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The Alpine Perspective: Athlete Support and the U.S. Ski Team

“The biggest issue with the ski team is that they do not support athletes through thick and thin. They support the very top athletes well but other than that everyone else is constantly stressed out about re-qualifying for the team or raising enough money to be able to compete that season.” — Tim Kelley, 2015 World Championships U.S. alpine team member, UVM alumnus & assistant coach “It is very hard to watch some American athletes...

Inside the 2018 Olympic Selection Criteria with Chris Grover

Note: This is the first of a multiple-part series on the 2018 Winter Olympic selection criteria for the U.S. cross-country ski team. A selection criteria and procedures for nomination to the U.S. Olympic team. Briefly put, what does it take to get to PyeongChang? And what factors will U.S. Ski Team (USST) coaches and (Lahti in 2017. First comes objective qualification via performance on the World Cup. Second comes the potential use of discretionary picks....

The Cross-Country Olympic Criteria, in the Context of U.S. Winter Sports

Note: This is part of a series on the 2018 Winter Olympic selection criteria for the U.S. cross-country ski team. Read this cross-country athletes will be selected for the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, it’s useful to know some context about how selections are made in other sports. As described in a on the NBC Olympic site. That means that cross-country skiing was the very last set of 2018 U.S. Winter Olympic team criteria to...

Alaska Pacific University’s (APU) 25-year-old Scott Patterson isn’t easily distracted. His is a busy schedule with a repetitive cycle like something out of the movie “Groundhog Day”. In Patterson’s case, the routine goes something like this: wake, eat, train, eat, work, train, sleep … repeat. “My general plan is I try to put in about 25 hours a week,” Patterson said over the phone from his home base in Anchorage. Just so we’re clear, that’s...

From D to B: Paddy Caldwell’s Natural Progression

Back in December of 2010, 15-year-old Patrick “Paddy” Caldwell was racing amongst grown men. He finished 17th in an International Ski Federation (FIS) classic sprint held in Craftsbury, Vt. Today, at 23, Caldwell skis for the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team and is a newly minted U.S. Ski Team (USST) B-team member. To put things in perspective, during that 2010 Craftsbury sprint, Patrick O’Brien, Caldwell’s current primary coach and head of the SMS Elite Team, was nearly 23...

CCC on Team Selections and ‘Moving Ahead’ with Half the Budget of Sochi

What a year for Cross Country Canada (CCC). For the first time in history, its men’s team stood on a World Cup gold and its women’s team pulled off its Canada’s 2017/2018 national-team nominations earlier this month, FasterSkier caught up with CCC’s High Performance Director Thomas Holland and the World Cup co-coach Ivan Babikov to discuss the program moving forward.  What’s changed since last year? Not much. With a strong season behind them, an Olympic season ahead and a solid coach...

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...

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...

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...

For the second-straight year, the World Cup’s season-ending races will be held in Canada, with Québec City hosting 2017 World Cup Finals, this Friday through Sunday. Canada initially announced a according to a press release. On Thursday, FasterSkier confirmed that the list included the Women | U.S. selection criteria, and

Cervenka Sweeps Youth/Junior Biathlon Trials; 15 Named to U.S. Team

The United States Biathlon Association (USBA) held three days of youth and junior biathlon trials racing in Jericho, Vermont, January 28-30. At the end of the series, USBA named this year’s team to Youth and Junior World Championships. The competitions are slated for February. But the location is pending. The Championships were scheduled to be held in Ostrov, Russia, but USBA press release) Youth Women Chloe Levins (Rutland, Vt./Mountain Top Nordic Ski Club) Amanda Kautzer (Plymouth, Minn./Loppet Nordic Racing/Michigan)...

Tandy, Beaudry Snag Final Two Spots on Biathlon Canada’s World Cup Team

Five days after Biathlon Canada’s team selection time trials, Biathlon Canada finalized its team for Trimester 1 of IBU World Cup racing. National-team members Megan Tandy and Sarah Beaudry secured the final two spots on the women’s squad, joining their teammates Rosanna Crawford and Julia Ransom. "I am really excited to head to Europe and improve on my performances from trials," Beaudry explained.