The Sochi Organizing Committee showed off, for the first time, the beautiful meals that will be up for grabs at the Olympics in February. Across the nordic sports, North Americans could medal in, we estimate, four events - and if you start talking a little crazy, maybe almost a dozen sets of the handcrafted hardware could come back across the Atlantic.
To say that Jennie Bender had an inconsistent season is a bit of an understatement. She won her first national championship and dropped out of her first race within the same week this January, and in April finished last in the 30 k National Championship. Now, as she recovers from a herniated disk in her back, she's moving on from her team of the past three years at Central Cross Country to the Bridger Ski Foundation in Bozeman, Mont.
This month, the Journal of Applied physiology confronted allegations of scientific misconduct in two cases: one when a study used an athlete who turned out to have been doping, and another when researchers asked participants to use banned methods. The journal invited discussion from many of the scientists involved as well as WADA, with interesting, and antagonistic, results.
The U.S. and Canadian national teams currently in Bend, Ore., for their spring camps had an unstructured training session at Mt. Bachelor this weekend. Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation nordic director and 3-time Olympian Dan Simoneau snapped photos of junior skiers and World Cup athletes alike ski laps around the trails.
Earlier this month, Andrew Musgrave met one of the greatest cross-country racers of all time: Thomas Alsgaard. What was more, they were going to be teammates on the newly formed Team LeasePlan Go. That's right: Alsgaard's back and Musgrave's going to be spending some more QT with veterans like him.
After starting off last season with a bang — a win in West Yellowstone and a trip to the Canadian World Cups — Ryan Scott finished his 2012-2013 campaign feeling unsatisfied. To reinvigorate his training before the Olympic year, he's taking a trip to Norway this June to train with friends and compete in a few races.
Most of the U.S. Ski Team reunited this week in Bend, Ore., for their first spring training camp of the year. The group set to work on snow at Mt. Bachelor to get ready for next season, and anticipation for the Olympic Games in February is already building. "It's definitely a big motivator," says Andy Newell. "You want to make every interval session count."
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The U.S. Ski Team's annual May training camp began in earnest this week in Bend, Ore. A few inches of fresh snow greeted skiers at Mt. Bachelor on Wednesday morning, just in time for the group's first interval session: a set of 6 x 4-6 minute L3 freestyle intervals with intermediate sprints.
It took some flexible training and a plane trip from Minnesota, but last Saturday, Santi Ocariz achieved his longtime goal of racing (and winning) the Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend, Ore., while women's runner-up and Bend native, Zoe Roy, challenged the winner.
The annual USSA Coaches Congress wrapped up this weekend in Park City, Utah, and the biggest decision to come out of the meetings was an overhaul of the U.S. SuperTour calendar so that it makes more athletic and developmental sense nationwide. Other changes include the addition of a mixed club relay at SuperTour Finals and renamed junior age groups.
Five years after starting SISU Nordic, Ben Popp has accepted the position of executive director of the American Birkebeiner, North America's largest ski marathon. Popp talks about the "dream job," his goals for the big race, and how he's handling the transition.
Sovereign Lake Nordic Center’s annual Summer Ski camp from May 10-19 attracted the usual collection of hard-core skiers, a mixture of teams and day trippers who need a last fix of snow before the inevitable arrival of summer. With the city of Vernon already in full-summer mode in the valley below, Sovereign’s weeklong camp is the last chance for set tracks in the region.
With new athletes headed to Craftsbury, Sun Valley, Stratton and Alaska, it looks like the SuperTour can expect a sizable incoming class next season.
Noah Hoffman's recent shoulder surgery this has restricted most of his workouts to the gym this spring, but he says his training has been the opposite of held back. In fact, he's logged more hours than ever before, and in the coming months Hoffman plans to make use of the recovery process to improve his upper body strength.
Nordic sports are pretty egalitarian, as far as athletics go - but women are still confronted, constantly, with stereotypes about what is and is not appropriate or possible for them to do. In southern France, two researchers are focusing on what effects these stereotypes have on women's participation and performance in a wide range of sports, and explained their findings in an interview.
The most recognizable name in cross-country skiing and the 2013 overall World Cup champion has decided to ski independently of the his national team next season. Petter Northug, Jr., held a press conference on Wednesday with Norwegian National Team cross-country head Åge Skinstad to announce that he would not sign a contract with the Norwegian Ski Federation in 2013-2014.
Chandra Crawford recently confirmed that she will not train with Canadian Ski Team this summer, but rather with a personal coach in an effort to peak at the 2014 Winter Olympics. If all goes according to plan, she'll be back with the squad this winter. World Cup coach Eric de Nys weighs in and explains the state of his team.
The qualification criteria for the U.S. Ski Team's National Training Group now includes a top-three finish from NCAA Championships, signaling a change in the way the national team involves collegiate skiing in its development pipeline.
The Thunder Bay National Development Centre (NDC) announced Thursday that it hired Timo Puiras as head coach for the 2013/2014 season and beyond.