A closer look at the U.S. Ski Team's new selection criteria for 2017 World Championships, designed to reward the top performers in a given season and discourage points chasing. “Athletes who skied fast in the spring of the previous season no longer have a potential advantage over those athletes skiing fast in the current season," U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover wrote. "...The athlete that is winning races is most likely going to make the Team.”
Anchorage-based reporter Gavin Kentch observes and outlines the ins-and-outs of a U.S. Ski Team classic speeds rollerski. U.S. women's coach Matt Whitcomb explains how each session is deliberately engineered and how a single workout can vary among individuals. (Includes photos and video clips)
Athletes at all levels of the competition spectrum constantly seek the missing piece of their performance puzzle. For many years now, sport psychology has played an increasing role in solving that puzzle. From the World Cup to the junior ranks, FasterSkier explores how some skiers and coaches make use of sport psychology.
At the helm of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team since 2010, head coach Chris Grover sits down with FasterSkier to talk what success might look like in the future and the challenges he faces as a coach. The snow may be gone, but Grover and the team are in full preparation mode for the 2016/2017 World Cup season.
After 27 years of leading the Dartmouth men's nordic team and 10 years coaching with the U.S. Ski Team, Sun Valley native Ruff Patterson is venturing into the next chapter of his life and heading back west.
At the first on-snow camp of the season at Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Ore., the U.S. Ski Team aims to jumpstart its training year with high-volume training loads and a series of technique sessions. On Wednesday, they targeted uphill striding and herringboning, using instant videos to provide trailside feedback.
After being nominated to the U.S. Ski Team D-team, Northern Michigan University junior Ian Torchia has decided to stay in school while simultaneously accepting the nod to the country's most-coveted training group. “One of the main reasons why I wanted this to happen is to show that you can do it while you’re in college,” Torchia explains.
Opportunity has come knocking for Sugar Bowl Academy's 18-year-old Hannah Halvorsen. Her recent nomination to the U.S. Ski Team brings Halvorsen closer to her World Cup dreams, but she maintains she'll continue to take it day by day.
Following up on the U.S. Ski Team nominations announced earlier this week, we asked Chris Grover to explain the rationale behind some of the picks and share some insight on the coming season.
It's been 15 years since the U.S. hosted a cross-country World Cup. In that time, Canada has hosted such international races on home snow multiple times, most recently with the eight-stage Ski Tour Canada. The cost of hosting World Cups is high and the benefits are sometimes hard to measure. FasterSkier explores how Canada has pulled it off and why the U.S. avoids the risk.
Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby won the Ski Tour Canada's brutal Stage 6 skiathlon on Wednesday, putting him third overall in the Tour, while Petter Northug remains in second despite losing precious time to Tour leader Sergey Ustiugov. Canada's Alex Harvey jumped a spot to fourth overall, and his teammates Ivan Babikov and Graeme Killick posted season-best results.
Norway keeps them coming. Norwegian young gun Emil Iversen took Stage 2 of the Ski Tour Canada, the men's 17.5 k classic mass start in Montreal, ahead of an all-star cast, including teammate Petter Northug, Russia's Sergey Ustiugov, and another Norwegian, Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Canada's Alex Harvey skied up to ninth for sixth overall in the Tour.
Jessie Diggins felt right at home on Tuesday in Gatineau, Quebec, racing to her fourth podium in the last two months in the first stage of the Ski Tour Canada. She timed her strikes and finished third overall, while three other U.S. women made the heats and Canada's Maya MacIsaac-Jones achieved 29th.
With fewer than two weeks remaining until the Ski Tour Canada visits Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, and Canmore from March 1-12, we spent some time breaking down the provisional North American picks and estimated costs for Canadian nation's group skiers at the season-ending World Cups.
Returning to Falun, Sweden, was exciting for some members of the U.S. Ski Team -- like World Championships silver medalist Jessie Diggins. For Sadie Bjornsen, the memories weren’t as happy, and she tried to forget them before Saturday’s 5 k classic individual start, the first World Cup back at the venue since the championships.
There were no Norwegians on the podium Saturday in Falun, Sweden. Russia secured the top two with Maxim Vylegzhanin in first and Alexander Bessmertnykh in second, and France’s Maurice Manificat finished third. American Erik Bjornsen to a second-best 21st, a minute out of first.
American sprint specialist Andy Newell a marathon contender? After placing second in Saturday's Dolomitenlauf 42 k classic, he could be hungry for more. “I haven’t done too many of these types of marathons," Newell said. "In the future I would like to make it to some more of the [Ski] Classic races and the really big European marathons.”
In their first team sprint together, Americans Ida Sargent and Sophie Caldwell placed fifth on Sunday, while the U.S. men's team of Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton missed an early tag and ended up being disqualified in the final. “It was disappointing for sure, but it was a good call by the jury," U.S. head coach Chris Grover said.
Jessie Diggins fended off all challengers for her first individual World Cup victory -- that's right -- another one for the U.S. in the last three stages of the Tour de Ski. Diggins did so in the 5 k freestyle in Toblach, Italy, besting four Norwegians in the top five.
Therese Johaug once again dusted the women's field, this time in the 10 k classic individual start at the World Cup in Toblach, Italy. There, two U.S. women finished in the top 20, about two minutes behind her.