Stifel U.S. cross-country ski team member Novie McCabe recently won the Gold Rush Award. This award is given to the Nordic Olympic woman who “has represented the U.S. in cross -country skiing and has demonstrated outstanding qualities of grit and grace throughout the year.” Past recipients include Rosie Brennan, Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, Sophie Caldwell Hamilton, Jessie Diggins, and Julia Kern. The past recipients choose the next award winner, so it’s quite a prestigious field...
This week, FasterSkier caught up with U.S. cross-country team member Julia Kern. It turns out catching up with Julia isn’t just hard on the racecourse, but it’s pretty darn challenging in life. No one would begrudge any team member a much needed travel respite after a draining World Cup season. But Julia appears to thrive on movement—she seems to be a living example of Newton’s First Law of Motion— a body in motion will remain...
In a tersely worded announcement, the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced that its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes would continue. The entirety of the release was contained in the summary notes of decisions made at the FIS Council meeting held May 24th. The current FIS policy, which does not allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in FIS events, will remain in effect until further notice. ...
Dear Cross Country Community, The 2023-24 Cross Country World Cup Selection Criterion has been approved by the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee and can be found here: https://usskiandsnowboard.org/sport-programs/criteria/cross-country-world-cup-criteria A few notes about the updated criterion and the Canmore and Minneapolis World Cups: We have removed the criteria that allows for an athlete ranked in the top-50 WC Overall to proceed to the next period of World Cup. The athlete must...
It was, “a race people still talk about,” said long-time Stillwater Area High School Coach Bill Simpson when FasterSkier interviewed him in February. Distinctive red and white letterman jackets looked on from the stadium, medals clanging from the giant “S” insignias in the cold Iron Range wind. Giant’s Ridge, just outside of Biwabik, looked like the Hoosiers Field House if the janitor had forgotten to turn the heat on. A pairing of two future stars...
What are European World Cup skiers asking ahead of the circuit’s first-ever visit to Minneapolis next February? According to Jessie Diggins, “They’re like, have you heard of the Mall of America?” In a recent media event held at Theodore Wirth Park, Diggins—with fellow Minnesotan US Ski Team member Zak Ketterson—highlighted plans to make the first FIS World Cup held in the United States in 22 years an even bigger Twin Cities attraction than a mall...
The second annual Sovereign to SilverStar Ski Marathon has successfully completed with 70% more registrations than in its inaugural year. With over 600 participants, and 800 entries over the two days of event the S2S has already grown into Canada’s 3rd largest loppet and the biggest in BC. This partnership event between Sovereign Lake Nordic Club and SilverStar Mountain Resort managed to raise $11,500 for Kidsport Vernon this year. Kidsport is a local charity that...
In 2024, Minneapolis, Minnesota will host an FIS World Cup. That fact has been the source of pure excitement across US Skiing, and also of déjà vu. For many skiers and ski fans, the cancellation of the planned World Cup races at Theodore Wirth Park in March 2020 will forever be associated with those uncertain first days of the COVID-19 pandemic. American World Cup athletes had come home, the banners and bleachers were up, when...
Team Birkie is made up of individuals who are committed to reaching their potential as cross-country skiers. The goal of the program is to support each athlete’s pursuit of domestic and international excellence by providing necessary infrastructure for success in the sport. This infrastructure includes a full-time coaching staff and individualized year-round training program, experienced race service, equipment sponsors and suppliers, physical therapy, access to training facilities, sports performance testing and a rollerski treadmill, a...
Oh, you thought we were done? Nat had the chance to interview Norwegian cross-country skiing legend Petter Northug Jr. for his story for the New York Times about the Holmenkollen ski marathons. Rather than leave the audio on the cutting room floor, we thought we’d share it with you. Sorry about the audio quality and the frequent interjections from Nat, but this was not originally intended as podcast-quality material — turn it off if you must. And:...
This is the end. Of the 2023 racing season. Devon and Nat go without guests and are here to take you through the last three events of the winter in Lahti, Finland. And we cover a couple of retirement announcements from U.S. skiers. We’re taking a little break after this but, we promise: We won’t leave you hanging for the whole off-season. Stay tuned for more regular episodes over the course of the spring and...
PARK CITY, UT (March 27, 2023) – Hailey Swirbul of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team is ready to say goodbye to World Cup ski racing. The 2022 Olympian has formally announced her retirement from the World Cup circuit hours after crossing the finish line at the 2022-23 World Cup Finals in Lahti, Finland. 24-year-old Swirbul, an El Jebel, Colorado native, has been on the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team for years, represented her country at two World...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. The most dominant World Cup season ever by a male skier; a tally of wins that ties Theresa Johaug (NOR) for the greatest number of victories in a single season (20) by...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Today marked the end: at the completion of today’s women’s 20 kilometer Classic mass start in Lahti, Finland, all unanswered questions would be resolved. There would not be any waiting until next...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. After Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) qualified third in Saturday’s classic sprint, the tension rose to a fever pitch. With ten bonus points earned, Dahlqvist had cut the Sprint Crystal Globe gap between herself...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. By this time in his storied and much-decorated career, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) definitely knows his way around a bottle of champagne. Given enough time on World Cup podiums (as Klaebo has...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. World Cup Finals began under overcast Finnish skies Friday, as the circuit looks to settle the questions of a long season over the next three days. Who was—and who wasn’t—racing in Friday’s...
Volunteers dug out the blankets. It was ten below (and falling) at Birch Hill in Fairbanks, Alaska, but the stadium was packed. There were sprint races on, after all: Junior National Championship sprint races. So, the dedicated volunteers cloaked racers in blankets between heats, and the best junior skiers in the nation took on the look of one of those old NFL Films sideline shots where hulking linemen huddle around heaters as steam rises off...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. For the last week of World Cup sprinting, two pairs of skis have followed each other back and forth, every stride marked in tandem with the other. Twenty meters from the finish...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. All things being equal—including the wax—it appears that the fastest skier is still the fastest skier. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo’s (NOR) performance in today’s FIS World Cup Freestyle Sprint certainly proved that any...