racing during COVID – FasterSkier

Racing in the Time of Covid, Part II: What About the Birkie?

Gavin KentchFebruary 23, 2021

Part one of this series covered regional racing in Alaska and parts of the Lower 48. It surveyed multiple sources suggesting that the true health risk involved with ski racing is not what happens on the race course, perhaps especially in an interval-start competition, but rather what happens outside of it, in the process of traveling to the race, or eating or drinking or sleeping while doing so, or returning to a home community after...

Feature Racing

Racing in the Time of Covid, Part I: The Nature of the Problem

Gavin KentchFebruary 22, 2021

The winter of Covid continues. Most of the FIS races scheduled for this country this year did not happen. A few did. No one in Canada has done a single official high-level race this winter. No one in Vermont has, either. Some athletes from Canada and Vermont did not race and were chosen for international travel teams. Some athletes in Alaska raced a ton and were not. It’s been a tumultuous winter for everyone, for...

News World Cup

International Time Trial in Davos Sharpens American World Cup Squad

Rachel PerkinsDecember 7, 2020

Lillehammer cancels World Cup events. Norway, Sweden, and Finland pull from the World Cup after the opening weekend in Ruka citing COVID safety concerns. To an outsider, these headlines paint a seemingly bleak picture of the start of the race season. However, an international time trial featuring a skate sprint day Friday and distance event Saturday sparked hope for the American team as they remain in Europe focused on the upcoming weekend of racing in...

Community

Kris Freeman: Finding Opportunities to Race and a Few More Years of Getting Faster

Jason AlbertOctober 14, 2020

“I train because I like to race but I also train because I enjoy it, so I never took a pause,” said Kris Freeman from his New Hampshire home. That’s straight-up Freeman. Focus. Intensity. A plan. Even during COVID. Let’s face it, enjoying the process became a necessity for many as public sporting events have been mostly cancelled since mid-March. Six feet distant, mask-wearing, hand-sanitizing have become as much a part of our daily...