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For someone who finished the World Cup last winter ranked second in the overall standings, Canada’s Devon Kershaw flies relatively well under the radar. While his own teammate Alex Harvey is treated as a “pseudo-god” in Quebec, Kershaw is rarely mentioned by name when European journalists ask Dario Cologna (SUI) or Petter Northug (NOR) whom they’re watching out for in the coming year. This relative anonymity, Kershaw says, is just fine by him. “It’s pretty...
You can say a lot about Marty Hall—and, in fact, most of it has probably already been said. The former coach of the American and Canadian national cross-country ski teams is an outspoken and prolific observer of the sport today, but that’s nothing new. He famously implied that the Russians were doping at the 1988 Olympic Games, and an Ottawa newspaper story upon his departure from the Canadian squad referred to him as the “opinionated...
Canada’s Frozen Thunder Offers Goods to All
Alex KochonOctober 20, 2012
Before the sun rises in Canmore, Alberta, those near the ski trails can probably hear the sounds of striding and skating along hard-packed snow this time of year. That’s likely accompanied by voices, chit-chatting as skiers compete 1.8-kilometer loops around the Canmore Nordic Centre before trail passes go on sale at 9 a.m. They’re not exactly renegades, night owls or extreme enthusiasts. For the most part, these individuals belong to clubs – some of which...
The symptoms started at a July training camp with Central Cross Country (CXC) in northern Wisconsin. The runner-up from last year’s SuperTour series, Jennie Bender, 24, wasn’t feeling well. For two to three days at a time, she’d experience bouts of nausea. Then her neck felt sore, along with her jaw and teeth. One night, she tossed and turned with cold chills, and feared that she’d wake up a leper. The next day, she pushed...
Rhetoric Aside, a Less Publicized Goal in WADA Ban of Asthma Medications: Healthy Athletes
Chelsea LittleOctober 19, 2012
This is the second of two pieces looking at the use of bronchodilating drugs to treat asthma in athletes – and their changing place on WADA’s prohibited list. available as PDF), the authors write that “Vigorous physical exercise can be followed by transient clinical signs and symptoms similar to an asthma attack and are due to post-exercise bronchoconstriction (i.e., a narrowing of the airways). Clinical symptoms include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, excessive mucus...
Testing, One Two Three
Audrey ManganOctober 18, 2012
The U.S. Ski Team’s cross-country athletes finished their final round of pre-season testing last week in Park City, Utah. Athlete blogs currently abound with documentation of skiers pushing themselves to the point of falling off the treadmill in order to collect data on how much they’ve each progressed since their last test. The importance an athlete attaches to his or her test results varies by individual, but in the lab and in training they can...
Despite Increased Overlap in Camp Schedules, Little Joint Training Between U.S. Ski, Biathlon Teams
Chelsea LittleOctober 17, 2012
For the third time this year, the U.S. Ski Team ran into their counterparts on the biathlon squad earlier this week when both groups were in Utah for their respective training camps. “The biathletes were at Soldier Hollow yesterday as was the entire U.S. Ski Team,” skier Noah Hoffman wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier on Tuesday. “Cross country was doing a speed (10-15 seconds) session classic. I’m not sure what was involved in the...
Birkie More Popular Than Ever, Sells Out in Record Time
Alex KochonOctober 17, 2012
Those unfamiliar with the American Birkebeiner and cross-country ski culture in the Midwest might not get it. How does a point-to-point ski marathon in northern Wisconsin 120 truckloads to Main Street. There, they spread the pristine white stuff 6 inches to a foot deep for the ½-kilometer finish. The ABSF also made sure the Birkie trail was in tact, unloading 500 totes of snow – each weighing 300 pounds – on the course, and shoveling...
