Chris Grover – FasterSkier

Feature News Olympics US Ski Team World Cup

The new Diggins documentary is a crucible of elite sport and mental health

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 9, 2026

Two years ago, U.S. cross-country skiing star Jessie Diggins was battling a relapse of an eating disorder — an episode that she publicly acknowledged at the time. What she didn’t share until now, though, was how close it came to derailing a year in which she won cross-country skiing’s season title and celebrated the return of the top-level World Cup circuit to the U.S., in her home city of Minneapolis. In the middle of that winter,...

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...

US Ski Team

The New JC Schoonmaker: Sharper, Calmer, and Ready for the Moment

Matthew VoisinNovember 14, 2025

When JC Schoonmaker talks about his earliest memories of ski racing, he doesn’t begin with speed or snow conditions, or the particular magic of gliding across winter trails. He starts, instead, with raffles. “I just remember as a kid, there’d be raffles after every race that I would be so stoked for,” he says. “Trying to get a prize, like a new pair of gloves or a hat.” It is an unexpectedly tender snapshot of...

Fast Tracks Multimedia News Podcasts Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Fast Tracks: World Champs—Chris Grover reflects on a special week with one race to go

Nathaniel HerzMarch 8, 2025

Reporting by: Nat Herz and Stuart Harden This reporting costs money. Please support this coverage with a voluntary subscription (below) so FasterSkier can provide this level of access to the sport we all love year-round.

Feature News World Cup

Lake Placid’s Bid: What It Took to Get Another American World Cup

Ken RothMay 21, 2024

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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 the smash success of the Minneapolis World Cup, a question being asked by American cross-country fans was whether Minneapolis was a one trick pony, or would we see other World Cup events...

Feature News World Cup

Schumacher’s Win—World-Class Talent is “Still in There”

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 19, 2024

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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. MINNEAPOLIS — Gus Schumacher, a 23-year-old from Anchorage, accomplished something Sunday that no American man had done in 40 years: he beat every single Norwegian, Swede, Finn and all other comers in an...

Feature World Cup

Tears and Glitter Flow in Minneapolis as Diggins Finally Comes Home

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 17, 2024

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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. MINNEAPOLIS—The suspense and the nerves built all morning at Theodore Wirth Regional Park, where America’s cross-country skiers were set to contest their first World Cup race—the sport’s top competition circuit—in 23 years. By...

Feature World Cup

With Fresh Snow, Minneapolis World Cup is a Party in the USA

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 15, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS — All winter, cross-country ski race organizers in this midwest metropolis faced weather that just wouldn’t cooperate. Heading into the weekend, it had not snowed in Minneapolis in nearly a month, with daily high temperatures above freezing every single day since late January. All this as a local nonprofit, the Loppet Foundation, was set to host the first cross-country World Cup events in America in more than two decades — after a last-minute, coronavirus...

Feature World Cup

Jessie Diggins won gold. Now, she and all adjacent Americans are basking in European adulation.

Nathaniel HerzMarch 3, 2023

This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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. PLANICA, SLOVENIA — Rita White, Oumar Cherif and Anna Dehler arrived in Slovenia from Minnesota on Monday. The next day, they headed up to the World Ski Championships competition venue at Planica,...

Feature News US Ski Team World Cup

Season Preview with Chris Grover, United States’ Cross Country Program Director, Part II

Ken RothNovember 22, 2022

Chris Grover is the U.S. Cross-Country Program Director. He has held that position for three years. He corresponded with FasterSkier’s Ken Roth in discussing the upcoming World Cup season, and an overview of the U.S. program. This is the second in a series of interviews with Mr. Grover. FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) has reaffirmed the Russian ban. How do participating athletes feel about it? Do they feel deprived not being able to compete...

Feature News US Ski Team World Cup

Season Preview with Chris Grover, United States’ Cross Country Program Director, Part I

Ken RothNovember 20, 2022

Chris Grover is the U.S. Cross-Country Program Director, a position he’s held for three years. He sat down with FasterSkier’s Ken Roth to discuss the upcoming World Cup season, and an overview of the U.S. program. What exactly is the job of Program Director? I oversee all aspects of the program for team development, coaches’ education, events, budgets, selection criteria, and all other staff. This includes technicians, volunteer physical therapist, volunteer doctors, sports psychologist, and...

