Three women in the quarterfinals and one just barely outside? U.S. Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb was thrilled with Ida Sargent's and Sophie Caldwell's quarterfinal appearances and pleased to see Kikkan Randall a bit more like herself, he also stayed realistic: "I wouldn’t use any other word that celebrates it more than [good]."
Sadie Bjornsen was, in a way, trying to avoid the kind of seventh-place showing she broke out with last year in Kuusamo, Finland. Instead, she placed 17th on Sunday for a result she was pleased with, especially considering how much it hurt. Jessie Diggins was 39th and four more Americans were in the top 60.
Noah Hoffman is headed back home before his season really started. With 1 kilometer to go in his first official race the season, the 25-year-old U.S. Ski Team member suffered a lower-leg injury after crashing hard on a troublesome downhill corner. He is due in Denver on Monday afternoon, and plans to see a specialist for an official diagnosis shortly after.
The first race of the season was no problem for U.S. Ski Team member Ida Sargent, who said she had a lot to think about during Saturday's classic sprint -- the first World Cup race of the season in Kuusamo, Finland -- but she used it to fuel her best-ever result on the international circuit.
(Press release) What do Matt Whitcomb (USST), Chris Hall (Swix), Sverre Caldwell (SMS), Patrick O’Brien (SMS T2), and the Stratton T2 Team all have in common? Other than being huge contributors to our sport and to our New England Nordic community, they’ll all be at Stratton Mtn. School for the 2015 NENSA Coaching Symposium November 15-16. Join NENSA for two days in Vermont with presentations from USST Women’s Head Coach, Matt Whitcomb, Swix’s Chris Hall (yeah,...
David Knoop, director of the National Nordic Foundation (NNF) in Utah, explains the foundation's beginnings, how he got involved, how it's evolved over the years, and how its current fundraiser, the Drive for 25, actually works.
Approximately 40 athletes attended the USST Altitude Camp in Park City, Utah which concluded Oct. 19. The camp is a final opportunity of the best skiers in the country to fine tune their skiing before the winter season starts in November.
Top nordic skiers from around the country converged on Park City, Utah in early October for the U.S. Ski Team and National Elite Group altitude camps. While the NEG camp concluded Oct. 12, the USST is continuing to train in Utah until later this month.
The USST wrapped up its annual Lake Placid training camp September 7. With favorable weather, high-level training, and an encouraging team environment, participants walked away feeling prepared for the next phase of training.
Fall is just beginning which means leaf-peeping, cider donuts, and pumpkin spice lattes are likely on your radar. However, once you get your head out of the changing leaves it may be time to focus on some new training goals as winter approaches.
The U20 National Training Group Camp began in Park City August 13 and serves as a strengthening and team building experience for the country's best U20 athletes.
Anchorage and Eagle Glacier are happening places these days, with the North American Women's Training Alliance (including Norway's Celine Brun-Lie and 13 top U.S. skiers), a couple of French biathletes and the U.S. men's team, which recently arrived for its first unified training camp in Alaska.
The U.S. Ski Team recently returned from their first training camp of the season in Bend, Ore. The camp served as fresh start for the team as they work to become the most technically improved team on the World Cup circuit this season.
This week's workout comes from U.S. Ski Team Women's Coach Matt Whitcomb shortly after the team's on-snow camp in Bend, Ore., where they practiced improving technique after watching video clips, then created some footage of their own.
Reese Hanneman came within 0.45 seconds of becoming the third American man to make the World Cup heats this season, and Jessie Diggins was just over a second shy of qualifying in her first race back since getting sick post-Sochi. The two logged top-40 results again on Saturday, along with Ida Sargent, in the World Cup Finals skiathlons.
Norwegians Marit Bjørgen and Ingvild Østberg took the top two spots in the classic sprints in Sweden today, with Americans Kikkan Randall and Sophie Caldwell making the final heat. Randall walked away with the heavy crystal Sprint Globe from the overall World Cup sprint win, while Bjørgen is now only three points behind teammate Therese Johaug for the overall World Cup chamionship.
How much skate skiing should be allowed in a classic sprint race? Quite a bit, if Wednesday’s race in Drammen, Norway was any indication. "I think classic skiing took a step backwards," said USST Coach Matt Whitcomb. "I don’t think the line between what’s legitimate for classic technique was respected yesterday, and I think it opens a can of worms that makes the line very fuzzy now.”
Kikkan Randall's disappointing elimination, by a hair's breadth, from Wednesday's classic sprint final in Drammen, Norway, was more than made up for when she found out that she was crowned the world's best sprinter for the third consecutive year.
The first thing U.S. women's coach Matt Whitcomb tweeted after Saturday's freestyle sprint, the first World Cup since the Olympics: "We are back!" Randall had won another skate sprint to rise to the top of the World Cup sprint standings, and Sophie Caldwell joined her on the podium -- the first time two U.S. women have shared an individual World Cup podium.
It was a long and tiring journey to Lahti, Finland for Alex Harvey. After suffering cramps in the Olympic 50 k, excessive travel, a lack of training gear, and general exhaustion, the Quebec native bounced back for a top ten finish in Saturday’s 1.5 k freestyle sprint, placing seventh.