Scattered throughout Canada on Sunday, four World Cup team members and their coaching and support staff started their long journey to the land down under – that is, New Zealand. Alex Harvey ate handmade chocolates and sipped a steamed drink while waiting for his 16-hour flight out of Québec International Airport, then got upgraded to business class, according to first time in 10 years, the U.S. Ski Team will not be training in New Zealand...
Continuing on in our over-analysis of the recent New Zealand FIS races, we turn to the sprints. It’s much harder to do anything sensible with these races (even given that I’ve over-analyzing things!) since the fields are so small even the difference in placing between specific skiers is potentially misleading. However, just for fun let’s [...] Related posts:
Hey, the first international ski races of the 2011-2012 season took place recently in New Zealand! They are officially FIS sanctioned races, but my impression is that they have a bit more of a training camp time trial feel to them. The Americans, Canadians, some Russians, and then an assortment of Japanese, Korean, and locals [...] Related posts:
This is the second installment of a seven part series in which the US Ski Team’s Noah Hoffman recounts his 2010-2011 season. 8/16/2010 My training so far this year has progressed really well! I feel fit, my energy has been really good, I’ve really enjoyed all of the travel, and my technique work is slowly but surely heading in the right direction. Since my last update I’ve been to two US Ski Team Camps in...
Sure, it’s only August. Sure, it’s the Southern hemisphere. And yeah, okay, the Americans and Canadians have been training over 20 hours a week during their camps in New Zealand. But all this notwithstanding, most people would still agree that winning a skate sprint over Andy Newell is a great way to start your rookie season on the U.S. Ski Team. And that’s what Simi Hamilton did on Saturday, nipping Newell by inches at the...
The World Cup opener is still 100 days away, but for the U.S. and Canadian national teams, the 2010-2011 cross-country season kicks off today with a 10/15 k classic mass start event. The race is part of the ANC series – the Australian and New Zealand Continental Cup. It is being held at the Snow Farm in New Zealand, and will feature an elite, if small, field. The U.S. Ski Team (USST) will start their...
When Kris Freeman, Andy Newell, Kikkan Randall, and the four other members of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) head out on the first ski of their on-snow camp in New Zealand this week, they will have at least 7,657 reasons to appreciate it. That’s number of miles separating Wanaka, the site of the team’s camp, from Park City, Utah, where the team is headquartered. The USST leaves Sunday for New Zealand, and for the next...
Aside from a few small clusters in New England and New Zealand, millions of people glued to TV screens around the world were all asking the same question at the beginning of Saturday’s 30k pursuit: “Who is that guy?” That guy was Ben Koons, a former Dartmouth College skier and Maine resident competing for the Kiwis at the Games. Not even one kilometer from the start, Koons had slid into the track in the lead,...
New Zealand named the 2010 Olympic Team, consisting of 10 athletes across five sports. The snowboard team has not been named yet. Ben Koons (MWSC) of Maine, has officially been named to the cross-country team, along with Katie Calder. Koons was considered a sure thing, but yesterday’s announcement makes it official. New Zealand Olympic Selector and Secretary General Barry Maister also welcomed the athletes to the team and said that strategies around high performance in...
Ben Koons has been New Zealand’s fastest nordic skier for quite some time. Born and raised in Dunedin, on the South Island, he grew up participating in a variety of sports but only cross country skied a handful of times. His family moved to Maine when Ben was fourteen and he started his freshman year as a hockey player at Messalonskee High School. Soon afterward he switched to nordic skiing, found he had an aptitude for the...
Pavel Sotskov is a recent Dartmouth College graduate who is training and working in New Zealand for the summer at the Snowfarm. He has been in New Zealand since mid June and will be returning to Presque Isle, ME to race for MWSC this coming winter. He has sent several updates on his experiences. This summer, Maine Winter Sports Center became one of only two US teams to compete in the nordic skiing events at the inaugural 100%...
10/15 km Classic – Sunday August 23 The NZ Winter Games opened today with the 15km Classic for men and the 10km Classic for women. Devon Kershaw led a Canadian sweep of the podium in the men’s 15-kilometer race. The leader of the men’s team clocked a time of 37 minutes 51.82 seconds. Ivan Babikov was second at 37:56.36, while Alex Harvey rounded out the men’s podium in third at 38:23.02. “It was a hard day with...
The Australian Cross Country Skiing Championships and FIS Australia – New Zealand Cup (ANC) moved to Perisher Valley last weekend for races on August 15-16. While Australian Ben Sim put up a tough fight in Saturday’s race Thomas Diezig from Switzerland was the dominant male athlete, winning both the 10km Freestyle and 15km Classic events. In the women’s events Katherine Calder from New Zealand cleaned up in the 5km Freestyle and 10km Classic and has...
Pavel Sotskov is a recent Dartmouth College graduate who is training and working in New Zealand for the summer at the Snowfarm. He has been in New Zealand since mid June and will be returning to Presque Isle, ME to race for MWSC this coming winter. He has sent several updates on his experiences. Since I’ve been raving about the New Zealand weather in my previous posts, I feel obligated to start by reporting on the noteworthy meteorological...
Pavel Sotskov is a recent Dartmouth College graduate who is training and working in New Zealand for the summer at the Snow Farm. He has been in New Zealand since mid June and will be returning to Presque Isle, ME to race for MWSC this coming winter. He has sent several updates on his experiences. Great skiing, beautiful weather, and high caliber skiers continue to be three main markers here at the Snowfarm as I enter my second...
Pavel Sotskov is a recent Dartmouth College graduate who is training and working in New Zealand for the summer at the Snowfarm. He has been in New Zealand since mid June and will be returning to Presque Isle, ME to race for MWSC this coming winter. He has sent several updates on his experiences. A perfect way to describe the wonder of New Zealand for skiers was best put by a quote from a ski film I happened...
Snow conditions in Australia and New Zealand are extremely good at the moment. Following early snow falls in June, the major Cross-Country Skiing resorts in the two countries have been grooming tracks regularly for over a month now. There is a base of over half a meter of snow in both countries. In Australia club competitions have been held the last two weekends at Falls Creek and at Perisher Valley, while at the Snow Farm in New...