U.S. Ski and Snowboard

A Data Driven Search for What Matters in Skiing: An Interview with Gus Kaeding

Pasha KahnNovember 5, 2021

How many medals will the U.S. Ski Team win in the future? What, really, is perfect ski technique? Gus Kaeding — the one man team behind the US Ski Team’s analytics department — aims to provide data-driven answers to these questions. From his office in the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah, he delves into the data that may help illuminate a path to success for both individual athletes and the greater cross country...

General News

Ski News Roundup for the Week: Marit Bjørgen is Back (Just not on the World Cup)

FasterSkierJune 5, 2020

Bjørgen Returns: Reported last week by several news outlets, retired World Cup star from Norway, Marit Bjørgen, will return to racing next season. Bjørgen (40), will be a member of Team Ragde Eiendom, managed by Jörgen Aukland. (The team is owned by Anders and Jørgen Aukland.) Bjørgen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK she would focus on winning the 90-kilometer Swedish Vasaloppet. It has also been reported that Bjørgen will be joined by the current overall...

General News Racing

FS News Roundup: Schumacher and Halvorsen win Awards; FIS Concludes Spring Meetings

FasterSkierMay 22, 2020

Last week U.S. Ski and Snowboard announced the recipients of two awards. Gus Schumacher of Anchorage, Alaska, and newly minted U.S. B-Team member, won the Beck International Trophy recognizing the top athlete in international competition. He shared the honor with alpine skier Mikela Shiffrin. Schumacher comes off a year during which he won the 10 k classic at World Juniors and anchored the men’s 4 x 5 k relay to their second consecutive Word Junior’s...

Racing US Nationals

XCountryLive- Web broadcasting of U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Events

FasterSkierDecember 30, 2019

U.S U.S. Ski & Snowboard is excited to once again bring you live web broadcasting of the biggest domestic cross country ski events including theU.S. Cross Country Championships, Slumberland XCOUNTRYLIVE’s exclusive content not only gives you live and on-demand coverage of these premier events (and more), but it also helps support the sport. Your XCOUNTRYLIVE and tune in this winter for exclusive coverage.

General News US Ski Team

The Seeds of Collaborative Coaching

Jason AlbertJune 14, 2019

Fostering cultural change within complex organizations is painstaking. U.S. Ski & Snowboard is no different. Most often the most effective type of change comes less from edict and more from many a collection of stakeholder’s voice For the past decade, the U.S. cross-country team has had unparalleled success. Whether the metric is developing athletes to winning medals, most observers see a winning culture. That has not kept the minds at U.S. Ski & Snowboard from...

General News Racing

Die Hard Nordies Joda and Choudoir Make Speed … for U.S. Boardercross

Jason AlbertJanuary 29, 2019

Go with this for a moment: Boardercross, or Snowboard cross as it’s also known, is a cousin of cross-country skiing. Both are wintertime endeavors. Both involve sliding on frozen water. Let’s just say skinny skis and snowboards are within the Punnett square of crossing winter with sport. That brings us to another commonality; good glide is better. Manufacturers of nordic skis and snowboards most often use UHMW, or Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, for its...

Community News

Hop on Board; Technical Delegates Needed

Jason AlbertDecember 10, 2018

This article comes from Alan Watson, a certified TD and head of the cross-country section of the Pacific Northwest Ski Association (PNSA). Here’s the straight and simple request: U.S. Ski and Snowboard needs Technical Delegates (TD). Before we go any further, let’s give a brief rundown of what that means. U.S. Ski and Snowboard rules require each sanctioned race to have a jury which ensures that the race is fair, safe and conducted...

General News

NBC Sports Announces its “Snow Pass” for World Cups and World Championship Events

Jason AlbertOctober 25, 2018

Over the past few years, NBC has also been in the business of streaming and broadcasting ski racing events. Last winter, live and on-demand World Cup cross-country skiing could be viewed on NBC’s Olympic Channel. The Olympic Channel was a subscription-based pay-to-view service offered by NBC on either its website or through its cable TV broadcast. Watching the World Cup, in all its snow sliding varieties, remains an option for the 2018-2019 season. On...

General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Minnesota’s World Cup: One Day of Skate Sprints, $1.6-1.7 Million

Gabby NaranjaOctober 1, 2018

Following the 2017 World Cup Finals in Canada, John Munger, executive director of the Loppet Foundation, received a phone call from a fellow Minnesotan. Jessie Diggins had just completed her 2016/2017 season, and she had a question for Munger. If Quebec could host a World Cup, why couldn’t Minnesota? “She was really jealous of her colleagues in Canada,” Munger recalled in a phone interview on Sunday. The North American home crowd in Quebec City had...

General Interviews Juniors News US Ski Team

Fish on Promoting the U.S. Development ‘Pathway’ vs. the ‘Pipeline’

Rachel PerkinsSeptember 25, 2018

JACKSON, Wyoming — Last last month, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced that Bryan Fish had been promoted to cross country sport development manager. FasterSkier sat down with Fish on Sept. 14 at Jackson Hole’s Center for the Arts, where he was leading a Level 200 coaching clinic, to learn more about this transition and how his new position will support the national development program. He also provided insight into the development program’s philosophy and goals...

General Interviews News US Ski Team

Kaeding on Shepherding the U.S. D-Team and Crunching Data

Jason AlbertAugust 9, 2018

The newest hire to the U.S. Ski Team (USST) coaching ranks is 34-year-old Gus Kaeding. Kaeding is a newly minted MBA as of 2017 and is fresh off a gig with the U.S. Olympic Committee based out of Colorado Springs. Kaeding was a junior skier at the Stratton Mountain School (SMS), skied collegiately at Northern Michigan University, and coached at Central Cross Country and went on to become head coach of the SMST2 Team prior...

Interviews Multimedia Nordic Nation Podcasts US Ski Team

Nordic Nation: U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Tom ‘TK’ Kelly in the House (Part 1)

Jason AlbertFebruary 27, 2018

Madshus USA, Boulder Nordic Sport, and Swix Sport US for their generous support, which made this coverage possible. PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — At the Olympics in PyeongChang, FasterSkier sat down with U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s longtime Vice President of Communications Tom Kelly. After starting with the organization back in 1986, Kelly will be stepping down a few months after the Olympics. Kelly, 65, is the nerve center to U.S. Ski Team’s media and communications outreach. Shepherding athletes through...

Doping General Interviews News Olympics Racing US Ski Team

Shaw: Remove Conflicts of Interest in Sport, Ban Russia from PyeongChang

Chelsea LittleOctober 26, 2017

ZURICH, Switzerland—Tucked at the top of U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s list of proposals for policy changes at the recent International Ski Federation (FIS) Technical Meetings here was this: “Independent Doping Panel.” The idea was developed along with the Norwegians, who submitted an identical proposal. U.S. Ski and Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw explained that at the moment, FIS decisions made on doping may be made by individuals who also serve other roles in the...

General News Racing Team nominations US Ski Team

The Alpine Perspective: Athlete Support and the U.S. Ski Team

Chelsea LittleSeptember 8, 2017

“The biggest issue with the ski team is that they do not support athletes through thick and thin. They support the very top athletes well but other than that everyone else is constantly stressed out about re-qualifying for the team or raising enough money to be able to compete that season.” — Tim Kelley, 2015 World Championships U.S. alpine team member, UVM alumnus & assistant coach “It is very hard to watch some American athletes...