Despite the Scottish location, Andrew Young grew up skiing the way many readers probably did too: in a club, with friends, trying to get fast enough to beat their older sisters. After becoming the youngest man to race a World Cup in 2008, Young relocated to Norway for better training and coaching, and is a lock for his second Olympics this winter.
Ida Sargent made a breakthrough this season when she cracked the top-ten for the first time Kuusamo, Finland, and then topped it in February by making the A-final in Sochi, Russia. Next year she wants to be back there as part of the U.S. Olympic Team. "If you’re not excited and fired up thinking about it, you probably shouldn’t be training for it," she says of the Games.
For the first time in 15 years, the Worldloppet Annual General Meeting returned to where it was essentially born in northern Wisconsin. There, an estimated 45 delegates from 16 nations met to invite four more countries to the party, with Argentina, China, Iceland and New Zealand being granted associate status and their own Worldloppet marathons.
The Americans need an edge heading into an Olympic season, U.S. Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett says, and Marc Nölke could be their answer. The U.S. team recently hired Nölke to take over as jumping coach and replace Chris Gilbertson, who coached the team since 2006.
The first World Cup in Kuusamo, Finland, isn’t until the end of November, but when you start to break down the North American training schedules by camp and month, the off-season suddenly looks much shorter. The Canadian and U.S. national teams will be training in New Zealand, Canmore, Alaska, Truckee, Bend, Lake Placid and Park City at various points between now and when the season begins.
Ski walking, hill bounding, and moose hoofing are a great way to incorporate ski-specific movements into a dryland workout. There are many ways to use these training tools, but I am going to recommend a favorite interval workout that touches on all three techniques: the 4’s and 1’s. This low-impact workout works great for skiers of all ages and abilities, from juniors to masters.
Joanne Reid won eight RMISA races prior to the 2013 NCAA Championships last March, but it wasn’t until she became the 15 k champion that she finally believed her entire season wasn’t some big fluke. Now, Reid faces a choice she didn’t expect to: whether to dedicate herself to skiing or continue down an academic path.
Two-time Olympian and former U.S. Ski Team member Nancy Fiddler dives into the topic of women in coaching, and why there are not more of them on the international circuit. A coach herself, Fiddler starts with an introduction, describing her journey from as an elite skier to a lifelong mentor.
Jim Galanes already has a lot on his resume: nordic combined World Cup winner. Cross country skiing national champion during the "golden era." U.S. Ski Team coach. Founder of the APU ski program. But after a few years away from the ski world, he's excited to tackle yet another peak: stonegrinding for Edgewise Ski Service in Stowe, which already has a booming alpine business.
With his four years of NCAA eligibility completed, Sam Tarling will return to his roots to begin his professional career. The Maine native and 2011 NCAA 10 k freestyle champion for Dartmouth College will again race in the white and blue of Maine Winter Sports Center next season.
A study published Tuesday is getting a lot of press for showing that cross-country skiers are at a higher risk of heart arrhythmias, and are more likely to have one the more Vasaloppets they complete and the faster they race them. When the data was first publicized two years ago, we asked - what are these things called arrhythmias, and why might skiers be having so many?
Janne Immonen's in trouble again, and this time, he's admitting to it. Sami Jaujojarvi will focus on ski marathons. The FIS Rollerskiing World Cup kicks off in Croatia. More news from the Inside Track.
Over the years, Sadie Bjornsen's learned a thing or two about patience, especially when it comes to getting healthy. This season, the 23-year-old U.S. Ski Team member has a few key priorities and a strategic approach to achieve them.
Heidi Widmer, 22, isn't one for hanging around. Recently promoted to the Canadian Senior Team, Widmer ended the season with a backcountry trip then flew to El Salvador and New Orleans before training in Switzerland, where she'll spend a month with World Cup and national team skiers.
FIS announced the new World Cup calendar on Monday, and cross-country ski fans have a few changes to look forward to. The Ruka Triple serves as the season-opener in November, there are a few new venues on tap in Period I and in February all eyes will be on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
It all started as a running joke. Amanda Ammar wasn’t actually a ninja, people just thought she was. In her third season of racing independently, Ammar invited a few friends to join her fun-loving and flexible training method: Alana Thomas, Zoe Roy and Chandra Crawford.
Despite getting sick early last season and not making World Championships, Sylvan Ellefson is glad he began last year on the World Cup. He hopes the extra international experience will serve him well in the coming Olympic year. Ellefson doesn't just want to make it to Sochi, either. "I want to go and have a result," he says.
When Leif Zimmermann first got into skiing at age 13, he had no idea where it would take him. He quickly rose to Junior World and U.S. nationals success, making the U.S. Ski Team, World Cups, 2006 Olympics, and 2009 World Championships before retiring from the sport this spring.
Of all the races to go by the wayside in recent years, the 30/50 k is often missed by longtime fans of the cross-country World Cup. Athletes miss it too, and at the annual International Ski Federation (FIS) Calendar Conference this week in Dubrovnik, Croatia, one of the biggest items on athlete representative Kikkan Randall’s agenda is to propose its return.
Kikkan Randall has had to take a cautious step back from traditional workouts this spring in Bend, Ore. She's dealing with a recurring issue with her left Achilles and is taking proactive steps to heal it in order to return to full training in a few weeks. "All is good, just trying to be smarter this time around and not push through potential injuries to the point I did last summer," she says.