The FasterSkier team breaks down last weekend's historic World Cup results, which included the first-ever podium for the American women in a relay.
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Historic U.S. Performance, Built on Teamwork and Guts, Draws Admirers in Ski World
Chelsea LittleNovember 26, 2012
GÄLLIVARE, Sweden – It’s always good to finish a race and be happy with the result. But the icing on the cake is when the entire sport seems to be behind your performance. And for the U.S. women after Sunday’s historic third-place relay finish, that was the case. As one team after another crossed the line behind them, they were hugged and congratulated – even by teams who surely wished the podium spot could be...
Notes and Quotes: Gallivare edition
Chelsea LittleNovember 26, 2012
With so much happening in Gällivare, Sweden, this weekend, we didn’t have the chance to put quite everything into our main feature stories. Here are some leftovers from the races, as well as some small pieces about the U.S. men’s and Canadian women’s relays. Women’s Relay When asked about the U.S. women’s relay podium, Development Coach Bryan Fish initially didn’t get too specific… he was just impressed. “That was exciting to watch,” he told FasterSkier...
A Norway-U.S. Relay Battle? Norwegian Women Win Again, But Americans Notch First World Cup Podium
Chelsea LittleNovember 25, 2012
While it's no surprise that Norway's women won the World Cup relay today, their margin of victory wasn't the largest it has ever been - for two legs, they were stalked by tenacious U.S. women. Jessie Diggins dug deep to retain a podium spot for the Americans.
“Great Day” for U.S. Women; Falls Leave Stephen, Diggins Wondering What Might Have Been
Chelsea LittleNovember 24, 2012
Despite two crashes that kept Liz Stephen and Jessie Diggins out of the top ten, today was easily one of the best days in the history of the U.S. women's program. The athletes reflect on how they got here.
2nd!
FasterSkierNovember 21, 2012
This past weekend I had my first races of the season. Saturday was a 5k classic race and Sunday was a 10k skate. It felt great to get a couple races under my belt and I had some solid results, including a second on Sunday! It was pret...
Notes and Quotes: FIS Scandinavia Extravaganza Edition
FasterSkierNovember 19, 2012
After a substantial weekend of racing, we often have interesting tidbits that didn’t make it into the main race report. Here are Notes and Quotes from races in Bruksvallarna, Sweden, and Muonio, Finland. Chandra Crawford (CAN) was plenty excited about her 2nd place finish in the FIS sprint in Brusvallarna, Sweden. She told FasterSkier that she may have let her emotions get the best of her, saying “I just wanted to be Fast & Female...
After months of training and anticipation, the nordic sports opened their seasons around the world this weekend with races around the world. Established veterans had several dominating performances, but there were new faces on the podiums as well, signaling that when World Cup racing starts next weekend, things could be pretty interesting. In Bruksvallarna, Sweden, the Swedish, Canadian, and Slovenian national teams butted heads in a three-day race series. One of the biggest surprises was...
Anyone who’s seen Liz Stephen train knew she was completely capable of doing what she did Sunday in Muonio, Finland. For cripes sakes, she challenged the guys during a US Ski Team interval trail-running session this summer. Earlier at that camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., she Hevoskuuri.fi. “Heikkinen competes to win.” Noah Hoffman led the U.S. men in 13th about 0.47 seconds ahead of teammate Kris Freeman in 14th and about 1:18 behind Heikkinen. After...
Repeat Victories for Kowalczyk and Poltoranin; Freeman Fourth for U.S. in Muonio
Audrey ManganNovember 17, 2012
On a clear, cold morning in Muonio, Finland, time marched one step closer to the World Cup and turned up mounting anticipation for it’s commencement by a few degrees. Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ) claimed his second victory of the weekend in the 10 k classic, though the rest Kazakh team was not quite as dominant as it was in Friday’s sprint. Lukas Bauer (CZE) was less than five seconds back from Poltoranin in second place and...
