It’s been 14 years since I became an Olympian, competing as a cross country skier in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Since then, it hasn’t been easy to get to the Olympics as a spectator. The Winter Games have been in Sochi, Pyeongchang and Beijing, while the summer games have been in Rio and Tokyo, with an interruption by the Covid pandemic. The Paris Games were finally an opportunity for me to attend my first Olympics as a spectator. My wife Catherine speaks fluent french and has spent lots of time in Paris, so she planned out an incredible long weekend for us, striking the perfect balance between Olympic events, Parts attractions and local flavors.

We caught the opening Ceremonies and many of the early competitions on TV, so we had a pretty good orientation and impression of the experience before arriving last Thursday night, August 1 for three days in Paris.

Public transportation was plastered with Olympic branding and volunteers to direct visitors. Our accommodation in Paris’ 9th arrondissement was located right on the cycling road race route with views up to the Sacré Coeur Basilica atop Montmartre – one of the highest points in Paris. We arrived in time for a late dinner – almost all restaurants in France have strict seating times and require reservations – and an evening storm poured rain just outside the restaurant’s open facade, bringing a welcome breeze on a hot night. Parisian steak frites, paired with a bottle of Bordeaux and a fresh side salad offered a quintessential start to the trip.

Most events start later in the day, so our aim on Friday was to discover Paris. What better place to kick things off than the Eiffel Tour? Adorned with the Olympic rings, I wanted to visit the iconic landmark on the Seine and site of the Opening Ceremonies, Beach Volleyball and finish of the triathlon and road races. I wrote my Master’s Thesis about “visitor flows” and the movements of tourists through cities. Not surprisingly, one of the first places tourists go when they arrive in a new city is the highest point. In Innsbruck, the destination I studied for my thesis, that’s the Nordkette mountain range overlooking the city below. In Paris, the highest point is the Eiffel Tower.

I was surprised that there was practically no line for the elevator to the top, so we hitched a ride and were rewarded with an Olympic panorama of Paris. The festive atmosphere of the beach volleyball match carried to the top of the Eiffel Tower. BMX racers practiced at the race track on the other side of the Seine. 3 x 3 basketball courts were surrounded by spectators. The iconic Grand Palais museum, with its vintage art deco style, hosted the fencing competitions. The Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame – all places I knew only from photos and textbooks – came to life amidst all the Olympic venues. I didn’t get to visit any of the famous sites during my first trip to Paris, but I’m already looking forward to my next trip when I can go inside. This trip, after all, was to celebrate the Olympic Games!

And that’s exactly how it felt: a celebration. I was a bit self-conscious before my first day in Paris, so I decided to leave my USA Olympic rings shirt at home, instead opting for an unbranded neutral green t-shirt. Once I was out in the city, I realized I was probably the only person without a national flag or Olympic rings of some sort. People’s clothes were an opportunity to open conversation, congratulating sport’s fans on the achievements of athletes from their country.

Some countries with large Olympic teams even have “houses” in Paris. The houses are more like embassies. The “Team USA House” was in the Palais Brongniart, an impressive building originally built in 1826 as home to one of the world’s first stock exchanges. The Team USA House is a gathering point for athletes, their families, sponsors and even US Olympians from previous Games. At the Vancouver Olympics, the cross country skiers stayed in Whistler, so I never visited the Team USA House. One of my highlights in Paris was visiting the Team USA House and the opportunity to connect with other Olympians and share the experience with my wife Catherine and best man, Dan. Dan and I ski raced both in high school and college together. Dan is in Paris for the Olympics in his role working for Airbnb.

A couple of the highlights in the Team USA House were catching up with 5x Bobsled Olympic medalist and 2022 USA flag bearer Elana Meyers Taylor, her husband and Olympian Nic Taylor and Olympian Lauren Gibbs. Elana won her first medal at the 2010 Games (I was at the awards ceremony!) and is still competing, currently training for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games. Wow!! I’m looking forward to cheering on Elana, Nic and Lauren when they compete at the Bobsled World Cup in Innsbruck this winter. Another highlight was meeting LaShawn Merritt, 3 x Gold Medalist in the 400m Sprint and 4x400m Relay. We connected on the focus and intention it takes to achieve big goals and the power of sleep. LaShawn currently runs Nike Speed Clinics for high school athletes and runs the LaShawn Merritt Foundation, dedicated to enhancing the well-being of youth in underserved communities.

We haven’t even made it to the competitions yet! Getting tickets was definitely not the easiest or most affordable part of the games, but spending Friday night under the lights of the Stade de France, France’s national stadium, was definitely worth the effort. All 80,000 seats were sold out and the crowd was waay into it. Fortunately, there was still enough flexibility to get up and move around, so we could catch different events from different vantage points. We met the families of a few different athletes competing and had fun cheering on their athletes. The US team dominated the 4 x 400m mixed relay qualification. The women’s 5000m qualification heats featured a master class in strategy, with team tactics, rabbits and sprint finishes all coming into play. Many of the decathlon events offered an opportunity to see a variety of field sports. The highlight of the evening was the men’s 10,000m final. The crowd had a wave going around the stadium at the same pace as the runners. Grant Fisher from the US brought home an historic bronze medal on the 10k which prompted lots of texts with past running teammates of mine watching the races from home in the US.

If I had one wish for my time in Paris at the Olympics, it’s that more friends and family could join me to experience the Games. One person would be my sister Martha, who is an NCAA DI Champion rower. We went to the Rowing finals on Saturday morning thinking of her. The women’s and men’s Eights and Single Sculls featured medal finals. Rowing had a fun atmosphere with a lot of freedom for fans to walk along most of the 2 km course.

The rowing medal ceremonies finished with enough time for us to get back to our neighborhood for the Men’s Road Race. We didn’t plan this part of the trip beforehand, but the course went right past our accommodation in Paris – twice! The crowd was already starting to line up behind the fencing when we arrived, so we staked out our spot next to a crew of Irish fans, in Paris to cheer on Ben Healy and Ryan Mullen. Surprisingly, the two Irish cyclists were having a great race and the Irish crew was ecstatic, sharing updates with us from the course. I really enjoy capturing photos from events like the Olympics. At the track and rowing events, most of my photos were capturing the crowd and atmosphere, but because the athletes were so far away, it was almost impossible to get any close-up action shots. That changed when I lined up next to catch the lead pack of the cyclists. One of the absolute highlights of the Games for me was capturing a close-up of Remco Evenepoel, en route to his Olympic Gold Medal, less than 5 km from the finish and right before his dramatic bike exchange after getting a flat tire. Looking at the photo, I think you can even see a little smirk on Evanepoel’s  face as the reality sinks in that he’ll likely win his second gold medal of the Paris Olympics. A big grin is definitely apparent on French rider Valentin Madouas, en route to a silver medal. What an exciting event.

Our trip wrapped up with more exploration in Paris. Restaurants and bars were packed and patrons overflowed onto the streets watching various events on the big screens. Cheers erupted in different places from different crowds and there was a genuine joie de vivre from everyone in Paris.

As I reflect on my long weekend in Paris, I am so glad that I took the time to attend the Olympics. After this experience, there’s no doubt that the Paris Olympics will go down as one of the best ever, especially with how Paris’ cultural sites were incorporated into the venues for the competitions and how well everything was organized. I am already looking forward to the Milan-Cortina Games and feel much more knowledgeable about the Olympic system as we develop Lumi’s trip to the 2026 Games.

If you’d like to attend a World Championship event, we still have a few spots available on Lumi’s trip to the 2025 Nordic World Championships in Trondheim, Norway and the Tour de Ski trip in Val di Fiemme, Italy. The World Championships in Trondheim, Johannes Klaebo’s hometown, will be an historic series of races. The Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme will be on the same trails as the Olympics in 2026. If the Paris Olympics have you inspired to take a trip to France, we still have a few spots available on Lumi’s France Jura trip. One of Lumi’s trip leaders in France is the mother of an Olympic Gold medalist with some incredible Olympic stories herself.

Our Olympic sale with $300/person savings for the 2025 World Cup and France trips ends this Sunday, August 11. Reach out soon for more information and to sign up!

Finnegan Bailey—a resident of Landgrove, Vermont, and team member of SMST2 and the University of Vermont—was selected this spring to become one of the newest members of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team at the staggering age of 18. So how’d he do it?

In the last twelve months, Finnegan (Fin) Bailey has received quite the accolades in the competitive nordic skiing scene. To name a few: he was named to the SMST2 club team, he won his first Super Tour race and he demolished the field at the 2024 Junior Nationals U20 sprints. So it’s no surprise that Fin was amongst the latest batch of rising athletes selected to the Stifel U.S. Ski Team. While technically it’s this last year’s performances that led to Bailey’s selection, his journey to the top level of American skiing is a lifetime in the making, and it’s been filled with highs, lows, and lessons.

Fin’s father Jack is an alpine ski coach, so his exposure to snow sports didn’t begin on nordic skis. He started skiing at the age of two—alpine, that is—before exploring the nordic world a year or two later. And he played other sports, too.

“I played both soccer and baseball quite competitively. I’ve played baseball since fourth grade, and I love it. I also played soccer all through my time at Stratton,” Bailey said. Through last spring, Fin was a competing tri-sport athlete, and “pretty happy that [he] wasn’t solely focused on Nordic…because (he) doesn’t think that’s the best way to do it.” During their respective seasons, Bailey said he was “a lot more focused” on those sports than he was on skiing.

