cross-country rollerski World Cup with events in Beijing, China from July 4-6. . The first day of competition featured a 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint. Norway’s Johannes Hosfløt Klæbo, the big name presence in Beijing, won the men’s race. The Norwegian wonderkind also won...

The EPA and Regulating the Ski Wax Industry

There’s truth in jest as the saying goes. While FasterSkier’s April 1 piece made light of the issues, it hit home in some unexpected places. During one of FasterSkier’s conversations with the Environmental Protection Agency to examine why it had begun investigating the importation and sale of perfluorinated waxes, the EPA’s representatives cited the April 1 piece to question why FasterSkier had begun reporting on the issue. Whether readers appreciated the humor or not, the...

A Half Ironman Win: Next Up for Kris Freeman, the Lake Placid Ironman

  This is the second story following Kris Freeman as he builds towards his first Ironman triathlon in late July. You can read part 1 here.  *** They are not baby steps, but they are incremental steps. Retired elite cross-country skier Kris Freeman has been eyeing the Lake Placid Ironman triathlon on July 28. As part of his step by step race and training plan for the full Ironman, Freeman contested an Olympic distance tri...

Sprint and Distance Rollerski Racing from the Sommarland Skifestival in Norway

Notable for the Norwegian names in the field, several Brits, and a lone American, a series of sprint and distance rolllerski races were held this past week in the Telemark region of Norway. Jessie Diggins of the U.S. Ski Team spent the week in Norway training with the Langrenns Rekruttlag ski team prior to the weekend’s racing.  On Friday, organizers held a skate sprint called the Sommarlandsprinten.  Women’s Podium:  Maiken Caspersen Falla, Gjerdrum IL 2:24.28...

Project Langrenn: Beaten by the Girls

  Project Langrenn is a series by Maks Zechel. Zechel has been training and racing in Norway for the last several years after concluding his junior racing career in Canada. Zechel is part of Norway’s Team Norconsult and will be writing about his experience for FasterSkier. Project Langrenn: Beaten by the Girls “100% of me is nothing compared to 1% of the entire team.” -Eliud Kipchoge, marathon world record holder.   You don’t have to...

News Round Up for June 28th

IBU Sanctions Two Russian Biathletes. On May 25, Russian biathletes Alexandr Pechenkin and Alexander Chernyshov each received four year bans from competition for anti-doping rule violations (ADRV). The International Biathlon Union handed down the sanctions. Each athlete has 21 days to appeal the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Pechenkin and Chernyshov were both suspected of doping after the analysis of the Moscow Lab Information Management System (LIMS) database. The World Anti-Doping...

2026 Winter Olympics Awarded to Milano-Cortina, Italy

  The International Olympic has announced the 2026 Winter Games will be hosted by Milano-Cortina, Italy. The final vote was between Stockholm–Åre, Sweden and Milano-Cortina, Italy. Royal Panda online casino became a popular gambling platform in India. Check the complete Royal Panda casino review on fancasinos.in. Also receive a deposit bonus on registration and play for real money.

Project Langrenn: Maks Zechel

Project Langrenn   Project Langrenn is a series by Maks Zechel. Zechel has been training and racing in Norway for the last several years after concluding his junior racing career in Canada. Zechel is part of Norway’s Team Norconsult and will be writing about his experience for FasterSkier.  I had unwavering confidence in myself as a kid. Ever since I started racing as an eleven-year-old, I’ve never doubted myself. I’m not sure why—I grew up...

IBU Moves Forward on Building Equity

The numbers speak the truth when it comes to leadership in Olympic sport. Let’s take International Technical Officials (ITOs), the people responsible for a range of duties like enforcing rules and race timing protocol during competition. Across four Olympics, including summer and winter Games from 2010-2014, women constituted no greater than 30 percent of ITOs. On the coaching side, the numbers were starker. Between 2010 and 2014, female accredited coaches at the Olympics never rose...