gender equity – FasterSkier

Nordic Nation: Cross-Country Program Director Chris Grover on Looking Back and Planning Ahead

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...

General News Racing World Cup

Updates from the 2022 FIS Cross-Country Committee Spring Meeting (Press Release)

FasterSkierMay 18, 2022

This press release originally appeared on fis-ski.com on Wednesday, March 18, 2022. May marks the month of the FIS Committee meetings, debriefing the season and setting up task and changes for the upcoming ones. All proposals that were elaborated by Sub-Committees and working groups members came on the table of the Cross-Country Committee (CCC) on Wednesday, 18th May. The Committee discussed them and forwarded the confirmed proposals on to the highest authority in FIS, the...

Community Feature Interviews News

Moving with the times: A look at Brennan’s “Perseverance Trail” NFT and partnership with Parity Now

Rachel PerkinsApril 28, 2022

On April 13th, Rosie Brennan wrote in an Instagram post, “The world is constantly changing and I’m trying to move with it.” The post announced the launch of an online auction for a limited edition NFT, in partnership with the organizations Parity Now and VereNFT. The NFT, titled “Perseverance Trail”, was designed by artist Kerri Schiff and features a mountainous ski trail with a variety of images of Brennan racing in her Team USA suit....

Feature

At the Olympics, women cross-country ski race half as far as men. But that could be changing.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 7, 2022

Female American and Swedish cross-country skiers are pushing to race equal distances as men. But some of the sport’s star women remain unconvinced. ZHIANGJIAKOU, CHINA — At the end of her first-ever competition at the Winter Olympics — a 15-kilometer effort that left her sprawled on the ground gasping for breath — Julia Kern contemplated the idea of racing twice as far. “I personally like the shorter distances,” said Kern, a rising American star. But,...

Community Feature News

World Cup Development Opportunities: an Interview with Rising Coach and Tech, Kristen Bourne

Rachel PerkinsDecember 27, 2021

In November, FasterSkier interviewed Kristen Bourne, assistant coach at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) in Duluth, MN, after she was selected as a Women’s Sports Foundation Van DerVeer Fellow, which came with a grant totalling $17,500. The objective of the fellowship is to improve representation of women in elite level coaching by supporting the development of rising coaches at the college level. The majority of the funds from the VanDerveer Fellowship went directly to...

Community Feature General News

CSS Assistant Coach Kristen Bourne Recognized with Women’s Sport Foundation VanDerveer Fellowship

Rachel PerkinsNovember 11, 2021

Kicking off her second year as assistant coach at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) in Duluth, MN, Kristen Bourne was recently named one of ten recipients of the Women’s Sports Foundation VanDerveer Fellowship. The program, named for revered Stanford University Basketball coach, Tara VanDerveer, aims to increase representation of women in coaching at the collegiate level through the development of the rising generation. This is the first time that the award has been granted...

Biathlon Community Feature News Racing

Susan Dunklee and the Change Wants to See: Part II

Jason AlbertAugust 2, 2021

This is part II of an interview with U.S. biathlete Susan Dunklee. In her final season racing World Cup, Dunklee has decided to take on a leadership role, as an Athlete Ambassador for gender equity, with the International Biathlon Union. You can find part one of the interview here. This portion of the interview focuses on an incident that crystalized Dunklee’s resolve to foster cultural change in her chosen sport. Dunklee posted a two-Instagram post...

Biathlon Community Feature News Racing

Susan Dunklee and the Change She Wants to See: Part 1

Jason AlbertJuly 23, 2021

Back in 2008, Susan Dunklee chose to become a biathlete after finishing her collegiate ski career. This was a solid decision both for Dunklee and for the US Biathlon program. With two World Championship silver medals, she is the most decorated biathlete from the U.S. women’s team. Born and raised in Vermont, Dunklee finds comfort in familiarity. During the offseason, she is based near Craftsbury and can often be found training with her Green Racing...

Community General

The Importance of Women in Coaching with Dr. Nicole LaVoi

Rachel PerkinsOctober 21, 2019

On the last weekend of September, U.S. Ski & Snowboard held the annual National Cross Country Coaches Symposium in Park City, UT. This year’s event included a keynote presentation from Nicole LaVoi Ph.D., co-director of the Tucker Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Dr. LaVoi is a professor of sport psychology and sociology at UMN and leads research in “the structural and personal barriers experienced by female coaches, relational qualities of the coach-athlete...

Community General News

The Women Ski Coaches Association Launches a Grassroots Mission Toward Gender Equity in Sport

Rachel PerkinsOctober 10, 2019

In August, the Women Ski Coaches Association (WSCA) set forth to balance the scales of gender equity in coaching. With Maria Stuber, head coach at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) and former member of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, at the helm, the WSCA strives to be “the voice and future of women in coaching.” According to surveys conducted by the Tucker Center for Research on Women and Girls in Sport, since Title IV...

General News US Biathlon

IBU Moves Forward on Building Equity

Jason AlbertJune 20, 2019

The numbers speak the truth when it comes to leadership in Olympic sport. Let’s take International Technical Officials (ITOs), the people responsible for a range of duties like enforcing rules and race timing protocol during competition. Across four Olympics, including summer and winter Games from 2010-2014, women constituted no greater than 30 percent of ITOs. On the coaching side, the numbers were starker. Between 2010 and 2014, female accredited coaches at the Olympics never rose...