Still, despite his diverse athletic experience it’s no secret that time on skis is a key ingredient to success, Bailey had plenty of it. But forget specific speed or endurance training: Bailey largely spent his time on skis having fun “jibbing.” What’s jibbing? It can essentially be defined as hitting makeshift jumps and rails and doing things on nordic skis that aren’t meant to be done on nordic skis. (Technically, there was one pair of nordic skis made with jibbing in mind — the discontinued Fischer Jibskates — but they were the exception rather than the rule.) 

Asked how his “jibbing career” impacted his success on skis, Bailey lit up. “That’s huge! That’s all I remember and it’s how I started,” he said. Fin skied for a ski club in the Bill Koch League (BKL) called West River up through the end of elementary school, and following every BKL race — which he’d typically have won — Fin could be found handling the more important business of building and hitting massive jumps, throwing impressive grabs, spins, and even backflips. He credits his ability to move on skis largely to his youthful jibbing career.

As he moved into the later years of elementary school, Fin, along with his group of friends dubbed “The Peru Crew” — Fin and his friends Wyatt Teaford, who skis for Bates College, and Chip Freeman, who skis for Williams College — began to take skiing and training more seriously under the tutelage of Vermont coaching legend Sverre Caldwell.

“The way he got me into nordic skiing was probably the best way I could have been introduced to it,” Bailey said. He credits Caldwell for guiding him from one step on his pathway to the next. Caldwell broadened his horizons from a passionate jibber into a more multi-dimensional skier who could have just as much fun in rollerski agility sessions that mixed “training” with the fun of jibbing. These sessions were also the first exposure that Bailey had to training alongside the Stratton teams. With Caldwell’s guidance, Bailey began climbing SMS’s ladder of programs, from winter-term all the way up to SMST2. Caldwell’s influence, he said, was huge.

“There was no forcing or anything like that. He truly guided me into the SMS team.”

When Bailey arrived at the Stratton Mountain School, he kept a wide array of athletic interests but gradually became more serious about a future in skiing. He began to focus on training year round, and with this shift in mentality, his goals shifted beyond an aerial career and towards making it, as he remembers, “as far as I can.” 

Fin describes himself as a “hugely competitive” person, among other things, so it is no surprise that he aspired to the next level. But he was also exposed to that level early on, thanks to his upbringing in the stomping grounds of some of the best American nordic skiers of all time. During his time at West River and during the coined “Sverre agility sessions,” he found himself surrounded by the likes of Simi Hamilton and Sophie Caldwell. More recently, during his time at SMS and later on SMST2, Fin has had the opportunity to train with Jesse Diggins, Ben Ogden, and Julia Kern, among other massive names in American skiing.

If they served as Bailey’s inspiration, it was largely subconscious. 

“I think I probably took it for granted,” he said. It would really only hit him when he’d take a step back and think, “Wow! I’m training behind Jessie or Ben.” But mostly it was just normal. Bailey does acknowledge that just being around professional skiers was massively influential in his development as a skier.

“Even if you aren’t thinking about it, you’re looking at what they do, watching their technique. Even if you aren’t trying to, it’s just that when you look up to somebody like [I do], it’s natural. So, I think that without even thinking about it, just being around them made me better, my technique a lot better, and me a lot more invested in the sport.”

As he gains a greater understanding of the influence that high-level skiers have had on him, Bailey understands his own impact more, too, and wants to emphasize to younger, aspiring athletes the value of using knowledgeable, experienced, and more established (while still cool) skiers like himself as a resource.

“I think that it’s just great to reach out to anybody. Jessie and Ben and Julia—they’re so easy to talk to and they love sharing their experience,” he said. “Everybody loves talking about themselves and what they know.” Still, he stressed that young athletes should trust their instincts, too. “Find what works for you, but you can base that off of what the more professional athletes do.”

Bailey also made sure to note that even pros still have lessons to learn when asked about his skiing idol. His answer was Dartmouth junior Jack Lange, a teammate of his this summer as well as at SMS for a few years prior. Lange is an incredible distance skier, and splits from a large spread of races will tell you that he tends to get faster and faster throughout races. Bailey, on the contrary, is best known for his sprinting ability, and he made note of a dynamic between them.

“He gains sprinting knowledge off of me, and I gain distance knowledge off of him.” 

Improving his distance skiing prowess is one of Fin’s big goals for the future, especially as he overcomes a strange set-back from over-lifting. Yes, over-lifting is a thing in nordic skiing. “Two years, five-plus days in the gym a week, and I was just way too big to move my body in a 10k or a distance race,” he said. “The gym has been like my safe space… and I’ve had to totally dial it back. I’m now at two times a week in the gym, just to translate that strength that I have now into using it in nordic skiing.” 

This, believe it or not, has been “super hard” for Bailey, but as much as he loves the gym, he also understands that “you eventually get to a point where you are building too much muscle, and you don’t necessarily need that for nordic skiing.”

 Staying consistent with an interview he gave at Junior Nationals a few years back, Fin also mentioned UNH incoming freshman David Shycon as one of his idols, noting that David is “such a happy kid” and “always himself.” “I love that about him,” Bailey said.

It’s clear that Fin has done a lot right. What’s the one thing he feels he’s done exceptionally well in developing as a skier? As it turns out, it has nothing to do with training or nutrition.

“I think I’ve had fun. I think that’s the biggest thing,” he said.

As Bailey heads off to the University of Vermont in the fall, he hopes that this next year skiing on the EISA circuit will mark another step in his competitive skiing progression. But he understands that there is more to life than just skiing. “Making the [US] Ski Team this year has been a pretty good step,” he said. “If I keep going, that’s great. If not, that’s also great.” He’s looking forward to everything else college has to offer; Bailey is going into the academic scene undecided but would love to get into some sort of study in sports physiology. And he has really enjoyed playing around with photography and media.

But come wintertime weekends it’ll be worth watching out for Bailey in the black, green, and yellow of UVM this Winter. Most of his competition might just be watching from behind.

Last month, the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation sprang into registrants’ inboxes with a summer announcement: Ben Popp, Wisconsin native and ABSF Executive Director since 2013, had been elected President of the Worldloppet International Ski Federation. Replacing Finland’s Juho Viljamaa, Popp will serve a four year term, effective immediately.

He already has the regalia to prove it. The Federation’s gavel, a relic of the Tony Wise Era, has taken a circuitous path through Central and Northern Europe—but Popp’s election returns that artifact, and the Presidency, to the site of the Worldloppet’s establishment some five decades ago. “It’s literally inscribed: ‘Telemark Lodge, Wisconsin USA, Feb. 23 1978,’” Popp tells me.

To any skier who has made the trek from Cable to Hayward in the last eleven years, Popp cuts a familiar figure. Energetic, upbeat, and faster-paced than a sprint finish, he’s become a fixture of all things Birkebeiner—churning out trail-grooming update videos, fundraising initiatives, and ambitious projects ranging from a revitalization of the once-derelict Telemark Property to the Team Birkie, the Midwest’s professional racing team. Moreover, he’s brought the event safe to shore through three great calamities: the Canceled Birkie (politely remembered as “BirkieFest”; 2017), the Covid Birkie (2021), and the Manmade Miracle Birkie (2024).

It therefore comes as no surprise that Popp has assumed the Worldloppet Presidency with characteristic vigor—and lofty goals. FasterSkier spoke with Popp to discuss what they are, and how he plans to achieve them.

“What skiers needed back in 1978 is very different from what we need right now.”

Despite “representing popular skiing around the world,” the Worldloppet is a small operation, with two full-time employees headquartered in Tartu, Estonia. As Popp describes it, their efforts to coordinate ten events across five continents are “Herculean.” Countries tend to concentrate on their own ski federations, and on their respective flagship races. “It’s hard for them to focus” on the collaborative, international mission of the Worldloppet.

That’s where Popp sees himself differing from presidents past. When it comes to filling the Worldloppet’s two primary goals—providing support for member nations as they host “pre-eminent events,” and providing support for the more than 130,000 skiers who tackle Worldloppet races each year—the organization has gotten “really good at doing the same things over the years, and doing them really well,” like the Worldloppet Passport.

But Popp recognizes that “what skiers needed back in 1978 is very different from what we need right now.” It seems he views the Worldloppet of the past as catering to those already enamored with the sport and its signature marathons. The Worldloppet of the future can do more to expand the range and reach of popular skiing—even if that requires a course correction. “I know change can be really hard,” Popp says, “But believe it or not, I think the Worldloppet and global, popular skiing can be even bigger than FIS. Instead of focusing on getting a young skier from the U.S. to travel to Japan, we should be asking, ‘How can Japan engage its own young skiers?’”

Popp’s electors seem to agree: In fact, the Scandinavian delegations nominated Popp because of the athletic inroads he’s paved with the ABSF. “The Scandinavians know that the United States is seeing skiing grow in leaps and bounds, from the success of Jessie Diggins to almost 15,000 skiers at the Birkie. They know something’s going on here. They asked me, ‘Can you take it to the world?’”

An “absolute recipe for growth.”

What is Popp’s plan for growing cross-country skiing—for engaging new skiers at Worldloppet events?

