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Hunter Wonders

U.S. Senior National Classic Sprint Rundown (Updated with Images & Audio)

Racing at the 2020 U.S. Senior Nationals wrapped on Tuesday with a 1.5-kilometer classic sprint. Although the day came down to six skiers in both the men’s and women’s finals — as is the norm — what flummoxed a few skiers of note were the dicey conditions, which left the tracks covered with slow-me-down lake effect snow. Post-race interview with Hunter Wonders Canada’s Julien Locke (CNST) won the men’s final in 4:03.83 — a time...

Canmore NorAm / SuperTour / Nationals Weekend Wrap-up (Updated)

Updated with more quotes. The first three race days of both the NorAm and SuperTour series are complete and the athletes and coaches are digesting the lessons. It was free sprints Friday,  classic distance Saturday, and interval start free technique distance on Sunday. The men started the Sunday with a four lap 15km followed by the women doing a 3 lap 10km. CGRP’s Ben Lustgarten nailed the pacing to win Sunday’s race in 42:56.0, just...

Friday Race Rundown: World Juniors, IBU World Cup, and Super Tour (Updated 2x)

  2019 U23 World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland 15 k/30 k Classic Mass Start Link to Doug Stephen’s images from Lahti. Of the four Russian athletes starting the 15-kilometer classic mass start in Lahti, Finland three placed in the top four. Anna Zherebyateva won in 40:31.4 minutes as she was able to stretch her nine-second gap at 10 k to 23.5 seconds by the finish. Also from Russia, Lidia Durkina placed second (+23.5), Germany’s...

Monday Race Rundown: U23 Worlds Classic Sprint (Updated)

FIS Junior World Ski Championhips U23 1.4 k/1.6 k Classic Sprint Link to U23 classic sprint photo album from Doug Stephen. Monday, the second day of racing at the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland the U23 women raced a 1.4-kilometer classic sprint. Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng set the standard in qualification. Her 3:26.52 minute time placed her in bib 1 for the heats. Three U.S. skiers qualified for the heats. Julia Kern qualified...

The Phenom Next Door: Gus Schumacher Looks to Lahti

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gus Schumacher spent last winter traveling the world for ski racing, including laying down the season’s most dramatic anchor leg, non-Jessie Diggins edition, to bring the U.S. men’s relay team from fourth to a historic second at World Juniors. The then-high school senior also spent the season touring the country to plan his future in ski racing, talking with multiple NCAA coaches to discuss their programs and weigh everything from coaching philosophy...

Gus Schumacher Leads the Way in First Besh Cup Weekend

Note: FasterSkier is accepting submissions for regional race reports, including for juniors racing. If you would like to see a particular race circuit covered and have the writer with the will to do it, please have them email info@fasterskier.com. Be sure to include a link to results, and preferably a few original race photos with proper credits. GOVERNMENT PEAK RECREATION AREA, outside Palmer, Alaska — On a day that had a decidedly old school feel,...

FasterSkier’s North American Performances of the Year

With the 2017/2018 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil the last of 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 the North American Performances of the Year in cross-country, biathlon and nordic combined. Previous categories:...

FasterSkier’s Juniors of the Year: Ben Loomis and Hailey Swirbul (Updated)

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 outstanding North American junior athletes across all nordic disciplines.  *** Ben Loomis, U.S. Nordic Combined Team In late January,...

Spring Series Rundown: Erik Bjornsen Takes U.S. Distance Nationals 50 k Title

2018 U.S. SuperTour Finals (Craftsbury, Vermont): 50 k classic mass start In the final race of the U.S. racing season, Erik Bjornsen of Alaska Pacific University (APU) and U.S. Ski Team (USST) won his second individual race of the week at 2018 SuperTour Finals in Craftsbury, with a victory in the men’s 50-kilometer classic mass start on Wednesday for the U.S. Distance Nationals title. He previously Live timing

Saturday Rundown: Relay Silver for U.S. Men; Loomis 4th; Plus Hakuba & Gatineau

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Ben Loomis, Luke Jager and Gus Schumacher.) Junior World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): Men’s and women’s relays Two individual medals and a relay podium. That’s how the U.S. team fared this week at Junior World Championships in terms of a medal count, but the significance of its breakthroughs go way beyond the hardware. Hailey Swirbul became the most successful American nordic skier at Junior World...

Thursday Rundown: Swirbul 3rd in Junior Worlds Skiathlon; U.S. NoCo Relay 7th (Updated)

(This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Hailey Swirbul and Gus Schumacher.) Junior World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): 10/20 k skiathlons second in the 5 k classic for her first individual medal and the best-ever finish for the U.S. at Junior Worlds. “This means so much,” she told race organizers after taking third in Thursday’s skiathlon. “I’m so happy to represent the United States here and show how we can improve in the...

