Opinion Archives - Page 2 of 6

Strong Finishes for North Americans on IBU Cup, but is Increased European Presence Best for Domestic Biathlon?

This year, the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) had a radical shift in its athlete development strategy: instead of sending a full squad to the World Cup and leaving the rest of the American biathlon field at home, they...

Södergren Frustrated By Evolution of XC Skiing

The lack of a World Cup 50K race has Soedergren frustrated. “XC skiing is well on its way to lose its identity and its character,” Soedergren said to zsport.se.

2010 US Olympic Cross Country Ski Team – 8 of 10 Use Swix Ski Poles

Morgan Arritola, Ketchum, ID,23 SWIX Holly Brooks, Anchorage, AK, 27, SWIX Caitlin Compton, Minneapolis, MN 29, SWIX Kris Freeman, Andover, NH, 29, SWIX Torin Koos, Leavenworth, WA, 29, EXEL Garrott Kuzzy,...

US Nationals: Half-Full or Half-Empty

Another US Nationals has come and gone - and as usual the week featured big fields, great battles, enthusiastic crowds, and lots of hard work by organizers and volunteers. It seems that every year that there is a burst of...

A Failure of the US Ski Community: Will you even bother to read this?

We launched the Sean McCabe Memorial Fundraiser just over a week ago. In that time we have raised $2500 - reason to celebrate? I don't think so. Last night a reader posted the following comment on the fundraiser update....

Nordic Skiing Must Become Greener

One month ago, the nordic ski world participated in an international day of action in conjunction with 350.org. Some elite racers sponsored events of their own, while numerous others participated in the assorted events of the...

Nordic Club or High School Athletic Program

I was asked to comment on high school and club Nordic skiing. I’ll take this opportunity to discuss my personal thoughts and experiences on how high school and clubs can work together to be extremely effective.

The Clash of Clubs And Teams

Two weeks ago, Matthew Voisen put together an article describing blanket regulations enforced by associations that govern high school athletics, and how they appear excessive when applied to high school skiing programs. Some readers posted very informative comments about similar situations around the country, and it quickly reminded me of the extremely contentious relationships between high school programs and their elite club counterparts.

Read This if You Care About Skiing

Here's the disclaimer: I've spent a lot of time working with athletes on this cause and I'm biased. But I also feel strongly about skiing. There's a passionate connection for these things that I'm barring right here so...

Dazed and Confused

One of the movies in my video library is the 1993 ‘classic’ Dazed and Confused , a film about the night that follows the last day of school at a 1976 Texas high school. During the movie the main character, Randall...

FasterSkier Forums – A Challenge to All

Today FasterSkier launched the FasterSkier Forums. The purpose of these forums is to provide a platform for discussion and the sharing of information related to cross-country skiing, nordic combined and biathlon. The...

The costume disciplinarian speaks: Is it better to look good than to ski fast?

Oh, sure, every World Cup Nordic ski team needs a good waxing crew, but they need something more -- a top-notch costume disciplinarian. I’m not talking about some Scandinavian blonde with a whip (though there were those...

An Open Letter to Vasaloppet

Editor's Note: The following is an open letter written by Hannes Larsson, President of the International Association of World Loppet Skiers (IAWLS), to the Vasaloppet. The letter has been sent to a number of Swedish...

A Critique of US Skiing

Editor's Note: This piece is an op-ed and does not necessarily reflect the views of FasterSkier. As always, please feel free to comment, but please keep discussion civil. A lot has been written on this wesbite about...

The US Doper Problem

The US Nordic community has a doper problem. The problem is that we have a tendency to allow dopers to occupy too much of our field of vision. Doping alone has never made a winner, and if we want to improve our results we...

The End is Nigh

April is just days away, and like it or not, the 2008-2009 ski season is coming to an end. Depending on where you live, there may be skiing for at least another month, but the racing season is basically over in North...

Petter Northug, Hero or Punk….

A few weeks ago we ran a short piece asking what people thought about Petter Northug's behavior, on and off the race course. We asked the question, "Can Northug be considered a true champion if he doesn't treat his...

Trondheim 2009 – The Full Potential of The World Cup Mass Start

Trondheim, Norway - The annual late season 30/50km World Cup event was run yesterday in Trondheim. This race is traditionally held outside Oslo at the famed Holmenkollen Ski Stadium, but was moved due to construction in...

An Editorial on Skiing For the Greater Good

by Sam Newbury After last week’s stellar performances by US athletes at World Championships, there has been much talk about the momentum and health of our sport. While top results certainly help, I wonder how else we...

What is Good World Cup Coverage Worth to You?

Note: The actual names in the following account have been changed to protect the innocent ... Thinking back to 1994 and watching the Lillehammer Olympic races, it’s not hard to remember that American ski coverage has...

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