In his own words, it’s a page from the NFL’s playbook: To get incoming athletes excited, “We need to marry skiing’s role models to everyday skiers. This is what the NFL does; it’s how they sell out stadiums every Sunday”—connecting the sport’s elite to their fans. The stars of the FIS World Cup are, currently, “just not part of what we think of as popular skiing.” Popp wants to change that—and wants the Worldloppet to take the lead “plugging in” Crystal Globe-chasers to the marathoning masses. “We can negotiate and create connections. We can get these role models to our races.”

He cites the Birkie’s recent collaboration with Jessie Diggins and Gus Schumacher (its 2024 champions) as proof of concept. The median age of a Birkie skier has fallen from 47 to 43.7, and young athletes are increasingly participating in ABSF events for a chance to meet these avatars of America’s Nordic ambitions. At this year’s Birkie Bash, an annual pre-race fundraising dinner, “half the room was kids, 18 or younger—they were there to see Jessie and Gus!” With the encouragement of the Worldloppet, the same could be true of New Zealand’s Merino Muster or Australia’s Kangaroo Hoppet (which Diggins has won multiple times): Popp sees more summer-training elites competing in these Southern Hemisphere marathons as a clear way to build enthusiasm in host nations.

Popp has his eyes on names from beyond the U.S. Ski Team as well. “I was talking with Haakon Klæbo last week, discussing how we can bring [Johannes Høsflot] Klæbo more into popular skiing.” Having charmed crowds of adoring young fans from Park City to Minneapolis, it should come as no surprise that the Norwegian phenom “wants to be engaged. He wants to be a role model and to bring more people into the sport.”

This involvement could go beyond racing Worldloppet events when the World Cup schedule permits, to incorporating these events into the World Cup itself. It’s happened twice before (La Transjurassienne in 2000 and the Birkebeinerrennet in 2002). Popp’s American Birkebeiner floated a bid for the 2024 World Cup schedule immediately after Minneapolis, with Main Street sprints on Wednesday and the Birkie itself on Saturday. A price tag pushing $3 million thwarted that effort, but Popp sees elites and popular skiers, tackling the same races, as the key to the longevity and financial viability of both worlds. “It’s a proven model. Look at the New York Marathon, the Boston Marathon. Who doesn’t want to run those—they’re iconic races, and you’re on the same course, the same starting line, as the best athletes in the sport. There will be concessions on both sides, and it will take some creativity,” but “if we can marry the popular consumers of skiing with the elite, it’s an absolute recipe for growth.”

Sustainability and support from “the hub of the wheel.”

Popp’s new direction for the Worldloppet goes beyond his hopes of exciting wider audiences. He sees the organization facilitating resource and knowledge-sharing between world-class events that have, thus far, largely remained “in our own unique silos. We’ve all learned through trial and error. But we haven’t necessarily come together as a group.” A unified timing and registration system, for example, has seemed like a phantasmic “pipe dream on paper,” but each race is “spending an enormous amount of money on data collection, registration, and data storage.” In addition to reducing costs, the data could be leveraged to secure event sponsors. While the Worldloppet cannot be “the whole wheel,” it can be “the hub of the wheel”—a central source of direction, activity, and coordination around which individual races organize, and around which skiers structure broader cultural experiences.

Snowmaking is another prime example. This year’s “Miracle Birkie” took place on 10k of man-made snow; the 2024 China Vasaloppet was on 25k, hand-moved to the course. Fed by the guns of eight local alpine resorts and maneuvered into place by the Italian National Guard, the Marcialonga has been almost entirely on man-made snow for the last decade. Other events may not have that infrastructure—but they’ve developed their own strategies for coping with low snow that the Worldloppet can help systematize. Trails can be manicured in the off-season to maximize their ski-ability, even with minimal coverage; Norway and Switzerland have perfected long-term snow-storage with cement basins, drains, and coverings. Each nation’s Worldloppet race “wants to put on an amazing experience. That means we have to be the best at what we do,” even in a warming climate.

It’s with respect to climate that Popp also sees a distinct role for the Worldloppet. This is despite his recognition that there’s pronounced tension between the organization’s globetrotting ethos and any desire for more sustainable practices. Reusable gear bags—of which the ABSF has sold over 20,000 since 2017—could be one avenue for promoting conservation. So could carbon offsets, or broader opportunities for group travel to race events, including through partnerships with independent, curated trip coordinators. But the goal, Popp says, is to transform every Worldloppet skier into “an advocate, and to get them to get others to be advocates” for “green futures.” Telling the story of the reusable bag, or of a mass-transit journey to the start line, can create a network of climate-conscious athletes. While there’s “a long tail on that horse, we have to start somewhere,” Popp says. “We can’t get paralyzed with ‘what-ifs.’ We’ll get nowhere.”

Pedaling ahead.

Reflecting on his 11 years at the head of the American Birkebeiner, Popp is approaching his four-year presidency with an ambitious vision for the Worldloppet. “The Birkie has an amazing, storied history, and it’s been super successful.” But directing one of skiing’s signature marathons—let alone an international federation of such events—is “like riding a bicycle. If you’re not pedaling forward, you’re going to fall over. The challenge is to remain relevant.” What the Worldloppet “has been doing is awesome, and we have a lot of people that love skiing,” but the organization needs to “take a critical look and better evaluate whether we are doing the things that allow us to grow.” This will require closer dialogue with athletes, engagement with elite skiers, and coordination of FIS’ Popular Skiing Subcommittee, where Worldloppet representatives occupy a “huge majority” of the 20 seats. Popp expects a “day-to-day challenge.” But, “I think it’s worth the time and effort because we can have a real impact on global skiing.”

Ben Popp will continue to serve as Executive Director of the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. FasterSkier thanks Popp for taking the time to speak with us about his new role at the Worldloppet International Ski Federation.

The SMST2 Team is proud to announce this year’s Gap Grant program to support elite World Cup skiers in their pursuit of excellence on the international stage.  This initiative provides financial assistance to unfunded (D Team and non-USST) athletes that qualify to race on the FIS World Cup for any period of time.

Gap Grants were made possible by the generous contribution of an anonymous donor and will be available to SMST2 skiers for the 2024-2025 season. The $50,000 gift will be distributed among select World Cup skiers who have demonstrated a commitment to the SMST2 mission – international excellence and local inspiration.

SMST2 Program Director, Maria Stuber says, “We are going to use this money to directly subsidize World Cup racing expenses for unfunded athletes (USST D Team or non-USST athletes) and to cover some staff and travel expenses associated with the SuperTour so that getting to the World Cup is more accessible.  Our hope is that athletes will be able to combine this additional funding with grants from the National Nordic Foundation to have 100% of their World Cup expenses covered in the 2025 World Championship year.  Providing this to our skiers has been a long term goal and rolling it out this year is a dream come true”

The SMST2 Team has several Olympians on its Advisory Board who competed for Team USA and worked to cover the cost of racing and support their families.

1984 Olympian and SMST2 Advisory Board Member, Sue (Long) Wemyss stated, “I couldn’t have pursued my ski goals without outside help from acquaintances and family friends who generously chose to donate towards my ski racing campaign. The costs of racing and preparing to reach the highest levels of competition have only sky-rocketed over the decades! The financial support of our most generous anonymous donor will go a long way to enabling some of the U.S.’s most promising skiers to pursue their potential in cross-country skiing.”

Bob Gray, a US Ski Team athlete from 1962 to 1974, and VT native, reflected on his career saying, “Having spent 12 years on the US Ski Team and struggling to compete at the World level it has been inspiring to see the successes of the SMST2 Team!  This team is now competing at the highest level in the sport and winning.  It brings tears of joy to my eyes!  SMST2 includes young skiers just getting started in the sport and gives them a chance to train with the best in the world.  Now, these inspired athletes will have enough financing to take more international opportunities.  Having the necessary support to devote all of your energy and attention to the task at hand is absolutely necessary.”

Bill Koch, who also sits on the SMST2 Advisory Board, is perhaps the most significant figure in the history of American cross-country skiing, known for both his competitive achievements and contribution to the sport’s evolving technique.  Bill was the first and only American prior to Jessie Diggens to win an Olympic medal (1976) or the Overall World Cup title (1982).  Bill sees this grant help expedite the development process stating, “To get better at World Cup racing, you need to race on the World Cup. SMS T2’s commitment to support its unfunded athletes and help them get this experience will help expedite their development and raise the bar! It has been a thrill to watch the depth of US skiing explode over the last few years, and making European racing accessible to up-and-comers will help continue this trajectory.”

This initiative reflects the SMST2 Team’s commitment to its mission.  SMST2 athletes are training hard and have already started expanding community projects.  Gap Grants will ensure that financial barriers do not hinder athletic progress.  The SMST2 team is committed to supporting skiers on the world stage, with pride in both the US Team and their club and local community.

About the SMST2 Team:

SMS T2 Team is an elite cross-country ski team based out of Stratton Mountain, Vermont. We were founded in 2012 by a board of local people who believe Vermont to be the best training location in the World and to keep our athletes engaged in the local community.  The team’s mission is international excellence and local inspiration.  We value collaboration and foster an environment where athletes and coaches work together within the US Ski Team and College system to create development and opportunity for individual athletes.

