2022 Beijing Olympics – FasterSkier

Opinion: “Her! I do the same sport as her!” Jessie Diggins won a Medal, Who She Is Goes Way Beyond That

Ben TheyerlFebruary 14, 2022

Diggins’ historic accomplishment was glanced over by the giants of American media, falling back into harmful tropes that are all-too-common regarding women athletes. Reflecting on it re-centered how meaningful her vulnerability in sharing her struggle to overcome an eating disorder was to the skiing community, and was a source of strength for me. The Olympic sprint race on Tuesday in Beijing was perhaps one of the most nuanced and complex races in Olympic history. We...

Community Feature General News

The Chinese Ski Team’s Path to Beijing (Part 2)

Pasha KahnFebruary 13, 2022

You can find the introduction to this three-part series on the development of the Chinese ski program here. Creating a Generation of Skiers China, pursuing Olympic medals on home snow, signed deals in 2018 to train Chinese skiers in Norway and Finland. The first hurdle would be filling these programs with potential skiers. To that end, a talent building program was initiated and young professional athletes in the second tier of rowing, kayaking, and running...

News Olympics Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Niskanen with the golden stride in 15 k classic, while North American men hold strong on tough tracks

Ben TheyerlFebruary 11, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the 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. In the sport of cross country skiing, the Olympic 15-kilometer individual start classic might be considered the “granddaddy of them all.” The technique was classic, as was the...

Canadian National Ski Team Olympics Racing

(Press Release) Dahria Beatty Beaming in 18th with Career Best Olympic Result

FasterSkierFebruary 10, 2022

Canada’s Dahria Beatty was beaming after cracking the top-20 for the first time in her two trips to the Olympic Winter Games, finishing the women’s individual start 10-kilometre classic cross-country skiing event in 18th spot. Feeding off career-best Olympic performances in her first two starts, the 27-year-old put down a memorable performance, skiing twice around the demanding five-kilometre loop in a time of 30:00.2. “I definitely feel like I am in the best shape of...

Multimedia Olympics Photo Gallery Racing

Inside the Medal Ceremony: Jessie Diggins brings home bronze.

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 9, 2022

The first. With a perfect storm of tactics, technique, and peak race form, Jessie Diggins fought to the line to finish third behind Swedish sprint phenoms Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist in the women’s 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint. This historic result makes her the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in an individual cross country ski event. “It’s overwhelming, but in a good way,” Diggins said in the press conference. “It’s just really emotional...

Lifestyle Olympics Racing

Brennan breaks out with near-medal in Olympic sprint

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 8, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA — Rosie Brennan brought two left boots to her cross-country ski race at the Olympics on Tuesday. Then, she crashed. Just speed bumps on her way to history. Brennan’s fourth place in Tuesday’s sprint, in the skating technique, was overshadowed by her teammate Jessie Diggins’ bronze — only the third Olympic cross-country skiing medal in U.S. history, and the first individual medal for women. But Brennan’s result is arguably just as big of an...

Olympics Racing

Diggins Writes History as First American Woman to Earn Individual Olympic Medal With Bronze in the Freestyle Sprint

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 8, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the 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. The History: A survey of the last five Olympic cycles shows a clear trend in American women’s sprint results: upward. In the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, no Americans...

Podcasts The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: Diggins Bronze Medal Highlights Historic Day for Americans in Freestyle Sprint

Devon KershawFebruary 8, 2022

Get your cheese doodles ready. Here’s Nat and Devon breaking down (and celebrating) an historic day for the U.S. A bronze medal for Jessie Diggins stands as the highlight – she’s the first American woman to win an individual medal – but there were several other steps taken forward by the men and women wearing stars and stripes. In particular, Rosie Brennan popped the second fast time in qualification. Overcoming a bad pole plant-induced fall...

Community Feature General News

The Chinese Ski Team’s Path to Beijing (Part 1)

Pasha KahnFebruary 7, 2022

Salmon for Skiing Over the last four years China has undertaken perhaps the grandest experiment in cross country skiing history: can hundreds of athletes cherry picked from other sports and given seemingly unlimited resources be turned into Olympic medalists in nordic events? Chinese athletes have never medaled in any of the nordic disciplines, and their teams head into the Olympics as the darkest of dark horses. Success, in the form of medals, is key to...

Olympics Racing

Bolshunov Dominates Men’s 30 k Skiathlon to Win First Olympic Gold; Patterson Matches Olympic Career Best in 11th

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 6, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the 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 heels of the women’s opening Olympic race, a colorful lycra field in their Sunday best lined up to race the men’s 30-kilometer skiathlon. While the women raced a...

Biathlon Olympics Racing

(Press Release) U.S. Equals Best Mixed Relay Finish at Olympics

FasterSkierFebruary 6, 2022

BEIJING, China (Feb. 5, 2022) – The American quartet of Susan Dunklee Craftsbury, Vt./Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USBA), Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USBA), Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H./National Guard Biathlon & USBA) and Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Team Crosscut & USABA) finished seventh in the mixed relay Saturday as the Beijing 2020 Winter Games biathlon competition got underway at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Center. The result tied the best-ever finish for Team USA in an Olympic mixed relay, equaling...

