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Every skier’s dream. Cross country skiing on it’s biggest stage.
Buoyed By Trust Fund, Callaghan Valley Readies for Future
Continental CupGeneralNewsOlympicsRacingRegional / LocalWorld Cup

Buoyed By Trust Fund, Callaghan Valley Readies for Future

FasterSkierSeptember 29, 2010

This article is the third in a series looking at the use of cross-country ski venues left behind by the Winter Olympics. The first two were on New York’s Lake Placid. After a Winter Olympics where nordic skiing took center stage, Whistler Olympic Park (WOP), 77 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia, faces the future with optimism, but with plans that are still murky. Cleaning up the detritus of the 2010 Games, including grandstands, transformers,...

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Cross-Pollinating Future Ski Champions
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Cross-Pollinating Future Ski Champions

Inge ScheveAugust 26, 2010

NORWAY – Bringing young athletes from all the ski disciplines onto one team is the recipe for excellence in the future. “Team Morgendagens Helter” is 5-year talent development project organized by the Norwegian Ski Association and backed by major sponsor Statoil, designed to share training strategies and increase the pool of experience across the different ski disciplines.

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Sim, and Australia, Take a Run at Nordic Combined
Continental CupGeneralNewsNordic CombinedOlympicsRacingRegional / LocalSki JumpingWorld Cup

Sim, and Australia, Take a Run at Nordic Combined

Nathaniel HerzAugust 20, 20102

A  few days before competing in the Engadin Marathon in Switzerland last March, Ben Sim stood atop a snow-covered hill in Germany. Sim, an Australian, was about to find out whether he could make the jump from cross-country skiing to nordic combined. Literally. Observing were Finn Marsland, the coach of the Australian cross-country ski team, and Fabian Mauz, a German coach who had assisted some Australian athletes at the Junior World Championships in the Black...

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“The Spirit of Skiing is Dying”: An Interview with Marcus Hellner

Nathaniel HerzAugust 5, 20105

In Las Vegas, where FasterSkier had the opportunity to interview Marcus Hellner, the Swedish skier was able to stay relatively undercover. At the card table, such was his anonymity that he had other players thinking he was a professional poker player, not a professional athlete. But in Europe, and especially in Sweden, Hellner is a star. At the Olympics in February, he vanquished rival Petter Northug, breaking the Norwegian’s pole on the way to winning...

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Bets, Babies, and the Boys: George Grey Rolls On
Canadian National Ski TeamGeneralNewsOlympicsRacing

Bets, Babies, and the Boys: George Grey Rolls On

Kieran JonesAugust 3, 2010

George Grey has never been the flashiest male on the Canadian National Ski Team (CNST). He is not nearly as brash, or into Twitter as teammate Devon Kershaw. He’s not a young, fresh-faced Quebecer like Alex Harvey. He’s not a recent émigré from Russia with a sweet tooth as is Ivan Babikov. However, his ability on skis is equal to his slightly more enigmatic teammates, and the man affectionately nicknamed ‘Gino’ by the rest of...

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In Contrast to Lake Placid Venues, Soldier Hollow Blazes its Own Path
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In Contrast to Lake Placid Venues, Soldier Hollow Blazes its Own Path

FasterSkierJuly 28, 20102

Following the funding scare with the Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid earlier this year, FasterSkier correspondent Peter Minde is examining the structure and viability of various post-Olympic venues around North America. This piece, his second in the series, looks at the status of Soldier Hollow, in Utah. Cross country skiing and biathlon drew more athletes and spectators than any other sports at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. But Soldier...

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Sochi 2014: A Tour With USSA’s Luke Bodensteiner
GeneralInterviewsNewsOlympicsRacingUS Ski Team

Sochi 2014: A Tour With USSA’s Luke Bodensteiner

Nathaniel HerzJuly 11, 20101

With the Sochi Winter Olympics more than three years off, the city still maintains an aura of mystery to most Americans. Not for Luke Bodensteiner, the vice president for athletics at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), who has already visited the 2014 venues twice. Bodensteiner’s first trip to Sochi was with the International Ski Federation (FIS) two years ago, when he helped with a training seminar for some of the initial Olympic volunteers....

