This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. When it comes to the Olympics, every skiing nation may dream of winning the relay, but every skier dreams of winning the 50 k. It’s the race with history; it’s the race with bragging rights. Even more so when it’s raced in Classic technique ....
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you want more coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. For much of the last 30 years, the late Dr Jim Stray-Gundersen and I have been studying how we quantify training load. In the mid-90s, we met Dr. Erik Bannister at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Conference in Orlando, Florida. Dr Bannister developed the Training Impulse...
According to stories released today by the Associated Press, Norwegian cross-country skiing legend, Therese Johaug, has announced her retirement. Only a day after FasterSkier postulated whether or not Johaug was still considering another run at the Olympic Games (which would’ve been her fourth Olympics), she took a new direction—announcing that she wants to be fully devoted to her young family—and stepped out from under one of the brightest Nordic skiing spotlights that the sport has...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Therese Johaug’s Olympic dilemma is fairly straightforward. It’s this: why bother? She’s done everything there is to do in the sport of cross-country skiing—World Cup Crystal Globes (which she certainly won’t chase in 2026), Tour de Ski (which she probably won’t enter in 2026), World...
Job Title: EU Youth Nordic Head Coach (primary focus is EU Skiwerx) Job Status: Part-Time, 20 hours per week (approximate hours, will vary based on season), salary range $18,000-$20,000 depending on experience and qualifications. Evenings and weekends are required. Description: The EU Youth Head Coach is responsible for the curriculum, organization, and lead coaching role for the EU Skiwerx program. This program is subject to change based on the season (e.g., spring, summer, fall, and...
Auburn Ski Club (ASC) is a historic non-profit organization that has been dedicated to providing snow sports to the greater Northern California region since 1928. Today, ASC operates a snow sports Training Center (TC) on Donner Summit that provides athletic programs, USSS/FIS competition/training venues, and youth snowsports teams ranging from entry to elite level for Alpine, Snowboard, Nordic, and Biathlon. The TC cross-country venue also operates as a 25km Nordic Center open to the public....
The ASC is a non-profit organization operating a snow sports facility with Alpine, Snowboard, Nordic, Biathlon programs, clinics, competitions, and social events with a 25km Nordic Center open to the public. ASC was born from the visionary founders of the Auburn Ski Club in 1928. For years the organization worked as a ski club to support snow sports in Northern California. Today, we operate with much a broader regional reach with multiple snow sport disciplines,...
In all FasterSkier’s recent mentions, suppositions, and explanations regarding Olympic races scheduled to be staged in 2026, one factor has repeatedly been highlighted: the potential for all such predictions to be overturned by the presence of athletes from Russia. The most recent statements from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) report that no such decision has been made yet (though that could literally change at any moment). For the time being, Russian athletes remain banned from...
PRESS RELEASE – The International Biathlon Union (IBU) and the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) welcome the decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal to reject the appeals of former Russian biathlete Evgeny Ustyugov. These final rulings uphold the previous decisions of the IBU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), confirming sanctions for anti-doping rule violations. Mr. Ustyugov was sanctioned based on abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport and evidence from the...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you want more coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. In many endurance sports in the U.S.—including cross-country skiing—there seems to be a desire to identify standout U16 athletes as future stars. USSS, team programs, and coaches often respond by elevating their competition opportunities and increasing their training beyond what their physiological development can realistically support. In my early...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Track and Field’s Sprint Relay is a full-throttle dash of 4 x 100 meters transporting a sometimes-slippery baton around a single lap of the 400 meter track. True sprinters only, please. Track Cycling’s Team Sprint is a one kilometer max effort in which three cyclists...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you want more coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Coach, competitor, correspondent, commentator—Jim Galanes has spent a lifetime on cross country skis, always serving as a keen observer of our sport. A three-time Olympian in both Cross-Country and Nordic Combined, Jim has tested the theories, initiated the instruction, assessed the results. Now, FasterSkier is thrilled to announce...
U.S. Ski & Snowboard officially nominates 21 athletes to the 2025-26 Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team roster. The team is nominated based on pre-determined selection criteria. The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team announces its teams in two phases: nomination and acceptance. The athletes are formally nominated to the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team in May. Pending their acceptance of the nomination and adherence to the team expectations outlined in the team criteria, athletes will...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. The International Ski Federation (FIS) recently announced its World Cup schedule for 2025-2026. The questions that announcement inpsires are these: does it really matter, and will skiers actually show up? It’s an Olympic year, after all . . . it’s hard for athletes to prioritize...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. With the Norwegian men and Swedish women so likely to dominate the relays, these should be the least surprising races on the Olympic cross-country skiing schedule. But Olympic relays have a long history of not turning out the way that fans, experts, and odds-makers predict....
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo faces a bizarre dilemma of the sort experienced only by stars and legends: either he authors another miracle in 2026—making lightning strike a second time—or he disappoints the whole sporting world. Those are Klaebo’s options as he looks forward to the Olympic...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. In an earlier era of our sport, all Nordic ski races were interval start events; every distance at every championship, individual skiers racing against the clock, disappearing into the woods on a single sinuous track, returning to a finish line after the challenging completion of...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. In 2025, Jessie Diggins won the World Cup overall title for a third time—and for the second year in a row. How can such a terrific achievement end up creating a dilemma? Here’s how . . . American media has numerous and gaping blind spots...
Green Mountain Valley School, located in Waitsfield, VT, is seeking an experienced, inspiring, and mission-aligned Nordic Program Director to lead its cross-country ski program and help shape the next generation of champions and leaders. Interested in Learning More? As Nordic Program Director, you’ll oversee all aspects of our Nordic program, from high-level coaching and athlete development to program strategy and recruitment. You’ll play a key leadership role in a collaborative school community that values excellence,...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Fast-forward to February 10, 2026—Val di Fiemme, Italy. Day 2 of the Olympic Cross Country schedule is a Classic Sprint, with medals being awarded in both men’s and women’s events on the same day. That means this Classic Sprint takes place after two days of...