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Interviews with racers, coaches and other relevant individuals within the Nordic ski world.
Goldsack Hangs Up Skis, Headed to Miami
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Goldsack Hangs Up Skis, Headed to Miami

Alex KochonJuly 20, 2012

Drew Goldsack laughs when he thinks about his elementary school days in Alberta, when Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers would come to class and proclaim that they hadn’t drawn their gun in 30 years. A couple of decades later, Goldsack, who crashed in a NorAm sprint final, suffering a concussion and shoulder injury. With his rotator cuff still plaguing him this spring, Goldsack decided to reevaluate his career. He hadn’t really considered retiring until then,...

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Roy Returning to Canadian Roots
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Roy Returning to Canadian Roots

Alex KochonJuly 17, 20121

Maybe it was the transition to full-time racing or the fact that Zoe Roy was competing in her home nation last season. It could’ve been the back-and-fourth flights across the U.S/Canadian border, or one team’s hospitality that helped Roy reach new heights on the NorAm circuit. Whatever it was, she wasn’t fighting it. After spending some 20 years in Bend, Ore., Roy, who turned 25 on Sunday, is moving to Canmore, Alberta. Starting Aug. 1,...

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Holly Brooks on Winning the ‘Olympics of Alaska’
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Holly Brooks on Winning the ‘Olympics of Alaska’

Alex KochonJuly 6, 2012

In Anchorage, getting on the front page of the Alaska Daily News is a big deal. It doesn’t matter if you’re an Olympian and U.S. Ski Team member; Holly Brooks was still pumped to be wasn’t even wearing a watch. A three-time runner up, Brooks had finally sealed her first Mount Marathon win. Engaged the day before the 2008 race, in which she came in second, she had a special history with the event. She...

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We Have to Go With the Times: Alaver on Estonian Skiing, Veerpalu’s Positive
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We Have to Go With the Times: Alaver on Estonian Skiing, Veerpalu’s Positive

Nathaniel HerzJune 29, 2012

Mati Alaver is a legend in Estonia. Alaver, 58, is credited with building his country’s cross-country ski program from scratch following Estonia’s independence in 1991. Over the last two decades, its athletes have won more than 15 major medals at World Championships and Olympic Games—not bad for a country with a population of 1.3 million. Alaver is known not just as a knowledgeable and successful coach, but also as a pitchman who found the sponsor...

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Saarinen Speaks from Eagle Glacier
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Saarinen Speaks from Eagle Glacier

Alex KochonJune 28, 2012

Aino-Kaisa Saarinen’s got a lot on her plate. Finland’s celebrated cross-country skier is currently on Eagle Glacier with the North American Women’s Training Alliance, a group of about 20 women from the U.S. and Canadian national teams. A multiple world champion with three Olympic medals, Saarinen, 33, has been in Alaska for more than two weeks, staying with U.S. Ski Team member and World Cup sprint champion Kikkan Randall during the first part of camp...

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Furrer Starts Training with Summer Sprint Victory
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Furrer Starts Training with Summer Sprint Victory

Alex KochonJune 28, 2012

Earlier this month, Philip Furrer wasn’t sure what his summer held. Sure, the Swiss cross-country ski racer knew he’d be training and spending three weeks with military recruits for Switzerland’s army requirement. At least he was a sports instructor for the mandatory period. Otherwise, work was winding down. Throughout spring, the 28-year-old from Andermatt, Switzerland, taught primary students in grades 1-6. When he wasn’t racing or traveling across the globe, Furrer, who started in four...

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Skiing, Rafting and a Sleepover: Fire and Ice Camp Recap
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Skiing, Rafting and a Sleepover: Fire and Ice Camp Recap

Alex KochonJune 26, 2012

After a massive wave of spring skiers left Bend, Ore., last month, the groomers at Mt. Bachelor hardly packed it in. The U.S. and Canadian national teams and several elite squads were gone, but nearly the same amount of skiers – 150 – were expected to flock to the snow-covered trails in June. The Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center and its club, the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation (MBSEF), planned accordingly. On June 16, the MBSEF...

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Freeman, Hoffman and Hamilton All Chat from Sognefjell
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Freeman, Hoffman and Hamilton All Chat from Sognefjell

Alex KochonJune 15, 2012

Two weeks ago, Kris Freeman and Noah Hoffman weren’t exactly sure what they were in for before flying to Norway, but they were excited. The two had been invited to a Norwegian national team training camp, and without much else besides their bare necessities, they headed to the snowfields of Sognefjell. On June 3, the two U.S. Ski Team (USST) members jumped into action with the Norwegian men’s squad, kicking things off Sunday afternoon with...

