FasterSkier recently shared a press release on behalf of the US Nordic Olympic Women (US NOW) announcing Julia Kern as the 2022 recipient of the fourth annual Gold Rush Award. The release included comments from 2021 winner Jessie Diggins on the qualities that she, along with the other past winners, recognized made Kern deserving of this year’s award, but it became clear that there was a gap in FasterSkier’s coverage on the history of US...
We’re almost as old as the SNS Pilot binding system: FasterSkier turns 20 years old this season. The site went live on February 1, 2002, a week before the Winter Olympics began in the Salt Lake City backyard of site founders Torbjorn Karlsen and Cory Smith. While the first few months worth of coverage has been lost to the sands of time, or at least to the ravages of our CMS system (2002 Olympics coverage...
The earliest FIS race ever held on natural snow in the Northern Hemisphere occurred in Fairbanks on this date in 1996. It was also one of the best races that two-time Olympian Ben Husaby ever had.
Biathlon, like many Olympic sports, began as a way for soldiers to practice their skills. Neal Bascomb’s new book, "The Winter Fortress", tells the tale of Norwegian and British soldiers on skis fighting the German occupation of Norway in World War II. This book is interesting, historically accurate, scientifically accurate, and well written. Even without the skiing, this would be my favorite nonfiction book of the year.
After hearing fantastical tales in the 1970s of what it was like to race in the Soviet Union, Bill Frank set out to discover why fans there were so biathlon-crazy. The answers have much to do with the debacle of the 1939 Winter War, where the Soviets were turned back by Finnish ski troopers, and that the biathlon relay was about as Marxist an athletic event as you could find.
This post is somewhat of a teaser trailer for the sorts of things we can do once we have a complete record of major international ski results stretching back to the 70′s. A natural and possibly controversial question is whether the World Cup field has become more or less competitive over time. Intuitively, I think [...] Related posts:
1960 Winter Olympic Games and Ski History Artifacts Sought. [Olympic Valley, California] Did you attend the 1960 Olympics as a spectator? Were you involved as a volunteer or athlete? Does your family have a long time connection to skiing in the region? If so, the Squaw Valley Ski Museum Foundation would love to hear about your experiences and is seeking donations of artifacts and memorabilia. Artifacts will be on display at this January’s Olympic...
A blog post from Fairbanks Cross-Country Coach, Peter Leonard brought an extremely interesting article to our attention. Written by Kjell Erik Kristiansen on Langde.se, this article (in English) details the evolution of skating in to the mainstream of FIS competitions. The process took time and was quite contentious at times. This is an excellent window into one of the most important periods for Cross-Country Skiing.