Our first World Championship medal race was in 2013 when Jessie Diggins surprised the world, winning gold in a team sprint at the Val di Fiemme Championship.  Since then, the team has brought home 10 additional Olympic and World Championship Medals, achieved 54 Olympic and World Championship top 10 finishes, 94 regular season World Cup podiums and 1,293 World Cup starts by 22 different skiers.

SMST2 Alumni Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton, and Sophie Caldwell are all generationally significant skiers who helped to blaze this trail.  Andy competed on 4 Olympic teams and 9 World Championship teams, landing on the World Cup podium in 2006 as the first American male skier to accomplish this in over 20 years.  Simi Hamilton and Sophie Caldwell both ended their careers at SMST2 with World Cup wins and top 10 finishes at the World Championship or Olympics, Simi 9th in 2019 and Sophie 6th, 10th, 6th and 8th in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 respectively.

In 2018, Jessie Diggins brought home the first Olympic Gold Medal in our sport’s storied history.  She solidified herself as the greatest American cross-country skier of all time with a Silver and Bronze in Beijing in 2022.  Since then, Jessie has been the first American to win an individual World Championship Gold, and she’s won the Overall World Cup crystal globe and Tour de Ski, both twice.

The success of the SMST2 Team doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.  Current SMST2 teammates, Julia Kern and Ben Ogden have both been on the World Cup podium in the past 2 years.  Julia earned a bronze in the team sprint at the most recent World Championship in 2023 and was in 7 World Cup semifinals in 2024. Ben Ogden was the top U23 skier in the overall World Cup standings in 2023.  Lauren Jortberg notched her first World Cup top 20 finish last year and Sydney Palmer-Leger found the top 30 two times.  The team racked up 4 individual National Championships and youngsters Ava Thurston and Jack Lang were in the top 10 at the World Junior Championship this year.  Eight SMST2 members were named to the 2024-2025 US Ski Team, 5 of which are under 23 years old in a sport where many athletes peak in their 30’s.

The SMST2 Team has long been a dominant force in the world of cross-country skiing, consistently producing world-class athletes who make history.  Their enduring success is attributed to a passionate board of directors, a supportive community, rigorous training, the best dryland surfaces in the world, a coaching staff committed to collaboration, and the relentless pursuit of excellence by their athletes.  SMST2 athletes are highly engaged in the local community, hosting open workouts, visiting school and youth sporting events, public speaking, and sharing their love of the sport.  The SMST2 Team continues to set the standard in cross-country skiing success and community engagement.

We are pleased to announce the XC Team for Period 1 of the 2024-25 World Cup season:

Ruka, FIN Sprint C

Men

Michael Earnhart                      Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

JC Schoonmaker                        Objective          10^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Ben Ogden                                Objective          15^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Gus Schumacher                       Objective          27^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Kevin Bolger                             Objective          30^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Zak Ketterson                           Objective          35^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Zanden McMullen                     Discretion         17^th Drammen Sprint C 23-24 WC

Luke Jager                                Alternate          24^th Canmore Sprint C 23-24 WC

Women

Alayna Sonnesyn                       Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Jessie Diggins                            Objective          23-24 Overall World Cup Winner

Rosie Brennan                          Objective          10^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Julia Kern                                  Objective          12^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Sammy Smith                            Discretion         28^th Oberhof Sprint C 23-24 WC

Erin Bianco                               Discretion         35^th Oberhof Sprint C 23-24 WC

Renae Anderson                       Discretion         36^th Canmore Sprint C 23-24 WC

Novie McCabe                          Discretion         43^rd Ruka Sprint C 23-24 WC

Lauren Jortberg                        Alternate          43^rd Canmore Sprint C 23-24 WC

Ruka, FIN 10 km C & Davos, SUI 20 km C

Men

Michael Earnhart                      Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Gus Schumacher                       Objective          16^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Scott Patterson                         Objective          28^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Zanden McMullen                     Objective          37^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Ben Ogden                                Discretion         8^th Trondheim 10 km C 23-24 WC

John Hagenbuch                       Discretion         1^st American SuperTour Finals 10 km C 2024

Davis Norris                              Discretion         33^rd Canmore 20 km C 23-24 WC

Hunter Wonders                       Alternate          34^th Canmore 20 km C 23-24 WC

Zak Ketterson                           Alternate          40^th Oberhof 20 km C 23-24 WC

Luke Jager                                Alternate          40^th Trondheim 10 km C 23-24 WC

Women

Alayna Sonnesyn                       Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Jessie Diggins                            Objective          23-24 Overall World Cup Winner

Rosie Brennan                          Objective          7^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Sophia Laukli                            Objective          15^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Novie McCabe                          Discretion         19^th Davos 20 km C, 23-24 WC

Julia Kern                                  Discretion         26^th Canmore 20 km C, 23-24 WC

Sammy Smith                            Discretion         26^th Val di Fiemme 15 km C 23-24 WC

Sydney Palmer-Leger                 Discretion         US National Champion 10 km C 2024

Haley Brewster                         Alternate          12^th U23 World Champs 10 km C 2024

Margie Freed                            Alternate          2^nd American, US Nationals 10 km C 2024

Ruka, FIN 20 km F & Lillehammer, NOR 10 km F

Men

Michael Earnhart                      Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Gus Schumacher                       Objective          16^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Scott Patterson                         Objective          28^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Zanden McMullen                     Objective          37^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

John Hagenbuch                       Discretion         13^th Östersund 10 km F 23-24 WC

Ben Ogden                                Discretion         25^th Gällivare 10 km F 23-24 WC

David Norris                              Discretion         27^th Canmore 15 km F 23-24 WC

Peter Wolter                             Alternate          36^th Canmore 15 km F 23-24 WC

Luke Jager                                Alternate          39^th Minneapolis 10 km F 23-24 WC

Hunter Wonders                       Alternate          40^th Canmore 15 km F 23-24 WC

Women

Alayna Sonnesyn                       Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Jessie Diggins                            Objective          23-24 Overall World Cup Winner

Rosie Brennan                          Objective          7^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Sophia Laukli                            Objective          15^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Novie McCabe                          Discretion         11^th Falun 20 km F 23-24 WC

Julia Kern                                  Discretion         18^th Gällivare 10 km F 23-24 WC

Sydney Palmer-Leger                 Discretion         23^rd Falun 20 km F 23-24 WC

Sammy Smith                            Discretion         23^rd Val di Fiemme Final Climb 23-24 WC

Haley Brewster                         Alternate          25^th Minneapolis 10 km F 23-24 WC

Margie Freed                            Alternate          29^th Canmore 15 km F 23-24 WC

Mariah Bredal                           Alternate          30^th Canmore 15 km F 23-24 WC

Lillehammer, NOR Sprint F & Davos, SUI Sprint F 

Men

Michael Earnhart                      Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

JC Schoonmaker                        Objective          10^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Ben Ogden                                Objective          15^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Gus Schumacher                       Objective          27^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Kevin Bolger                             Objective          30^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Zak Ketterson                           Objective          35^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Logan Diekmann                       Discretion         16^th Canmore Sprint F 23-24 WC

Jack Young                                Alternate          23^rd Canmore Sprint F 23-24 WC

Zanden McMullen                     Alternate          25^th Davos Sprint F 23-24 WC

John Hagenbuch                       Alternate          3^rd Planica U23 World Champs Sprint F

Women

Alayna Sonnesyn                       Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Jessie Diggins                            Objective          23-24 Overall World Cup Winner

Rosie Brennan                          Objective          10^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Julia Kern                                  Objective          12^th 23-24 Sprint World Cup

Lauren Jortberg                        Discretion         19^th Canmore Sprint F 23-24 WC

Sammy Smith                            Discretion         21^st Goms Sprint F 23-24 WC

Erin Bianco                               Discretion         29^th Canmore Sprint F 23-24 WC

Haley Brewster                         Discretion         1^st US National Champs Sprint F Qual.

Novie McCabe                          Alternate          34^th Davos Sprint F 23-24 WC

Renae Anderson                       Alternate          40^th Canmore Sprint F 23-24 WC

Lillehammer, NOR 20 km Skiathlon

Men

Michael Earnhart                      Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Gus Schumacher                       Objective          16^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Scott Patterson                         Objective          28^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Zanden McMullen                     Objective          37^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Ben Ogden                                Discretion         17^th Trondheim Skiathlon 23-24 WC

John Hagenbuch                       Discretion         13^th Östersund 10 km F 23-24 WC

David Norris                              Discretion         27^th Canmore 15 km F 23-24 WC

Women

Alayna Sonnesyn                       Objective          23-24 Overall SuperTour Leader

Jessie Diggins                            Objective          23-24 Overall World Cup Winner

Rosie Brennan                          Objective          7^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Sophia Laukli                            Objective          15^th 23-24 Distance World Cup

Novie McCabe                          Discretion         23^rd Trondheim Skiathlon 23-24 WC

Julia Kern                                  Discretion         18^th Gällivare 10 km F 23-24 WC

Sydney Palmer-Leger                 Discretion         23^rd Falun 20 km F 23-24 WC

Haley Brewster                         Discretion         25^th Minneapolis 10 km F 23-24 WC

The above discretionary selections were nominated by a 15-person working group that included:

James Southam                         Athlete Rep.

Ida Sargent                               Athlete Rep.

