Kristine Stavås Skistad

A ‘huge party’ of a World Championships is ready to kick off in Norway

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 26, 2025

This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. TRONDHEIM — It’s back. It’s been 14 years since Norway hosted a cross-country skiing World Championships, with the 2011 event going off along Oslo trails mobbed with Scandinavian fans. The championships return to the skiing-mad nation again Thursday, with the first of six medal races,...

News Podcasts The Devon Kershaw Show US Ski Team World Cup

The Devon Kershaw Show: Burger King and the Thugometer

Nathaniel HerzNovember 14, 2024

You know you missed us. Devon and Nat return with a soft launch into the 2025 winter season. We cover off-season developments and other hijinks, from the still-missing Russians to Therese Johaug’s return. Read here and here if you want to understand wth the references are in the show title. We’ll be back soon. Hit us up at nat@fasterskier.com and devon@fasterskier.com; we’re psyched to be back.

The Devon Kershaw Show US Ski Team World Cup

The Devon Kershaw Show: Finale in Falun, or the not-last episode of the 2024 season

Nathaniel HerzMarch 20, 2024

Reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated. Apologies for the tardiness of this episode, but we’re back with a wrap from Falun, the last World Cup weekend of the season. It’s just Devon and Nat kicking it old school again here, but we’ll return soon with some guests. Seriously. Send us your 2025 predictions, Russian troll comments and Gjøran Tefre memes: devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. Thanks for hanging out with us for the whole World Cup...

News The Devon Kershaw Show World Cup

The Devin Kershaw Show: Canmore is a wrap. On to Minneapolis.

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 14, 2024

We’re back, with our fourth? Fifth? episode in the past week. It’s been a whirlwind, but we’re still here to wrap up the last day of World Cup racing in Canmore. Amazingly, Nat is posting this podcast from a moving airplane between Calgary and Toronto, with Victoria Carl and Katharina Hennig sitting a few rows up. We’ll be back with more action from Minneapolis, including a show with a live audience late Sunday afternoon at...

Feature News World Cup

Canmore Reporter’s Notebook: Scandinavian Feuds, Nearly-Nudes, Car Crash Recovery, and Doping Doubts

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 12, 2024

CANMORE, Alberta: We’re three days into a six-race series of World Cup racing in North America and I’m just one guy, which means there hasn’t been time to share all the fun little stories and subplots that have been filling my notebook. I’m summarizing a few of the better ones here. Stay tuned for more notes and some feature stories after Tuesday’s final race in Canmore. If you have ideas for stories, tips or feedback...

The Devon Kershaw Show US Ski Team World Cup

The Devon Kershaw Show: Davos delivers flamethrowers, snow squalls and U.S. podiums

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 4, 2024

We’re in deep to the Tour de Ski now, after a couple of legitimately rad days of racing in Davos, Switzerland. Mikael Gunnulfsen of Norway joins us to talk about the stunning performance of Henrik Doennestad, and of course we catch you up on the latest successes of Americans Jessie Diggins and Rosie Brennan and, oh yeah, Gus Schumacher. Get at us at nat@fasterskier.com and devon@fasterskier.com. We’ll be back once the athletes hit the top...

The Devon Kershaw Show US Ski Team World Cup

The Devon Kershaw Show: Recapping a soggy, fluoro-free weekend in Trondheim

Nathaniel HerzDecember 18, 2023

Eli Brown, a member of the U.S. Ski Team’s waxing and ski service staff, joins us this week to talk about his job and the new enforcement of the rules banning fluorocarbons on the World Cup circuit. We recap another strong weekend for American athletes, along with all the hijinks that happened in Trondheim, Norway at the test event for next season’s World Championships. The World Cup takes a break next weekend before the Tour...

News The Devon Kershaw Show World Cup

The Devon Kershaw Show: We’re back, baby

Nathaniel HerzNovember 19, 2023

We’re off. The 2023-2024 winter kicks off with season opening races across Scandinavia, and the World Cup launches next week. Devon and Nat go old-school, no guests to recap a bevy of interesting results so far. Send us your comments, questions and criticisms: devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. We’ll be back next week.

The Devon Kershaw Show US Ski Team World Cup

A Finnish finish: Tying a bow on the 2023 season in Lahti

Nathaniel HerzMarch 27, 2023

This is the end. Of the 2023 racing season. Devon and Nat go without guests and are here to take you through the last three events of the winter in Lahti, Finland. And we cover a couple of retirement announcements from U.S. skiers. We’re taking a little break after this but, we promise: We won’t leave you hanging for the whole off-season. Stay tuned for more regular episodes over the course of the spring and...

