Eileen Carey – FasterSkier.com

FIS is taking over governance of Para Nordic skiing, what does it mean for the sport’s development in the United States?

Ben TheyerlSeptember 4, 2022

The International Ski Federation’s (FIS) annual Congress held at the end of May this year was an unusually dramatic affair. Fights over media rights – whether to look at serializing the sport of Nordic skiing into something like Formula 1’s Drive to Survive – sent skiing’s international governing body into a metaphorically different part of the Netflix catalog, less Dive to Survive and more House of Cards, West Wing, or Newsroom. If only Aaron Sorkin...

General News Other News Para Nordic Team nominations

(Press Release) FOURTEEN PARA NORDIC ATHLETES NOMINATED TO 2022 PARALYMPIC TEAM

FasterSkierJanuary 31, 2022

By Kristen Gowdy | Jan. 31, 2022, 6:02 p.m. (ET) COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – Following a stellar world championships performance that saw Team USA earn 13 medals in Para Nordic disciplines, U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing today announced the six women, seven men and one guide who have been nominated to compete at the Paralympic Games Beijing 2022 in March. Veteran athletes will lead the way in Beijing as Team USA looks to build on the 16...

Racing Resources Training

U.S Paralympic Nordic: Making it Work Virtually

Jason AlbertDecember 28, 2020

With Para Nordic athletes scattered around the country, making the best of sub-optimal proximity to athletes has been a challenge. Coaches of the U.S. Paralympic Nordic Ski Team turned an eye towards utilizing virtual meetings for check-ins and a substitute for in-person coaching. According to Eileen Carey, Director of the Paralympic Nordic Ski Team, the team’s development athletes made use of the virtual sessions several times each week. Virtual meetings included “training sessions, camps, education...

Biathlon Community Interviews Para Nordic

Rising Together: The Crosscut Elite Team Fosters the Success of US Para Nordic

Rachel PerkinsJune 2, 2020

On April 9th, the Crosscut Mountain Sports Center in Bozeman, MT released information and qualification criteria for their newly founded elite team. As you skim what it takes to earn a spot at each tier of the program, it may catch your attention that the cross country, biathlon, and para nordic are housed within the same program. This single team approach reflects the growth and development at Crosscut in connection with its partnership with the...

General News

Paralympic Trailblazing with the Bogus Basin Nordic Team

FasterSkierDecember 30, 2019

Bogus Basin Nordic Team (BBNT), based in Boise, ID, became a Paralympic Sports Club this year, the first cross-country ski team in the United States to do so. Paralympic Sports Clubs are partnerships between US Paralympics and community organizations across the country that, according to the US Paralympics website, “provide local sports programming for individuals with Paralympic-eligible impairments.” They are “designed to be implemented within an organization’s menu of programs,” thus bridging the gap between...

Community News Opinion

Opportunity Knocked: Opportunity Seized

FasterSkierDecember 10, 2019

By: Paige Elliott The call to action is clear: Nordic skiing needs more women coaches. From the launch of the Women’s Ski Coaching Association to former U.S. Ski Team coach Pete Vordenberg’s editorial on FasterSkier to Dr. Nicole LaVoi’s keynote presentation at U.S. Ski & Snowboard annual National Cross Country Coaches Symposium, gender equality has been at the forefront of recent conversation in the Nordic community. I believe in this mission and therefore want to...

General Interviews Para Nordic Racing

Former Swimmer Kendall Gretsch on Unexpected Paralympic Golds, Hunger for More

Gabby NaranjaSeptember 11, 2018

As a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Kendall Gretsch stumbled across an article that would change her life. It was the spring of 2012, just a few months before the Summer Paralympics in London. Gretsch had been reading the local news when she came across a story about a St. Louis college student who hoped to attend the London Games as part of the U.S. Paralympics Swimming team. Born with spina...

General Job Postings News

Summer of 2018: Coaching and Industry Moves (Updated)

FasterSkierAugust 13, 2018

(Note: This article has been updated to include the hiring of Miles Havlick as the University of Utah’s head nordic coach, which was announced Monday afternoon.) There have been several notable career changes in North American nordic skiing this summer. Here’s a quick look at who moved where: Robert Lazzaroni: from U.S. Ski & Snowboard to Salomon. Last week, Salomon announced via a press release that Lazzaroni, of Park City, Utah, will join its staff as...

Canadian National Ski Team General Interviews News Olympics Para Nordic Racing US Ski Team World Cup

FasterSkier’s Coach of the Year: Eileen Carey; Runners-Up: Matt Whitcomb and Robin McKeever

FasterSkierApril 15, 2018

With the 2017/2018 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to coaches of North American teams in any nordic discipline, at any level – although in an Olympic and...

General Interviews News Para Nordic Racing

From 3 to 16: Behind U.S. Paralympics Nordic’s Medal Leap in PyeongChang

Jason AlbertApril 10, 2018

Success to failure. Failure to success. Two trends of two extremes on the performance metrics on the international cross-country skiing spectrum. There are many in-betweens: scoring World Cup points with a top 30, top 10’s, any spot on the podium. There are the Olympic and Paralympic quads featuring a four-year buildup to North America’s singular focus on bronze, silver and gold hardware. When considering how to develop talent, placing athletes on snow with the absolute...

