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[Author's note: the views and opinions expressed in this piece are not necessarily those of me, and stand an even less-likely chance of being claimed by fasterskier.com. Any complaints can be directed to the non-existent email adress of your choosing (for those requiring assistance in coming up with an address, please contact http://www.fasterskier.com/racing2086.html ] The World Cup turned its focus to the Norwegian city of Drammen today, where thousands of ski-crazy spectators packed in along...

Three Russian women on top in a World Cup race for the first time in four years — five days before the start of the World Championship. It raises lingering suspicions. Several coaches doubt that the Russians are clean reports Norwegian newspaper VG (www.vg.no story on We all know the real winner Russia went from having one skier in the top twelve (3rd place) in the 10-k skate in Nove Mesto on January 15 and...

The response to our January 14, article “Sprint Racing — How Can We Get Better?” ( http://www.fasterskier.com/Club/info.php Here are some emails we received: – I believe very strongly that we indeed need to specialize.  I am in total agreement with Torbjorn’s suggestions/thoughts/ideas pertaining to the development of World Class Sprinters and need for many, many more race starts for our sprinters. Our athletes who love/live for sprinting and want to be the best in the...

The following is meant to be a contribution to get creative ideas coming and a discussion going regarding sprint race-schedules, race format and athlete selection: I have had a chance to observe the last three main sprint races in the US and have some suggestions for how to make training for sprint racing more attractive and for North American sprinters to become better. There are not enough sprint races. Sprinters need more races and 1000-1500...

Last year, at a Canada Cup race in Calgary, somebody pointed out to me that I was the second oldest person in the Open Men category. The startling part is that I was, at that point, 26 years old! “How could this be?”, I thought. “I don’t even have gray hair or a beer belly yet”. Then I wondered where all the skiers older than myself went. It is kind of sad, if you think...

As reported on FasterSkier, Unni Odegaard was recently involved in an accident in Norway. She was hit by car from behind while rollerskiing. She was in a coma for two days and is currently in the hospital recovering and waiting for the results of a CT scan. Unni studied and ski raced for five years in the US, as a collegiate skier for the University of Colorado and also as a member of the Subaru Factory Team. Unni...

Skiing Fast and Looking Good…Mutually Exclusive?? Steadily rolling my way along a stretch of immaculate pavement recently (while shirtless of course), the standard amalgam of gravel spewing semi’s and profanity spewing rednecks rumbling by, I had the rare (exceedingly so) pleasure of being the recipient of an exuberant “Holy Hotness!!” from a passing vehicle full of women. Now, before you get too excited, understand that the women were A.) all octogenarians on their way to/from...

Nordic racing, over the last ten years or so, has evolved significantly in terms of distances and formats. We have more mass starts, more sprints, all types of variations of the pursuit, and other events like sprint relays. While the question of whether or not these are positive developments has been the subject of fairly frequent debate, the question of how to confront it as a racer seems to surface less often. We have seen...

Fasterskier.com was founded right before the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. We saw a need for a web site with ambitions to create a broader interest for cross country skiing. We wanted to cover not only training articles, but also cover the people in the races and behind the scene, the personalities and psychology in racers of all ages, the events, the equipment, the preparations, the inspiration, the results, the success and failure and...

Pat Tillman Embraced Higher Calling (USA Today Story) My plan for Tuesday called for writing another cross country ski training article but that changed (to a day for reflections instead) after I had read USA Today’s “The Forum” article on page 13A by Dave Kindred (Tuesday, April 27, 2004). The article was called -Tillman embraced higher calling. I have followed sport since childhood but never seen an athlete ever make a choice like Tillman. In...

Today, as the FasterSkier.com staff was browsing the internet looking for the latest in cross-country ski news, we came across a poll on ESPN.com asking the question “Who Is The World's Greatest Athlete?” They gave a list of 64 athletes in an elimination bracket, and asked their readers to vote for the best athlete in each match-up. The eventual winner will be crowned 'World's Greatest Athlete.' We browsed through the names – full of football...

I am only 23 years old but I have spent a majority of my life involved with the US Ski Team. From the time I won my first Junior National Championship at 15, they have been involved in my development. The ski team has had its problems. The most obvious problem was the attitude that the US would never compete internationally. This stance was exacerbated by the Ski Team’s tiny budget, a slew of under...

Last fall I made the following (controversial?) statement in an article describing a skate rollerski interval session (To view this entire article see – www.torbjornsport.com selling the PRO-SKI Rollerski brand so my comments regarding skis from other brands are not (quite) objective. I still feel a need for commenting on rollerskis with pneumatic wheels as a training devise used to improve race performance. In short: It’s no way you can achieve the performance and quality...