General – Page 19 – FasterSkier

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News Racing

On the Mend: Valjas Back for More with Eyes on Seefeld

Jason AlbertJune 5, 2018

Canadian World Cup B-team member, Len Valjas was beaming. Valjas, along with podium-regular teammate Alex Harvey, had won a World Cup team sprint in Toblach, Italy. The next weekend, Valjas and three teammates (including Harvey) rocketed to individual classic sprint and ended the day in seventh for his best result at his second Olympics. Canada’s Olympic sport-funding system emphasizes championship medals and results. Harvey and Valjas set new Olympic benchmarks this February for Canadian men’s cross-country...

Biathlon General Interviews News Racing US Biathlon

The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Currier Retires from Biathlon

Gabby NaranjaJune 1, 2018

The first time I contacted Russell Currier for a retirement interview, it was mid-April. I had asked him to share his story, and no more than 24 hours after my initial email to Currier, I received a response. “Yeah, let’s do that. I’m actually in Bozeman right meow,” he’d written. Digging through my memory bank, I recalled Currier having come to Bozeman one other time. Two Aprils ago, the Stockholm, Maine, native spent a...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews Racing World Cup

Cockney on Growing Up with Skiing, Retiring and What’s Next

Alex KochonMay 31, 2018

Strength. Balance. Agility. Jesse Cockney had all of those qualities as a child growing up in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories — just like most Inuit kids — according to his father, Angus. But what he could do with that talent was what Angus hoped to nurture. Since he had put his son on skis at age 3, Angus reflected in an email that he “knew then that [Jess] had incredible potential to succeed.” And so the...

General Resources Training Workouts World Cup

Wednesday Workout: Elghuffs with Britain’s Nichole Bathe and Annika Taylor

Gabby NaranjaMay 30, 2018

This week FasterSkier presents a workout from British national ski team members Nichole Bathe and Annika Taylor. Last season, both Bathe and Taylor competed overseas on Great Britain’s national nordic team. They were interviewed on the phone last fall and email this spring. *** May. For some, it’s a month marked by caps and gowns and new beginnings. Last year, May was a month in question for Nichole Bathe. The Madison, Wisconsin, native had just...

General News Nordic Combined Team nominations

2018/2019 U.S. Nordic Combined Nominations

FasterSkierMay 24, 2018

Also on Thursday, USA Nordic Sport, the organization behind U.S. nordic combined and ski jumping, announced its nominations for all of its 2018/2019 national teams. The nordic-combined team includes six men and for the first time, a woman, with Ben Loomis stands as the lone A-team member following

General Interviews News US Ski Team World Cup

Kikkan Randall: The Exit Interview (Part II): Looking Forward

Gavin KentchMay 18, 2018

As discussed last week in 30-kilometer classic mass start at 2018 Spring Series this past March in Craftsbury, Vermont. She crossed the finish line in third, leading out a four-racer chase pack to claim the final podium spot in the final race of her career. She followed U.S. Ski Team (USST) teammate Jessie Diggins and USST and APU teammate Sadie Bjornsen, who took first and second in a tight finish. Randall was the oldest skier...

Camps General News Racing Training

Sovereign Lake Hosts 1st Annual Enduro Ski Race (with Video)

Gerry FursethMay 17, 2018

VERNON, British Columbia — Each year, the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre reopens its trails in May to let skiers start the new training season on snow at its annual Spring Fling Ski Camp. In addition to the local skiers, groups came from Whitehorse, Canmore, Saskatchewan, and Methow Valley to absorb some Vitamin D and snow. The longest travel award goes to Mark who travelled from Atlanta, Georgia, for a long weekend on snow. The trails were...

General Nordic Combined Resources Training Workouts

Wednesday Workout: ‘Good Old Fashioned’ Hill Climbs with Bryan Fletcher

FasterSkierMay 16, 2018

When retiring from NoCo this spring, FasterSkier reached out to the veteran for a tried-and-true workout. Fletcher’s response was simple. For him, nothing beats a “good-old-fashioned hill climb.” The experienced skier’s most savvy advice? Take the gondola back down. “Downhills can be pretty abusive on the knees and your back,” Fletcher explained on the phone. “[This workout] is super-easy way to get long hours in or a good intensity session in, without putting a huge...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News Racing World Cup

Into the Yukon Wild: Johnsgaard Retires from Skiing at 25

Gabby NaranjaMay 14, 2018

One hundred and fifty kilometers from the city of Whitehorse, if you are adventurous enough to hike through the troves of white spruce and over the two mountain passes to get there, you may come across Knute Johnsgaard’s family trapline. Traverse the 100 square kilometers of land where his family holds the rights to trap, and you may even catch a glimpse of Johnsgaard himself. Johnsgaard, a native of the Yukon Territory’s Mount Lorne community,...

General Interviews News Olympics Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Kikkan Randall: The Exit Interview (Part I): Looking Back

Gavin KentchMay 11, 2018

Kikkan Randall competed in her first World Cup race in 2001, and her last in 2018. In between, she won 14 World Cup races, three Sprint Cup Crystal Globes, three World Championships medals, and one Olympic gold medal accompanied by one very enthusiastic broadcast call from Chad Salmela. She appeared in television ads, received the Skis to the City from the mayor of Anchorage, and had an ice-cream flavor named after her. And long before...

