Two weeks ago, Kris Freeman and Noah Hoffman weren’t exactly sure what they were in for before flying to Norway, but they were excited. The two had been invited to a Norwegian national team training camp, and without much else besides their bare necessities, they headed to the snowfields of Sognefjell. On June 3, the two U.S. Ski Team (USST) members jumped into action with the Norwegian men’s squad, kicking things off Sunday afternoon with...
They spend half the year competing against Norway every weekend in Europe, but for a few days this June, U.S. distance specialists Kris Freeman and Noah Hoffman will be welcomed into the Norwegian National Team’s training camp on the snow fields at Sognefjell. If you don’t happen to read every paid advertisement that goes up on this site, you may have missed the announcement of this website, Alsgaard saw Hoffman ski last December in Davos,...
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At the highest level of nordic ski racing in the U.S., athletes know making the national team isn’t so much of a black-and-white decision; coaches mostly see red. Based on U.S. Ski Team criteria, any skier that ends the season in the red group by finishing in the top 30 of the World Cup or FIS distance or sprint lists is essentially guaranteed a spot on the A-team. Those who finish outside those standards can...
With SuperTour Finals and U.S. Distance Nationals wrapping up in Craftsbury, Vermont, the North American ski community can call it a wrap on another season. Despite a general lack of snow, the finale in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom was a success – particularly for the U.S. Ski Team’s Kris Freeman, who after a disappointing World Cup season returned to the States to claim the overall win at SuperTour Finals and then the national title in the...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — For someone who was almost ready to hang up his skis and skip spring series altogether, Kris Freeman (SSC Vail/USST) sure knows how to turn things around over the course of a week. After fighting off a sinus infection during SuperTour Finals, and before that coming home from Europe disappointed with his World Cup season, Freeman handily defended his Distance Nationals 50 k title on Saturday, beating Tad Elliott (SSCV/USST) to the...
JAY, Vermont — The fourth and last stage of the 2012 SuperTour Finals was a 1.8 k suffer-fest up 1,079 vertical feet of a blue run at Jay Peak. Watch it unfold from the two spots on the course we had the cameras rolling.
JAY, Vermont — At the outset of the hill climb up Jay Peak on a blistery Wednesday morning, the four-race fight for the overall SuperTour Finals win had come down to two skiers: Kris Freeman (SSCV/USST) and Noah Hoffman (SSCV/USST). In the end, Freeman claimed the title just as he did in Sun Valley last spring: on a brutal pitch that left him and just about everyone else completely spent at the finish. Hoffman finished...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — If anyone can attest to the fact that feeling off during a qualifier is no reason to count oneself out for the heats, it’s Dartmouth senior Eric Packer. Despite having “blown up a bit” in the classic sprint prelim at SuperTour Finals on Tuesday, qualifying in 16th, he didn’t throw up his hands in defeat. Instead, he went on to win the thing outright, beating SuperTour regulars and US Ski Team members...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Even in the morning rain, the men’s 15 k mass start classic played out essentially as expected on Sunday at the SuperTour Finals. A lead group of five separated themselves from the rest of the field fairly early, comprised of all the usual suspects in a domestic classic distance race. After keeping a consistent position at the heart of the lead group for the entire race, Kris Freeman (Team HomeGrown/USST) made his move...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Looking calm and relaxed as he finished the two-lap 3.2 k freestyle prologue on Saturday morning, Simi Hamilton (SVSEF/USST) skied to a comfortable win in the opening event of the SuperTour Finals at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. He beat Sylvan Ellefson (Team HomeGrown) by 6.6 seconds, and in a tie for third, Noah Hoffman (Team HomeGrown/USST) and Erik Bjornsen (APU/USST) both claimed bronze (+11.5). Kris Freeman (USST), skiing for Team HomeGrown this...
For her final European race of the year, Holly Brooks (APU) left her mark at the top of the results list yet again, holding off Sovenia’s Barabara Jezersek and Alenka Cebasek in the 10 k freestyle pursuit for the overall OPA Cup Finals win in Toblach, Italy. Outside the top three, the rest of the field had no chance — Debora Agreiter (ITA), the fourth-place finish, was 34.1 seconds back. All weekend, Brooks has battled...
Holly Brooks (APU) wasn’t sure how to approach the first OPA cup of her life on Friday, but for Saturday’s 5 k classic she had a better feel for what to expect. Friday’s effort yielded a silver medal and one second’s separation from gold, and Saturday’s race was even closer. Brooks won the individual start race by 0.2 seconds over Barbara Jezersek (SLO), and third-place finisher Alenka Cebasek (SLO) was 0.9 behind. Brooks started directly...
While their compatriots were gutting it out in the World Cup Finals prologue in Falun, a handful of U.S. athletes were contesting the same format at OPA Cup Finals in Toblach, Italy. Friday’s 2.5/3.3 k freestyle event was the first in a series of three races in Italy. Holly Brooks (USA) turned in the top performance for the U.S., coming in second place to Slovenia’s Alenk Cebasek, who won by one second. Brooks has gone...
All the talk about the Marit Bjørgen/Justyna Kowalczyk rivalry may have been getting a little old. On Sunday, Bjørgen did her best to erase the speculation of who will take the overall World Cup title, winning the 30-kilometer classic mass start at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway. In the last World Cup event before the finals in Sweden, Bjørgen beat Kowalczyk of Poland by 51.9 seconds in 1:26:09.8. The two started off the line at breakneck...
After a strong performance last year in the World Championship 50k, it was hardly a surprise to see Noah Hoffman (USA) toward the front of the pack on Sunday’s Holmenkollen classic event. Wearing a distinctive red hat along with the US black suit, it was easy to pick the 22-year-old American out of the large group in the 50k race. Hoffman made his mark early, passing the 3k preem in 5th place. All told, he...
The Lahti Corner — the notoriously sketchy 180-degree downhill hairpin that stumps many experienced World Cup skiers every season — lived up to its reputation on Sunday in the third-to-last sprint of the year. If it wasn’t taking out several athletes at once, it was otherwise dictating tactics and forcing skiers into awkward snowplows around its icy arc. For Kikkan Randall, who led the Americans in fifth, the corner’s penchant for carnage necessitated extra attention...
ERZURUM, Turkey — It’s short, but we were able to film parts of the men’s 30 k skiathlon at U23 World Championships on Saturday. Russia’s Raul Shakirzianov won by 0.9 seconds over teammate Evgeniy Belov. Noah Hoffman (USA) sat in near the front for much of the race but finished eighth in a close sprint finish. Results
ERZURUM, Turkey —No matter what the level or competition, mass starts have a tendency to separate the men from the boys. Saturday’s 30 k skiathlon at U23 World Championships was no different—and with the top 11 U23s on the FIS ranking list present at Kandlilli for the skiathlon, the competition was certainly stacked. After over an hour of alternately hammering and dogging the pace, the lead pack got serious in the final kilometers. Russia’s Raul...
ERZURUM, Turkey — In the minutes between finishing and stepping on the podium for the flower ceremony, we caught up with Noah Hoffman (TeamHomeGrown/USST) to talk about his silver-medal performance in the 15 k classic at U23 World Championships. Results