The story of why one citizens skier trekked six hours (each way) for a race in a southern port city of Alaska. "Sometimes it’s important to travel for five days so that you can spend less than two hours racing, but do so on a course that goes from a mountain overlook to the shores of the Pacific Ocean," the author explains.
U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. concluded last weekend with the 1.5 k classic sprints on the Michigan Tech Trails. Here are a collection of photos recapping the final day of the 2016 championships. Special thanks to Christopher Schmidt.
After a week of hard racing, Eric Packer achieved a longtime dream of winning his first national title in Saturday's classic sprint, the last race of U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. He outlunged APU teammate Reese Hanneman, the national skate-sprint champion, by 0.67 seconds.
Sun Valley hosted the second set of SuperTour races -- with a classic sprint and classic mass start -- and we have an assortment of photos recapping the action.
"Patience was really the name of the game and I kept it all day,” said Saturday's SuperTour classic sprint winner, Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess. He beat out Reese Hanneman and Tyler Kornfield, both of APU, for his first win of the season.
Caitlin Gregg finished third in her first Engadin Skimarathon in Switzerland on Sunday for another bronze to add to her collection following World Championships. Holly Brooks was the second American woman in the top five and reclaimed the FIS Marathon Cup lead in fifth.
It felt like deja vu in Houghton, Mich. as Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess returned to the podium for his second national title of the week in the 1.5 k freestyle sprint at the 2015 U.S. Cross Country Championships.
Last Monday, 150 bright-eyed kids got a chance to ski with 23 top US athletes at the 4th Annual Lickety-Splits Ski Camp for Kids. The camp offered the opportunity for kids to spend the afternoon playing games and learning to ski from some of the best skiers in the country. Tyler Kornfield, the founder of Lickety-Splits, noted “This year’s camp was the best yet. Since the beginning, we have had between 100 and 140 kids [per year]...
The U.S. Men's Ski Team and APU recently wrapped up their summer training camp in Alaska. They spent their final week on Eagle Glacier where they trained hard, cemented technique, and had a few laughs.
Jessie Diggins once again demonstrated that she’s a skier with a lot of heart at the 2014 U23 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. On the same course where she earned a historic world championship gold in the team sprint with Kikkan Randall in 2013, the 22-year-old left the 1.2 k freestyle sprint knowing she gave it her all.
Bronze, silver, and now gold. Reese Hanneman of Alaska Pacific University has captured them all after his win in the 1.6 k classic sprint on the final day of the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships. En route to his first national championship, Hanneman made winning look easy despite competing against the best sprinters in the country.
Still craving more details from Wednesday's classic sprint at U.S. nationals in Soldier Hollow? We've got the extras right here.
After a massive wave of spring skiers left Bend, Ore., last month, the groomers at Mt. Bachelor hardly packed it in. The U.S. and Canadian national teams and several elite squads were gone, but nearly the same amount of skiers – 150 – were expected to flock to the snow-covered trails in June. The Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center and its club, the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation (MBSEF), planned accordingly. On June 16, the MBSEF...
RUMFORD, Maine – The final day of the United States Cross Country Ski Championship saw some controversy during the A Final of the men’s classic sprint on the trails of Black Mountain. Torin Koos (BSF) skied away from the rest of the heat, but was later disqualified for a questionable move, so the second skier across the finish line Tyler Kornfield (UAF) was crowned the national champion. While we don’t have footage of the contentious moment...
RUMFORD, Maine — The major story to come out of the final race of the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Championships was Torin Koos’s disqualification for obstruction of competition (which he plans to appeal). But in addition to the drama, an entire classic sprint day went on at Black Mountain. When the A-final field took the line Sunday afternoon, it was difficult to know what to expect. Koos seemed like the only safe bet to be...
After crossing the finish line in first in the U.S. Nationals classic sprint A-final, Torin Koos (BSF/Rossignol) was disqualified for moving into a lane in front of Ryan Scott (MSU/Team HomeGrown) before completely clearing Scott’s skis, which resulted in contact between Koos’ tails and Scott’s tips. A course controller saw the pass, and after the conclusion of the race, reported a violation to the jury. Per International Ski Federation (FIS) rules, the competition jury deemed...
RUMFORD, Maine — Torin Koos (Bridger Ski Foundation/Rossignol) made it three straight U.S. National sprint titles Tuesday at Black Mountain, using his veteran racing experience to navigate a fast, tactical day. In a tightly packed A-final, Bend Endurance Academy’s Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess was close behind in second, and in a fight for bronze that was close enough to protest, Tyler Kornfield (University of Alaska Fairbanks) completed the men’s podium in third mere millimeters ahead of...
The question may not have been burning on Thursday, but at the very least, it was smoldering: Would any of the junior men attempt to double-pole Friday’s classic sprint? At last weekend’s World Cup races on the same course in Otepaa, Estonia, Norway’s Eirik Brandsdal double-poled through his qualifier and all three heats to edge out his teammate, Ola Vigen Hattestad, for the win. Only a handful of others tried the maneuver in the preliminary,...
Twelve athletes were named to the US Junior World Championships team Friday. They all bring experience and ambition to the races in Otepää, Estonia, January 25-31.
Tyler Kornfield nipped Alaska Nanook teammates David Norris and Erik Soederstrom in the second race of the 15th Annual Flint Hills Resources Town Race Series, the Fairbanks Youth Sports Classic Sprint, Saturday, December 4, in the late-afternoon dusk at Birch Hill Recreation Area. Kornfield’s photo-finish victory gained him a measure of revenge agains Soederstrom, who last year at the USSA National Championships in Anchorage pipped Kornfield in the Men’s Final. For a little club race,...