SVSEF – FasterSkier

Q and A: Sun Valley’s Rick Kapala on coaching, sport development, and constructing a “complete ecosystem” in the skiing community

Ben TheyerlNovember 20, 2022

“I’m sorry, but once I start talking cross-country skiing, I can’t stop,” admits Rick Kapala. Remove the “talking” from that statement, and it’s still a succinct summary of long-time Sun Valley coach Rick Kapala’s career. This season will mark the first time in thirty-five years that Kapala won’t be manning the wax bench on race day for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. This summer, he turned to a new role at the Sun Valley...

Community General News

(Press Release) SVSEF Welcomes Becky Woods as New Cross Country Program Director

FasterSkierJune 24, 2022

Woods brings wealth of collegiate Nordic team competition, coaching and leadership to SVSEF SUN VALLEY, Idaho – June 19, 2022 – Effective August 1, 2022, Becky Woods will step into the role of Cross Country Program Director at Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF). Woods comes to SVSEF from Bates College in Lewiston, ME, where she served as the Head Men’s and Women’s Nordic Ski Coach alongside additional leadership roles from 1994 to 2022. “We are thrilled to welcome...

Community Feature Interviews News Racing US Ski Team

Q&A with New Faces on the U.S. Ski Team: Sammy Smith

Ella HallJune 13, 2022

U.S. Ski & Snowboard recently announced its U.S. Ski Team nominations for the 2022-23 season. Of the 22 athletes named to the team this season, six were not on the previous year’s roster, either newly named or renamed: Michael Earnhart, Walker Hall, Zak Ketterson, Will Koch, Finn O’Connell, and Sammy Smith. To help fans get to know these new(er) faces, FasterSkier is doing a series of interviews, providing insights into the factors that have contributed...

Community Feature Juniors Resources Waxing

The Pros & Cons of League-wide Wax Protocols: Western Clubs Consider the Evolution and Impact (Part 2)

Rachel PerkinsJune 10, 2022

Here are links to earlier installments in this five-part series. The first two parts (part one; part two) spoke to the perspectives of high level wax technicians and industry representatives, while part three focused on the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League. To read the beginning of this article on the wax protocols of Western clubs, part four, click here. Leveling the Playing Field In regard to the question of whether the policy widens the gap in...

Community Feature Juniors Resources Waxing

The Pros & Cons of League-wide Wax Protocols: Western Clubs Consider the Evolution and Impact (Part 1)

Rachel PerkinsJune 9, 2022

In speaking with representatives from each of the leagues featured in this series, a few main points rose to the foreground in this discussion: the level of competition matters, how the policy came about matters, and how a program can enhance athlete support holistically by relieving wax-related expenses – measured both in time and dollars – matters. Before jumping into discussions for club level programs across the West, here are the links to view the...

Collegiate Continental Cup News Racing Regional / Local

It’s Ogden and Ketterson Again in the Craftsbury SuperTour Freestyle Sprint

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 4, 2022

SuperTour racing continued on Friday in Craftsbury, Vermont, as part of the Henchey Memorial Carnival, which also included Eastern Cup and collegiate racing. The three-day event is presented by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, NENSA, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, and the University of Vermont (UVM), the EISA carnival host school. Racers were faced with snowy conditions for the opening 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint as a winter storm made its way across the Northeast. Friday morning’s grooming report...

Community News Regional / Local

Elite Team Preview: Sun Valley XC Gold Team

Gavin KentchNovember 20, 2021

Team name and location: Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation XC Gold Team (Sun Valley or SVSEF); Ketchum, Idaho Coach: Chris Mallory Current roster: Kevin Bolger, Katie Feldman, Sarah Goble, Sam Wood, Karl Schulz, Johnny Hagenbuch, Peter Holmes, Peter Wolter, Jake Adicoff Who’s new: Peter Wolter and Jake Adicoff Who’s missing: n/a Who’s still on this team, or otherwise involved in American skiing, from when we did this in 2012: No one; Simi Hamilton recently retired, and Patrick...

Community News Regional / Local

Domestic Teams Preview: Introduction

Gavin KentchNovember 14, 2021

We tend to highlight World Cup races on this website, but those results, and those athletes, don’t happen in a vacuum. Skiers are made in the summer, as the well-worn saying accurately has it, and summer training means time spent with a domestic ski club. So we’re going to be highlighting the athletes on several prominent American ski clubs over the next few weeks, only a small portion of whom will be starting on the...

Racing US Ski Team World Cup

World Cup Preview: North America

Rachel PerkinsNovember 28, 2019

United States Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: 5th Women’s Ranking 2018/2019: 4th Men’s Ranking 2018/2019: 11th Americans to Watch: Seven men and nine women will be lining up in stars and stripes for the World Cup’s opening: Finland’s Ruka Triple. Three race series features a classic sprint followed by a two-day distance pursuit. At the top of the ranks, Jessie Diggins (USST/SMS T2) finished the 2019 season 6th in distance and 7th in sprint....

