Racing Archives - FasterSkier.com

Norway’s Blink Festival: Rollerski Racing with Some Social Distance

Times are what they are. Precautions are the name of the game. This year’s Blink Festival in Norway played to a reduced field and limited spectators due to COVID precautions. Some races, as will be noted, included...

Skiing Fast Is All That Matters, Age Is No Issue

This article was made possible through the generous support of Madshus. At 19, junior prodigy Helene Marie Fossesholm, has already challenged the established World Cup elite time and time again, and proven that age is...

Gilbertson Returns to Coaching With USA Nordic (Press Release)

Press Release PARK CITY, Utah (June 15, 2020) – USA Nordic has hired Chris Gilbertson as the head ski jumping coach for the men’s nordic combined team. Gilbertson spent 17 years coaching for the Steamboat...

Middlebury’s Kate Barton Advances to U.S. Ski & Snowboard D-Team Head Coach

If you read FasterSkier, you are likely aware that elite cross country skiing in the U.S. has been steadily on the rise over the last decade. In the last four years alone, we’ve borne witness to medals at all levels,...

David Norris: On the Hunt

The razor-thin margin for national team selection in the U.S. played out again this season with David Norris (29) not discretioned onto the U.S. team - the sporting actuaries stated he lacked future medal potential. ...

Meet Stéphane Barrette, Nordiq Canada’s Acting CEO

Nordiq Canada had a changed-filled month of May, culminating with Stéphane Barrette taking over the CEO role for the next five or six months, with the possibility of permanence if both parties are happy. The former...

Rising Together: The Crosscut Elite Team Fosters the Success of US Para Nordic

On April 9th, the Crosscut Mountain Sports Center in Bozeman, MT released information and qualification criteria for their newly founded elite team. As you skim what it takes to earn a spot at each tier of the program, it...

A Day in the Life from APUNSC : David Norris

This series comes to FasterSkier from the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Club A Day in the Life: APUNSC is checking in with Elite Team members of the course of the next few months to get a glimpse into...

FS News Roundup: Schumacher and Halvorsen win Awards; FIS Concludes Spring Meetings

Last week U.S. Ski and Snowboard announced the recipients of two awards. Gus Schumacher of Anchorage, Alaska, and newly minted U.S. B-Team member, won the Beck International Trophy recognizing the top athlete in...

FIS Points, Part II: What’s a Point Worth

This article has been updated to clarify the relationship between the junior races now known as FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships and its precursor, the World Junior Nordic Championships and the European Junior...

Elite Programs Ramp Up for Modified Training

Although the training cycle has officially begun, it decidedly has a different vibe and look. Adding some complexity to our short-term new normal are a crosshatch of state, county, and city regulations as it relates to...

Canadian Update: Shane Pearsall Resigns, Dave Dyer Retires, Athletes Protest Selections, Welcome to May

The ski world has been rattled by COVID19 and Canada is no different. One thing hasn't changed, the new year starts on May 1st and brings changes. Nordiq Canada's CEO Shane Pearsall resigned effective May 22nd. In the...

FIS Points, Part I: Inside the Points List

First in a two-part series. Coming next week: The meaning of a single FIS point for national team selection. The recent news that David Norris was not named to the national team by the narrowest of margins, following...

A Postmortem on the Junior Worlds Women’s Relay: John Estle on Lessons for Organizers, Officials, Coaches, and Skiers

Editor's note: FasterSkier's initial coverage of the women's relay at this year's FIS Nordic Junior World Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, gave just the facts: The American women, fourth in this event a year...

Masters and Gretsch Prepare for Two Paralympic Cycles After Postponement of Tokyo Games

Of the members of the U.S. Para Nordic team, more than half compete at the highest level in both summer and winter sports. Instead of quadrennial, their training is designed for biennial Paralympic cycles, oscillating...

A PT in Norway: By Ned Dowling

“Get whatever you want. I’m buying.” “It’s ok. I’ve got a card with me.” “No. You’re over here working for us. The least I could do is buy you a coffee and a bun.” Conversation over. Jessie...

Au Revoir Martin Fourcade by William Timmons

A year ago Martin Fourcade was coming off the worst showing of his career, a cataclysm of a season leaving everyone who follows the sport scratching their heads. While he had two victories and another podium by Christmas,...

A Small Glimpse of the World Cup Season

A time of unsettling news. How else to describe the global specter? With all do respect to those involved in the cross-country world, including FasterSkier, we understand our place in the prioritization hierarchy. A line...

One For Your Bucket List: Crested Butte’s Alley Loop Marathon

Rounding the final turn off Butte Avenue toward the Slate River Valley at the start of the second and final lap, I had my eyes peeled for a ride. There: the man dressed in a Birkebeiner-esque sweater with suspenders...

Press Release: Québec City World Cup Cancelled

At 7:50am local time on Friday, the LOC Gestev sent out a message. Cancelling events is always difficult; the reference to 'force majeure' is a necessary legal step in the process. Cancellation of 2020 Quebec City COOP...