This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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. After the 2018 Olympics, workers at the Minneapolis Parks and Rec Department had to start putting up posters in the old Theodore Wirth Park chalet to “Clean up your glitter.” Thousands of...
Midway, Utah – The United States Biathlon Association has released the nominated members of the 2024-25 Senior National Team and 2024-25 National Development Group. While U.S. Biathlon remains committed to maintaining high standards for National Team qualification, it also is focused on providing ample opportunities for developing athletes to train and be part of a larger, collaborative team community within the sport and the development pipeline. Establishing the National Development Group is an important initiative in support...
Midway, Utah – The United States Biathlon Association released the selected members of the Junior National Team for the upcoming 2024-25 season. Junior National Team Virginia Cobb (Westford, VT/Ethan Allen Biathlon Club) Mirra Payson (Lexington, MA/HSC Biathlon) Haley Finch (Anchorage, AK/Alaska Winter Stars) Wes Campbell (Park City, UT/ Team Soldier Hollow) Thor Sheppard (West Yellowstone, MT/Team Altius) Cale Woods (Bozeman, MT/Team Crosscut) Elias Soule (Anchorage, AK/Anchorage Biathlon Club) John Lohuis (Anchorage, AK/Biathlon Alaska) “We are happy to announce the names of the exceptional athletes...
Video Credits: Sovereign 2 SilverStar Ski Marathon April 6 & 7 was a winning weekend for Nordic skiing in North America. The Sovereign 2 SilverStar Ski Marathon (S2S) reminded us that late season snow and great conditions are still possible! The 2-day event featured two distances (21k and 40k), two ski techniques (Classic and Skate), co-hosted by two world-class venues – Sovereign Lake Nordic Club and SilverStar Mountain Resort. The S2S attracted over 600...
Sonnesyn, Ketterson, Bolger, headline 8-member, rebranded teams. Team Birkie’s U.S. Ski Team athletes Kevin Bolger and Zak Ketterson, welcome six new members to their top-tier, re-branded teams for the 2024-2025. Former Minnesota State High School skiing phenom and four-time American Birkebeiner winner, Alayna Sonnesyn, returns home to the community where she emerged as a young endurance athlete, and headlines the newly rebranded World Team (formerly Pro Team). 2023 University of Alaska graduates Mariel Pulles and...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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. Sophia Laukli likes to keep busy. That is an understatement. Her non-stop, year round ski and running schedule keeps her trotting across the globe to pursue racing on dirt and snow. In part...
What a gap year it’s been so far for 19-year-old Otis Loga. After graduating high school in Montpelier, Vt., in September, the aspiring Paralympian decided to spend a winter skiing and training out West before starting college. He landed at Snow Mountain Ranch, the YMCA of the Rockies, in Granby, Colo. It was a dream for the relatively new sit skier, who was first invited to a US Paralympic camp in Canmore, Alberta, a year...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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. Sophia Laukli likes to keep busy. The 23 year old Maine native is coming off her best season as a professional skier. After a grueling four month World Cup season which included a...
Asked for a reflection on the 2023-24 World Cup season, US Ski Team Head Coach Matt Whitcomb pointed straight towards one place; Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a sunny February day, filled to the brim with 20,000 people cheering loud and clear. “We often talk about athletes peaking for big events,” he said. “But I’d never considered that our American ski culture could peak for an event.” The specific dynamics between performance and...
In a move likely to anger movie purists everywhere, it was announced late this weekend that a long awaited sequel to the cherished classic The Sound of Music is in the works. Why is this relevant to a ski racing magazine? Because none other than Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo has been announced as the choice to play the lead of Captain von Trapp. “It seemed like a natural fit for us,” said Charles Diller, President of...
The inaugural U.S. Biathlon Collegiate National Championships took place March 22, 2024 at the Fort Kent Outdoor Center in Fort Kent, Maine, in conjunction with the 2024 U.S. Biathlon National Championships. Twelve collegiate athletes representing six colleges and universities from around the Northeast traveled to Fort Kent to race and represent their respective schools. Friday’s U.S. Nationals sprint race doubled as the Collegiate Nationals sprint race, where athlete standings were counted towards both events. Crystal...
Out like a Lion: the old adage seems to apply to March in Duluth, Minntesota. At the end of March—during the only true snowstorm that season has delivered to Duluth—the last race of the 2024 SuperTour season and Spring Nationals was set to be a ten lap, 40 kilometer mass start skate race. It was a big race, marking a big end to a big season for a pair of America’s best young skiers....
It’s the most welcome irony of the 2023-24 North American ski season so far: As “Spring” Nationals started Thursday at the Spirit Mountain Nordic Center in Duluth, Minnesota, the newly coined “lost winter” of 2023-24 in the Midwest looked to have at-last been found. Snow, from the sky, and not from the end of the snow gun, floated onto that pretty little hillside city near the shores of Lake Superior following the 10 k Classic...
Jessie Diggins should not need an introduction at this point, but for anyone who needs a quick reminder: This episode of the Devon Kershaw Show features the best American cross-country skier of all time. Diggins has three Olympic medals to her name, a gold from the last World Championships and, most recently, a crystal globe she was awarded a few days ago as the past season’s overall World Cup champion. Diggins joins us for a...
Reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated. Apologies for the tardiness of this episode, but we’re back with a wrap from Falun, the last World Cup weekend of the season. It’s just Devon and Nat kicking it old school again here, but we’ll return soon with some guests. Seriously. Send us your 2025 predictions, Russian troll comments and Gjøran Tefre memes: devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. Thanks for hanging out with us for the whole World Cup...
Lake Placid is a place defined by a particular story of a Miracle. USA v. Soviet Union. 1980. Al Michaels. You know the one. We retell the story because we love the idea: something greater than the sum of all its human parts happens when a community’s energy moves in a clearly focused direction. In 1980, it was a hockey team. In 2024, a community’s dream focused on the efforts of young skiers at Junior...
The SMS T2 team is accepting applications for its 2024 Summer Program and 2024-2025 Elite Team. Applications are due April 14th. We will finalize the roster by May 1st and training starts with our Magic Mountain on-snow sprint event, June 1st, 2024. The SMS T2 Team is an elite cross country ski team based out of Stratton Mountain, Vermont. Our mission is international success and local inspiration. We pride ourselves on top notch collaboration with the National Team coaches,...
The final weekend of BMW IBU World Cup racing wrapped up in Canmore, Alberta in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The clear, sunny skies saw athletes transform their race suits into makeshift shorts and t-shirts, making the heat a bit more bearable for the final sprint, pursuit and mass start races of the 2023-24 season. Team USA ended the season on a high note with much to look forward to for the 2024-25...
Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program) rounds out this season’s pursuit races with a stellar 12th place finish, just one of two athletes in the pool of 60 to shoot a perfect 20 for 20 in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. Irwin, jumping 14 places from bib 26, crossed the line in 12th, just +1:23.1 behind the pursuit victor Lisa Vittozzi of Italy, who shot 19 for 20. “It feels amazing to shoot clean in...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and 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 long road that is the World Cup cross-country season came to an end today. And, like all good road trips, something special should be waiting at the end of that road. Today...