Editor’s Note: The following is the third post of a series proposed by Maks Zechel, a 19-year-old Canadian cross-country skier embarking on his first season training abroad. He recently made the big move to Norway, where he’ll be training and racing with Team Asker for the next nine months. Through these updates, Maks hopes to share his personal “observations, stories, and lessons learned” to help close the gap between North American and Scandinavian nordic skiing. Read...
There's just one season separating Jean Philippe Le Guellec from retirement, but the recent World Cup winner is hardly complacent about his form as a biathlete. Instead, he's aggressively making changes to his technique, shooting, and strength as part of a resurgent Canadian men's squad - and finding extra motivation for Sochi in the process.
Our first trip of the summer was to Norway. Zach planned the trip so that we could spend a few days skiing on the snow at Sognefjell, about a 3 hour drive north of Lillehammer, with some of the US Ski Team guys that he coaches. Sognefjell is a remote mountainous area located above the Sognefjord. Its elevation is about 4500ft and holds snow well into the summer. There is a hostel-like lodge there...
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...