This weekend’s World Cup city sprints in Dusseldorf aren’t supposed to start in the airport. But the American and Canadian ski teams will be cutting it pretty close. Thanks to a strike by Finnair’s flight attendants, the two squads’ sprinters are spending Thursday night in Finland and departing for Germany on Friday—giving the teams a buffer of roughly 24 hours before the start of the races on Saturday. American Andy Newell’s schedule will be even...
Kris Freeman wasn’t quite able to match his teammate Andy Newell’s result from yesterday – but he came pretty close. Freeman, of the U.S. Ski Team (USST), finished seventh in the 10 k classic in Kuusamo, Finland on Saturday, just 0.3 seconds out of sixth. Newell, who had finished sixth in the sprint yesterday, finished 89th, slipping to 42nd place overall in the mini-tour standings. Meanwhile, Canada’s Alex Harvey finished 17th, moving up to fourth...
An American team entering a winter as a favorite in a nordic sport is kind of like the Detroit Lions somehow starting an NFL season with good odds to win the Super Bowl. But here’s the U.S. Nordic Combined Team, its members entering the 2011 season with targets on their backs. After winning four medals at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the squad’s “Big Three” are back, and will headline the American presence at...
In Petter Northug’s absence, Marcus Hellner (SWE) took over the mantle as the dominant World Cup male, following up an impressive victory in Saturday’s 15km freestyle by leading the Swedish relay team to the top of the podium. Hellner outsprinted Russia’s Alexander Legkov after the two teams broke away on the third leg. Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) and young Petr Sedov (RUS) broke away from Norway’s Chris Andre Jespersen and Switzerland’s Remo Fischer during the first...
Norwegian fans looking for a good view of the finish line for the women’s relay at the 2011 World Championships might want to start staking out their seats now. Given this weekend’s performance by the Norwegian women, there’s not much doubt about who will be waving her country’s flag as the winner of the relay in Oslo. After putting six of their skiers in the top 11 in Saturday’s 10 k freestyle, the Norwegians skied...
After a half hour of skiing Saturday, Kris Freeman had earned himself $500, 29 World Cup points, and one top-10 finish. By his own account, Freeman’s ninth place in the season-opening 15 k freestyle in Gallivare was “a hell of a day,” and it was the top finish for the American men. Noah Hoffman followed with a stellar 31st, while Andy Newell and Chris Cook turned in lackluster results in 87th and 102nd, respectively. Freeman...
Swedish fans must have been crushed after Norway’s Marit Bjoergen knocked off their hometown hero Charlotte Kalla in the 10 k skate on Saturday morning in Gallivare. But they must have been equally thrilled in the afternoon, when Marcus Hellner (SWE) skied to an 11-second victory over Switzerland’s Dario Cologna—finishing in the stadium that was named for him after a double gold medal-winning performance at the 2010 Olympic Games. “I felt like I had control today,”...
If there were any doubts left after last year, they’re gone now: Marit Bjoergen has it figured out. Bjoergen, who won five medals at the Vancouver Olympics, annihilated the women’s field in the 10 k freestyle in Gallivare, Sweden on Saturday morning, winning by more than 40 seconds over Charlotte Kalla (SWE) and Italy’s Arianna Follis. “She’s the queen right now,” said Kikkan Randall, who was the top American finisher in 19th. Kalla, the winner...
As the season gets fully under way, FasterSkier will be featuring previews of teams and athletes at different levels. We published our piece on US World Cup athletes, check out our 24 Teams in 24 Days series. With eight athletes headed to Gallivare, Sweden for the World Cup opener, the U.S. Ski Team (USST) will have the numbers to field both a men’s and women’s relay team for the first time in many years. The increased...
