A questionable lane change fewer than 100 meters before the finish left jury members to decide whether or not Andy Newell's move in front of Reese Hanneman warranted a penalty in the men's classic sprint final at SuperTour Finals on Sunday -- thus relegating him from first to last. Hanneman ultimately won and Newell was demoted to sixth.
On a sunny afternoon in Kincaid Park, several World Cup skiers, including three Olympians and three Alaska Pacific University members, took the time to chat on camera between training and testing on Friday.
Erik Bjornsen enjoys the finer things in life: hot chocolate, Sequence and 1994 Ford Rangers. More about the younger of the Bjornsen siblings and first-time Olympian, who's racing at U23 World Championships starting Wednesday in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
Before the start of the 2013/2014 season, 22-year-old Erik Bjornsen recently sat down with Reese Hanneman for a frank discussion about last winter and the one just ahead.
Fresh off a trip from France, where he trained with national team skiers and biathletes, Erik Bjornsen talks how he wants to build off last season's breakthroughs and the major lessons he takes away from training with foreign athletes. "In order to reach the top, you really have to live cross-country skiing at every hour of the day," he says.
The joint women’s training camp between the U.S. Ski Team and Alaska Pacific University began this week in Anchorage, Alaska, bringing many of the nation’s top female skiers together for the first time in a month along with a few special foreign guests. After a "killer" workout earlier this week, USST women’s coach Matt Whitcomb said training has been going well so far.
The North American Women's Training Alliance camp began in Alaska this week, and on Tuesday they did a rollerski workout that U.S. Ski Team women's coach Matt Whitcomb called "the best threshold workout I’ve seen out of this group of women since I’ve been working with the team." Presenting this week's workout, with video.
With 24 athletes, APU is keeping its elite team pretty similar to years past, but there's definitely new blood in the training group with eight new men on the team.
The NNF Cup winner for the 2012/2013 season is the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center. The NNF Cup is awarded annually to the top domestic club on the USSA SuperTour circuit. APU showed impressive depth in its program by roughly doubling the points of Craftsbury, the 2nd place team.
Alaska Pacific University coach Erik Flora discusses the best part waking up to results like those from Gallivare and why he expects his athletes Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks to continue doing big things this year.
of twenty thirteen, we’ll be producing the show regularly. Expect interviews with the country’s biggest cross-country skiing stars and coaches, plus analysis from the FasterSkier crew. This week, Topher Sabot and Nat Herz interview Erik Flora, the head coach of the Alaska-Pacific University Nordic Ski Center club team, which includes World Championships medalist Kikkan Randall, and U.S. Ski Teamers Holly Brooks, and Erik and Sadie Bjornsen. Randall has been dealing with a stress fracture in...
Holly Brooks felt like she had been punched in the stomach when she heard the news from Alaska Pacific University (APU) development coach Charlie Renfro. One of their skiers, 13-year-old Mary Robicheaux, had been hit by a car while riding her bike the night of Aug. 28, and it was unclear whether she was going to survive. A driver ran a stoplight and struck the eighth grader, who was in a crosswalk with the traffic...
This is the last of several previews in a quick-and-dirty series on U.S. elite teams. We asked coaches to send their 2012/2013 rosters and tell us what’s new for the coming season. Teams were presented in no particular order. Team name: Alaska Pacific University (APU) Nordic Ski Center Coach: Erik Flora (head coach/director) Roster: Kikkan Randall (U.S. Ski Team A-team), Holly Brooks (USST B-team), Sadie Bjornsen (USST B-team), Becca Rorabaugh, Rosie Brennan, Kate Fitzgerald, Erika...
After struggling to crack the top-30 on the World Cup last season, Canadian Perianne Jones knew she needed some time on the domestic circuit this year to get her feet back under her. “I’ve raced on the World Cup the last two seasons before Christmas—especially last season, I didn’t feel like I belonged,” she said. “I want to feel like I’m ready to race the World Cup when I’m on the World Cup.” If Jones...
If you’re wondering about your fitness heading into the new racing season, Reese Hanneman has a workout for you. The session—a long threshold interval peppered with 30-second all-out sprints—will give you a good idea of whether you’re ready to rock, or whether you’ve got some more work to do before pulling on a bib. “It’s a good one of those eye-opening workouts,” Hanneman said. Hanneman has only done this session once, in mid-October with the...
Leif Zimmermann is one of only two athletes in West Yellowstone with European racing experience this winter. But he’s also one of two athletes coping with the effects of a transatlantic jet flight, making a pair of sensational performances this weekend even more impressive. With his 20-second victory in Saturday’s 10 k classic, Zimmermann (BSF) won for his third time in four years in West Yellowstone, less than one week removed from racing 4,500 miles...
Since the spring, the International Ski Federation’s website has been counting down the days until the World Cup opener. Organizers of the 2011 World Ski Championships in Oslo are quick to inform fans that there are just over three months until the start of that event. But in Alaska, there’s another clock that’s been ticking more quietly: the one counting down the days until the end of James Southam’s career. Southam, who trains in Anchorage...