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Ida Sargent

Head Coach Transitions for the SMS T2 Program with Pat O’Brien and Perry Thomas

After eight years at the helm of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 team, head coach Pat O’Brien is in the process of taking a few steps back, passing the reins to Perry Thomas, who has spent the last five years as the assistant coach at the University of Vermont. Perhaps highlighting this transition and the sharing of responsibilities the two are in the process of navigating, FasterSkier connected with Thomas in mid-May while he...

Randall, Sargent, and Stephen Take on the 2021 Boston Marathon

While no one would wish for the circumstances, a fall running of the Boston Marathon is perhaps a skier’s dream. The iconic foot race is on many a bucket list; however, the third Monday in April is early for those who spend the winter strapped to skinny skis rather than pounding pavement.  After cancelling the April, 2020, running in light of the descending COVID-19 pandemic, and deciding against an April date for the 2021 event,...

At the end of the 2018 season after being on the wrong side of the cusp of making the Olympic team, Erika Flowers made a transition in her ski career. She left her Stratton Mountain School T2 training group and returned home to Bozeman, MT where she began a role as the Associate Director at Profitable Ideas Exchange. However, Flowers did not hang up her skis — it was not retirement, just a transition and...

The US SuperTour kicked off the first races of the new year at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center with a classic sprint. The event, dubbed the 2020 Lost Nation Cup, brings together senior athletes, EISA carnival teams,  developing NENSA skiers, and citizen racers for a weekend of racing in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. “Retired” Craftsbury native Ida Sargent won the women’s race in a time of 3:55.47, followed by fellow CGRP athlete Kaitlynn Miller (+0.21),...

Red, White, and… Black? A Visual History of the USST Uniform, 2008–2019

A national team uniform for cross-country skiing has to do a lot of things. At the most utilitarian level, it has to wick sweat and aid performance while an athlete pursues one of the world’s most demanding sports at temperatures between –4 F and 40, in steady snow or driving rain or anything in between. At the functional level, it has to let spectators and coaches identify where their athlete is out on the course,...

Skiers Running Fast: Four Skiers Break 3 Hours in NYC Marathon

View this post on Instagram Teamwork makes the dream work! So fun to run the @nycmarathon with @lizhillstephen and @idasargent . We all ran for @aktiv_usa , just appreciated a great day running with humanity and all got UNDER 3! #bettertogether #aktivagainstcancer A post shared by Kikkan Randall (@kikkanimal) on Nov 3, 2019 at 12:43pm PST FasterSkier previously reported on four boldface names, former Winter Olympians all, who were planning on racing the 2019 New...

Kikkan Randall Joins the Sub Three Hour Marathon Club One Year Post Chemotherapy

Statistically speaking, only 2% of people who enter a marathon will finish under three hours. The 2019 TCS New York City Marathon was a bit above average, with nearly 3% (1,563 of  53,508 runners) breaking the elusive three hour barrier. Yesterday, four familiar cross country skiers joined the speedy club of athletes who have achieved this result.  Brian Gregg was first across the line, stopping the clock at 2:44:30 (6:17 per mile average). Next came...

Full Circle: Ida Sargent Begins Her Next Chapter In the Northeast Kingdom

As winter wanes and spring looms, many athletes choose to announce the bittersweet change of their own season of life, retirement from the sport to embark on a new pursuit. This March, after seven seasons on the U.S. Ski Team, 31-year-old Ida Sargent decided the time had come for something new. “I knew after Sochi that I wanted to go to one more Olympics,” Sargent told FasterSkier in a call. “So at that point, I...

Saturday Race Rundown

FIS World Cup Falun, Sweden 1.4 k Freestyle Sprint On a day when sugary snow course picked off skiers trying to advance during Falun, Sweden’s 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint, Stina Nilsson, yes of Sweden, took the win. She won the final in 3:07.72 over Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla  in second (+0.67). The day’s top qualifier, Maja Dahlqvist, placed third (+2.14). The Americans entered in the race were some of the key players who tumbled on course. Jessie...

Falla Locks Up Drammen Sprint; Diggins Strides to Fifth

The World Cup entourage gathered Tuesday at the head of the Drammensfjord in Norway. The 1.2-kilometer classic sprint in Drammen, Norway — the post-Holmenkollen sprint stop on the calendar — was held under overcast skies and within a city center jammed with fans. Coming into Tuesday’s classic sprint, Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla had claimed two individual World Cup sprint victories this season and a World Championship sprint win in Seefeld, Austria. Falla remains consistent, having...