American ski fans can draw a few lessons from last weekend’s season-opening races in Muonio, Finland. Kris Freeman looks to be on-form. Kikkan Randall also looks fit. Ida Sargent is the next big thing. But for two members of the U.S. Ski Team (USST), Morgan Arritola and Liz Stephen, the season still appears uncertain. Each skied to lackluster results in Saturday’s 5 k classic race, while Sunday’s 10 k skate brought results that were stronger,...
Despite two sensational weeks of racing in Europe, Ida Sargent still has to head back to Dartmouth College in December to take final exams. But thanks to her stellar results, she has added a couple of stops along the way: two weekends of World Cup racing in Scandinavia. Along with Noah Hoffman, the U.S. Ski Team (USST) gave Sargent the nod to travel to Gallivare, Sweden, where the squad will contest the season’s first World...
This trip marks one of the premier steps of the elite athlete and coach development pipeline in the U.S. The U.S. Ski Team is pleased to announce the 2011 staff: Matt Whitcomb, Trip Leader, Junior Head Coach U.S. Ski Team Bryan Fish, U23 Head Coach, U.S. Ski Team Randy Gibbs, Head Service, U.S. Ski Team Andrew Johnson, Service, University of Vermont Casey Fagerquist, Service, Alaska Pacific University Justin Beckwith, Service, Green Mountain Valley School Amy...
The J1 Scandinavia Championship Trip is a fixed piece of the elite athlete and coach development pipeline in the U.S. having been in place as an organized trip for over ten years. Most U.S. Ski Team and many World Junior Team athletes participated in this trip in the past. The U.S. Ski Team is pleased to announce the 2011 staff: Matthew Johnson, Head Coach Burke Mountain Academy Peter Leonard, Head Serviceman FXC – Nordic Ski...
Each year, many of northern Europe’s best racers travel to Muonio, Finland, for early-season training and racing. With reliable snow even in late October, these national teams travel from Ramsau, where the glaciers are no longer so nice, to this small town far north of the Arctic Circle. Here, the Finns have been hoarding a giant pile of snow all summer, and in the fall, they spread it around with an excavator and dump trucks....
Steinbock Racing is down to one skier: Chris Cook. Entering its second season the team has seen some major changes. For starters, two-thirds of the team is pursuing other careers.
In the sport of cross-country skiing, most people would agree that competing with New Zealand is probably smarter than picking a fight with Norway. Consequently, the U.S. Ski Team (USST) will be wearing black suits for the upcoming season, eschewing the red spandex that has been the norm for the past few years. After any number of years of being drowned out by a sea of Norwegian crimson, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Nordic Director...
Ski jumpers don’t usually begin their careers at age 25. Nor do they progress from their first-ever jump all the way up to an Olympic-sized 90-meter hill in the course of one year. But that’s exactly what Australian cross-country skier Ben Sim is trying to do. There aren’t many athletes out there who have taken an approach like Sim’s and met with much success. But in the U.S., there’s one: Matt Dayton, who took up...
More than 150 training days, countless kilometers of rollerskiing, and dozens of loads of dirty laundry: A summer and fall’s worth of preparation will be put to the test in just over two weeks, when the U.S. Ski Team (USST) makes its departure for Europe. All seven members will fly to Finland on November 7 for a weekend of tune-up racing north of the Arctic Circle in Muonio. From there, the squad will part ways,...
It’s hard to fly under the radar when you’re 6’2” and one of the best sprinters in the world. But Torin Koos is giving it his best shot. Koos, who was dropped from the U.S. Ski Team (USST) this spring, has been quietly reloading for the upcoming season with the Methow Olympic Development Project (MODP), a two-person team based in central Washington. He has been off the grid, living in a cabin 15 miles from...
This workout from the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST’s) Noah Hoffman definitely falls into the “don’t try this at home” category – or at least not without some modifications. Hoffman, an up-and-comer on the U.S. distance squad, brings overdistance workouts into a realm usually monopolized by ultramarathoners. On long runs hitting the six- to seven-hour mark, Hoffman does in a day what many weekend warriors do in a week. But these workouts are not just about...