Early Saturday morning, Kikkan Randall's parents sat groggily in front of a pair of laptop computers in an East Anchorage condominium. Their daughter was seconds from starting a ski race 5,000 miles away, in a resort town in the Czech Republic. But their live stream of a Eurosport TV channel was showing ski jumping instead. "OK, come on," Kikkan's mother, said impatiently.
No one likes to get hurt on their birthday, and while Kikkan Randall's minor back strain put a damper on her workout on Dec. 31, she had her physical therapist from Anchorage to help her recover (and win her first World Cup back) less than two weeks later.
On her 24th birthday, U.S. Ski Team member Sadie Bjornsen shares some little-known facts about her personal life, including what she loves most about being a skier and how Europe turned her into a meat-eater.
You saw what Kikkan Randall could do last season when hampered by a six-week injury that interrupted fall training. This time around, she’s healthy and ready to show the world what she can accomplish. Randall is doing just that in a blitz of media and commercial appointments.
There's a reason APU ventures to Park City each summer, and it's all about transitioning and revving up for the season ahead. “Whether it's the altitude or not, I think everyone here has gotten two weeks of incredible training,” U.S. Ski Team and APU skier Holly Brooks said. “It's hard to say from a physiological standpoint, but I think it's been a really productive camp either way.”
In advance of his club’s facility playing host to the third annual North American Women's Training Alliance (NAWTA) camp in July, APU Nordic Director Erik Flora broke down film of last year's World Cup races in Sochi. He was studying every undulation of the race courses, with a goal to replicate the Olympic venue.
This week, World Champion, Jessie Diggins (SMS T2, USST) joins a collection of the strongest women in nordic skiing in Alaska. Known as the NAWTA (the North American Women’s Training Alliance), the camp brings together the strongest skiers during a camp in Alaska for a chance at the best competition and training. Here we are, halfway through the annual NAWTA (North American Women’s Training Alliance) camp in Alaska, and I feel like I’ve already learned...
Sara Studebaker is an Idaho-raised, New-Hampshire educated, Lake Placid-based Olympic biathlete – who just happens to be adopting Anchorage, Alaska as her second (or third) home. While Studebaker lives and trains primarily out of the Olympic Training Center in upstate New York, her boyfriend, former biathlete Zach Hall, stays in Anchorage, where he has works and trains junior biathletes part-time. Between traveling on the biathlon World Cup all winter and the distance separating the East...
It was almost as if Aino-Kaisa Saarinen read Kikkan Randall’s mind. Longtime acquaintances, the two international cross-country superstars knew the best time to find each other – for a warmdown, a distance ski or just a chat. Finland’s two-time Olympian and multiple world champion, Saarinen caught Randall before a morning run in March at the World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. Fortunately for Saarinen, the sprint World Cup winner was in mid-thought. “I saw her...
“There is no way it is skiable,” I thought to myself, “So it can’t hurt to go up and just take a quick look.” Ian, Matias, and I were standing at the high point of the pass between Williwaw Lakes and Long Lake, just behind Elliott Peak in the Chugach front range. What had started [...]
We have had an incredible crust skiing season here in South Central Alaska. A record-breaking amount of snow, followed by a lots of sunshine and freeze-thaw cycles during April and early May. You couldn’t have dreamed up a better crust recipe. Nearly every crust skiing hotspot was in-season starting in the beginning of April, and [...]
I did the Frosty Bottom 50 mile race this year for the first time since 2007. The race goes from Kincaid Park to Hilltop and back to Kincaid. You can bike it, ski it or run it. I am sure you can guess my chosen mode of travel. My friends Seth and Bill were doing [...]
In early January, Bill and I were looking to do a long ski, but close to home. My original idea was to try to ski from his house to my house, taking the long way around town. We ended up modifying the route to minimize walking, and it became more like a ski from my [...]
The format and selection procedures at World Youth/Junior Biathlon Championships Team Trials were explained in Wednesday’s Full results (Excel spreadsheet)
Today in Anchorage, World Youth/Junior Biathlon Championships Team Trials kicked off with a bang – or lots of bangs, as rifles knocked down target after target at Kincaid Park’s Sean Doherty of Saratoga Biathlon and Full results (Excel spreadsheet)
Anchorage has long been home to many of the country’s best nordic skiers. With elite teams like APU, Alaska Winter Stars, the University of Alaska Anchorage, several strong high school programs, and a thriving recreational and masters race scene, skiers couldn’t ask for a more supportive community. But biathletes? That was another story. “I started biathlon in 2003, back when the Kincaid [shooting] range was at its old location,” 2011 World Junior Championships team member...
Another great ridgeline in Chugach State Park, excellent views of the front range. Click here for a full screen version. Thanks to Ian and Josh for waiting for me. Not my best day.
Another great ridgeline in Chugach State Park, excellent views of the front range. Click here for a full screen version. Thanks to Ian and Josh for waiting for me. Not my best day.
Another great ridgeline in Chugach State Park, excellent views of the front range. Click here for a full screen version. Thanks to Ian and Josh for waiting for me. Not my best day.
Another great ridgeline in Chugach State Park, excellent views of the front range. Click here for a full screen version. Thanks to Ian and Josh for waiting for me. Not my best day.