Own the Podium increased biathlon's budget from last season's $200,000 to a still-low $250,000 - less than its post-Vancouver award despite better performances. "I see great potential in the Nordic sports where a single athlete who is at that level can win multiple medals," Biathlon Canada's Chris Lindsay said. "We’re potentially going to be missing out on a bunch of those podiums."
With the costs to participate in endurance sports like cross country skiing so high, Joe Howdyshell and the Summit Endurance Foundation are trying to ensure that no youth is barred from endurance sports due to financial concerns.
Dr. Blair Evans, whose work on group dynamics and competitive suffering (i.e. failure) we've highlighted twice in "This Month in Journals", chats about the process of doing sports psychology research. Evans' experience skiing in college informs almost all of his research, and he told us what he thinks makes skiing special from a psychological standpoint.
Sophie Caldwell broke her funny bone just over a week ago during a team mountain-bike session in Bend, Ore., and while it's no laughing matter, she's found humor in the situation. "I actually accidentally found myself in a spin class for senior citizens and it was one of the top ten sweatiest workouts of my life," she explains. "We did stage 14 of the Tour of Italy."
We haven’t seen the last of Magnar Dalen. After eight years as head coach of the Finnish National Ski Team, Dalen, 50, is moving on to coaching marathon skiers on a private team, he explained in an email.
U.S. Nordic Combined's Bryan Fletcher was recently one of three new athlete representatives selected to the USSA Board of Directors. “For me the biggest thing that came out of congress was just knowledge of the positive development in our sport," he explains, adding that his sport's organizational structure is progressing forward each day.
U.S. Biathlon CEO Max Cobb says that it took four or five years for his organization to get on its feet after splitting from modern pentathlon in 1980 -- but that whatever route U.S. Nordic Combined takes, the good news for them is that they have proven success and that direct fundraising tools have entered a whole new realm in the past few years.
While you're tipping back a beverage of choice this Memorial Day weekend, here's a look at Sylvan Ellefson's new enterprise with the 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit Company in Vail, Colo., which pays tribute to the members of the 10th Mountain Division in the form of locally sourced whiskey, bourbon, vodka, and cordials. Ellefson retired from full-time nordic racing this spring.
Twenty-two years ago, Colette Bourgonje was a grade-school teacher with a ticket to the Albertville Paralympics. But the school wasn’t about to let her take off for her first Paralympics. She went anyway and began an unprecedented streak of competing at seven Winter Paralympics -- 10 Paralympics in all.
Guri Hetland spoke with FasterSkier on Monday about how she and Swiss-Ski were at odds when it came to the direction of the team, a stumbling point that ultimately ended in the non-renewal of her contract. "I had planned to work longer in Switzerland and I hoped and I thought that we could agree on the proposal ... but my bosses in the ski federation wanted some changes," she says.
If you're familiar with Canada's junior-racing scene, you've probably heard of Coach Pav. After three years as Ontario Ski Team head coach, Pavlina Sudrich is moving back to the Yukon to work with a couple U23 athletes and continue her coaching education.
Last year, Casey Smith transitioned away from school at Montana State University and into full-time training at the Maine Winter Sports Center. His first season as a senior biathlete reaped big rewards: an appearance at Olympic Trials, podiums at the Czech Cup, and a top-30 finish at Open European Championships. As recognition, Smith earned a "B" team nomination.
In an interview on Friday, Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth discussed how he will work with Tor Arne Hetland in the coming year for Canmore-based World Cup athletes - "I’ve already had fun talking training with him" - and the other part of his new job, getting the national training centers aligned with the World Cup team to improve the development pipeline.
“When I look at a trail, I look at it as a big earth sculpture,” Thom Perkins says. It’s the old joke: what do you do with a fine-arts degree? For Perkins, who spent the last 38 years as executive director of the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation, degrees in sculpture and photography led to sculpting land.
Holly Brooks was the one well-known name left off the U.S. Ski Team's nomination list for 2014/2015, and that's by her choosing, she says. Rather than retire, she's hoping to tweak her training to get back to podium contention, especially in marathons and distance races.
This interview with 19-year-old Austin Huneck gives a glimpse of what it's like to be a postgraduate skier and make the transition to full-time training and racing after high school. Huneck liked it so much, he's onboard with the MWSC for the second-straight year.
One author shares his uneasiness with training plans and investigates CXC Academy, an online subscription service that provides nordic tips and regimens for skiers of all ages. "You will go faster when you want to go faster and it will be a lot more enjoyable," founder Yuriy Gusev says.
SMST2 Head Coach Gus Kaeding, 29, came to the striking realization this winter that he couldn't see himself coaching in 10 years. With that in mind, he decided to plot a new future, which could include a master's in finance. His contract is up at the end of June, but Kaeding plans to help Stratton transition to a new elite-team coach.
Gus Schumacher, 13, doesn't have any qualms about racing up -- even if it is against Andy Newell. He's met Newell and several other U.S. Olympians in person at the World Cup, but says it's an amazing experience to race them at home at SuperTour Finals.
Caitlin Gregg channeled the training and fitness she had accumulated for a potential Olympic start into her 3rd Birkie win and is now back in Europe racing on the World Cup. FasterSkier checked in with the Birkie Champion her training after her first World Cup weekend on this European trip.