This 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. When it comes to World Cup racing, the Mixed Relay is the new kid on the block. And, like many new kids, not everyone is certain what to make of them. Today in...
Team Norway has swept most distance race podiums this season, and has consistently placed a rotating series of Norwegian stars atop those podiums, as well. It’s become a foregone conclusion that a Norwegian man will win the Overall World Cup title this season. Even so, if any of those Norwegian contenders miss a couple of races, their chances of contending for the season-lone Crystal Globe all but evaporate. Just ask Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo; He’s podiumed...
Prince of Quebec Alex Harvey and his protege on the Canadian team, Tony Cyr, check in with us after a three-day weekend of racing in Germany. We went kinda long. Also: We have a first-of-its-kind waxing and service report from U.S. Ski Team technician Eli Brown. Let us know what you think: We’re at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. We’ll be back after another weekend of racing in Switzerland before the World Cup circuit heads to North...
Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program) and Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/U.S. Biathlon) skied to a ninth place finish in the single mixed relay at the sixth World Cup of the season in Antholz, Italy. Between the pair, both Irwin and Wright held top-10 ski times throughout the race, finishing only four seconds back from the eighth place Estonia and 30 seconds back from a top-five finish. “It felt good to ski with everyone...
This 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. This weekend in Oberhof framed the Men’s World Cup’s hierarchy in stark terms. Coming into Sunday’s 4 x 7.5 k Men’s Relay, five different Norwegian skiers had combined to sweep both Friday’s classic...
This 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. When it comes to success in cross country relay finishes, national nordic pride is a vital concern in only those countries where national nordic pride flourishes: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany (and, of...
This 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. As the women pass the halfway point in World Cup Competition individual events, focus is now clearly on the chase for Crystal Globes. In the Overall standings—after yesterday’s Sprint—Jessie Diggins (USA) retains her...
This 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 World Cup racers, mass start racing is always tense, nervous, high-risk, rough-and-tumble. Long skinny skis and long fragile poles make close-quarters racing—on courses seldom more than four tracks wide—a bit of...
This 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 a week and a half layoff, World Cup racing resumed today with renewed vigor and renewed focus. With the draining experience of the Tour de Ski behind them—and some nice recovery time...
This 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. It was a rare day on the World Cup, but patterns, established and emerging, were apparent too. The rare part: Friday in Oberhof marked the first time in six years that Johannes...
This 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. On the last day of the Tour de Ski, Stifel U.S. Ski Team member Sophia Laukli had a first-ever win in a World Cup race. She’s also on pace to have her best...
Did Devon Kershaw once jump over a cattle guard, on rollerskis, at 40 miles an hour? Is a seven-and-a-half hour classic ski a wise choice in the middle of the racing season? Where are Tiril Udnes Weng and Simone Mocellini? These are among the many questions Devon and Nat fielded during the 2024 edition of the show’s yearly mailbag episode. We had fun with your submissions; we hope you enjoy our answers. Email us more...
The Iowa caucuses were this week, and on this edition of The Daily, we have a recap of the results with our political correspondent, Reid Epstein. Wait, sorry, we got confused. This is still a cross-country skiing podcast. But this is, in fact, the crossover xc-politics content you’ve been waiting for. Epstein, a friend of the pod who is really a political correspondent for the New York Times, interviewed Jessie Diggins a few days ago...
Dear Cross Country Community, We are pleased to announce the Team for Period 3 of the 2023-24 World Cup season: Oberhof Sprint C Men Michael Earnhart Objective 23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader Ben Ogden Objective 8th World Cup Sprint Standings JC Schoonmaker Objective 16th World Cup Sprint Standings Gus Schumacher Objective 26th World Cup Sprint Standings Kevin Bolger Objective 31st World Cup Sprint Standings Zanden McMullen Discretion 25th Davos Sprint F Luke Jager Discretion 1st...
Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/U.S. Biathlon) raced to a World Cup personal best 12th place in the men’s 10km sprint in Ruhpolding, Germany, his second race of the weekend. With only one miss in standing, Wright crossed the finish line just 0.9 seconds behind Philipp Horn of Germany. “I’m feeling really good on the skis,” said Wright. “Great contrast from Oestersund when I was 100th ski time, so good progression. Just loving it.” Wright was +50.1 behind the...
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of FasterSkier.com. There’s an old adage in entertainment: “Always leave them wanting more.” At its heart, any sporting event is entertainment, and professional cross-country skiing is no exception. The Tour de Ski (TDS) just concluded one of its more entertaining and compelling editions in years. The 2023 version had everything on display. Plucky underdogs (the U.S. men)...
After a delayed start to the race weekend in Oberhof, Germany with rain and strong winds creating challenging conditions for the athletes, the U.S. Biathlon Team was able to pull off clean shooting, pursuit qualifications and strong relay performances. The focus now turns to this weekend’s races in Ruhpolding, Germany, which will kick off with the women’s relay on Wednesday, followed by the men’s relay, sprint and pursuit races, spread over five days. In the...
They’ve reached the summit — the athletes, have, anyway. Devon certainly has not, thanks to frozen pipes in his Oslo apartment. He and Nat persevere to bring you the recap of this year’s final Tour de Ski stages, which featured some spicy and sloppy racing in Italy. Stay tuned til the end for an ode to Le Gruyère cheese. Next week, during the break from the World Cup, we’ll have a mailbag episode. Send us...
This 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. If there’s one true thing that can be said of Jessie Diggins (USA), it’s that she is willing to pay the price. Today, on the unforgiving slopes of Alpe Cermis, her willingness to...
We all work better when we work together—that would seem to be the credo being employed by American skiers these days. At the conclusion of US Nationals at Utah’s Soldier Hollow, American skiing has rarely looked better, whether internationally or domestically. The warm temps and blue skies of early week at the US Cross Country Ski National Championships gave way to, of all things, snow. Morning light came up on Soldier Hollow; snow drifted in...