Euro Tour 2012 Begins
FasterSkierNovember 17, 2012
I traveled to Muonio, Finland, a small town 2 degrees North of the Arctic Circle last Sunday where our season begun this weekend with some FIS Openers. These are the races where you blow some cobwebs out before hitting the World Cup next weekend....
American World Cup Preview: Gathering Momentum
Audrey ManganNovember 15, 2012
Welcome to the latest installment of FasterSkier’s season previews! Here we break down what to expect from the US Ski Team’s cross-country athletes on the international stage in 2012-2013. With the pre-World Cup races in Muonio, Finland, just around the corner, now is a good time to take stock of what happened last season. When it was time to write this preview a year ago, the Americans were coming off of a very different winter....
It is saying nothing new to point out that Kikkan Randall becoming the World Cup Sprint Champion last season was a breakthrough for U.S. skiing. The enormity of the moment in March when an American woman was handed the crystal globe has been well documented since the conclusion of the 2012 season. Each photo that has surfaced online this summer of Randall, her trophy and a new group of wide-eyed fans is a reminder...
Thirty-six men in the Spray Drag running race didn’t end up chasing Devon Kershaw up Spray Lakes Road in Canmore, Alberta, on Saturday, but they had one heck of a battle from the start. According to American Sylvan Ellefson (Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Team HomeGrown), the pace was fast for a bunch of nordic skiers early on. “Any road runner could have pulled away, but it was a quick pace,” he wrote in an email....
Despite Increased Overlap in Camp Schedules, Little Joint Training Between U.S. Ski, Biathlon Teams
Chelsea LittleOctober 17, 2012
For the third time this year, the U.S. Ski Team ran into their counterparts on the biathlon squad earlier this week when both groups were in Utah for their respective training camps. “The biathletes were at Soldier Hollow yesterday as was the entire U.S. Ski Team,” skier Noah Hoffman wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier on Tuesday. “Cross country was doing a speed (10-15 seconds) session classic. I’m not sure what was involved in the...
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Friday morning’s U.S. Ski Team workout at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg nordic trails wasn’t designed to be too hard. According to men’s coach Jason Cork, the idea was to run with poles and ski bound for 45 minutes at Level 3 – a sort of tempo pace. Once a couple dozen athletes between the U.S. Ski Team (USST) and National Elite Group (NEG) got going around the designated loop, most realized...
WILMINGTON, New York — Ahh, September in the Adirondacks. Even when it rains, nothing quite beats a camp featuring long runs in the High Peaks, cliff jumping at the Flume and, most importantly, a five-mile suffer-fest up Whiteface Mountain. In case you somehow missed what happened in the Climb to the Castle, Liz Stephen (U.S. Ski Team) demolished the women’s field by over five minutes on the five-mile climb, setting a significant personal record for...
Stephen’s Climb to the Castle Margin
JoranSeptember 18, 2012
Liz Stephen destroyed the women’s field this weekend in the annual Climb to the Castle rollerski race. The margin, just over 5 minutes in a race that took the leaders between 40-45 minutes is certainly impressive. But I think that margin doesn’t provide much useful information. Time trials that are most useful as gauges of [...] Related posts:
Stephen Trounces Field in Climb to the Castle
Audrey ManganSeptember 15, 2012
FasterSkier would like to thank the Official Results: NYSEF Climb to the Castle Women — Matt Voisin contributed reporting
How long will Freeman and Randall remain on top?
JoranAugust 30, 2012
Kris Freeman and Kikkan Randall have been basically the top US skiers for quite some time now. (I’m sort of brushing Andrew Newell under the rug here, mostly just due to time contraints. I’ll do a follow up on him next week.) Freeman has been more or less unquestionably the best US male distance skier [...] Related posts:Victims & Nemeses: Kris Freeman Is Qualifying In The Top Ten A Good Sign For Kikkan? Top 10 Qualification vs. Making The Final