Community News World Cup

Trail to Gold Fellowship Wants to Put More Female Coaches on the World Cup

Ella HallAugust 3, 2022

While it’s difficult to get exact numbers, the general distribution of coaches and service staff on the World Cup level is largely male dominated. The recently announced Trail to Gold Fellowship aims to help change that. Following the publication of the Trail to Gold book in November of 2021, members of the book committee began discussing how to use the net proceeds generated by book sales. After bouncing around various proposals, they settled on the...

Feature Racing World Cup

Switching to Equal Distance and the “Trickle Down” Effect

Ella HallJuly 25, 2022

In most sports, the question of whether men and women would compete on equal playing fields, so to speak, was answered long ago. While gender inequalities remain- a recent decision by the IOC to maintain the exclusion of Women’s Nordic Combined from the Olympics comes to mind- the sport of cross-country skiing will now be joining the list of those in which competition is equal for men and women. In a press release issued on...

Multimedia Nordic Nation Podcasts

Nordic Nation: Cross-Country Program Director Chris Grover on Looking Back and Planning Ahead

Rachel PerkinsMay 26, 2022

I think we can all agree that the last two years have been a wild ride. For those at the helm of the cross-country program at U.S. Ski & Snowboard, added layers of COVID safety precautions and expensive testing have increased the otherwise mounting demands of preparing for an Olympic Games. There have been numerous domestic and international competitions canceled, including a full season of SuperTour racing in 2020/2021, numerous World Cups canceled, and three...

General News Racing

From the Archives: Pete Vordenberg looks back on the 2002/2003 World Cup season (April 2003)

Gavin KentchMay 25, 2022

The following article was initially published on FasterSkier on April 2, 2003. It was written by Pete Vordenberg, who at the time was the assistant coach of the U.S. Ski Team, under head coach Trond Nystad. Nystad’s boss was Luke Bodensteiner. The development coach was Chris Grover. Athletes on the men’s national team included Justin Wadsworth, Carl Swenson, Torin Koos, Kris Freeman, and Andrew Johnson, plus a grand total of one (1) woman, Wendy Wagner....

Community Feature News US Ski Team

A PT in Sweden: Pandemic, War, or Plague of Locusts?

Ned DowlingMarch 30, 2022

Click here to read an account of physical therapist Ned Dowling’s first stint overseas with the US Ski Team in March, 2020. Holmenkollen, Norway. March 8, 2020 – Men’s 50k Classic World Cup. 33 degrees and raining. The ski jump was engulfed in clouds. Spectators were forbidden from attending the Super Bowl of cross country skiing due to the impending COVID pandemic. My first stint as a physical therapist traveling with the US Ski Team...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Update: FIS Cancels All Remaining 2021-22 Season Events in Russia Including XC World Cup Finals in Tyumen

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 25, 2022

Yesterday, FasterSkier reported that the U.S. Ski Team would not be attending the World Cup finals scheduled for March 18 – 20 in Tyumen, Russia, given the nation’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. At that time, the International Ski Federation (FIS) had not announced whether events scheduled for the remainder of the season in Russia would be held as planned, however, a FIS official had indicated on February 15th that the situation in Russia was...

News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

US xc ski team says it will skip World Cup races in Russia amid Ukraine invasion

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 24, 2022

The International Ski Federation hasn’t said whether the races, in the Siberian city of Tyumen, will go off as scheduled next month. The U.S. cross-country ski team says it will skip upcoming races in Russia amid that country’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. A team official said Thursday that the Americans will skip the final weekend of racing on the top-level European World Cup circuit, which is scheduled for next month in the Siberian city of...

Community Feature News Olympics Racing

Rosie Brennan won’t take home medals from Beijing. She still helped change U.S. cross-country skiing.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 20, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA — Jessie Diggins’ silver medal, the best-ever individual Olympic finish by an American woman, is what most people will remember from Sunday’s Games-ending cross-country ski race. Here’s why you should remember Rosie Brennan, too. Brennan, 33, may lack Diggins’ magazine covers and national endorsement deals. But she performed at ever-so-close to the same level in Beijing, and came heartbreakingly close to the medals. First, there was Brennan’s fourth place in the Games-opening individual...

Community Feature News

Avoiding omicron is an Olympic-level challenge for Alaska skiers with Beijing Games, and virus tests, looming

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 20, 2022

This article originally appeared on Wednesday January 19th, 2022 in the Anchorage Daily News. Reposted with permission. The organizers of next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing have imposed a rigorous regime of testing, quarantines and isolation for incoming athletes and staff. Among the casualties is Steve Patterson’s pickleball game. Patterson has two adult children, Scott and Caitlin, who grew up in Alaska and are both Olympic hopefuls in cross-country skiing. They’re planning to prepare for...

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