After her first SuperTour podium and junior national titles last season, Sugar Bowl Academy's Hannah Halvorsen snagged a U.S. Ski Team nomination. Now she's making the most of her first training season without school.
An eight-year member of the Norwegian national team, Øystein Pettersen insists: "There are sides of Norwegian cross-country skiing that are not so positive. Eating disorders, overtraining, stress, pressure, the equipment arms race and much more. But doping, this is not part of the Norwegian cross-country sport."
Canada's famous Frozen Thunder officially opened Saturday after the Canmore Nordic Centre dumped an estimated 400 truckloads of snow onto its 1.3-kilometer loop in Canmore, Alberta. By Sunday's end, the loop should be roughly 2 k.
After scoring his first World Cup points last season, Whitehorse native Knute Johnsgaard is enjoying training more with Canada's senior national team. But he particularly appreciated a trip back home to the Yukon to chase wild sheep around on mountain ranges.
U.S. Ski Team and Alaska Pacific University skier Sadie Bjornsen has seen a few changes this summer including an increase in monthly training hours and the number of those sessions with her teammate Kikkan Randall. "It was definitely a new level of training for me, but I felt like I was able to absorb it, so that was cool," Bjornsen said.
Colorado biathlete Joanne Reid will join Susan Dunklee and Clare Egan to make up the U.S. women's World Cup team for the first period of racing. Meanwhile, Russell Currier (Outdoor Sports Institute) and Paul Schommer (USBA) are short-listed for the men's squad and will join a national team training camp in Canmore, Alberta, before one is ultimately selected.
It's back to school and the World Cup for U.S. Ski Team A-teamer Ida Sargent. Based out of Craftsbury, the Vermont native has been mindful to keep her training quality high. As she readies for the first World Cup in late November, she'll also keep her mind sharp while taking online classes in public health.
Carsen Campbell, a stalwart on Canada's youth and junior biathlon squads, has moved into the senior ranks and got his first World Cup start last season. What's the first thing he packs for a European race tour? "My Hammock! Never know when you'll have to sleep in an airport."
In the days following the news of Therese Johaug's positive drug test, several members of the U.S. women's ski team react along with coach Matt Whitcomb. While most agree "this is any athlete’s worst nightmare", Finnish World Cup skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen sympathizes while pushing for fair play.
Norway's Therese Johaug has been served a two-month provisional suspension while a hearing panel by the Norwegian Olympic Committee decides her fate: a much longer suspension could be in store. The star was caught using the banned steroid clostebol.
This week, Boulder Nordic Junior Racing (BNJR) Team Head Coach Adam St.Pierre shares a progressive track workout. “If you look at how many juniors in particular just go out at the start of a 5 k race and are just cooked within the first k, by putting them on a track and teaching them how small the changes in effort are to achieve different paces is a pretty powerful tool,” St.Pierre says.
Nordic has upstaged tubing in North Creek, N.Y., where a state-operated alpine area has made FIS-homologated, cross-country ski trails a priority. Along with 2.5 k and 3.3 k race loops, the Ski Bowl also has snowmaking, lights, and coming soon, Wi-Fi.
What's one thing Canadian senior national team member Cendrine Browne would change about skiing? "I'd take back the [FIS] rule on double poling!"
Not such a great summer for the Norwegian Ski Federation and Martin Johnsrud Sundby; now add Therese Johaug to that list. In this podcast episode, FasterSkier Editor-at-Large Chelsea Little discusses these doping cases and the recent IOC meetings where much was discussed, but perhaps not so much decided upon. Have a listen.
2016 was just his second year of biathlon, but Max Durtschi made his World Cup debut in Candmore. Balancing training with the national team and studying neuroscience at Dartmouth College takes a motivation: Durtschi relies on music from the spaghetti western "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" to get him out of bed in the morning.
After notching a World Cup top 20 last season, Canadian national-team member Julia Ransom is feeling more ready than ever for the upcoming season. On top of racing, she also volunteers with a local youth biathlon program in Canmore and is working toward a management degree.
A contrite and devastated Therese Johaug announced that she had tested positive for clostebol, an anabolic steroid. It was an ingredient in a lip cream she used after getting a severe sunburn at a high-altitude training camp. Her team doctor had told her that the cream contained no prohibited substances.
Often associated with Scandinavian culture, the concept of friluftsliv has helped shaped the nordic ski communities we all know. In Bend, Ore., a museum exhibit called "Winter Comes" celebrates the legacy of friluftsliv.
The Putney School, an independent, coeducational boarding and day high school in Putney, Vt., is looking for a nordic ski coach for this season. Dates are Monday, November 28 - December 15 and January 3 - March 3.
Matt Liebsch has joined Pioneer Midwest, located in Osseo, Minnesota. Liebsch, a graduate of Osseo High School, returns to the Nordic ski shop where he was first employed in 2002. “This is a homecoming for me,” said Liebsch. “I grew up attending Osseo schools and skiing for Osseo High School. Joining Adam at Pioneer Midwest is a tremendous opportunity. I know we can serve the needs of both high school racers and citizen skiers, from beginners to master skiers.”