Ava Thurston – FasterSkier

A Quiet Argument, Made Loud: The Women’s Classic Sprint at U.S. Nationals

Matthew VoisinJanuary 10, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. On the morning of the women’s classic sprint at the U.S. National Cross-Country Ski Championships, the quiet around Mt. Van Hoevenberg felt deliberate. Not calm — no one was calm by Friday — but restrained. The week had already taken its toll. Distance races had piled fatigue into legs...

Feature US Nationals

Where the Race Breaks Open: Women’s 20 k Freestyle at U.S. Nationals

Matthew VoisinJanuary 9, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. There is a particular moment in a long mass start when the race quietly declares what it will be. It does not arrive with a surge, a crash, or even a decisive move. It arrives when the pack thins just enough that the edges of the course begin to matter—when...

Feature US Nationals

Smith and Melbye Win U.S. Nationals Freestyle Sprint as Qualification Shapes the Day

Matthew VoisinJanuary 7, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. There is a particular kind of pressure that lives in a sprint qualification. It isn’t loud. It doesn’t announce itself with theatrics. It sits in the quiet places: the moment you realize the warm-up loop is over and you’re headed back toward the start; the thin stretch of time...

Feature US Nationals

Where the Margins Speak: U.S. Nationals Opens with Questions, Not Answers

Matthew VoisinJanuary 5, 2026

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. On a January afternoon in Lake Placid, Mt. Van Hoevenberg did what it has always done best: it asked skiers to be honest. The 10-kilometer classic individual start is not a format that rewards theater. It doesn’t care how good you looked in warm-up, how confident you sounded the night...

Collegiate Feature News Racing

The University of Utah Claims the 2025 NCAA Championship

Keely LevinsMarch 11, 2025

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. The sun came out on Saturday at Dartmouth’s Oak Hill Ski Center in Hanover, New Hampshire. The best collegiate skiers in the country gathered in Hanover, New Hampshire, for a week of racing at the NCAA Championships. The final races of the week were the...

Juniors News Racing Results US Nationals

2022 Junior Nationals Recap: After Long Wait, Minneapolis Hosts Top US Juniors for Full Slate of Racing

Ben TheyerlMarch 16, 2022

To trace the thread of the past, present, and future of American cross-country skiing, all you have to do is look at a golf course in Minneapolis that touches 3 of those 10,000 lakes in Minnesota; Theodore Wirth Park. Over the past week, America’s most-skied loop played host to the US Ski and Snowboard Junior Championships (formerly Junior Nationals, or “JNs”), bringing the top under-20 year old skiers from across the nation together for the...

Collegiate Continental Cup News Racing Regional / Local

It’s Ogden and Ketterson Again in the Craftsbury SuperTour Freestyle Sprint

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 4, 2022

SuperTour racing continued on Friday in Craftsbury, Vermont, as part of the Henchey Memorial Carnival, which also included Eastern Cup and collegiate racing. The three-day event is presented by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, NENSA, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, and the University of Vermont (UVM), the EISA carnival host school. Racers were faced with snowy conditions for the opening 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint as a winter storm made its way across the Northeast. Friday morning’s grooming report...

Dryland News Racing Regional / Local

A Full Weekend of Rollerski Races in Upstate New York

Peter MindeSeptember 16, 2019

The NENSA rollerski series ramped up this past weekend outside Lake Placid, New York. As part of the drive to draw more skiers to the rollerski series, Saturday included a two race format known as a doubleday event: event 1 consisted of a 3-kilometer skate prologue followed by a 1.5-k cross-country cross (XCX) featuring several agility segments. Athletes earned a reward for performances in each event. Both events were individual start and their aggregate times...