Interviews

This spring John Farra was named USSA Nordic Director, replacing Luke Bodensteiner. Hailing from Saratoga Springs, New York and a member of NYSEF in Lake Placid, John was a member of the 1992 Olympic team. He won a National Title in the 10km classic in 1991 and graduated from the University of Utah in 1996. Most recently he served as the Vice President and Programs Director at the Maine Winter Sports Center. Last month he...

Summary: Trina has won countless medals at Master's Nationals, Master's World Championships and continually keeps our junior and senior skiers honest at the NENSA TD Banknorth Eastern Cups. Not surprising with the impressive history Trina has behind her! Master's Series Interview with Trina Hosmer She has been an enthusiastic cross-country skier and competitor for over 40 years; was on the first International U. S. Women's XC Ski Team that went to the World Championships in...

Murray Banks is a master ski racer, motivational speaker and Nordic ski coach. He has competed for many years in cross country skiing and most recently competed in the World Masters Championships last year in McCall, ID. Murray can also be seen racing in New England as well as coaching skiers from the Mt. Mansfield Club in Vermont. 1. Murray, you are on the road a lot with your career, motivating others. I know how...

Caitlin Compton races for the CXC Elite Team. She won the overall SuperTour title in 2006/2007, is a two-time National Champion – winning the 5km freestyle in 2008 and the team sprint in 2007, and finished 37th in the Individual 15km at the 2008 Biathlon World Championships. Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Caitlin graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2004. She races on Salomon skis and boots, and rollerskis from FinnSisu. FasterSkier: Thanks so much for...

Garrott Kuzzy was named to the US B Team this spring after a season in which he won the SuperTour Sprint title, finished 9th in the freestyle sprint at the Canmore World Cup, and raced the the later part of the European World Cup circuit. Garrott trains and races with the Central Cross-Country Ski Association Elite Team (CXC). He graduated from Middlebury College in 2006 where he was an All-American cross-country skier. After growing up...

Rob Bradlee has competed for 35 years in cross country skiing and most recently competed in the World Masters Championships last year in McCall, ID. Rob can be seen most every weekend racing the Eastern Cup circuit as well as coaching skiers from the successful CSU program near Boston. 1. Rob, you work full time in the Computer field- how you find the time to work, coach and train for your own events? True confession...

Flash interview with Lukas Bauer 30-year-old Lukas Bauer from the Czech Republic was the dominator of the Cross-Country season 2007/2008. He won the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear, the overall FIS World Cup as well as the distance World Cup title. The FIS Cross-Country News had the chance to interview the Czech ski star after his most successful season so far. CCN: Lukas, after such an outstanding season that included the...

Travis Jones, former Head Coach with the Bogus Basin Nordic Team has accepted an offer to become the Head Coach for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Cross Country Olympic Development Team. Rick Kapala, SVSEF Cross Country program Director, commented “We are very excited to add Travis to our staff. He will bring a very high level of experience and enthusiasm to the SVSEF ski team and we are lucky to be able to attract...

Stratton skiers have made up a large part of the New England JO team each year, and have qualified a number of skiers to the J1 Scando trips and Jr. World Championships. This year at JO's, Stratton skiers were awarded the Roger Weston High School Team Award (Female) and took second overall in the USSA Club Team award. Andy Newell is perhaps the best known recent Alum, but overall 27 SMS Nordic athletes have made...

Laura Valaas, one of the top skiers in the country, spent the second half of the season racing on the World Cup. She skis for APUNSC and is a member of the US B-Team. Phil Bowen talked with Laura after the World Cup races in Canmore. Philip Bowen: I recently read about your spending time studying. Do you consider yourself a full-time ski racer? You didn't attend an NCAA powerhouse ski school. How has your...

From Rob Whitney's “Coaches Around the Country” interview with Pete Philips – 8. JO’s are in Anchorage this coming March. With that said, Alaska will probably beat New England (duh). Care to comment? 🙂 I think I’m learning enough to be able to answer that in Vermont… “Care to comment?” Yup. “Alaska will probably beat New England.” Nope. Credit where credit is due – here is Pete's recent follow up : “Ok, ok, I don't...

Liz Stephen is a member of the US Ski Team. She finished third in the mass-start freestyle race at the U23 World Championships in Italy. FasterSkier: First of all, congratulations on your 3rd place finish! Could you give us a quick recap of that race, and how it felt afterwards to be standing the podium an international championship event? Liz Stephen: Thank you. I really enjoy mass starts. It is almost guaranteed to be a...

Just back from the World Junior/U23 Championships in Italy, US Ski Team Development Coach Matt Whitcomb took the time to talk with FasterSkier about the trip. FasterSkier: The World Junior/U23 Championships concluded last week. What is your overall evaluation of the success of the US Team? Matt Whitcomb: We had an awesome trip. The food was over-board classic Italian, the venue was hilly and spectator / service-friendly, the snow was deep and the days were...

FasterSkier: Let’s start with World Juniors — this was your first major international Championship event — what were your overall impressions competing at that level? Noah Hoffman: World Juniors this year was definitely a new experience for me. It was very exciting. One of my favorite parts was seeing all the different nations represented. Unlike Scando Cup, where I’ve gone the last two years, it was not just the big skiing nations who were there...

Chad is head ski coach for the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. 5. You are an ideas kind of person. (a good thing!). What's been digging at you this recent ski season? Or, any wild ideas? Well, the block intensity training that is going on is interesting. I don’t think there is any doubt it is working…for some very talented, tough athletes. I look at Kalla, Bjoergen, Scott, Demong, Burke—they’ve all raised their...

Editor's Note: This is the second installment of a three-part interview. The next section will be available over the coming week. Read Part 2 Sue, what are your impressions on the coach education going on in America? I don’t have a great feel for the collegiate sport system. I see this, though, as a weakness. College sports come down mainly to competing against each other. It cannot help information sharing when people are focused on...

Editor's Note: This is the second installment of a three-part interview. Read Part 3 Sue, you talked earlier about building the environment and the requisite coaching knowledge, what are other countries doing in regards to this? What is the Australian talent identification program like? The talent identification is not that big of a deal. You hear about it externally and it sounds like they’re scouring the countryside, funneling people into specialized training centers. Yes, they...

Editor's Note: This is the first installment of a three-part interview. The next two sections will be available over the coming week. Over the past nine years the US Ski Team has relied on the services of Sue Robson as head sports physiologist. During this time, Sue worked hands-on with coaches and athletes alike, making sure the physical training of America’s speed and tech racers, cross-country and Nordic combiners reflected the aspirations of the USSA...

Andrew Gardner: You've just popped a huge result. What do your successes in Canmore do to your confidence / training / etc? Garrott Kuzzy: The week in Canmore had both positive and negative aspects. The skate sprint was a highlight, but the Pursuit race shows there’s still a lot to work on. I think the 15km skate is the best reflection of my fitness right now, as the time gaps in that race were similar...

Phil Bowen: You're a student of the sport. Both in running and skiing, you seem to have a respect for those who came before you. Names like Koch, Wassberg, Svan, Mikkelsplass. Yet as a sprinter, you are definitely part of the new school – the format is hardly 10 years old. Do you feel like you're betraying (maybe too strong a word) the forefathers or are you happy to be part of the revolution? Torin...