Tuesday Rundown: Swirbul 2nd at Junior Worlds; Loomis 3rd (Updated)

(This article has been updated to reflect that American Hailey Swirbul was in second for most of Tuesday’s 5 k race, not over one minute back as previously reported based on a live timing error. It has also been updated to include comments from Americans Hailey Swirbul, Ben Loomis, Stephen Schumann, and Gus Schumacher, Canada’s Antoine Cyr, University of Alaska Anchorage nordic head coach Andrew Kastning, and U.S. Ski Team Development Coach Bryan Fish.) Junior World Championships (Goms,...

Scott Patterson Wins Home U.S. Nationals 15 k by Nearly a Minute

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Noah Hoffman.) ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It was a day of homecomings and returns at snowy Kincaid Park for the first day of the 2018 U.S. Cross Country Championships. Scott Patterson returned to his childhood training grounds with a convincing victory, Noah Hoffman returned to racing at U.S. nationals with second, and Matt Liebsch returned to the nationals podium with third in the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle individual...

Sunday Rundown: Lillehammer; Östersund; West Yellowstone (Updated)

US SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Montana): 10/15 k classic mass starts The second day of SuperTour racing took place as originally planned at the Rendezvous Ski Trails in West Yellowstone, with 22-year-old Hedda Bångman, of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), and 33-year-old Brian Gregg (Team Gregg) winning the women’s 10-kilometer and men’s 15 k classic mass starts, respectively, on Sunday. Bångman, a Swedish freshman on the second in Saturday’s skate sprint) in third (+4.6). Kyle Bratrud (CXC...

Wednesday Rundown: SuperTour Finals Skate Sprints

U.S. SuperTour Finals (Fairbanks, Alaska): Freestyle sprints On Wednesday the 2017 U.S. SuperTour Finals, also referred to as Spring Series, the last of the year’s elite level sprints went down in Fairbanks, Alaska. The women raced a 1.5-kilometer course while the men skied a slightly longer 1.6 k course, both run at the Birch Hill Recreation Area in Fairbanks. Earlier in the week, Jessie Diggins of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team and U.S. Ski...

Monday Rundown: SuperTour Finals Skiathlon

U.S. SuperTour Finals (Fairbanks, Alaska): Women’s and men’s skiathlons The first day of racing was skiathlon day at the 2017 U.S. SuperTour Finals, also referred to as Spring Series, in Fairbanks, Alaska. It marked the World Championship medal in a classic event, it is still one of those things for me I am always going to feel like I am trying to fix it, always trying to work on it, which is good.” Diggins has...

Saturday Rundown: Holmenkollen, Kontiolahti, Jackson, and Lake Placid (Updated x4)

NCAA Skiing Championships (Jackson, N.H.): 15/20 k freestyle mass starts On the final day of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Skiing Championships in northern New Hampshire, the University of Utah pulled out a 16.5-point victory over the University of Colorado-Boulder (and finished 17.5 points ahead of the University of Denver) in the team standings, and the Petra Hyncicova, achieved their second-straight titles in as many nordic races this week. On a frigid Saturday morning in Jackson,...

Friday Rundown: Kontiolahti & Lake Placid (Updated)

IBU World Cup (Kontiolahti, Finland): Men’s & women’s sprints [UPDATED] Fifth place is becoming a habit for US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee, who shot 9/10 on Friday (1+0) and finished 34.9 seconds out of first for her third fifth-place result in the last three individual races. Twice at last week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, Dunklee placed fifth: first in the sprint and again in the pursuit. She ended her racing there...

Monday Rundown: Junior Nationals Open in Lake Placid

USSA Cross Country Junior Championships (Lake Placid, N.Y.): 5/10 k freestyle individual starts The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) Cross Country Junior Championships (a.k.a. Junior Nationals) opened Monday in Lake Placid, N.Y., with U16, U18 and U20 men’s and women’s 5/10-kilometer freestyle individual start races taking place at the Olympic Jumping Complex trails just up the road from Mt. Van Hoevenberg, where organizers had originally planned to host the weeklong event. A lack of natural...

FIS Nordic Junior World Championships (Midway, Utah): Junior relays Hailey Swirbul, Julia Kern, Hannah Halvorsen, and Katharine Ogden on the podium. That’s right. Two days after Ogden became the first American to earn an individual medal at Junior World Championships, those four U.S. junior women listed above did the same, placing third in the 4 x 3.3-kilometer relay on the last day of 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. The team...