Collegiate Community Interviews Resources

Unraveling the College Athlete Admission Process: A Look Into Post Graduate Gap Year Programs with Paul Smith of SVSEF

Rachel PerkinsOctober 14, 2019

Deciding how to handle the “college conflict”, as aptly phrased by Alayna Sonnesyn, is a daunting and somewhat mysterious prospect, particularly for athletes and families who are unfamiliar with the process. How does a junior athlete know that they are cut out for a collegiate program? NCAA or USCSA? What about a gap year? In this series, FasterSkier spoke with collegiate and junior coaches and athletes who have chosen different pathways to create a resource...

Continental Cup General Interviews US Ski Team World Cup

Bolger Spends His Summers Training with Big Guns in Norway

Gabby NaranjaAugust 30, 2018

There’s a reason Kevin Bolger has spent his last four summers in Trondheim, Norway, rent free. You could say it started in 2014, when his older brother, Conor, began his Ph.D. work at the Centre for Elite Sports Research in Trondheim. As a doctoral candidate in the center’s neuroscience department, Conor’s work involved lab time. Specifically, lactate and VO2 max testing on Norwegian cross-country and nordic-combined national team members. Conor soon established a relationship with a number...

Continental Cup Interviews News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Bolger’s World Cup Debut: ‘The Hard Part Was Over, Now It Was Time to Have Some Fun’

Chelsea LittleMarch 5, 2018

On Saturday in Lahti, Finland, Kevin Bolger of the Sun Valley XC Gold Team made his World Cup debut. In his first season since graduating from the University of Utah, Bolger earned start rights for the final period of World Cup racing by leading the SuperTour. It was quite the debut: in the skate sprint, Bolger qualified in 16th, then advanced through the rounds to the semifinals and finished 11th on the day. There are...

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

Reese Hanneman Wins Qualifier, Second Sprint Title of Week at Nationals

Gavin KentchJanuary 9, 2018

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — No two races are exactly alike, the saying goes, and there’s a lot of truth to this cliché. But if you step back just a little bit, two race days can start to look awfully similar to one another. For example, for the second time this week, a Hanneman brother won the sprint qualifier, Reese Hanneman won the final, and Alaska Pacific University (APU) put three athletes in the final and two on...

Collegiate General Interviews News

Houghton-Bound: Tom Smith Hired as Michigan Tech Nordic Coach

Jason AlbertJune 23, 2017

Locked in the heart of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on an arm of land stretching into Lake Superior is the small city of Houghton. Locals there are intimate with lake-effect snow, long winters and a strong sense of community. Houghton is also home to Michigan Technological University (MTU) and the school’s nordic ski team, which officially named MTU’s newest nordic head coach and cross-country running assistant coach. He’ll be joined by his partner and MTU alumna, Kristen Monahan,...

Biathlon Continental Cup General News Para Nordic Racing US Nationals

FasterSkier’s U.S. Breakthroughs of the Year: Chelsea Holmes & Scott Patterson

FasterSkierApril 11, 2017

With the 2016/2017 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to breakthrough U.S. skiers. Previous categories: Collegiate Skiers of the Year | U.S. Continental Skiers of the Year |...

General Interviews Juniors

Under 23 Questions with Jack Hegman

FasterSkierFebruary 4, 2017

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 22-year-old Jack Hegman, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) Gold Team, who’s representing the U.S. at his first U23 Worlds....

General News Other Racing

Morgan Gets What He Came For, 9th in U23 Classic Sprint

Alex KochonFebruary 1, 2017

Two weeks after being Cole Morgan still felt like he had something to prove, goals to chase, races to qualify for. That’s where U23 World Championships came in. For Morgan, a former University of Vermont skier who graduated last spring and began a professional racing career with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) in Sun Valley, Idaho, his goal for the one race he was competing in at his first U23 Worlds was to finish in the top...

General Interviews Other Racing

Under 23 Questions with Cole Morgan

FasterSkierJanuary 31, 2017

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 22-year-old Cole Morgan, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) Gold Team, who’s representing the U.S. at his first U23 World...

U.S. Nationals & Eastern Cup Wax Reports

TokoJanuary 24, 2017

10/15km Freestyle: Cold temperatures made it important to have the bases hard. We used Toko LF blue and XCold powder for our base layer covered with JetStream Blue 2.0 block. The XCold powder made a big difference in our testing. Freestyle Sprint: Fresh falling wet snow, Red 2.0 Powder won our test and put Caitlin on the podium. — Report from Brian Gregg (By the way, congratulations to Caitlin Gregg for qualifying to represent...

Continental Cup News Racing

Gelso Wins Back-to-Back in West; Guiney Garners First SuperTour Title

Gabby NaranjaDecember 5, 2016

The second day of SuperTour racing in West Yellowstone came to a close on Sunday with the men's and women's distance classic events. Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation skier, Matt Gelso took his second win in a row, claiming the men's 15-kilometer classic race title, while the Craftsbury Green Racing Project's Liz Guiney garnered her first ever SuperTour win.

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