Canadian National Ski Team General News Para Nordic Team nominations World Cup

Cross Country Canada Nominates 2018/2019 National Team

FasterSkierMay 10, 2018

press release. Notably, the World Cup A-team is made up of one man — Alex Harvey — after three athletes from Devon Kershaw, Jess Cockney and Knute Johnsgaard). Graeme Killick, of last season’s World Cup B-team, also retired. Len Valjas was nominated to the B-team, a demotion, he said, that was a result of him ending his season immediately after the PyeongChang Olympics. “The reasoning is that I … didn’t show up to [the World...

Biathlon General Interviews News US Biathlon

Maddie Phaneuf on Finding Her Voice, Lobbying in D.C.

Jason AlbertMay 9, 2018

Young and empowered. Twenty-three-old Maddie Phaneuf, a 2018 Olympic biathlete and member of the US Biathlon’s national team, has been finding her voice this short offseason as she lobbied members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., on April 25. Phaneuf, along with 2018 U.S. Winter Olympians High Performance Team. While continuing to train and race with the national team, she planned to move from Lake Placid, N.Y., to her new training...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News Olympics Racing World Cup

Hanging Up the Boots: Kershaw Retires from Skiing, Embraces Next Challenge

Alex KochonMay 8, 2018

On April 26, Devon Kershaw posted a photo on social media of Alpina boots hanging on a line. The next day, he spoke on the phone with FasterSkier from his new home in Lillehammer, Norway, after a day of running around outside with his 15-month-old daughter, Asta Isabel. Kershaw was tired, but in a good way. For the first time in 17 years, he was ready for a new challenge, a new focus and much...

General News Training

New Year’s Here: First Week of May Training Pics

FasterSkierMay 4, 2018

While we covered

Continental Cup General Interviews News Olympics US Ski Team World Cup

Kris Freeman Retires Leaving a Legacy of Belief and Titles

Jason AlbertMay 3, 2018

Chew on this for a minute: who stands as the greatest male U.S. distance skier in the “modern” era (defined by post-Bill Koch) of World Cup skiing? Most likely at the top of that list would be 37-year-old Kris Freeman. The New Hampshire native and longtime Granite State resident retired as a professional cross-country skier after this year’s U.S. Distance Nationals 50-kilometer classic race in late March in Craftsbury, Vermont. Freeman finished seventh in that...

General Resources Training Workouts

Wednesday Workout: Building Intervals with Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt

FasterSkierMay 2, 2018

It’s May 2 and the overall NorAm leader heading into the 2018/2019 race season, myriad of injuries. Despite a late start, she finished last winter as the first Canadian woman in the overall NorAm standings, earning World Cup starts in November and December later this year. So what’s one of the workouts she’s looking forward to this spring? That would be Rocky Mountain Racers’ “most tried and true workout”, which can be done skiing, rollerskiing,...

Biathlon General News Racing US Biathlon

US Biathlon Announces Coaching Additions

FasterSkierMay 1, 2018

(Press release) LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (May 1, 2018) — U.S. Biathlon is pleased to announce the addition of two new national team coaches. Armin Auchentaller returns to the U.S. team after coaching the Swiss women’s biathlon team for several years. The Italian comes from the Antholz valley famous for hosting a World Cup every year and being a major biathlon center. German Olympic champion Michael Greis also worked for the Swiss biathlon team and joins the U.S. Team as the...

General Interviews Multimedia Nordic Nation Olympics Podcasts US Ski Team World Cup

Nordic Nation: Two Words … Jessie Diggins

Jason AlbertApril 30, 2018

Olympic gold medalist, her time and attention have been in high demand. Just a few of those commitments have involved the following: an appearance at the Minnesota State Capitol where she advocated for a Minneapolis World Champs. And just last Wednesday, April 25, Diggins was in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Protect Our Winters (POW), lobbying members of Congress about the effects of climate change on winter snow sports. Reflecting on...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News Other Racing

Beatty Caps Season with 160 k Arctic Circle Race Victory

Alex KochonApril 27, 2018

Canada’s Dahria Beatty closed out her World Cup season with the rest of her international-racing peers on March 18 in Falun, Sweden. After three straight days of races, the 24-year-old Whitehorse, Yukon, native finished World Cup Finals in 54th overall. Five days later, she endured a three-day 160-kilometer classic race in Greenland, 65 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. And Beatty didn’t just survive the 22nd-annual epic adventure, she won it. In her first Arctic...

General Interviews News Nordic Combined Racing

NoCo ‘Adrenaline Junkie’ Since Age 6, Bryan Fletcher Retires

Gabby NaranjaApril 26, 2018

At age 31, Bryan Fletcher estimates he’s dedicated 25 years to the sport of nordic combined. He has been a U.S. national team member for the past 11 years and maintains that first time he flew off a jump on skis occurred at the ripe age of 4. Before that, and before his first steps, Fletcher’s exposure to skiing came from the viewpoint of a child carrier on his father’s back. For the first time since...

Newer Posts

Older Posts