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Bill Harmeyer

Head Coach Transitions for the SMS T2 Program with Pat O’Brien and Perry Thomas

After eight years at the helm of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 team, head coach Pat O’Brien is in the process of taking a few steps back, passing the reins to Perry Thomas, who has spent the last five years as the assistant coach at the University of Vermont. Perhaps highlighting this transition and the sharing of responsibilities the two are in the process of navigating, FasterSkier connected with Thomas in mid-May while he...

In Front of a Long-Awaited Crowd, Klæbo and Chanavat Take It to the Line in Lahti Freestyle Sprint

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.   By Rachel Bachman Perkins and Ian Tovell During a brief reprieve from racing, the top tier of international racing made its way from the high desert of Zhangjiakou, China...

Ketterson and Ogden Take Classic Sprint Win on New Tracks at Mt Van Hoevenberg

By Rachel Bachman Perkins and Ben Theyerl After a brief break, the SuperTour picked up in Lake Placid this weekend, with a fluoro-free Period III kicking off with a 1.5-kilometer classic sprint. The frigid forecast called for overnight lows of -5 Fahrenheit, with a wind chill as low as -23F. Highs during the day were only predicted to climb into the low single digits. Qualifiers were scheduled for 10/10:45 am, with quarterfinals for the open...

Race Rundown: Ketterson and Ogden Win SuperTour Classic Sprint in Lake Placid

Here’s a quick results recap from today’s SuperTour classic sprint in Lake Placid, NY. Stay tuned tomorrow for detailed coverage including comments from athletes.  Period III of SuperTour racing kicked off in Lake Placid this morning with a frigid classic sprint. Recent improvements at Mt Hoevenberg included a new 5-kilometer World Cup and 1.5k sprint course, where athletes faced off today. On the men’s race, Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) skied the fastest time in the...

SuperTour Racing Kicks Off in Duluth

By Gavin Kentch and Rachel Bachman Perkins The SuperTour returned this weekend with races in Duluth, Minnesota, held on the new snowmaking courses at Grand Avenue Nordic Center. The weekend included all levels of racing, with green juniors lining up to race alongside the veterans racing on the SuperTour, and a strong sense of community and cross-country ski energy across the board. Skiers like to ski; athletes were glad to be back. Alaska Pacific University...

Elite Team Preview: SMS T2

Team name and location: SMS T2 Team; Stratton Mountain, Vermont Coach: Patrick O’Brien Current roster: Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Katharine Ogden, Alayna Sonnesyn, Lina Sutro (women); Ian Torchia, Bill Harmeyer, Ben Ogden, Will Koch (men) Who’s new: Lina Sutro, coming from the University of Vermont ski team Who’s moved on: Sophie Caldwell Hamilton and Simi Hamilton, who celebrated their second wedding anniversary earlier this year, retired from pro skiing last spring and are beginning a new life...

Seeking Snow: SMS T2 Finds Glide Time in Oberhof, Germany

With temperatures dropping steadily each day and the first signs of winter visible on distant mountaintops, the mind of a skier inevitably turns towards thoughts of snow. For the professionals this goes one step further: how and when can they get on snow before the season starts? In the US, pre-season snow time is limited. Once the snow disappears on Mount Bachelor, the Eagle Glacier in Alaska is typically the only domestic pre-season skiing available,...

NCAA Cross-Country Championships in Bozeman: One and Done

BOZEMAN, Montana – Thirty minutes after the conclusion of today’s nordic podium ceremonies, the NCAA announced that all winter and spring championship events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, effective immediately.  An incredible day of racing suddenly turned sour as the news reverberated throughout Bozeman. There would be no slalom at Bridger Bowl tomorrow, no mass start cross-country races at Crosscut on Saturday, and no ceremony to crown the overall team champions. In a...

NCAA Champs Day 1 Rundown from Stowe, Vermont

NCAA Skiing Championships Stowe, Vermont 10k/5k Freestyle In Stowe, Vermont the men raced a 10-kilometer interval start skate race on Wednesday to open the cross-country portion of the NCAA championships. Erik Olsvik Dengerud from the University of Colorado won in a time of 24:25.5 minutes. Kornelius Groev from the University of New Mexico (UNM) placed second in 24:45.1, and Ian Torchia of Northern Michigan University was third in 24:45.4. https://www.vteabp.org Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier from UNM was...