Podcasts The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: First Olympic episode! Breaking down the women’s skiathlon

Devon KershawFebruary 5, 2022

Kicking off the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games with a look into the women’s skiathlon. Co-host Nat Herz was on site during the race, braving the wind and cold to collect deeper insights into the scene, while Kershaw gives his hot take as a very-well-informed armchair quarterback. Note that Kershaw picked two of the top-three athletes correctly in his pre-Olympic podium picks: unsurprisingly, the favorite, Therese Johaug took gold, while Natalia Nepryaeva (ROC) earned silver instead...

News Olympics Racing

Johaug Wins First Individual Olympic Gold; Diggins Leads US in Sixth

Ella HallFebruary 5, 2022

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the 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 long hiatus from international racing, the top athletes found themselves on the start line once again, ready to contest the first event of the 2022 Winter Olympics. First up,...

Community General News Olympics

Olympics Preview: About That Final Uphill

Gavin KentchFebruary 4, 2022

Take a moment to visualize some iconic head-to-head finishes from recent global championships: Klæbo vs. Bolshunov in the 50 k, Oberstdorf, 2021; Nilsson vs. Johaug in the relay, Seefeld, 2019; Schumacher vs. Terentev in the relay, Lahti, 2019; Diggins vs. history in, well, you know, PyeongChang, 2018. What do these races have in common, besides drama, high-level skiing, and triumph and tragedy in equal measure? All of them feature a final downhill back into the...

Community Feature General News Olympics

On the Ground Report: A Beijing Olympic Winter Games Preview

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 4, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA — After months of headlines about coronavirus tests, travel logistics and geopolitics, Beijing’s Olympic cross-country skiing venue, on the eve of its first competition Saturday, has emphatically changed the subject. To the winds of Zhangjiakou. Icy gusts billowed athletes’ training bibs, filled the resort town’s immaculately groomed ski tracks with dry, squeaky powder and generally consumed everyone’s attention Friday — from the team members who shielded their faces with buffs and layers of...

Canadian National Ski Team News Olympics Racing

Canadian Journey to Beijing

Gerry FursethFebruary 4, 2022

Canada was successful in delivering the team to Beijing and getting them on snow in Zhangjiakou. The decision to go above and beyond in isolating athletes before a carefully planned drive to a charter flight worked, although other countries also succeeded with a more laid-back approach. What can fans expect from the Canadian team in Beijing? It all comes down to qualifying and performing. Qualifying Canada had an Olympic quota of four women and three...

Olympics Racing Schedule

How Do I Watch the Olympic Cross-Country Ski Races?

Gavin KentchFebruary 3, 2022

The Olympics start soon. Really soon. Here’s your one-stop shop to help you figure out what to watch, and when. When are the races? In the late afternoon to evening, if you’re in Zhangjiakou competing in them, in a nod to the lucrative European viewing market. In the late evening the night before, if like half of this year’s U.S. Olympic nordic team you live or train in Alaska. Squarely in the middle of the...

Community Feature News

The Enigma of Zhangjiakou and the Kuyangshu Nordic Center

Pasha KahnFebruary 3, 2022

The ski trails at the Zhangjiakou Olympic venue – completed during the pandemic – will be seen with fresh eyes for most athletes and service staff as they arrive ahead of the 2022 Games. For service teams that often prepare years in advance of an Olympics, the uncertainty surrounding Zhangjiakou, from its weather to its snow, is a new phenomena. What is certain is that climatically, there is the potential for some very interesting conditions. ...

Community General News Olympics

Two-time Olympian Noah Hoffman advises athletes to remain silent at Beijing Olympics

FasterSkierFebruary 2, 2022

Ski & Snowboard Club Vail alumnus is working for Global Athlete to increase athlete-voice By Ryan Sederquist, Vail Daily News January 28, 2022 Two-time Olympian Noah Hoffman’s life is busier now than it ever was during his 10-year U.S. Nordic ski team career. The soon-to-be Brown graduate — he’ll have an economics degree by May — has thrown himself into athlete activism since his retirement in 2018. Hoffman started in the anti-doping world before becoming...

Podcasts The Devon Kershaw Show

The Devon Kershaw Show: Pre-Olympic epic — Podium predictions and COVID protocols with Alex Harvey

Devon KershawJanuary 31, 2022

This episode of the Devon Kershaw Show breaks down the lead-up to the Olympics with special guest star Alex Harvey, the Canadian World Championships gold medalist. Harv and Kersh make their podium predictions for the six Olympic events; we discuss the nightmare scenario with COVID cases inside Norway’s national team; and Nat checks in from his quarantine in Los Angeles in advance of his flight to Asia. We’ll be back periodically during the Olympics —...

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