Cami Thompson-Graves            Dartmouth College

Andy Newell                             Bridger Ski Foundation

Eliška Albrigtsen                        University of Alaska Fairbanks

Erik Flora                                  Alaska Pacific University

Chad Salmela                            Team Birkie

Chris Mallory                            SVSEF Gold Team

Pepa Miloucheva                      Craftsbury GRP

Maria Stuber                            SMS T2

Sophie Caldwell Hamilton          Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Clu

Kristen Bourne                          U.S. Ski Team

Jason Cork                                U.S. Ski Team

Matt Whitcomb                        U.S. Ski Team

Chris Grover                             U.S. Ski Team

The nominations were then approved by a discretionary selection review group comprised of:

Tyler Kornfield                          U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Rep

Anouk Patty                              U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport

Bryan Fish                                 U.S. Ski & Snowboard Development Director

The above discretionary selection process will be repeated for each period of World Cup this coming season.  As always, if you have questions or concerns about this process, feel free to contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Chris Grover

Cross Country Program Director, U.S. Ski Team

chris.grover@usskiandsnowboard.org

Anhelina Hryhorenko is a typical 14-year-old girl in many ways—she loves art and isn’t a fan of math. And she’s excited to have her freshman year of school over.

But she’s got a lot of unique qualities, too. For one, she’s a junior national champion with more medals than she can hold in two hands. She’s also the daughter of a former national cross-country ski team member team and the niece of a three-time Olympian.

She lives and trains in Bend, Oregon, and races in a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian national team suit. Since she’s only been in the U.S. since December, she speaks little English, but she’s gotten very savvy with Google Translate. She has also made friends with classmates and teammates on the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation (MBSEF) nordic ski team.

Anhelina, known by her teammates and coach as “Angelina,” is a quiet teenager most excited about training this summer. She moved to Bend with her family in February, thanks to a family who offered to host them and Mila Shelehoff, a fellow Ukrainian who’s been living in the U.S. for the last 30 years. Shelehoff has been serving as the translator and local liaison for the Hryhorenko family, which includes Anhelina, her mother, Yuliia, her father, Oleksandr, and her 10-year-old brother, Ivan.

An art and outdoor educator, nonprofit founder, and instructor at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center, Shelehoff created Bend For Ukraine. This community initiative supports displaced Ukrainian families by helping them resettle in Central Oregon. She’s known as “Mamma Mila” and has assisted the Hryhorenkos since they relocated to Bend. She’s also helped several other Ukrainians in Bend as they navigate the challenges of housing, employment, education, and cultural integration.

The Hryhorenkos met Shelehoff a few months ago, and they’ve already become fast friends. Ivan is the same age as her son, Lukian, and the two go to school and ski together with MBSEF.

“I moved to Bend about for the same reason they moved to Bend,” Shelehoff said of moving to the area two years ago. She and her son were drawn to the downhill skiing at Mt. Bachelor, which has the longest natural ski season in the U.S., with snow lasting into June. They ultimately switched to nordic and never looked back.

The Hryhorenkos had a different “coming to Bend” story. When they arrived in the U.S. in December 2023, they knew nothing about Mt. Bachelor or Bend. They initially landed in Salem, Ore., about 2 ½ hours northwest of Bend, to stay with friends who sponsored their humanitarian parole from Ukraine through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Uniting for Ukraine program.

They came seeking refuge in a foreign country, uncertain about their future. Anhelina brought her ski boots and little else.

Life Before

About two and a half years ago, Anhelina was training at a Ukrainian boarding school and racking up medals as a promising young cross-country skier. Her family lived in Central Ukraine, about an hour south of Kyiv, while Anhelina lived at a private academy and trained for skiing. She was chasing a dream and had the genetics to back it up—her father, Oleksandr, raced on the Ukrainian national team, and her aunt, Kateryna Gryhorenko, was a three-time Olympic cross-country skier.

On Feb. 24, 2022, everything changed. Russia invaded Ukraine, and Anhelina’s school evacuated its student-athletes to Poland. Meanwhile, her father, mother, and brother sheltered inside their home’s root cellar for two weeks while their country was under siege.

When they felt safe to leave, Yuliia fled to Poland with Ivan. They spent three months with Anhelina in Poland before returning to Ukraine and Oleksandr, a carpenter by trade. Kyiv had installed anti-missile systems while they were away, and their region wasn’t under occupation, so they felt it was safe to go home.

But life was far from ordinary. Anhelina returned to boarding school, but her family slept in their cellar and lived in constant fear.

“It creates a lot of anxiety, especially when you hear the explosions,” Yulia told the Bend Bulletin. “The bunkers are truly root cellars. They’re not bulletproof; they’re not bomb-proof.”

They continued to live this way until October 2022, when Anhelina survived a massive air raid while commuting to school. With that, the Hryhorenkos resolved to leave.

It took the Hryhorenkos a year and a half and several attempts to gain approval to enter the U.S. Eventually, with the help of their sponsors in Salem, their third application was accepted, and they landed in Oregon in December 2023.

Once in Salem, Oleksandr started working to support his family. Yuliia, a former physical education teacher, reached out to ski clubs across the U.S., hoping they could find a place for Anhelina.

“After arriving in America, we immediately started looking for a club for Angelina,” Yuliia explained in an email to FasterSkier. “She had to continue to practice so that there were no gaps in training. Salem could only give us running training, and we needed [ski] training. There was even a question about ending our career if we didn’t find anything, [after] almost 8 years of training.”

Despite not speaking English, Yuliia sent about ten inquiries. One responded.

“At first, when the email came through, I thought it was spam,” MBSEF Nordic Program Director Reitler Hodgert told FasterSkier.  “But as soon as I opened it, it made a lot of sense for us to offer them a space to land and do what we could to support that.”

Knowing very little about MBSEF—one of the premier nordic ski clubs in the country—the Hryhorenkos signed her up. By mid-January, she began training with the team in Bend. Their Salem friends assisted with transportation, lending a vehicle with winter tires so the Hryhorenko family could drive to Bend each weekend for Anhelina’s training. On Monday mornings, they’d drive three hours back to Salem in time for school.

After witnessing their long commute, Anhelina’s teammate, Maddie Carney, and her family invited Anhelina to stay with them on weekends. In early February, Sarah Max offered to host the family for free, and Yuliia and Ivan joined Anhelina in Bend while Oleksandr worked in Salem. The kids started school at Bend-La Pine and lived at Max’s home until late March.

They were also hosted by another nordic family, Dr. Sondra and Mike Marshall, who ultimately helped them find an apartment.

“They put a lot of effort into finding us housing among their acquaintances,” Yuliia wrote. “They are currently helping us pay for an apartment for a certain period of time. During our entire stay here, we are surrounded by fantastic people, whom it is rare to meet.”

Life After

United for Ukraine grants Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members two years of temporary stay in the U.S. Through Shelehoff, who translated, Yuliia told FasterSkier that she was hopeful they could make the move permanent but uncertain whether that was possible.

“[I hope] my children can discover themselves here in this country versus in Ukraine,” Yuliia said. “They have many more opportunities to find themselves and do something they love in the future.”

In addition to other community members, Mt. Bachelor and MBSEF are sponsoring the Hryhorenko family so they can continue settling in Bend. Fischer and One Way have pledged to provide Anhelina with equipment for the coming season.

“When they first arrived in town, we had a huge outpouring of support,” Hodgert explained. “Mt. Bachelor reached out to support Anhelina’s family with trail fees and whatnot, and that was largely through [Mt. Bachelor Nordic Manager] Sydney [Powell] and was huge.

“… They moved here with basically just Anhelina’s ski boots, and so we had families giving gear, jackets, snow pants, gloves, hats…” continued Hodgert, a Bend native. “[That was] one of the proudest moments for me of our community here locally, just to see the number of people stepping forward to give what they could to get them on their feet here in town.”

One local bought Anhelina and Ivan new bikes.

“I’m in awe of how they were received and how much help they got,” Shelehoff said. 

Asked about Anhelina as a skier, Hodgert said that considering her age, she’s one of the most talented technical skiers he’s ever worked with.

“She has a very innate sense of body awareness, just like where each of her limbs are and how she’s moving them,” he noted. “Even while working through a language barrier … she picks up technical feedback and applies it to her skiing faster than any athlete I’ve worked with.

“She’s universally adored on our team,” Hodgert added. “Anhelina, as a person, is fairly quiet, so there were definitely some concerns that she’d feel … a little bit isolated around the team. And thus far, that hasn’t at all manifested. She has jumped right in with things.”

He laughed that his athletes “spend a significant time on Google Translate” while riding in the team van.

“Unsurprisingly, all of our athletes are super curious about what life in Ukraine is like, just her being from somewhere else, and they’re all super eager to introduce her to all the things that they love about being here in Bend or the U.S. in general,” he said.

Compared to Ukraine, Anhelina said the trails and facilities were “much better,” and the training was “different.” Asked what her skiing goals were, she said she just wanted to train. She prefers skating in the winter and classic ski training in the summer.

“I like that it’s a very long ski season,” Anhelina said of Mt. Bachelor specifically.

Her mother elaborated on their U.S. experience so far.

“First and foremost, as a mom and as a former athlete, I want safety for my kids, which is above and beyond what we experienced in Ukraine,” Yuliia said. “Second, the equipment and the facilities and, of course, the trails… the availability of all of those, to provide opportunities for children to train in a safe and enriching environment.”

