There’s too much going on in the Tour de Ski for us to cover in just one episode — so we’re back to quickly hype up a breakout performance by Latvia’s Patrīcija Eiduka yesterday, and to break down a COVID crisis on the Norwegian team that’s erupted in the past 24 hours. We’re at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com; we’ll be back Sunday.
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...
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...
It doesn’t get much better than a weekend of full sun, epic skiing and meetings with the king of Norway. But that’s what we’ve got for you after another fun weekend of racing, at Oslo’s classic Holmenkollen venue. With help from Canadian retired Olympian Jess Cockney, we break down the 30 k and 50 k from Saturday and Sunday, touch on the COVID outbreak that’s hitting World Cup teams including the U.S. and take the...
Corresponding with a social media post from Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, the Norwegian news outlet NRK reported yesterday that each of the men’s national team sprinters who competed in Lahti last weekend has tested positive for COVID-19. Head sprint coach Arild Monsen told NRK that Håvard Solås Taugbøl was the first to test positive on Monday, followed by Erik Valnes, Pål Golberg, Sindre Bjørnestad Skar and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo on Tuesday. According to Trondheim regional newspaper...
This episode of the Devon Kershaw Show breaks down the lead-up to the Olympics with special guest star Alex Harvey, the Canadian World Championships gold medalist. Harv and Kersh make their podium predictions for the six Olympic events; we discuss the nightmare scenario with COVID cases inside Norway’s national team; and Nat checks in from his quarantine in Los Angeles in advance of his flight to Asia. We’ll be back periodically during the Olympics —...
As January draws to a close, energy, excitement, and perhaps anxiety surrounding the rapidly approaching 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing is steadily building. In an effort to better manage her time and energy heading into these Games, Jessie Diggins offered a media conference facilitated by U.S. Ski & Snowboard cross country communications manager Tom Horrocks to answer questions about her preparation, outlook, and plans for the remainder of the time before the team heads to...
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...
You asked, now Devon is answering. We’re finally here with a long-promised mailbag episode for you this week. Devon takes us through questions from more than a dozen listeners; we cover World Cup competition formats, tactics, training, broadcasting and a bunch of other random fun stuff. We’ll be back soon with coverage of Olympic team selection and hopefully some more intel on the Olympic venue in Beijing. Send us questions and feedback to devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com.
In this episode, we have Matt Whitcomb back to debrief the 2021/22 Tour de Ski, including highs and lows, overcoming setbacks, and managing a circulating head cold. We also discuss the cancellation of the upcoming World Cup races in Les Rousses, FRA, covid safety in a critical window before the Olympics, and the racing happening in Soldier Hollow during the 2022 US Cross Country Championships. Thanks for listening.
The winter of Covid continues. Most of the FIS races scheduled for this country this year did not happen. A few did. No one in Canada has done a single official high-level race this winter. No one in Vermont has, either. Some athletes from Canada and Vermont did not race and were chosen for international travel teams. Some athletes in Alaska raced a ton and were not. It’s been a tumultuous winter for everyone, for...
Three American junior women have been held out of competing at 2021 Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Vuokatti, Finland, following a positive Covid test or potential exposure to a positive case, Skinnyski.com has reported. Yesterday, American skier Michaela Keller-Miller wrote on SkinnySki, “Unfortunately, three members of the women’s US Junior team are in quarantine after one positive Covid-19 test and two possible exposures after contact tracing. As a result, American medal contenders Novie McCabe,...
Lillehammer cancels World Cup events. Norway, Sweden, and Finland pull from the World Cup after the opening weekend in Ruka citing COVID safety concerns. To an outsider, these headlines paint a seemingly bleak picture of the start of the race season. However, an international time trial featuring a skate sprint day Friday and distance event Saturday sparked hope for the American team as they remain in Europe focused on the upcoming weekend of racing in...
This news round has an eye towards the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) move to mitigate COVID spread on the World Cup as it eyes a new racing season. Before we delve into that, we wanted to raise some awareness to a most excellent non-ski related podcast. In short, it’s called TWIV. Longform, it’s “This Week In Virology: the podcast about viruses – the kind that make you sick.” No, it’s not The Devon Kershaw Show....
With the summer solstice long and gone in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s true, the amount of available daylight wanes. Some are rollerskiing. Some stay fit through trail running or mountain biking. Behind the scenes, cross-country ski area operators are reimagining business practices during the pandemic as they prepare f0r the moment snow flies. “Chances are we are not having anything quick-fix,” said Reese Brown of the Cross Country Ski Areas Association (CCSAA). “The new world is...