Three of seven men on the U.S. Ski Team were not renamed to the 2013/2014 national squad, including Skyler Davis, Tad Elliott and Kris Freeman. Erik Bjornsen confirmed he's been promoted to the B-team, where he'll join Simi Hamilton and Noah Hoffman.
Mantra Wax, a new wax company created by U.S. Ski Team servicemen Randy Gibbs and Oleg Ragilo, promises to deliver high-performance waxes to consumers in a fresh way. At SuperTour finals they turned heads by waxing successful skis for the Liz Stephen and the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, and by fall they plan to be ready to ship their line of powders and liquids directly to your wax box.
(UPDATED) Kris Freeman, three-time U.S. Olympian in cross-country skiing and member of the U.S. Ski Team since 2002, was not renominated to the national team roster for the 2013-2014 season. Freeman said USST coaches notified him this week of the news, citing limited medal potential at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. "For whatever reason the USST no longer believes in me," he said.
By the time we hit 70, the physiological differences in how men and women respond to exercise have disappeared. Plus, we'll be smiling and thanking our parents for making us ski, because ex-athletes experience fewer fractures at that age. In other research, continuing the definition of "athlete's heart" and confirming a genetic basis of the training response.
In his first year as a senior, Canada's Kurtis Wenzel - last year's World Junior Champion in the individual - saw his season progress as normal. Then, at the very end, things got exciting: he got the surprise call to race in his first World Cup, at the Olympic venue in Sochi, then returned home to win his first national championship.
It's been a week since World Cup Finals wrapped up in Falun, Sweden, and the dust has more than settled on the international season. The American women had their best run yet: World Championships gold, all six athletes in the top ten at some point and another sprint crystal globe in the bag. When asked to recall their personal season highlights, these were among the moments they pointed out.
One editor's take on how to improve the sport of cross-country skiing as we know it, both from a barriers-of-entry standpoint to spectator satisfaction.
Although Andrus Veerpalu technically won his doping appeal against FIS, the issues at stake actually had nothing to do with the ski federation - they were rather under WADA's domain. In an interview with FasterSkier, FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis talked about what this means for federations like hers which have to follow WADA's scientific lead.
With the conclusion of Period IV of the 2012-2013 season we tally who's in and who's out of the coveted Red Group in the most recent World Ranking Lists, from the American and Canadian perspectives.
When Andrus Veerpalu tested positive for recombinant human grown hormone in both his A and B samples in the winter of 2011, FIS used a peer-reviewed, reliable test to detect the abnormalities and seemed to have a slam-dunk case. In a highly unusual appeals case that surprised scientists and anti-doping administrators alike, the Court of Arbitration for Sport found that WADA had made missteps in setting detection limits. Here's how Veerpalu won a case even though CAS was sure he was guilty.
After nine months of deliberation, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced on Tuesday that it decided to uphold Estonian cross-country skier Andrus Veerpalu's appeal and overturned the three-year competition ban the International Ski Federation originally imposed on him in August of 2011 for testing positive for human growth hormone. The Panel cited lack of confidence in FIS's standard of proof.
Seventeen weeks and 120 days after the World Cup season started in Gällivare, Sweden, it ended in Sunday in Falun. For most of the Canadians who finished outside the top 30, it could not have come soon enough. Head coach Justin Wadsworth and team veteran Devon Kershaw reflect on the season.
Athletes hit a breaking point on Thursday before the last three stages of World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden, where they threatened not to race on courses they deemed too dangerous. In successfully pressuring FIS and the race organizers to make the requested changes to the trails, athletes hope they've drawn a firm line between what they will and will not compete on in the future.
Athletes concerned with new changes to the Falun World Cup Finals course threatened to boycott the prologue on Friday if changes weren't made, citing safety concerns. Athlete representative Kikkan Randall submitted a formal complaint to FIS on behalf of athletes and the mass start course was readjusted, though not to everyone's satisfaction. Justyna Kowalcyzk has said she won't race, and there will be more meetings between FIS and athlete representatives before the start on Friday morning.
Scientists have identified a handful of genes that control roughly a quarter of the variation in how people respond to endurance training. What does that mean for athletes - will we now be able to predict who might win a gold medal? FasterSkier talked to one of the researchers, Dr. Carl Johan Sundberg, to find out.
Former Dartmouth College has taken up orienteering, and is still skiing fast despite doing most of her training on rollerskis.
We look at two recent studies about interval training, each coming to a different conclusion about what's best - and then ask the question, how does this apply to real-life training? Pros and cons of academic research into endurance training, considered.
Marit Bjørgen of Norway and Nikita Kriukov of Russia both have two gold medals to their names so far this Championships, and Dario Cologna finally got the title he's been search for; but Americans made a splash too, in every discipline, with Sarah Hendrickson winning jumping, Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins the team sprint, and the nordic combined team bronze in the team event. Alex Harvey also made history when he took bronze in the classic sprint, the first individual World Champs medal for Canada.
The cash from Caitlin Gregg's Birkie victory on Saturday will help keep her and husband Brian Gregg on sound financial footing as they train for next year’s Olympics in Russia.
The teamwork and tactics of a group of Italians locked the American men out of the prize money on their home turf, with Sergio Bonaldi leading a sweep of the top four.