She explained that when Anhelina was a child, she and her teammates built their own trails, carrying tools to practice.

“In the winter, a little wall of the kids would line up and groom the trail with their skis so they could skate,” Yuliia added, explaining how the kids side-stepped to pack down the snow. They had never experienced grooming like at Mt. Bachelor.

“We’re in awe of the level of the trails here and just really appreciate that they’re groomed and ready every morning,” she said.

“The people we’ve been in contact with are all very wonderful and good-hearted,” Yulia said of the Bend community. “They really care for our family and situation. I’m sure they also care about the rest of the world the way they care for us.”

Hodgert described Anhelina as a “fantastic addition” to the MBSEF program, which boasts over 200 athletes.

“Having Anhelina join our team has been a great worldly learning experience for the athletes, and in exchange, we’ve been able to provide her with a space where she can hone her craft,” he said. “We intend to support [her family] as long as they’re here. That might be just this year, it might be two years, three, five, we don’t really know. But as long as Anhelina wants to be skiing and wants to be in Bend, we’ll be supporting her.”

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.

All of us need to take a break from our jobs every now and then and do something a little bit—out there— which challenges us. For many, that’s going for a long ski, or some other outdoor activity like a hard bike ride or a tough hike. The physical break provides a nice and often essential mental refresh.

But what do you do if your profession already involves physical challenges, say like being a professional skier? What happens when the world’s reigning cross-country skiing champion needs a refresh? For Jessie Diggins, that refresh comes in the form of an annual event which she has dubbed, “the big stupid.” Basically, it’s an extremely hard physical challenge involving a sport other than skiing.

For Diggins, her “big stupid” this year was racing the 46 kilometer category Broken Arrow Skyrace (Diggins ran 69 kilometers *), which is a mountain run held June 22^nd. The race, which takes place in Palisades Tahoe— near Lake Tahoe— has seriously steep sections with slopes hitting 30 percent, huge elevation gains, and hits almost 9,000 feet in altitude. It’s a major challenge for even serious runners. What would motivate the current Crystal Globe Overall Champion to decide to throw down an effort at such a difficult event in an area outside her specialty?

Jessie Diggins was kind enough to answer this and other questions about the “big stupid” events she does every year. (This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity).

FasterSkier: You began doing these “big stupid” events several years ago. Why do you still keep doing them?

Jessie Diggins: I still keep doing these because it does have more meaning than just one big epic day. Although I love running for the sake of running … the reason I love these big adventures is it fills up my soul in a different way. It challenges me and really forces me to push deep and see how I confront challenges when they come up. You’re going to have low points when you’re running for ten hours (*the race was two laps, but Diggins opted to do an extra third lap giving her 69 k total and an overall time of 9:53:09, which even including her ‘bonus’ lap put her 48^th in her age group out of 70 participants and 391^st overall. An indicator of the race’s difficulty was that there were 13 DNFs in her age group. The age group winner’s time was 4:52:34 (for two laps)). I want to see what I say to myself in these moments, how do I get through them, and use what I learn in ski racing. I learn so much about myself and really grow my mind when I do these events.

FasterSkier: What are the qualities an event needs to be worthy of obtaining the “big stupid” label?

Jessie Diggins: It’s just something I feel will challenge me. So, some years it was a 100 kilometer roller ski, one year it was the Presidential Traverse (an 18.5 mile hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire). They tend to keep getting bigger and stupider as I get older and have more training under my belt. But I do want to say that they have stepped up gradually, and I’ve always done them in a way where I feel like I’m going to be safe. While I want to challenge myself, I don’t want to actually risk my ski career.

FasterSkier: How challenging was this year’s? Was it the hardest “big stupid” ever?

Jessie Diggins: Gosh. I think it was the hardest. It was the furthest I’ve ever run because it ended up being 59 kilometers. It was 14,000 feet of climbing, which for sure was more than I’ve ever done. I have run for ten hours before … but this was probably the hardest one that I’ve ever done.

FasterSkier: Is it important for you to have a sense of accomplishment in a physical challenge which doesn’t involve skiing?

Jessie Diggins: Yes. I think what’s really nice about this, when I’m skiing it’s all about needing to go really fast … there are a lot of eyes on me, and there’s a lot of pressure and expectations, and it’s all about how fast can you do this? It’s never a question of can I finish this 10 k race. With my “big stupid” the goal is just to finish. Because doing it is challenging in itself. I really like that. I love that it’s challenging me in a mode that’s not “my sport.” I find that really satisfying.

FasterSkier: The day after the event you worked at a pancake breakfast and did a book signing. Any regrets about being on your feet that much after a ten hour run through the mountains? How sore were you after the race?

Jessie Diggins: I don’t have any regrets. Serving pancakes to kids was incredibly fun. It was a really good way to get my day started. The book signing was so cool. I met so many amazing people. I was pretty sore. I think walking around the vendor village helped me out with a little bit of active recovery. If I had just laid in bed all day, I probably would have felt worse.

FasterSkier: The race hit 8,900 feet altitude. Was it tough to deal with the altitude? Was that the highest you’ve ever raced.

Jessie Diggins: That was for sure the highest. I purposely didn’t even try to acclimate to the altitude. I just rolled in two nights before and then raced, because I know if I do something hard on the second or third day, I usually feel ok. But day four through seven feel pretty bad for me. I knew I wasn’t going to have time to acclimate … so that strategy worked pretty well for me.

FasterSkier: Do you set any goals for yourself for doing these events, or is it just to participate, finish, and have fun?

Jessie Diggins: It’s just participating, finishing, and having fun. This is the first time I’ve done my big stupid in a race format, but I figured with this challenge, with the altitude, the dryness and heat … having aid stations and support … was amazing. It allowed me to pick something that was so much more physically demanding than I’ve ever done before.

FasterSkier: Did you have any goals for time, distance, or place?

Jessie Diggins: Nope. Anything except the cutoff time … I made it by two minutes! So, I was looking at the clock, but that was the only kind of race that was happening for me.

FasterSkier: You posted about doing a 32 mile trail run to train for the event. Did you do any other specific training for this event? 

Jessie Diggins: Normally I don’t specifically train for my “big stupid.” But for this, I knew it was going to be so much climbing, 14,000 feet … so I did a lot of runs just to make sure that I was getting my legs used to being on for that long. The weekend before I went for my O.D. (over distance). Instead of roller skiing, I went up and down Stratton for 4 ½ hours. So that helped as well. The other thing I did was I got some collapsible poles from Swix so I practiced going up and down Stratton with the poles, so I could offload some of my weight onto my arms, and save my knees a little bit more.

FasterSkier: At some point, do you say to yourself that “yeah this really is a big stupid idea?”

Jessie Diggins: Yes! There were several points where I was, “wow, I’m really dumb for loving this.” But I did honestly love it. There were only a couple of low points. It was something I’ve been looking forward to for so long. I decided last October that I wanted to do this. When you look forward to something for so long, even though it’s hard, there’s a sense of “wow I finally get to be here and get to challenge myself with this.”

FasterSkier: Any other big epic training days this summer?

Jessie Diggins: No. From here on out it’s kind of normal training. We are going to go down to New Zealand, with Julia (Kern) and Jason Cork … for a training camp on snow for three weeks like we have done in years past. So, I hope we get good conditions for crust cruising. We like to end the camp with a big long ski. I’m hoping that comes around for us. For now, it’s just normal training in Stratton which I love.

FasterSkier thanks Jessie Diggins for taking the time to speak to us about her “big stupid.”

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.

In part I of our interview with Julia Kern we talked about her summer training changes, and what was a very challenging winter of racing. Please continue reading for Part II of our interview.

Race Strategy

Kern has had a lot of success, but she’s still searching for regular World Cup podiums. What will it take to get to the podium more? “What’s really exciting is women’s Sprinting is at an incredibly high level,” says Kern. “There are so many contenders on a given day for a podium. There are lots of ways to go about doing it (improving). There’s more fitness, more end speed— tactical, and a lot of it is how do you approach heats and heat selection and what’s your strategy there. You can play the safe game and go lucky loser and just try to get into the semi-finals and maybe that reduces your chance of a podium at the end of the day. Do you decide to play more of the game and go with earlier heats that are harder to move on, but then you have more energy to move on? That aspect comes down to confidence and what your skill set is. A lot of it comes down to confidence. Being able to be fit enough to then be relaxed in the early heats so you can save energy for later. For me, if I’m more fit at a base level, then I can accelerate on top of that and make the moves when I need to.”  Last year’s illness affected this strategic calculation for Kern. “Last year I was missing my pep in my step. My top end just wasn’t there. Normally if I’m rested, that is there, then I can have more strategies in my toolbox.”

Heat selection is unique to Sprinting and it becomes a significant factor in outcomes. But does going in the first or last heat of a round really make that much difference? “It depends on the course. At altitude it matters a lot more. It also depends on the round. Semi-final two to the finals is a really hard turnaround. Quarter-final five to semi-final two is not so bad. It’s also a little personal. I’ve gone quarter-final one to semi-final two, and that’s too much time. You have to cool down and warm back up. So, you expend more energy. It depends a little on the type of athlete you are.”

