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)
This summer APU is hosting a masters on-snow ski camp at the Thomas Training Center on Eagle Glacier. Come experience glacier training, just as APU’s Elite team and Olympians Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Erik and Sadie Bjornsen make their seasons. “Skiers are made in the Summer” The camp is coached by Erik Flora, Dylan Watts, and Galen Johnston. Coaching staff has experience at nearly all ages and levels, from recreational to Olympic and World Championship...
With a tough psyche and plenty of team support, Chelsea Holmes raced to her first win of the season during the women's SuperTour 10 k classic mass start on Sunday in Sun Valley, Idaho, ahead of APU teammate Becca Rorabaugh in second and Craftsbury's Caitlin Patterson in third.
What's so great about Eagle Glacier anyway? U.S. nordic-racing fan and masters skier Fast Big Dog explains after his first trip to Alaska's coveted training site. He interviewed several top U.S. Ski Team members to find out more.
This summer APU is hosting a masters on-snow ski camp at the Thomas Training Center on Eagle Glacier. Come experience glacier training, just as APU’s Elite team and Olympians Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Erik and Sadie Bjornsen make their seasons. “Skiers are made in the Summer” The camp is coached by APU Elite coach Erik Flora, Greta Anderson and Galen Johnson. Erik has coached at Olympic and World Championship levels, including three time Overall World...
Alaska Pacific University’s Rosie Brennan answers 10 questions as she looks to build on a successful season at the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden as part of FasterSkier’s series on World Champs rookies.
Scott Patterson followed up his 13th place in the 15 k skate with a 15th place in the 30 k skiathlon at Under-23 World Championships - a solid showing, according to coaches, but by his own assessment missing the results goals he had set for himself. U.S. teammate Paddy Caldwell placed 20th, and Joanne Reid led the American women in 25th.
Kikkan Randall's been home for just over a week, and in a phone interview on Tuesday, she said she was ready for the break. "It wasn’t an easy decision to leave the racing circuit ... but with Falun being my big goals, I wanted to really try to make a drastic change," she says.
Ever since the season started in West Yellowstone, Rosie Brennan's been on a roll. On Saturday, she achieved her seventh-straight podium, and third-consecutive win out of four races at U.S. nationals, becoming the first skier to do so since Kikkan Randall won all four nationals events in 2010.
Decisions on the World Cup circuit, like when to stop when the going's good or whether to stay in Europe when things aren't going exactly according to plan, aren't easy. But they have to be made. APU Head Coach Erik Flora explains the thought processes behind some recent U.S. Ski Team member moves.
Rosie Brennan (APU) earned her second national title in a week after striding to a 5.5 second win in the women's 20 k classic mass start in northern Michigan. APU coach Erik Flora said that he believes Brennan is ready for the next level of racing saying, “she is one of our top ladies and she is right at that point to make that next step and jump in with the World Cup crew.”
There was no shortage of excitement in the women's 10 k freestyle at the 2015 U.S. Cross Country Championships on Sunday, as Caitlin Gregg earned her first win of the season after returning from Europe. It wasn't without contest, however, as a strong APU team of Rosie Brennan, Chelsea Holmes, and Jessica Yeaton were also in the hunt.
It wasn't easy, but Rosie Brennan of Alaska Pacific University maintained an impressive pace to win the season's second SuperTour race, a 10 k individual start freestyle in windy West Yellowstone, Mont.
From June 28 to July 1, the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center held its third-annual Masters Glacier Camp, hosting nine skiers ranging in age from their 30s to their early 70s. While Pyeongchang may be decidedly out of reach for these nine older athletes, it could be argued that no group of Eagle Glacier skiers — this month or ever — will have more fun.
Anchorage and Eagle Glacier are happening places these days, with the North American Women's Training Alliance (including Norway's Celine Brun-Lie and 13 top U.S. skiers), a couple of French biathletes and the U.S. men's team, which recently arrived for its first unified training camp in Alaska.
APU Head Coach Erik Flora isn't one to toot his own horn, but when it comes down to it, he's really in awe of the levels his Anchorage-based program has reached and his recent recognition as USOC Coach of the Year. "I had no idea it was coming," he says. "It’s such an incredible honor."
At the 2014 NCAA Championships, Kyle Bratrud was the first American in the 15 k classic. The result was the highlight of his college career to date. However, the skier is much more than his results suggest and the Minnesota native's relationship with the sport shows that several strong influences from his coaches have helped him get where he is today.
The 4 x 5 k relay made its way back into U.S. nationals for the first time in about 16 years, but with a new twist of two men and two women per team. APU showed its strength and depth early on, and its winning anchor, Kikkan Randall said she's hoping the format makes it into the World Cup. She's not alone.
“It can be so many things,” Kikkan Randall's coach, Erik Flora, said in an interview after Tuesday's Olympic sprint race. “I’ll go back and review this and see—I’m sure it’ll play over and over in our heads.”
The first day of cross country ski racing in this season’s opening World Cup Event has come to a close. Alaska Pacific University’s Kikkan Randall claimed a silver medal in the women’s classic style sprint race in Kuusamo, Finland. Randall said she didn’t expect a podium finish, but APU Coach Erik Flora thinks she was more than prepared.