After finding that female cross-country skiers develop airway inflammation and a persistent cough which affects their sleep by the end of the season, Dr. Michael Kennedy explains why it's such a bigger problem for women: smaller lungs means that there's much more stress on their airways, which leads to greater injury in the winter months.
When it comes down to it: health matters. That’s what Kikkan Randall and her coach at Alaska Pacific University, Erik Flora, reasoned when the U.S. Ski Team veteran decided to sit out a few races nearly two weeks ago. After feeling slightly rundown, Randall first skipped the 15 k freestyle mass start on Feb. 4 in Rybinsk, Russia. She pulled through the 15 k skiathlon the next day, but came down with a cold shortly after....
When the temperatures outside drop down to -26 Celsius like they did in Kontiolahti, Finland on Thursday morning, ski racing becomes a game of survival. Breathing in cold air while asking lungs to work their hardest isn’t anybody’s idea of a healthy decision. And the extreme cold is even more tricky in biathlon, where nimble fingers are required to pull triggers and bulky mittens just get in the way. In Fort Kent, Maine last winter,...
OSLO, NORWAY – It’s a well known fact that cross-country skiing is among the worst offenders when it comes to increasing risk of exercise induced asthma and has some of the highest use of asthma medicine among elite athletes. According to the Norwegian TV station NRK, as many as half of the skiers on the Norwegian national team have asthma. “These are not exact numbers, but we test the national team every year, and about...
The temperature has been at or below zero during the day for the past few days at Anchorage’s Kincaid Park in Anchorage, which will host the first day of the US Cross Country Championships tomorrow morning. Snow conditions couldn’t be better for the nation’s biggest week of ski racing, with most competitive skiers enjoying three months of snow in the Anchorage area. Even with around $150,000 dollars of the city’s donation-funded grooming budget lost to...