Niskanen Wins Cogne 10 k Classic; Brennan 21st

World Cup racers in the Cogne, Italy 10-kilometer classic individual start enjoyed blues skies and sunshine on Sunday,  the temperate weather seeming to have carried over from Saturday’s sprint. Winning the women’s race was Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen in a time of 27:24.8. The victory is Niskanen’s second individual World Cup win–her first came five years ago in the Lenzerheide, Switzerland 10 k classic. With Sunday’s 10 k the final World Cup regular season race before World...

FIS Cross Country World Cup 10 k/15 k Classic Individual Start Cogne, Italy World Cup athletes returned to the Cogne race venue on Sunday for a men’s and women’s classic interval start race. In the women’s 10 k, Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen, won in a time of 27:24.8. Finishing just 3 seconds behind her for second place was Swiss skier, Nadine Fähndrich. Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva claimed third, 12.6 seconds behind the winner. Racing for the U.S., Rosie...

Diggins Wins Cogne Sprint; U.S. Puts 6 Women in Top 30

Until the very end of Saturday’s 1.6-kilometer freestyle sprint race in Cogne, Italy, American Jessie Diggins had those watching on the edge of their seats. She advanced as the lucky loser in her quarterfinal and then once again in her semi final, before winning the final in a lunge to the line. “Man I am glad they do lucky  losers here!” Diggins told the International Ski Federation after winning Saturday’s sprint. “It’s so fun to...

FIS Cross Country World Cup 1.6-kilometer freestyle sprint Cogne, Italy Amidst sunshine and sporting rolled up sleeves on Saturday in Cogne Italy, American Jessie Diggins took the women’s 1.6-kilometer freestyle sprint win in nail-biter fashion. After making it into the semifinals and the final as one of the day’s lucky losers, Diggins outlunged Germany’s Sandra Ringwald by 0.11 seconds, claiming the victory in a time of 3:32.73. The 27 year old Afton, Minnesota native now has...

Sweden Snags First and Third in Lahti Classic Team Sprint

It was a weekend of sprinting in Lahti, Finland, with many World Cup athletes closing out Sunday having traversed the famed 1.4-kilometer 2016 World Championships sprint loop at top speed close to ten times. By the time Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist got on course for the final lap of the women’s classic Team Sprint, she had already tallied nine–in Saturday’s freestyle sprint she made it through the qualifier, quarterfinal, semifinal and final (placing third), and on...

Sunday Rundown from Lahti and Canada (Canmore Biathlon Sprints Cancelled)

FIS World Cup Lahti, Finland Classic Team Sprint Sunday in Lahti, Finland the women raced a 6 x 1.4-kilometer classic team sprint. U.S. fans saw their hopes for a podium snuffed out in the two semi-finals that determined the 10 teams advancing to the finals. In the first team sprint semi, the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) Ida Sargent and Sophie Caldwell  placed sixth overall and did not advance. Sargent and Caldwell, constituting team USA I,...

Falla First in Lahti; But Calling it For Caldwell

Out of the famed Lahti, Finland ski stadium and up and over the initial punchy climb, Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla, 40 seconds into the final of the women’s 1.4-kilometer sprint, charged ahead. In her draft, and sitting in fourth place around the hairpin that slung skiers back towards the stadium was the U.S. Ski Team’s Sophie Caldwell. Descending back past the stadium and into the next decisive hill at 1:35 into the race, Caldwell made...

Saturday Race Rundown; Caldwell Second in Lahti; Canadian Westerns

FIS World Cup Lahti, Finland 1.4 k/ 1.6 k Freestyle Sprint In the women’s skate sprint qualifier in Lahti, Finland Slovenia’s Eva Urevc laid down the fastest time in 2:40.67 minutes. Swiss skier Nadine Faehndrich was the second fastest qualifier, 4.21 seconds back, with the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) Sophie Caldwell third (+4.36). Canada’s Dahria Beatty qualified 25th (+10.21). Also making the heats for the U.S. were Ida Sargent (USST) in 26th (+10.36), and Kelsey Phinney...

U.S. 2019 World Championship Team Announced

  In a press release Monday afternoon, U.S. Ski and Snowboard announced the members of the 2019 Cross-Country World Championships in Seefeld, Austria.  (Press Release) U.S. Ski & Snowboard has named 18 athletes to the U.S. Cross Country Team that will compete in the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships next month in Seefeld, Austria. The biennial World Championships brings together the best athletes in the sport for the Feb. 20 – March 3 event...

Johaug Returns With Win in Typical Fashion; Diggins 13th

In the first distance race after the Tour de Ski, it remained to be seen whether Norway’s Therese Johaug, undefeated in distance events, would be able to pick up where she left off in December. As Johaug sat out the TdS, her teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg entered the 10-kilometer interval start classic race with momentum, having taken the win in four distance stages of the Tour, including two 10 k classic victories. Østberg also posted the...