Whew. The weather in Trondheim hasn’t let up, and neither has the racing. Norwegian marathon skier and TV commentator Petter Soleng Skinstad joins us for the recap. We’ll back back tomorrow; as always, Devon’s email is nat@fasterskier.com.
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Two weeks ago, Jessie Diggins—hampered by a lingering injury (plantar fasciitis)—was compelled to double pole her Classic Sprint qualifyier, leaving her in 40th that day. Since then, Diggins has been spotted a time or...
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — or is it? The Tour de Ski has returned, but Devon has some beef with this year’s watered down format. Plus, recaps of the four races we’ve been through so far, including Jessie Diggins sprint win from heat five. Send feedback, hate mail and love letters to devon@fasterskier.com. You can send love letters to nat@fasterskier.com. See you in a couple of days. `
In cross-country skiing, sprinting is a notoriously inconsistent discipline for a single competitor to dominate. The short distance leaves little time for racers to recover from even small mistakes; sharp corners and tight spaces often produce race-ending crashes. Which makes the track record of Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo almost impossible to comprehend. Klæbo, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, has won the last 10 straight sprint races he’s entered on the World Cup — the highest...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Last year the theme for much of the women’s sprint season was whether anyone from team Sweden could defeat Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR). However, this year, things will be different, for at least...
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...
We’re back, in less than 24 hours since hour last pod. Devon is burning the midnight oil in Norway to bring you this new episode recapping the excellent sprint races in Canmore today. Stay tuned for another episode after tomorrow’s race and a bonus episode where Nat will interview Sweden’s William Poromaa. Email us at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com with questions, comments and race predictions. We’ll be back.
Goms! These races, in Switzerland, were unambiguously awesome. Wipeouts, sun, fondue, North American podiums and breakout performances. And an Alaskan guest who watched the races firsthand. We really went above and beyond the call of duty this week — we’ve got sounds from the side of the trail and even a profanity-laced tirade from Devon if you stick it out to the end of the show. We’ll be on scene at the next round of...
A couple of years ago, Swedish Olympic medalist cross-country skier Maja Dahlqvist matched with U.S. sprinter Kevin Bolger on Tinder. They’ve since become one of their sport’s highest-profile couples. The two of them, during an altitude camp in Utah last month, joined Nat for a joint interview. We’ll be back as the World Cup season kicks off in a few weeks. Send your questions, comments and hate mail to devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com.
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. After Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) qualified third in Saturday’s classic sprint, the tension rose to a fever pitch. With ten bonus points earned, Dahlqvist had cut the Sprint Crystal Globe gap between herself...
Holy smokes, that was an epic weekend of racing. Devon and Nat are joined by Tony Cyr, the breakout Canadian star, and a mystery guest drops in later on in the episode. We break down the sprint and two distance races held at the festive French venue in Les Rousses. And we promise, we’ll get you a mailbag episode before World Championships starts in a few weeks. Get at us at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com.
It’s been a couple weeks since you last heard from us. The World Cup and the Devon Kershaw Show are back from a hiatus with a recap of the high altitude sprint weekend in Livigno. Devon and Nat break down the individual and team sprints from the Italian Alps, including some strong American performances. We’re still planning a mailbag episode in the not-too-distant future, so keep those questions coming: devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. We’ll be back...
The FIS World Cup tour returned from a two-week holiday break, reconvening in Val Mustair, Switzerland for Stage 1 of the 17th Tour de Ski. A daunting mid-season challenge, the Tour de Ski (TDS) consists of seven stages contested over nine exhausting days, concluding next Sunday atop the Alpe di Cermis in Val di Fiemme, Italy. At the start of this year’s tour, all eyes were on Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), who finds himself in...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. We’ve arrived at the final weekend of World Cup racing. After the cancellation of the finals scheduled to take place in Tyumen, Russia and the difficulty of finding a last-minute...
After officially canceling the World Cup Finals scheduled for Tyumen, Russia on February 25th the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced in a brief press release today (see below) that no replacement venue has been found, and thus the upcoming three-day race weekend in Falun, Sweden will instead absorb the event, ending the season one week prematurely. No schedule changes have been made to the event in Falun, leaving a classic sprint, a 10/15-kilometer skate, and...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. Returning to Norway after last year’s coronavirus induced hiatus, the World Cup picked up with a 1.2-kilometer classic city sprint in Drammen. With the Russian and Belarusian athletes banned from...
U.S. cross-country skier Kevin Bolger and Swedish racer Maja Dahlqvist met during the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus kept them six feet apart during the Olympics — except one celebratory hug. ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA — American Olympic cross-country skier Kevin Bolger grew up in Wisconsin. His girlfriend, Olympian Maja Dahlqvist, is from Sweden. During the Olympics, in China, they got to spend a couple of weeks in the same place. Among their options for dates: • Go cross-country...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. Snapping back after a week away from racing, the World Cup resumed in wintery Lahti, Finland with a 1.6 kilometer freestyle sprint. The American women made their presence immediately known,...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and the A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. The team sprint: two skiers racing three laps each at roughly 1.5-kilometers a piece with a long climb thrown into the middle of the course and temperatures in the single...
The first. With a perfect storm of tactics, technique, and peak race form, Jessie Diggins fought to the line to finish third behind Swedish sprint phenoms Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist in the women’s 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint. This historic result makes her the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in an individual cross country ski event. “It’s overwhelming, but in a good way,” Diggins said in the press conference. “It’s just really emotional...