For those of us suffering from the post-ski-season let down—or for those who simply can’t get enough ski-related content—an effective way to help address these issues will be to take 46 minutes to view “Kikkan,” a nicely produced short documentary about the life of Kikkan Randall. Presented (sponsored) by L.L. Bean and Providence Health Alaska, the film includes details of Randall’s childhood, ski career, cancer struggle, and personal life. The movie is a candid chronological...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com. In part I of FasterSkier’s interview with Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, we caught up with the former U.S. Olympian and heard updates on her personal life. Today, we hear her views on the current crop of Stifel U.S. Ski Team...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. Learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award—or about supporting FasterSkier coverage—by contacting info@fasterskier.com. Transitioning from the life of a professional athlete to the “regular” world can be challenging. Given the heroic number of training hours professional cross-country skiers put in, they may even have a harder time of it than other athletes....
FasterSkier recently shared a press release on behalf of the US Nordic Olympic Women (US NOW) announcing Julia Kern as the 2022 recipient of the fourth annual Gold Rush Award. The release included comments from 2021 winner Jessie Diggins on the qualities that she, along with the other past winners, recognized made Kern deserving of this year’s award, but it became clear that there was a gap in FasterSkier’s coverage on the history of US...
Just over a month ago, the American cross country ski community descended upon the small town of Hayward, Wisconsin. Skies were clear, the snow was cold and firm, and lycra was everywhere. But one set of race suits stood out, both because of the noteworthy athletes wearing them and for their bold neon colors. It was the MountainFLOW Eco Wax race team of Simi and Sophie Hamilton, Sylvan Ellefson, Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, Erik Bjornsen, Matt...
FasterSkier’s American Birkebeiner coverage is made possible through the generous support of New Moon Ski & Bike in Hayward, Wisconsin. While you are at the Birkie be sure to visit New Moon Ski & Bike for all your local expertise. Among the final major races in the ski world in 2020, the Slumberland American Birkebeiner pulled off an event with all the festivities for which the storied event is known. It was pure Birkie fever,...
What. A. Day. American cross-country skier Jessie Diggins scores another Olympic medal in Beijing, this time a silver, gutting out a strong race even though she was suffering from food poisoning. We break down the full 30 k freestyle race with Therese Johaug’s win and a furious chase for bronze. And we’re thrilled to welcome guest hosts Holly Brooks and Sadie Maubet (Bjornsen), the retired U.S. Olympians who joined us from Alaska. We’ll be back...
IBU Begins Athlete Ambassador Program The International Biathlon Union has begun an initiative in part to empower athletes and bring change to the sport. Over the past several years the IBU has been a leader amongst sport federations when it comes to reforming governance. The initiative, billed as the Athlete Ambassador program leverages the public voice of athletes to promote change. “Serving as Athlete Ambassadors, they will be able to use their voice to...
Part I of this article examined Sadie Maubet Bjornsen’s childhood, World Cup debut, and the injuries that she overcame along the way. This article, Part II, starts with a frank look at some of the challenges of being an American World Cup skier, then discusses her overall career highlights, her final World Championships earlier this year, and what comes next. In addition to the injuries, there are some challenges to life on the World Cup...
To classic ski, and to do so well, requires an athlete to perform an almost stupidly large number of tasks at the same time. You have to move two arms, two legs, and two ankles in alternation, in almost infinite variations depending upon the snow, the wax, the course, and your remaining energy. You have to mediate between power and finesse, kick and glide, stimulus and weight transfer. In short, you have to balance a...
This World Championship coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. A blanket of fresh snow lay on the ground while the frozen rocky peaks of the Bavarian Alps peaked through the clouds. Finally, Oberstdorf, Germany looked like a wintery...
This World Championship coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. Tension built, tension released, as the build-up to the women’s 4 x 5-kilometer relay at the World Championships began under a partly cloudy sky, light breeze, and what we’ve...
This World Championship coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. The high pressure continued at the 2021 World Championships on Tuesday in more ways than one. Oberstdorf, Germany’s temps hovered around 50 degrees Fahrenheit for the start of the women’s...
This World Championship coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. And now for something completely different. The skate team sprint. Three roughly 1-kilometer loops each for 7.2 k total, relatively flat with just two brief upticks per lap, winding...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. It was a rather cloudy day as the athletes circled Ulricehamn’s sprint loop again and again for Sunday’s freestyle team sprint, urged forward by the cheering of recorded crowds...
The day was cloudless and cold in Ulricehamn, Sweden for the women’s 1.6-kilometer freestyle sprint. As has come to be expected of the Swedish women, they were clutch from the beginning on this course which favored sprint endurance, as the race time times pushed near the 3:30 mark for many. To put this into context, December’s skate sprint in Davos, won by American Rosie Brennan, had the fastest qualifying time, also from Brennan, of 2:40.03....
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. In case you missed it, yesterday’s 10-kilometer skate in Falun, Sweden was a standout day for the Americans, highlighted by a gutsy victory by Jessie Diggins. How deep into...
Leave no doubt to your imaginations, Jessie Diggins, in-form and yellow-bibbed as the World Cup leader, stamped her authority on the 2021 season with gusto in Falun, Sweden. She won the 10-kilometer individual skate on Friday in 23:35.9. This was Diggins’s eighth individual win on the World Cup — all have been in skate. With the sun hanging on the horizon and unable to warm the air above squeaky-snow-cold, this was a key opportunity to...
This World Cup coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and their A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage please contact info@fasterskier.com. Though Devon Kershaw might fairly say “It’s not really cross country skiing,” as a viewer, the grueling climb up the Alpe Cermis is the crown jewel of the Tour de...
This article has been updated with additional information about the history of the Kincaid Hairpin FIS course, and with a link to an article compiling national club time trial results. ANCHORAGE — Sunday, the second day of FIS races in Anchorage, saw, at some level, more of the same: fresh snow (though much less than the day before), soft and slow conditions, and Sadie Maubet Bjornsen at the top of the results sheet. There were...