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Cork Settles Into New Role With U.S. Ski Team
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Cork Settles Into New Role With U.S. Ski Team

Audrey ManganJune 14, 2012

When he first started coaching juniors in Crested Butte, Colo., Jason Cork didn’t exactly expect the profession to eventually take him to the U.S. Ski Team. Though his recent appointment as its men’s coach now makes the evolution from junior, to college, to elite, to national team seem like a natural progression up the domestic coaching ranks, at each step of the way he has only ever been concerned with being a good coach for...

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Koos Hitting the Books, Logging the Hours
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Koos Hitting the Books, Logging the Hours

Alex KochonJune 7, 2012

It’s easy to get caught up in busy work. Torin Koos has plenty between taking two summer courses toward his master’s at Westminster College, fitting in workouts and writing features for a ski website he and seven others took over June 1. The three-time Olympian has website-usability tests to prepare for, professional and technical writing work to do. His site, his blog, Koos reflected on two notable races at Norwegian nationals in March. First, he...

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Between Training and Law School, Harvey One Busy Skier
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Between Training and Law School, Harvey One Busy Skier

Alex KochonJune 4, 20121

Most days of the week, Alex Harvey hits the road to Québec City, where he works out with the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre, undergoes physio treatments and studies law at Laval University. The drive along route 440 from Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA) to Québec’s capital is about 45 kilometers and lined with views worth pulling over for. Just outside the city, there’s Montmorency Falls, the province’s largest waterfall and 30 meters (98 feet) higher than Niagara...

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Interview: For Diggins, Big Changes While Trying to Keep Everything Else the Same

Chelsea LittleMay 23, 2012

BEND, Ore. – Jessie Diggins had a big year in 2012. After thoroughly dominating the domestic racing scene in the fall and early winter, the CXC and U.S. Ski Team athlete headed to Europe, where she immediately made a splash on the World Cup. In her first race there, in Milan, she finished 18th in the freestyle sprint, then followed it up with a second-place finish in the team sprint with Kikkan Randall. Diggins went...

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USSA Attracts Marketing Chief from CBS
GeneralInterviewsNewsUS Ski Team

USSA Attracts Marketing Chief from CBS

Alex KochonMay 22, 20121

Anyone unfamiliar with Michael Jaquet might be a little puzzled as to why he’d leave CBS after five years as a senior executive. A native of Sun Valley, Idaho, he spent seven years in TV, first at College Sports Television in national broadcast sales. Two years later, CBS took over and Jaquet rose to vice president of television and properties sales at the cable sports network. But New York City just wasn’t for him. Jaquet’s...

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Flora Brings Skiing to Northwest Alaska
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Flora Brings Skiing to Northwest Alaska

Alex KochonMay 18, 20121

While most of his cross-country skiing brethren kicked up the last bits of snow at Spring Series in Craftsbury, Vt., Lars Flora was hard at work at home in Anchorage, Alaska, crunching numbers and finalizing details of his upcoming trip. It would have been easy if he had been the only one traveling to Northwest Alaska, but Flora had 17 volunteer coaches and two doctors to accommodate, the NANA Development Corporation to run by, and...

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After Skiing Across America, Ocarizes Take Next Step
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After Skiing Across America, Ocarizes Take Next Step

Alex KochonMay 16, 2012

When Carolyn and Santi Ocariz clicked into their rollerskis slightly more than two months ago, neither really knew what they were in for. The Wisconsin couple heard plenty of stories about the places they’d travel through. They took to heart the warnings about crazy drivers, snakes and treacherous temperatures while crossing America’s heartland. It might not be hot when they left, but it could get brutal, and the elements could change 180 degrees by the...

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GeneralInterviewsNewsRacingUS Ski Team

Arritola Steps Away from Skiing, Leaves Gold Team

Alex KochonMay 2, 20122

Inside the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation center on Tuesday, Morgan Arritola made her usual rounds, visiting longtime friends and coaches and introducing them to her new addition – a puppy. A staple of the team for nearly a decade, the 25-year-old Olympian affectionately known as “Mo” wasn’t stopping in for training plans. She hadn’t just finished a workout and she wasn’t preparing to start one, either. Arritola was on a lunch break from her...

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An American at Bysprinten
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An American at Bysprinten

Audrey ManganMay 1, 2012

The sixth annual Bysprinten took place over the weekend in the small town of Mosjøen, Norway. The town is home to less than 10,000 residents, yet the event manages to attract some of the biggest names in cross-country skiing every year from both Norway and elsewhere in Europe. This year, Petter Northug (NOR), Laurien Van der Graaff (SUI), Øystein Pettersen (NOR), Heidi Weng (NOR) and Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) were among the biggest draws of...

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