And not everything is always within one’s control. “Jonna (Sundling) and Skistad always go in quarter-final one so it kind of takes that out of the cards. If you go there then it’s going to be really hard. So, there’s a little bit of seeing what other people are doing. But coming from semi-finals to finals, it matters for sure, especially if you feel like you’re already skiing at your limit in the semi-finals. The more you’re able to reserve in the early rounds, the better because if you’re burning a lot of your matches in semifinal two it’s really hard to bounce back up for the finals, and that’s where semi-final one definitely helps. But semi-final one tends to be really competitive and really hard to move on from. It’s a gamble. But the more you develop all those tools in your toolbox the more likely you are to move on. That’s why you see the fastest sprinters are consistently making the final no matter what path they take, and consistently on the podium. Ultimately, that’s the goal.”

Experience Matters

Kern is now at the point in her career where her experience and tactical knowledge have become a valuable asset. “On World Cup we generally watch footage from previous years during the week leading up to it, and people share their experiences. Then when we go out and do race prep, our coaches are filming too, and in a pack we might try out different positions in a group. Can you slingshot, can you pass? We talk about all of that. The way I approach sprints after that is to have main takeaways. Like this is the only passing opportunity or these are my opportunities to make a move from the back, or ideally at this point on the course I’m in second. But you don’t have full control. The best sprinters are aware and see different options. Then sometimes you get tangled up and your plan goes out the window. There are a lot of different strategies.”

Unintended Consequence of Fluoro Ban

Strategy has also been affected by the fluoro ban. Because of ski inspection, the amount of warmup time before races has changed, and glide wax can’t be adjusted in between heats. “It definitely changed our warmup time. Now we’re out there an hour and forty minutes before the race testing (skis). If the day before the testing is accurate, we’ll do a lot of testing ahead of time. Each athlete has their own method, but we definitely changed our own testing routine. Sometimes my tech will have two similar skis prepared with two different wax jobs. I might have those two different wax jobs on my warmup skis and ultimately decide right before the race which ones to go on because you can check in two different pairs of skis. The other thing to note is you take a freshly groomed course, you test it when the track opens, then you have an hour of people zooming around on the same sprint course and everything completely changes. It can go from bullet proof ice to sugar. So, a lot of times you’re really not testing what’s representative of the race, so our techs are having to predict that. It complicates things a little bit more.” Not being able to have skis freshened between heats also made a difference. “You really noticed it. The extra juices were definitely nice, but it wasn’t something I was thinking about on race day, everyone was in the same boat and that’s just the way it is. Things definitely slow down by the final.”

Kern is known mostly as a sprinter, but she does have longer distance chops. “Some of my best distance races have been 30k. I haven’t been consistently good in distance, but I’ve raced entire World Cup seasons the last few years both distance and sprint. I’ve had some strong distance races, but for distance to go well, everything needs to be pretty dialed in, whereas in sprint … even if you’re not in peak form, you can use other aspects to do well. It’s a tough balance. If you put a 50k two days before Drammen (City Sprints), it only makes sense (to do the 50k) if you’re fighting for the Overall. I definitely would love to develop on the distance side.”

Balancing a World Cup Schedule

This is a World Championship year which leads to long term strategic planning. “The sprint obviously is the event I’m targeting. The Team Sprint and the relay are also really big goals. Our team has been searching for that Championship medal in the relay for a really long time. That’s a big team goal of ours. The rest depends upon how the season’s going. The thing our team really has some goals for is the Nation’s Cup. Last year we were in a battle for third (team USA ultimately lost the podium spot to Finland on the last day of competition). We’ve come from tenth to fourth in the world. I feel like that’s a great reflection of a full team effort. That was really fun this winter. It keeps us hungry to get even better together.”

The World Championships demand attention, but there’s also the entire rest of the race season including the Tour de Ski. Some observers and athletes feel like it’s too much. Kern has a unique perspective on this as she is one of the athlete representatives to FIS (International Ski Federation). “I don’t think it’s too much. I think it’s a personal decision ultimately. It depends upon what your goals are and how you respond to racing. For me, I have historically peaked after Tours and a lot of racing. That’s been an important part of my peaking plan. My physiology responds well to a lot of consecutive racing and then rest. For me, I’m stoked that it’s a Championship year. I tend to race my way into shape, but for some people it can tank their season. It’s a really personal thing. It’s also one of the most watched pieces of our sport (the Tour de Ski) … so I think that’s important to continue to grow the sport. As an athlete representative I work closely with the FIS team on the calendar. I think the content will change over the years, but ultimately the athletes always have a choice to race or not to race. We’ve worked really hard on making the calendar better. You’ll now see more of these three day weekends, but then bigger blocks of breaks. There are more breaks built in, and that’s the model the athletes wanted. It is a lot of racing. Racing a full season is really really challenging. But generally, people were happy with the race calendar this last year.”

The tight schedule has also been a point of discussion regarding racing in North America. With Lake Placid anticipated to be a host venue for 2026 it has brought the issue more sharply into focus. “We had an all athlete meeting, discussing this topic and surveyed the athletes. It was over 90 percent who said they wanted to go (to North America). Everyone’s favorite World Cup was Minneapolis, and everyone was so impressed, that they want to go back to the U.S. The challenge is financial for the Europeans who are not used to traveling across the ocean to add a weekend. But it’s important. We saw the impact that Minneapolis had. It’s been really cool being an athlete representative, connecting with the FIS team and the athletes and understanding how the system works, trying to make it as smooth as possible. If something doesn’t make sense (on the schedule), there’s probably a reason why.”

The pressure is on for Lake Placid and Kern sees it as another great chance for North American venues to shine. “It’s not Minneapolis, it’s Lake Placid, and there’s a lot of Olympic history there and incredibly cool new courses. I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunity. People will see that there is excitement in the U.S. (about cross-country skiing), and they are excited to continue to grow the sport here. People are seeing the value of coming to North America.”

Thanks to Julia Kern for taking the time to speak with FasterSkier.

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 

Julia Kern is firmly established as a veteran member of the U.S. Ski team. She is uniquely sandwiched between the venerable veterans Jessie Diggins and Rosie Brennan, and the up and coming squad of youngsters in their early 20s. Her first World Cup start in Quebec City is almost seven years behind her, and she is now a mainstay of the U.S. team, mostly known to race fans for her Sprint performances. During her time representing the United States she has won a World Championship bronze medal in the Team Sprint, been to the Olympics, raced for the USA in the Junior World Championships, and stood on the podium in a World Cup Sprint in 2019.

FasterSkier caught up with Kern while she was in Vermont to talk to her about training, race plans, behind the scenes Sprint strategy, and what it will take for her to regularly find the podium in Individual World Cup Sprints.

Training for a New Season

Kern has been busy traveling and training since the race season ended. After the ski season concluded she spent two weeks in California, then four weeks in Vermont which serves as her home base. Then it was off to the team training camp in Bend, Oregon, and ending up back in Vermont, where she is now settling in to train for the rest of the summer while she creates a new home base in Burlington.

But real training began with Bend camp. “Bend camp is always a fun way to start the training year,” said Kern. “It’s amazing kicking off the training season on snow, and really good skiing conditions. That makes it easy to get back into the swing of things.” Bend Camp wasn’t just the official start of the new training season, but an opportunity to make some course corrections. “Coming off a challenging season, my goal at Bend Camp was to ease back into the training year and enjoy being on snow and being with the team. Bend camp is about getting back into the routine of training and working on technique while we have all of the amazing coach and staff support. We have such a big coaching staff now that one day you will work with one coach and another day a different one. I enjoy working with different coaches and taking their input and feedback and making my own decisions.” Kern spends a lot of time working with U.S. team coach Kristen Bourne who is collaborating with Kern in writing her training plan. Kern likes to receive input not just from the coaches, but from her fellow skiers as well. “A lot of it is learning from each other. We had Emma Ribom from Sweden there, we went on a lot of skis and talked about training and exchanged ideas. There are so many people you can learn from and lean on. In the end it’s trying to use all of that.”

New Home Base and Training Changes

Kern is tweaking her regular summer training and is establishing Burlington, Vermont as her home base to operate out of. She’ll go to Stratton to train with her team and do more on her own than in years’ past. “I was looking to have things in my personal life that gave me balance. I spend seven months a year on the road…it’s important to feel that I have a life outside of skiing. I have good access to doctors and physical therapist. It’s a new thing I’m trying out. I’m looking forward to having a home base and building a life outside of skiing.”

Kern is coming off a difficult season where she faced illness which affected her performances and yielded results which were not a step up from last year. “I did a lot of reflecting this spring, it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing, and I don’t think it ever is just one thing. I fell into a bad health trap last season that took me a long time to climb out of. It’s like the ball rolling down the hill gaining momentum and you want to change direction, and sometimes you just need a reset. I had lung issues, a bad cough and cold, then I got the flu, and then I got a secondary infection. I ended up getting a chest infection after the flu and had so much stuff in my lungs, my chest hurt. When you’re modifying training for two or three months within the race season, it’s really hard to get your rhythm back. It was a really challenging year. It was a big learning year. Sometimes you have to have those years where you’re pushing a little more in training and overshooting, and realize, that was too much, and pull it back the next year. I feel like I learned a lot last season. Not every year is going to be a linear jump upwards.”

