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The Road to Whistler

The training season is well underway, and North America’s best cross-country skiers are already well into their preparations for next winter. Over the course of the summer, FasterSkier will feature a weekly interview with elite American and Canadian athletes, following their training as they ready for the upcoming Olympic year.
The Road To Whistler: Ben Sim

  Ben Sim set history for his country at the opening races of this World Cup season when he took 30th place in the Beitostollen 15km skate, becoming the first Australian cross country skier to earn distance points in a World Cup.  Sim grew up in Cooma, Australia, and started skiing with his parents at age 10.  Just six years later he was already traveling overseas to compete in FIS and OPA cup races.  2003 was his breakthrough year, as Sim...

Beejan Kangarloo: “Chasing Points” for Iran’s Olympic Team

For the last year, Iran has drawn its fair share of criticism for its nuclear ambitions. But if Beejan Kangarloo has his way, the country could some day attract attention for a different kind of Atomics: skis. Iran isn’t known for its snow or steep slopes, but according to Kangarloo, there’s some great skiing in the mountains near Tehran. He’s hoping to draw attention to a little-known side of the country by qualifying to represent...

The Road to Whistler: Holly Brooks

Holly Brooks is no ordinary story. She grew up in Seattle (“towards the end of the Seattle grunge scene”)  and attended a small alternative school with classmates who smoked, worshipped Courtney Love, and thought nordic skiing was the name of a Swedish rock band.  Her own high school had few sports, so she played soccer and ran track for a larger school that was nearby. When she first started skiing, it was with her family, who would...

The Road to Whistler: Garrott Kuzzy

A Midwest native and avid mountain biker, Garrott Kuzzy is as passionate about the outdoors as he is about nordic training and racing. Starting as a ski jumper and nordic combined athlete, his love of the cross country aspect of the sport won over. Early on he was exposed to the real world of nordic by his dad, Jim, who was a Worldloppet Master and took his young son first to watch and later to...

The Road to Whistler and the New Zealand Olympic Team: Ben Koons

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...

The Road to Whistler: Rebecca Dussault

After proving her talent as a junior racer, Rebecca Dussault hung up her skis for several years between 1999 and 2003 in order to focus on her family.  After returning to racing in 2004 she found that she still had the talent, love for the sport, and a mind for the competition.  Since then she has set her focus on national and international titles – not only in nordic skiing but also in winter and summer...

The Road to Whistler: Laura Valaas

As a three-sport athlete at Whitman College, Laura Valaas earned four All-American titles in Nordic skiing as well as five podium finishes and three more top-ten finishes in the National Collegiate Cycling Championships.  As if that wasn’t enough, Laura also ran cross country in the fall.  She graduated Whitman in 2006 with magana cum laude honors and a BA in Applied Mathematics. In the year following, Laura  made herself  very well known on the national and...

The Road to Whistler: Brayton Osgood

Brayton Osgood currently skis for the XC Oregon team. A two-time All-American while attending Dartmouth College, Osgood has had five seventh-place finishes at Senior Nationals, including one last year in the 10 k skate in Anchorage, where he also finished eighth in the sprint. We caught up with him in the middle of a visit to the east coast. Note-Osgood was even more articulate and thoughtful than he comes across as during the interview, but...

Lindsey Dehlin is already a veteran of two Olympic Games, having been selected to the U.S. teams in 2002 and 2006. In 2008, Dehlin won her first national championship, in the team sprint with Lindsay Williams. Last year, Dehlin took third place in the sprint at the U.S. National Championships in Anchorage, and eighth in the five k skate.   FasterSkier: You went to Northern Michigan University for four years, and now you’re back training with...

Matt Liebsch enters the 2009-2010 season coming off of a killer season. Last year, he was third place at U.S. Nationals in Anchorage in the 15-kilometer skate, and he dropped the  field on his way to nearly a 45-second victory in the American Birkebeiner. Liebsch currently trains with CXC, and he was able to take a few minutes to talk with FasterSkier after his kids had finished their lunch. FasterSkier: Last year was a pretty good...

Mike Sinnott is in his third year out of Dartmouth College, skiing for Salomon and the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Last year, he was fourth in the sprint at U.S. Nationals in Anchorage, participated in the team sprint and classic sprint at the Whistler World Cups, and took a victory in the Noquemanon Ski Marathon. FasterSkier: Before we talk about the Olympics, stuff like that, I remember back to the winter of 2006-2007 when...

The Road to Whistler: Noah Hoffman

At just 19 years old, Noah Hoffman is brimming with potential.  He followed 2008’s 12th place in the 10k classic at the World Junior Championships with a 17th and a 14th this year, but then emerged from a month off to take a solid fourth place (second American) at Distance Nationals in Fairbanks. Hoffman is currently training with the U.S. Ski Team in Park City, Utah. FasterSkier: Before we start talking about what you’re doing...

Tim Burke is a member of the U.S. Biathlon A Team, and has already qualified for the 2010 Olympics based on his results from last year. In 2008-2009, he finished 25th overall in the World Cup standings, with two top-ten finishes: eighth in the pursuit in Khanty-Mansijsk, Russia, and ninth in the sprint in Trondheim, Norway. He competed in the Olympics in Torino in 2006, placing 37th in the sprint. FasterSkier: You’re currently at a...

A three-time participant at World Championships, David Chamberlain is currently training and racing with the Maine Winter Sports Center (MWSC). Last year, Chamberlain was on the podium at three different Super Tours: he won the 10 kilometer classic race at Mt. Itasca, MN and placed second at both the 10 kilometer classic in Telemark, WI, and the classic sprint in Rumford, ME. FasterSkier: You’re currently living up in Aroostook County in northern Maine, right? How...

At just twenty years old, Canadian Alex Harvey had a breakout year in 2008-2009 with two World Cup podium finishes: third in the team sprint in Whistler, and another third in the 50 kilometer classic in Trondheim, Norway. FasterSkier caught up with him just after he finished his afternoon massage at a National Team camp in Canmore. FS: You’re out in Canmore right now training with the National Team. It seems like you have a...

This week, FasterSkier caught up with Caitlin Compton, fresh off her third consecutive trip to World Championships. At Liberec, Compton placed 48th in the 30 kilometer pursuit, and also anchored the U.S. team to a 14th-place finish in the 4×5 kilometer relay. She was national champion in the 5k freestyle in Anchorage, and she also competed in the Whistler World Cup in January, placing 32nd in the 15k pursuit, and 17th with Morgan Smyth in...

The training season is well underway, and North America’s best cross-country skiers are already well into their preparations for next winter. Over the course of the summer, FasterSkier will feature a weekly interview with elite American and Canadian athletes, following their training as they ready  for the upcoming Olympic year. We first talked with James Southam, who races with the Alaska Pacific University Elite Team and placed 33rd in the 30k pursuit at the 2009...