If the ski arenas currently under construction in Sochi, Russia, remain at their current size, the International Ski Federation is going to be unhappy with spectator capacity for Olympic ski competitions come 2014. International Ski Federation President and International Olympic Committee member Gian Franco Kasper criticized the venues for being unprepared for the Games based on his observations from last week’s site visit. At a Tuesday press conference in Cavalese, Italy, for the Val di...
Hart Takes Advantage of Dartmouth D-Plan, Hangs with SMS
Alex KochonOctober 16, 2012
Annie Hart has been hanging out with the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team for a couple months now, but don’t get it wrong, she’s still a Dartmouth skier. A 20-year-old junior, Hart spent most of the summer studying and training at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. That way, come late August, she could take the fall off. In an email from Park City, Utah, where she’s been training with the U.S. Ski Team (USST)...
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) delivered a definitive indictment to the world on Wednesday morning with the release of its reasoned decision regarding seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. In the 1,000-plus page document sent to the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping agency, USADA found Armstrong guilty of using of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career and of playing a central role in enforcing a systematic doping program on the U.S. Postal team....
This is the first of two pieces looking at the use of bronchodilating drugs to treat asthma in athletes – and their changing place on WADA’s prohibited list. *** Asthma is far from uncommon in cross-country skiers: a 1994 study in Norway found that high-level skiers were about three times as likely to self-report as asthma patients compared to the normal population. A 1999 study by researchers in Norway, Sweden, and Nebraska found that even...
Fewer Than 500 Spots Left for 2013 Birkie/Korte
Alex KochonOctober 12, 2012
Birkie and Korte Close to Closing ( This is the Final Update: Please birkie@birkie.com or call 715-634-5025.
T-Minus Two Months Until Sprint Québec
Alex KochonOctober 11, 2012
Less than 2 months before the Sprint Québec presented by Québecor which will host the FIS Cross-Country World Cup presented by Viessmann (Press release) Québec City, Thursday, October 11, 2012 – December 6 to 9, winter will be on our doorstep and downtown Québec City will be dressed in its finest white for the Sprint Québec which will host the FIS Cross-Country World Cup. For the very first time in Québec City, the top cross-country...
When the head of F.A.S.T. Performance Training in Hayward, Wis., Bill Pierce heard Tad Elliott pulled off a cross-Atlantic trip to win the American Birkebeiner last February, he knew he had to have him back in town. Matt Liebsch, one of the Midwest’s nordic heroes and 2009 Birkie champion, thought the same. In July, F.A.S.T. held its first “Train Like a Birkie Champion” “Live & Ski Like a Champion” Purpose: This camp designed for the...
It’s safe to say the Canadian cross-country teams enjoyed their stay in Park City, Utah. Between their tweets and Instagrams of bluebird days and college football games, it’s not hard to see why. While the Canadian women headed south on Saturday for a Noah Hoffman the only one that hopped in some workouts? JW: Yeah. We would’ve enjoyed having the other guys around, but he was the one that was in town and ready to...
http://grouprev.com/signup/nnfdrivexc and create your Drive for 25 Ambassador page. Instructions will be on the website. 2. Get as many people as you can to donate $25 or more to your NNF Drive for 25 page from now until November 15th It is critical that the donations go through your page! If we cannot track the donation to you, our Junior/U23 Ambassadors the match does not happen. Furthermore, ask your donors to make a comment that...
When Kikkan Randall talks about being injured, her tone matches the description of any other day: the sun is shining; life is good. For more than two months, the 29-year-old U.S. Ski Team (USST) veteran has been
For Graefnings, College Jump-Starts Focus on Skiing
Audrey ManganOctober 8, 2012
This past March, Maria Graefnings capped off a hugely successful college career in winning her second NCAA title in the 5-kilometer freestyle at Bohart Ranch in Bozeman, Mont. In her two years at the University of Utah, the Swede dominated the Rocky Mountain region with eleven total RMISA wins. She once gave Kikkan Randall a run for her money in Idaho at SuperTour Finals. But instead of riding off into the sunset after graduation, as many...