In advance of his club’s facility playing host to the third annual North American Women's Training Alliance (NAWTA) camp in July, APU Nordic Director Erik Flora broke down film of last year's World Cup races in Sochi. He was studying every undulation of the race courses, with a goal to replicate the Olympic venue.
Six years ago, a back injury put a damper on Rosie Brennan's skiing, but she didn't let it get her down and finally addressed it this spring. Now training consciously and rehabbing the injury, the 24-year-old APU skier is hoping for another career-best season leading up to the Sochi Games.
Fresh off a trip from France, where he trained with national team skiers and biathletes, Erik Bjornsen talks how he wants to build off last season's breakthroughs and the major lessons he takes away from training with foreign athletes. "In order to reach the top, you really have to live cross-country skiing at every hour of the day," he says.
The North American Women's Training Alliance camp began in Alaska this week, and on Tuesday they did a rollerski workout that U.S. Ski Team women's coach Matt Whitcomb called "the best threshold workout I’ve seen out of this group of women since I’ve been working with the team." Presenting this week's workout, with video.
With 24 athletes, APU is keeping its elite team pretty similar to years past, but there's definitely new blood in the training group with eight new men on the team.
Over the years, Sadie Bjornsen's learned a thing or two about patience, especially when it comes to getting healthy. This season, the 23-year-old U.S. Ski Team member has a few key priorities and a strategic approach to achieve them.
Matt Whitcomb led the women's U.S. Ski Team to new heights this winter on the World Cup and at World Championships, earning him FasterSkier's inaugural Coach of the Year award.
The NNF Cup winner for the 2012/2013 season is the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center. The NNF Cup is awarded annually to the top domestic club on the USSA SuperTour circuit. APU showed impressive depth in its program by roughly doubling the points of Craftsbury, the 2nd place team.
Athletes and staff each have roles to play on race day, and on Sunday at World Championships every one of them was executed perfectly to help Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall to earn an historic gold medal in the team sprint. The wax, the skis — and that replacement pole!
Here you were thinking Torin Koos was a sprinter. Think again: he won his eighth career national title on Sunday in the 30 k mass start classic, his second of the week. He bested Erik Bjornsen and David Norris in second and third in a close, hard-fought race at Soldier Hollow.
A two-time runner-up at this year's nationals, Sadie Bjornsen proved to herself that she can achieve gold, winning her second national title in three years in her first-ever 20 k. Bjornsen skied away from the pack late, beating teammate Kate Fitzgerald by nearly 13 seconds.
Can't get enough of the action at U.S. Nationals? Here are some bits and pieces from top performers on Friday that didn't make the race reports.
It has been 27 years since the World Cup landed in Eastern Canada. The big show is back, setting up in the front yard of the Quebec Parliament building. The unique course features a small jump, and the loop should favor American Kikkan Randall.
With five women in the top six, Alaska Pacific University pretty much cleaned up in the classic sprint in Bozeman, Mont. Sadie Bjornsen won a close finish with teammate Lauren Fritz; Corey Stock (Dartmouth) took third.
Alaska Pacific University coach Erik Flora discusses the best part waking up to results like those from Gallivare and why he expects his athletes Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks to continue doing big things this year.
of twenty thirteen, we’ll be producing the show regularly. Expect interviews with the country’s biggest cross-country skiing stars and coaches, plus analysis from the FasterSkier crew. This week, Topher Sabot and Nat Herz interview Erik Flora, the head coach of the Alaska-Pacific University Nordic Ski Center club team, which includes World Championships medalist Kikkan Randall, and U.S. Ski Teamers Holly Brooks, and Erik and Sadie Bjornsen. Randall has been dealing with a stress fracture in...
It is saying nothing new to point out that Kikkan Randall becoming the World Cup Sprint Champion last season was a breakthrough for U.S. skiing. The enormity of the moment in March when an American woman was handed the crystal globe has been well documented since the conclusion of the 2012 season. Each photo that has surfaced online this summer of Randall, her trophy and a new group of wide-eyed fans is a reminder...
Last week in Anchorage, a freak windstorm rolled through that would have devastated most mainland Americans. Gusts estimated at 130 miles per hour spewed trees across Alaska’s largest city, leaving at least a thousand residents without power through Saturday – almost four days after the storm hit Tuesday night. In a phone interview, U.S. Ski Team member Kikkan Randall said the electricity and all the lights at her home came on at 2:15 a.m. Saturday....
This is the last of several previews in a quick-and-dirty series on U.S. elite teams. We asked coaches to send their 2012/2013 rosters and tell us what’s new for the coming season. Teams were presented in no particular order. Team name: Alaska Pacific University (APU) Nordic Ski Center Coach: Erik Flora (head coach/director) Roster: Kikkan Randall (U.S. Ski Team A-team), Holly Brooks (USST B-team), Sadie Bjornsen (USST B-team), Becca Rorabaugh, Rosie Brennan, Kate Fitzgerald, Erika...
dwatts@alaskapacific.edu) for registration and further information.