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Q&A: Burke New Head Coach Will Sweetser

If you are from New England, you’ve probably heard of Will Sweetser. Originally from Auburn, Maine, Sweetser, 47, has been coaching nordic for the last 25 years. He skied for Dartmouth and coached at Bates College, the Jackson Hole Ski Club, Carrabassett Valley Academy, and Rangeley Lakes Ski Club before spendingOutdoor Sports Institute and expanded its mission to four seasons of outdoor sports in Maine. With a baby on the way, Sweetser and his wife, Sarah Dominick,...

South Korea’s Medal Hope, Eui Hyun Sin Preps for Home Paralympics

For a few days at the end of January, a sea of stringed kites fills the skies of many cities in South Korea. The normally crowded streets of downtown Seoul — the country’s capital — empty and become almost devoid of people. Many of the residents are indoors with their families, or en route to the hometowns of relatives, all in order to celebrate Seollal, one of the nation’s greatest Korean holidays. Generally spanning a...

Op-Ed: The Substance of Perspective

(The following op-ed is an opinion piece submitted by an author unassociated with FasterSkier. Viewpoints do not necessarily reflect that of FasterSkier’s staff or sponsors. We fully support open dialogue and encourage the use of the comments section at the bottom of this page to express varying views. To submit an op-ed, email in its 2018 national team selection criteria. pneumonia. The World Cup start rights that were given to Patterson baffled the rest of...

UNM Athletics Department Covered Up Boosters’ Golf Junket, Documents Show

The finances of the University of New Mexico (UNM) athletic department are back in the news once more, this time with allegations of spending nearly $65,000 in public funds to pay for a 2015 golfing trip to Scotland and then actively hiding the trip and its participants, on top of a recent history of money-losing sports programs and expensive coaching buyouts. As FasterSkier pointed to a mitigation clause written into the quondam coach’s contract that...

U.S. Ski Team Nomination Breakdown with Head Coach Grover

Shortly after the U.S. Ski Team (USST) medalist at the World Junior Championships, made the objective criteria that way.” Below are the eight A-team athletes and Ogden, who was renominated to the development “D” team, that met the USST’s objective criteria for team selection. A Team Men Simi Hamilton (Stratton Mountain School Elite Team) Andy Newell (SMS Elite) Women Sadie Bjornsen (Alaska Pacific University) Sophie Caldwell (SMS Elite) Jessie Diggins (SMS Elite) Kikkan Randall (APU) Ida Sargent (Craftsbury Green...

Kristen Bourne on Recovering from Mono and Making NCAAs

Two-and-half months into her summer training last year, Kristen Bourne woke up in a cold sweat. Her temperature read higher than normal and no amount of lozenges could soothe her sore throat. The Central Collegiate Ski Association (CSSA) Distance Championships and also qualified for NCAA Skiing Championships. There in Jackson, N.H., she finished 17th in the 5 k classic and was the top NMU woman in the 15 k freestyle mass start two days later, placing 13th and 

U.S. Cross Country Nominates 2017/2018 National Team

press release. Most notably, selection criteria and the nomination breakdown below: A TEAM Men Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 5/14/87) Andrew Newell (Shaftsbury, VT; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 11/30/83) Women Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 11/21/89) Sophie Caldwell (Peru, VT; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 3/22/90) Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 8/26/91) Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 12/31/82) Ida...

Russian Skiers Appear Before Court of Arbitration for Sport

On Monday, Russian cross-country skiers appeared before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to protest their provisional suspension by the International Ski Federation (FIS). “The hearings were held for five hours, during which we actively discussed all the legal and factual subtleties,” Christoph Wieschemann – the lawyer for Alexander Legkov and Evgeny Belov – In late December, 2016, FIS suspended Legkov, Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexei Petukhov, Julia Ivanova, and Evgenia Shapovalova. The suspensions were...

Nordic Nation: Training and Intensity with Dr. Stephen Seiler

80/20 Rule — the easy to hard intensity ratio when it comes to training sessions, has been well publicized. Seiler believes easy days should be truly easy, meaning walking the hills may be mandatory. If the easy days are easy, then the hard days are hard. He espouses a fidelity to training models with little, if any, in-between efforts; that means no middle-of-the-road intensity. And his observations come straight from Norway. “… They know what gets you...

Hoffman Heads East to Reboot: ‘I Never Felt Totally Done’

At 27, Noah Hoffman has had a singular goal — to be one of the best cross-country skiers in the world. From his hometown of Aspen, Colo., to the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation in 2007, to the U.S. Ski Team (USST) in 2008, Hoffman evolved into the country’s top distance skier. Internationally, Hoffman (who switched clubs in 2009 to join Ski & Snowboard Club Vail) raised expectations after placing second in the 15-kilometer classic at the 2012 U23 World...

This article has been updated with additional comments from UNM student-athlete Brenna Egan. * * * Skiing at the University of New Mexico (UNM) is officially alive again, at least for one more year, while the university and the ski team pursue viable long-term funding sources, school officials announced earlier on Thursday. Speaking at a regularly scheduled meeting of the UNM Board of Regents Thursday afternoon, Acting President Chaouki T. Abdallah told the board that “several...

A Lock Since 2008, Hoffman Not Renamed to U.S. Ski Team

Monday afternoon, Noah Hoffman big-volume 2016/2017 training load and subsequent lackluster results, as well as his near off-the-grid month adventuring in Utah’s desert country. As of late Monday night, the 2017/2018 U.S. Ski Team (USST) nominations had not been released publicly. USST Head Coach Chris Grover declined to comment on the team’s newest iteration or Hoffman not being renamed to the team until a formal announcement is made through the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA). Team...

2017 American Birkie: An Experience I’ll Never Forget

The following firsthand account was written by FasterSkier intern Ian Tovell, who attended this year’s American Birkebeiner in February, which was estimated 10,000 people coming out for a casual ski on a 5-kilometer loop, on-snow demos, live music, food and a beer garden. Photos from Ian, FasterSkier contributor Vince Rosetta, and the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. *** The 2017 American Birkebeiner will be a race that no one will ever forget. It will be remembered for a tremendous...

Haggenmiller Departs Michigan Tech, Joins CXC

Organizers in Ishpeming, Mich., had everything in place to host the 2003 U.S. SuperTour Finals and Distance Nationals. Everything but snow. The area had encountered a heat wave and with barely any coverage, the competitions needed to be moved. The chief of competition and the organizing committee for the weeklong event, Joe Haggenmiller had his hands full in finding a new venue. A little more than an hour northwest was his answer. Houghton, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, had plenty of...

USA Nordic Transitions as Jarrett and Schafer Step Down

Listed at the bottom of a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) press release Until 2014, USSA managed the U.S. Nordic Combined Team. The team is now run by USA Nordic, yet Jarrett’s position has remained under USSA’s umbrella — they continued to pay his salary. With the 2014 split, Jarrett’s responsibilities grew as he took on both coaching duties as well as some of the logistics of running a team. “Honestly, it’s amazing he lasted as long...