Eastern Cup #1 Race Rundown from Craftsbury, Vermont (Updated with Gallery)

Day 1 (Sprint) Craftsbury photo gallery. Day 2 (Distance) Craftsbury photo gallery.  Over the weekend in Craftsbury, Vermont the first Eastern Cup series went down. On Saturday skiers raced a 1.6-kilometer freestyle sprint. On Sunday the women raced a 5 k skate, the men 10 k. In the women’s sprint qualifier, Julia Kern (SMS T2) skied the fastest time of 3:12.97 minutes. Ida Sargent (USST/CGRP) was the second fastest qualifier, with Jessica Yeaton (APU) in...

Patterson, Harmeyer Win ‘Largest North American Rollerski Race’, NENSA Fall Classic

This past weekend, more than 170 skiers descended upon the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site at the Vermont National Guard base in Jericho, Vermont, for the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) Rossignol Fall Rollerski Classic. According to NENSA Competitive Programs Director Justin Beckwith, the field size nearly doubled from last year, and he believed 172 finishers made it the largest North American rollerski race. The event was hosted in conjunction with the Mansfield Nordic...

Under 23 Questions: Bill Harmeyer

In an effort to showcase the North Americans who competed at last week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Junior/U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 20-year-old Bill Harmeyer, of the University of Vermont, who represented the U.S. at his first U23 Worlds (after competing at last year’s Junior Worlds in Utah). Last week in...

Wednesday Rundown: U23 Worlds 10/15 k Classic (Updated)

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Lydia Blanchet and Ian Torchia.) U23 World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): 10/15 k classic Russia put two in the top three in both the women’s and men’s races on Wednesday at U23 World Championships in Goms, and for the second-straight race, Canada’s Monday’s skate sprint), finishing third, 29.6 seconds behind Kirpichenko. In Monday’s sprint, Kirpichenko qualified fourth and ended up fifth in the final. She is...

Monday Rundown: Leclair Leads North Americans in 15th in U23 Worlds Sprint (Updated)

(This article has been updated to include comments from Canada’s Laura Leclair, Katherine Stewart-Jones and Maya MacIsaac-Jones, as well as American Julia Kern.) U23 World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): Freestyle sprints On the first day of U23 World Championships racing in Goms, Switzerland, Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng tallied her first individual world title in the women’s 1.2-kilometer freestyle sprint, winning the A-final in 2:50.24 minutes, just 0.08 seconds ahead of Swiss World Cup regular Nadine Fähndrich...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — No two races are exactly alike, the saying goes, and there’s a lot of truth to this cliché. But if you step back just a little bit, two race days can start to look awfully similar to one another. For example, for the second time this week, a Hanneman brother won the sprint qualifier, Reese Hanneman won the final, and Alaska Pacific University (APU) put three athletes in the final and two on...

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this past week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 19-year-old Bill Harmeyer, of the University of Vermont, who represented the U.S. at his first Junior Worlds. To start the week, Harmeyer...

FIS Nordic Junior World Championships (Midway, Utah): Junior relays Hailey Swirbul, Julia Kern, Hannah Halvorsen, and Katharine Ogden on the podium. That’s right. Two days after Ogden became the first American to earn an individual medal at Junior World Championships, those four U.S. junior women listed above did the same, placing third in the 4 x 3.3-kilometer relay on the last day of 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. The team...

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Katharine Ogden and Taeler McCrerey, as well as Canada’s Gareth Williams.) Katharine Ogden’s name had already been in the target race on Friday. “In the skiathalon I’m really hoping for another top 6 and maybe (hopefully) a podium.” “It’s really encouraging to know that all those U.S. Ski Team girls that are doing so well [on the World Cup] right now were in the same place that...

On the first day of 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, there was one man who appeared to be dominating the 1.5-kilometer classic sprint from top to bottom. Norway’s 19-year-old Petter Stakston, in his second Junior Worlds, started Monday off with a qualifying win, by 0.61 seconds over Finland’s Turo Sipilä, in 3:45.33 minutes. Then he won the first men’s quarterfinal of the day and proceeded to win the first semifinal as...