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Jeff Whiting Retires From CCC; Will Continue Work With Paralympic Athletes
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Jeff Whiting Retires From CCC; Will Continue Work With Paralympic Athletes

Linnaea KershawJuly 2, 2010

At this year’s Cross Country Canada (CCC) annual meeting held in Corner Brook, NF, Jeff Whiting received an award for the years of hard work and dedication he’s put into Para-Nordic skiing as both a volunteer and and staff member. Earlier this month, CCC announced his retirement from the position of Western Para-Nordic Development Coordinator. “Jeff’s athlete-centered approach, dedication, knowledge and experience of the Para-Nordic sport will always be remembered and will still continue to...

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BiathlonGeneralNewsOlympicsRacingWorld Cup

After Strong Season, Burke Settles In for Four More

Nathaniel HerzJune 23, 2010

Tim Burke became the first-ever American biathlete to pull on the yellow bib of the overall World Cup leader last winter, but first place still eludes him–he has never won a race outright. This year, he intends to change that. “I would love to win a World Cup, to know that on that day, I was the best biathlete in the world,” Burke said. Burke didn’t get any victories last year, but he came tantalizingly...

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Multiple Olympic Medalist Nystad Retires from Skiing

FasterSkierJune 22, 20101

Olympic gold medalist Claudia Nystad has announced she has stepped down from professional cross-country skiing. Nystad’s career marked a very succesful period for the German Ski Association, as she captured not only five Olympic medals but also five from World Championships. Eventually, the 32-year-old felt her triumph at the Olympic Games in Vancouver turn into another sensation. “The Games in Vancouver were a highlight of my career,” said Claudia Nystad. “I’ve been thinking a lot...

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BiathlonGeneralInterviewsNewsNordic CombinedOlympicsRacingWorld Cup

The Voice of the Olympics Speaks: FS Interviews NBC Announcer Chad Salmela

Nathaniel HerzMay 20, 20104

You may not recognize the name Chad Salmela, but if you live in the United States and watched any of the biathlon, nordic combined, or cross-country ski races at the 2010 Olympics, you’ve heard his voice. Along with play-by-play man Al Trautwig, Salmela spent the month of February the band A M Herculis. Now that the dust has settled, we caught up with Salmela to hear what it was like behind the scenes at the...

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Canadian National Ski TeamGeneralInterviewsNewsOlympicsRacingUS Ski TeamWorld Cup

“Building in Trust”: Justin Wadsworth on His New Coaching Gig

Nathaniel HerzMay 14, 2010

By virtue of his marriage to Beckie Scott, one of Canada’s all-time greatest cross-country skiers, it’s obvious that Justin Wadsworth would be tied into that country’s ski community. But few anticipated his recent appointment as the head coach of the national team, which came after he worked for several years on the World Cup with the American squad. In one sense, Wadsworth doesn’t face too much of a challenge: the Canadian men pulled down half...

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Canadian National Ski TeamGeneralNewsOlympicsRacingWorld Cup

Wood’s Resignation Preceded by Tension, Review

Nathaniel HerzMay 12, 20101

Following his resignation last week, longtime Canadian coach and team leader Dave Wood said that he was leaving to take a coaching opportunity with a club closer to his girlfriend, and that his parting from Cross Country Canada (CCC) had been amicable. Current and former CCC athletes all praised Wood’s contributions to the organization over the last dozen years. But in interviews, they also acknowledged that Wood’s last year with the program was marked by...

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“A Long-Term Commitment”: An Interview with Billy Demong
GeneralInterviewsNewsNordic CombinedOlympicsRacingTrainingUS Ski TeamWorld Cup

“A Long-Term Commitment”: An Interview with Billy Demong

Nathaniel HerzMay 12, 20103

By this point, Billy Demong should need no introduction, but we’ll give you a quick one anyway. A stalwart on the American nordic combined team for the last ten years, he won his first World Cup in 2002, his first World Championship medal in 2007 in Sapporo, and then walked away from this year’s Olympic Games with a gold and silver, from the individual large hill and team event, respectively. The gold was the first-ever...

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USBA Chief Max Cobb Podcast: Olympics, 2011 World Cups, Development, and More

Nathaniel HerzMay 3, 20101

For the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA), the winter of 2010 was one of ups and downs. High points included Tim Burke’s podium performances in the early season, which culminated with his donning of the yellow bib of World Cup overall leader after a race in Slovenia. The Olympics were less successful, with Jeremy Teela’s ninth-place leading the way—but the team’s dissatisfaction with a single top-ten is a testament to how far the program has come...

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