Who would win in a skate race, a top biathlete or nordic skier? When you follow the independent circuits of each sport, the question inevitably comes up. And if the biathlete turns out to be competitive, what would happen if he teamed up with nordic athletes for the same relay? Tim Burke dangled that idea in front of American ski fans two winters ago when he
As the world turned its attention to London this weekend for the opening days of the Summer Olympics, another set of elite American athletes were quietly logging training hours in Ramsau, Austria, in preparation for the coming winter season and, ultimately, the 2014 Winter Games. The U.S. Ski Team men began a 12-day European camp on Dachstein glacier on Saturday, where they will stay for a week before heading to Oberhof, Germany, to train in...
In the months following its first camp of the year in Bend, Ore., the U.S. Ski Team (USST) has several new training destinations planned along with its old standbys: the men and women will split up and head to Alaska, Sweden, Austria and Germany over the course of the summer. And for the first time since its first trip to New Zealand 10 years ago, the Snow Farm is completely off the schedule. The women’s...
Where the spring of 2011 saw six new additions to the U.S. Ski Team (USST) roster, in 2012 the cross-country nominations remain largely the same as the year before. There are a few notable exceptions: Holly Brooks is now an official part of the national team with her B-team nomination and both Jessie Diggins and Simi Hamilton have been promoted to the A-team. The list indicates no departures, though until each athlete officially accepts his...
The U.S. gained a World Cup starting position in both women's sprints and men's distance races for 2013, and Kikkan Randall will receive automatic starts that don't count towards the quota. The bad news? A loss of one spot in men's sprint races.
One week after announcing
The U.S. Ski Team announced on Wednesday that Pete Vordenberg — a leader on the team for the past 10 years and the man who literally wrote the book on modern American skiing — would be leaving his post as the men’s head coach. He became a new father this winter, and felt that he couldn’t be both a great parent and coach simultaneously. USST head coach Chris Grover said the team plans to find...
At the highest level of nordic ski racing in the U.S., athletes know making the national team isn’t so much of a black-and-white decision; coaches mostly see red. Based on U.S. Ski Team criteria, any skier that ends the season in the red group by finishing in the top 30 of the World Cup or FIS distance or sprint lists is essentially guaranteed a spot on the A-team. Those who finish outside those standards can...
original announcement that the job title had been changed from Program Director to Program Manager. The context of the new hire (namely, the position’s vacancy for an entire season and the nordic program’s recent budget problems) next led to more questions about the reasoning behind the shift in staff hierarchy, which all ultimately boil down to: What does this actually mean? The difference between the directorship and the managerial position replacing it mainly involves USSA’s...
After operating without a Director for an entire season, there is a new leader at the helm of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s (USSA) nordic operations. On Thursday the governing body revealed Joey Caterinichio as its Nordic Program Manager. As the founder and head coach at Alaska Nordic Racing in Anchorage, Caterinichio has built up a wide breadth of experience in the sport. She was a chief organizer for U.S. Nationals when they were...
After a strong performance last year in the World Championship 50k, it was hardly a surprise to see Noah Hoffman (USA) toward the front of the pack on Sunday’s Holmenkollen classic event. Wearing a distinctive red hat along with the US black suit, it was easy to pick the 22-year-old American out of the large group in the 50k race. Hoffman made his mark early, passing the 3k preem in 5th place. All told, he...
The Lahti Corner — the notoriously sketchy 180-degree downhill hairpin that stumps many experienced World Cup skiers every season — lived up to its reputation on Sunday in the third-to-last sprint of the year. If it wasn’t taking out several athletes at once, it was otherwise dictating tactics and forcing skiers into awkward snowplows around its icy arc. For Kikkan Randall, who led the Americans in fifth, the corner’s penchant for carnage necessitated extra attention...
The cross country World Cup moves to Szklarska Poreba, Poland this weekend, beginning with Friday’s skate sprint. This marks the first time Poland has hosted a World Cup event, and with the queen of the home team, Justyna Kowalczyk, only 12 points behind Marit Bjoergen (NOR) in the season-long battle for the overall World Cup title, there should be plenty of excitement for the local crowd. As part of the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) effort...
The US men’s team bounced back from a rough day in the 30k on Saturday for a solid performance in the 4x10km relay in Nové Město, Czech Republic. While finishing 12th out of 15 teams may not seem worth celebrating, especially on the heels of a fifth place result by the women’s squad, given the experience of the team, and the competition they matched up with, the day was better than the numbers demonstrated. Kris...
Life on the World Cup is one giant judgment call. Each day brings new decisions and, sometimes, unforeseen challenges. With little time, athletes and coaches often make up their minds and go with it. That’s about all they can do. The spontaneity often leads to uncertainty – as is the case with this weekend’s World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic. Several teams will probably do as the U.S. Ski Team plans and...
Less than a month into her first World Cup season, the Jessie Diggins story-line has become old news. With a World Cup podium (in the Team Sprint) on her first weekend, and points in four of her first five individual races, Diggins has surpassed all reasonable expectations. And now after following up a finals appearance in the Moscow city sprint (a race in which she qualified first) with a stunning fifth place finish in the...
For the American men in Moscow, Russia, the city sprints on Thursday were cause for a mixture of disappointment, frustration and optimism. Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton fell short of their expectations in Moscow, placing 22nd and 31st, respectively. After popping a top-10 in Otepaa, Estonia nearly two weeks ago, Newell struggled with back pain and couldn’t find the same energy to advance past the quarterfinals. For Hamilton, 31st marked the fourth time this season...
Just when it didn’t seem possible for Jessie Diggins (USA) to perform any better than she already has on the World Cup this winter, she went ahead and set another career best in Moscow. After qualifying first in the prelims 2.47 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, the U.S. Ski Team (USST) rookie ended up sixth on Thursday in the freestyle sprint at Russia’s Luzhniki Olympic Stadium, leading the U.S. women to three...
The narrow course set up on the streets of Milan, Italy delivered yet another exciting World Cup day of racing on Sunday in the team sprint event. For the American duo of Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell, however, it was unfavorably so. Coming into the exchange zone on the third leg of the semifinal, Austria I’s Harald Wurm pushed Hamilton, sending him to the ground and ruining the Americans’ chances of advancing to the finals....