General News Racing Results

Americans Dominate 2017 Merino Muster and Half Marathon

Gabby NaranjaSeptember 6, 2017

Visibility was thin and temperatures were below freezing last Saturday at the Snow Farm. Opaque white clouds of fog swept over the landscape near Wanaka, New Zealand, showcasing a skyline that seemed to play on the country’s largest historical farm industry: sheep. If bluebird skies and sun had greeted competitors in previous years, racers in the 2017 Merino Muster experienced temperatures around -5 degree Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) and a four-meter radius of visible track, then...

News Para Nordic Team nominations

U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Names 2017/2018 National Team

FasterSkierJune 1, 2017

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Interviews News Racing

Masters Claims First IPC World Champs Title, Second Time Around for Arendz, Silver for Soule (Updated)

Gabby NaranjaFebruary 14, 2017

The 2017 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Nordic Skiing Championships kicked off Saturday, Feb. 11, in Finsterau, Germany. Day 1 included middle-distance biathlon events for both genders, with Canada’s Mark Arendz earning his second-career IPC World Championships title. On Day 2, both genders competed in a cross-country sprint, where American Oksana Masters raced to her first world title and her U.S. Paralympics Nordic teammate Andy Soule claimed silver. Complete results and race recap below. *** There’s no better way to start...

General News Other Racing

Need for U.S. Technical Delegates Rises as Current TDs Approach Retirement

Gabby NaranjaJanuary 26, 2017

At Norway’s 2015/2016 season-opening International Ski Federation (FIS) weekend, defending World Champion Martin Johnsrud Sundby was in for a surprise. The final starter to hit the deteriorating tracks in the 15-kilometer classic individual start, the Norwegian initially posted the fastest overall time, only to later be an obstruction of competition“, switching lanes before completely clearing his competitor’s skis. While being the athlete in either of the above situations is never easy, difficult too is the position of technical delegates (TD) who...

General News Racing World Cup

FasterSkier’s Para-Nordic Skiers of 2016: Oksana Masters and Andy Soule

BrainspiralApril 15, 2016

With the conclusion of the IPC World Cup season, FasterSkier presents its nominations for the Para-Nordic skiers of the year. Oksana Masters was undefeated in cross-country races to win her second-straight overall World Cup, while her veteran teammate Andy Soule, placed fourth overall in the Cross-Country World Cup.

General Para Nordic Racing

Five Races in Four Days: U.S. Paralympics Sit Ski Nationals & IPC Continental Cup Recap

BrainspiralJanuary 16, 2016

Last week, the 2016 U.S. Paralympics Sit Ski Nationals and IPC Continental Cup were held in Craftsbury, Vt., where Oksana Masters swept the women's races, newcomer Joy Rondeau placed second in four of them, and Andy Soule won all but one of the men's races. “I was impressed with the group as a whole and am excited to see what is to come,” head coach Eileen Carey explained.

General Interviews News Para Nordic

Fourth No More, Soule Up to Third Overall in IPC World Cup with Five Medals at World Champs

Alex KochonFebruary 12, 2015

With five medals already in his possession before the last day of IPC World Championships in Cable, Wis., American Andy Soule didn't have to ski the standing, skate course in the mixed relay -- but he wanted to. Not only did it show him what he was capable of, but it allowed "a lot of people to see exactly what is possible for a sit skier, too,” Soule, IPC Athlete of the Month, said last week.

Interviews IPC News Para Nordic Racing World Cup

T-1 Day ‘Til IPC World Championships in Cable; U.S. Team Raring to Go

Vince RosettaJanuary 22, 2015

For the third time ever, the IPC World Championships are being held in the U.S. and kick off Friday with the opening ceremony in Cable, Wis. Team USA is ready, according to coach Eileen Carey. “We are thrilled to get another chance to test out some of our training and racing strategies," she says. "Having the opportunity to do that on home snow is a great bonus for us.”

General IPC Para Nordic Training Workouts

Wednesday Workout: Reverse Pursuit Sprints with U.S. Paralympics Nordic

BrainspiralNovember 5, 2014

This week's workout comes from U.S. Paralympics coach Eileen Carey, who shares a fun head-to-head speed session that works on both technique and tactics. "This type of workout is important for our program because we often have training sessions with athletes with a wide range of experience levels and/or with different impairments competing against one another," she says.

Camps General News Para Nordic Testing Training

One Wild Ride: U.S. Paralympics Innovates Sit-Ski Treadmill Technique Training (Video)

Alex KochonSeptember 26, 20143

Last week, the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Team toyed with a new kind of training at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center: technique on a rollerski treadmill using live-video feedback. Oksana Masters was nervous before, but ramped it up to 10 mph at a 10-percent incline before the workout was over.

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