News

The Devon Kershaw Show: Live from Estonia, it’s Tuesday night

Nathaniel HerzMarch 22, 2023

Estonia put on one heck of a show at a city sprint in the nation’s capital, Tallinn, this week. We give you a full recap with the help of an on-site expert, Vahur Teppan, and break down some complaints about a new system designed to level the waxing playing field — which may not have worked. We’ll be back for one more recap after the Lahti Ski Games in Finland this weekend. Devon is at...

Dryland News Racing

Norway’s Blink Festival: Rollerski Racing with Some Social Distance

FasterSkierAugust 10, 2020

Times are what they are. Precautions are the name of the game. This year’s Blink Festival in Norway played to a reduced field and limited spectators due to COVID precautions. Some races, as will be noted, included modified race rules to limit close contact between athletes. Lysebotn Opp – 06/08 The Lysebotn Opp is perhaps the marquee event. It features lovely fjord views and a grueling 7.5-kilometer uphill skate switchbacking up a mountainside. In...

Juniors News Racing

Saturday Race Rundown: U.S. U20 Men Win Relay, U20 Women 4th at World Juniors (Updated)

FasterSkierJanuary 26, 2019

2019 U23 World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland 4 x 3 k and 4x 5 k relay Full U20 Men’s Race Report In a historic first for the U.S., the U20 men’s team won the 4 x 5-kilometer relay today in Lahti, Finland at the 2019 World Junior Ski Championships. Luke Jager skied the first classic leg for the U.S., Ben Ogden skied the second classic, Johnny Hagenbuch skied the first initial skate leg and...

General News Racing World Cup

Sweden’s Sundling Scores First World Cup Win; Sadie Bjornsen Podiums in Lillehammer Skate Sprint

Jason AlbertNovember 30, 2018

With the two big climbs over 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprint course, the women’s World Cup freestyle sprint course in Lillehammer, Norway packs a quad-burning punch. With lungs then legs poaching any extra oxygen, the women’s final, which featured four of six athletes from Sweden, was a primetime show. Nilsson is a finisher, known for her closeout efforts in the finishing straight. But as she and twenty-three-year-old Sundling glided into the S-turns before the final 100 meters,...

General News Racing World Cup

Friday Rundown: World Cup Cross-Country Sprint in Lillehammer, Norway

FasterSkierNovember 30, 2018

FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer Norway: Freestyle Sprint Women’s Report | Men’s Report In Friday’s women’s 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprint in Lillehammer, Norway, the first day of three successive days of World Cup racing, the women’s sprint final was stacked with Swedes, with four of six athletes sporting the yellow, blue, and white. In the final, Jonna Sundling of Sweden passed teammate Stina Nilsson meters before the finish line to take the win in 2:52.74 minutes....

News Other Racing

Skate Sprints in Beito: Klæbo and Falla Win with Challengers Right Behind

Jason AlbertNovember 17, 2018

In a place like Norway, where the pool of cross-country athletes appears eternally deep, when you see competitors raise the bar, there’s nothing else to do but jump. On Saturday in Beitostølen, Norway the known knowns were self-evident: Maiken Caspersen Falla and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo took the freestyle sprint wins during the second day of FIS race competitions. As both athletes were overall World Cup sprint champions last season, there are no shockers there....

News

Saturday Rundown: Beitostølen Freestyle Sprints; Bruksvallarna 10/15 k

FasterSkierNovember 17, 2018

Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers. *** FIS cross-country Beitostølen, Norway: 1.3 k freestyle sprints In Beitostølen on Saturday, the second day of FIS races there sent the women on 1.3-kilometer skate...

General Juniors News Racing

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

FasterSkierJanuary 30, 2018

(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,...

Juniors Racing

Monday Rundown: Soldier Hollow & Almaty (Updated)

FasterSkierJanuary 30, 2017

FIS Nordic Junior World Championships (Midway, Utah): Classic sprint [UPDATED] On the first day of Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, three U.S. women, four U.S. men and two Canadian men finished in the top 30 to qualify for the heats in the women’s and men’s classic sprints. Of those nine North Americans, three reached the semifinals: Julia Kern, Hannah Halvorsen and Bill Harmeyer, all representing the U.S. Germany’s Janosch Brugger beat out four Norwegians...