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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
At 27, Noah Hoffman has had a singular goal — to be one of the best cross-country skiers in the world. From his hometown of Aspen, Colo., to the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation in 2007, to the U.S. Ski Team (USST) in 2008, Hoffman evolved into the country’s top distance skier. Internationally, Hoffman (who switched clubs in 2009 to join Ski & Snowboard Club Vail) raised expectations after placing second in the 15-kilometer classic at the 2012 U23 World...
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...
Listed at the bottom of a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) press release Until 2014, USSA managed the U.S. Nordic Combined Team. The team is now run by USA Nordic, yet Jarrett’s position has remained under USSA’s umbrella — they continued to pay his salary. With the 2014 split, Jarrett’s responsibilities grew as he took on both coaching duties as well as some of the logistics of running a team. “Honestly, it’s amazing he lasted as long...
Happy May! With the start of a new training year, FasterSkier scanned social media for a sense of how nordic skiers kicked off Day 1 (and the days before) of the 2017/2018 season. Kikkan Randall of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) and Alaska Pacific University (APU) “sneaking in some secret Mom training” while pushing her son Breck on April 30: View this post on Instagram Excited to kick off a new training season tomorrow! (Sneaking in some secret Mom training...
This is it — the final award in our 2016/2017 awards series. Votes stemmed from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they’re intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This honor goes to outstanding North American performances of the year across various nordic sports. Previous categories: Collegiate | U.S. Continental | Biathletes | U.S. Breakthroughs | International | won the 20-kilometer individual at 2017 IBU World Championships, it was by about a slim margin as he...
With the 2016/2017 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This honor goes to two outstanding North American skiers of the year. Previous categories: Collegiate | U.S. Continental | Biathletes | U.S. Breakthroughs | International *** Alex Harvey and Jessie Diggins are FasterSkier’s North...
With the 2016/2017 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to outstanding North American junior athletes across all nordic disciplines. *** Katharine Ogden, Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team Yes, Stratton’s...
Liz Stephen has made a name for herself as one of the best uphill climbers in the world on the cross-country World Cup circuit, frequently achieving her best performances of the season in the final stage of the Tour de Ski up the grueling Alpe Cermis climb on a ski slope in Italy. She placed second for the time of day up the climb again this year, her fourth time to do so. “I want...
After the 2017 World Cup Finals mini tour drew Men | Women | Men |
QUEBEC CITY — Generally speaking, most European-based World Cup skiers wouldn’t have picked Canada as their ideal place to end the season. It’s too far across the pond, too far from the beaches, too far from home. The other option had been Tyumen in Siberia, so that probably wasn’t a top pick, either, but team press release. “Jessie also had a measure of redemption leading a train of women and moving up four places in the...
Canada’s Alex Harvey has had one heck of a season. In January, he reached the top of a World Cup podium for the first time in three years. The following weekend, he helped Canada to its first-ever relay podium and two weeks before that, won the men’s team sprint in Toblach, Italy, with his teammate Len Valjas. A little more than a month later, he earned his first individual World Championships gold. The 28-year-old Harvey kept the ball rolling...
FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (Quebec City): 10/15 k freestyle pursuits Even after Sunday’s 15-kilometer freestyle pursuit, Alex Harvey had a busy day ahead of him with three different podiums to stand on: one for placing second on the day, another for placing second in the Distance World Cup, and yet one more for finishing the season in third in the Overall World Cup. It was a suitable ending for Harvey’s storybook three-day venture in...
QUEBEC CITY — As 75 men jogged out into the center of the World Cup area assembled on the Plains of Abraham for the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start on Saturday, one man in particular stood out. Alex Harvey, wearing the red suit of the Canadian national team, led the group out. He wore bib No. 1, but if you couldn’t see that from a distance, it didn’t matter. Essentially everyone knew who he was. The official...
When it comes to distance classic events, at least this season, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen is calling the shots. She completed her undefeated streak in 10-kilometer classic competitions (in both individual or mass starts), winning her fourth in a row on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Québec City. Starting in bib No. 7, Saturday’s eventual mass-start winner was skiing just outside of the top 10 for the first kilometer, following two U.S. skiers, Sadie Bjornsen in eighth...