Overcoming illness wasn’t necessarily a new thing for Kern, though last winter was extremely challenging. “I’ve historically dealt with my fair share of injury and illness and had a lot of setbacks. Despite that, I’ve always been able to pull it together and make it happen at some point in the season. Last year (training) generally went smoothly. In the past, I’ve always been forced to have this extra rest because of injury and illness, as a result (of not having that rest), I didn’t recover as well. I also think as you get closer to the top, those margins get so much smaller, so once you’re up there, a little change is so much more visible than in prior years when you’re developing and getting better.” Recovering from illness during the race season presents its own challenge apart from training and racing. “You’re trying to race, and if you get something like that during the middle of the season it’s hard to come back, especially if you’re not able to come home and recover and instead you’re stuck in Europe. Do I just keep skipping weekends, or do I try to race?”

Kern attributes only some of her difficulties last season to her illnesses. “I ended up being in a lot of lucky loser heats this year. So that meant that it was fast and hard, and I was expending a lot of energy to move on. I felt like that extra pep was missing. I feel like through sheer willpower, and tactical abilities and just grinding it out, I was able to make the semi-finals even when I wasn’t feeling at my best. It was head down and put everything in mentality. When your body isn’t feeling 100 percent, you can go hard for one round, but not sustain it for as many rounds. That’s what I was feeling last year. But I’ve gotten to the level now where I could move on to the quarters even not feeling 100 percent. But I had to put a lot into it, and I was not recovering as quickly as previous years.”

Kern is making some other tweaks to her training plan. “This year I’m trying to ease into the training year a little bit more, so lower hours, especially in June. I always have nagging injuries, so I’m trying to get foundationally really solid before I’m pushing the training. I’m also making sure that in those recovery weeks I’m getting mental recovery too. I’ve always done well when I’m happy. I’m a very social being and having stuff outside of skiing feeding my soul and happiness is really important. You need to have the mental bandwidth for a full winter of racing. Giving 100 percent to skiing might actually look like me turning off my skiing brain every once in a while. I’m being more intentional about each workout and mindful of where I’m putting in volume and how I’m doing it and being okay with changing my training plan if I’m tired. More or harder isn’t always better. That’s what a lot of injury has taught me. The most important thing is that you’re rested and ready.”

Kern is taking a mindfulness and self-awareness approach. “Sometimes I’ll feel really good at the end of a training block, and I’ll want to keep pushing it, but then I go from feeling really good one day to really bad the next so, my body doesn’t have this slow down warning sign. I need to be mindful about where I’m at. You don’t want to be the most fit in September, you want to be the most fit in the winter.” She also has taken more ownership of her training. “I’m writing more of my plan. Kristen and I work together. It’s not a coach telling me what to do, it’s a collaboration.”

One of Kern’s other passions is her design work with Skida, a company which makes performance neck and headwear for athletes. She makes a new design every year which appears on the neck gaiters and hats. She is currently working on the upcoming winter’s design. You have to move fast to keep up with Julia Kern, on and off the snow.

Please return to FasterSkier for part two of our interview with Julia Kern where we dive into the nitty gritty of Sprint tactics and what it takes to reach the podium, and thanks to Julia Kern for taking the time to speak with FasterSkier.

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.

In Part I of FasterSkier’s article about the Lake Placid organizing committee’s work to be chosen as a venue for a World Cup, we spoke with Kris Seymour, Nordic Program Coordinator for the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) to see what had to be done to bring Lake Placid into contention to be a World Cup venue. Our discussion with Seymour continues as we look at what it took to get Lake Placid a World Cup and what other challenges the host venue will face.

A Very Busy Month

If all goes according to plan, just before the FIS World Cup in Lake Placid, there will also be an International Biathlon Union (IBU) stop. The IBU Cup Lake Placid is hosting is one step down from the biathlon World Cup but is still a major international event. Seymour is confident in Lake Placid’s ability to handle the high volume of headline-grabbing events. “One of the things about ORDA is that it’s a fairly large company,” commented Seymour. “We have dedicated departments…and dedicated and trained people on the venues. In the last two years we’ve hosted major events simultaneously. For the last four seasons we’ve been pushing our schedule to be quite aggressive. This year we challenged ourselves. We had the New York State public high school championships, the Lake Placid Loppet, the USCSA (United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association) national championships, and junior nationals all within a three week window. Our venue is being called on more and more to host events because of our capabilities. With every event we get more efficient, professional, and capable. We’re excited for the events.”

Lots of State Money

Footing the bill for all the upgrades to transform Lake Placid into a World Class level venue wasn’t cheap. “All of the Olympic facilities at Lake Placid are funded by the state of New York,” explained Seymour. “The state of New York invested $80,000,000 into the Lodge, the snowmaking, the construction of the new trails, the team areas, the broadcast infrastructure, and other public facing pieces, and some for bobsled and skeleton. This includes installation of a mountain coaster which simulates bobsled, and a 500 foot long push track for bobsled and skeleton. The state also invested in other ORDA facilities including Whiteface (downhill skiing and snowboarding venue), and the speed skating oval which were all brought up to international standards.”

In addition to the direct Lake Placid facilities upgrade, the State also went big investing in the surrounding communities. The $80,000,000 investment doesn’t include “$500 million the state invested into Lake Placid and surrounding communities to upgrade roads, downtowns, and facilities. That investment into the communities helped take a step up into modernizing everything from data, power, housing and accommodations. The number of beds and new hotels is increasing.”

An Experienced Host of Major Events

World Cup ski jumping drew 5,000-8,000 daily spectators at Lake Placid, so Seymour is confident in the region’s ability to house and transport perhaps double that amount for a cross-country World Cup. The recent World University Games was also an invaluable training ground for ORDA and other organizations to learn how to fine tune things such as housing and transporting such large numbers of people. “Our expectation…is to have 8,000 to 10,000 people,” said Seymour. “But, given the U.S. team’s fabulous seasons…we recognize we may have more than that. We’re looking at what we need to do to accommodate even more.”

Hosting other international events such as UCI’s Mountain bike World Cup races sharpens organizers’ skills and helps debug glitches in advance of other major events. Seymour describes the level of preparation that will have been achieved by the time the cross-country World Cup hits Lake Placid: “We will have had two World Cup cross-country mountain bike races. We’re expecting 8,000 spectators this year. I think that will give us a very good idea of what that impact is on the venue. Most spectators will be shuttled into the venue that will be the same for cross-country skiing.”

The area has a small full-time population, but having large international events isn’t perceived as a negative strain on the community. “Lake Placid has been the epicenter for sports and events since 1932,” said Seymour. “People recognize that those events bring people, fill hotels, and make for a vibrant downtown and business model. It’s a place that recognizes that these events present different opportunities for families and young people. Lake Placid has been very productive producing winter Olympians from a grass roots level. Lake Placid does well in sending people into the world to compete.”

Home Field Advantage

It hasn’t yet been decided which race formats will be utilized for the three days of racing in March, but Seymour is confident in Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s ability to accommodate any race configuration, and that racers will be challenged by a unique course. “When we were designing the trails, we reached out to the U.S. teams: Nordic Combined, biathlon, and cross-country, and took from them different characteristics of what they would like to see. There were stars of the current teams and coaching staff which had a large influence on what we did, particularly in the Sprint loop. It will be well suited to the skill set of American Sprinters.” That input included looking for a course with “multiple transitions either in topography or turns. So that means multiple changes in topography where you’re either ascending or descending, with quite a few turns. They also wanted a course that was a cardiovascular challenge on the final climb. Our final climb is quite wide and at a grade that benefits the skill set of many American Sprinters. The last 100 meters is about a two to three percent grade with a slight uphill to the finish. The feedback we’ve had…is that there’s not a World Cup course like this on the planet, it’s very technically and tactically challenging.”

More fine tuning will take place when Lake Placid hosts the SuperTour finals this coming winter. Hosting the SuperTour will also present an opportunity for the American squad to add to the home field advantage. “Jessie and Rosie have never skied on snow at Mt. Van Hoevenberg on the new courses, so we wanted to have a window for them to compete before the World Cup.”

Volunteers

One notable hallmark of the Minneapolis World Cup was the quantity and quality of its volunteers. In Lake Placid, volunteers will also be relied upon as an essential component of the event. “Going into major events it’s easy to have concerns about the volunteer load needed,” said Seymour. “Recruitment and training are very important. But it’s a community that’s quite passionate about cross-country skiing…we’ve seen from larger events that we recruit people who are coming to the event, and locals. Our volunteer base comes from as far as northern Maine to New York City. Recruitment and training are a big focus. We have a full time chief of volunteers within ORDA. It’s a dedicated effort across the venue.”

Lingering Concerns

“We engage with a lot of federations and world class events; that’s familiar territory,” noted Seymour. “There are always nuances…between different federations. This is our first World Cup ski race since 1979, and just having that first World Cup event…we’re trying to do everything to understand the nuances. We try to communicate openly with USSS (United States Ski and Snowboard) with what they view as important, and Minneapolis about things they experienced that they didn’t anticipate. We try to bring in as many well experienced people as we can for things that might come our way. The ski race part of it—there’s a high level of expectation—but sometimes the actual race is the less complicated part.”

“We truly feel honored and privileged to be able to host this event. We are doing so with the hope that we get to share it with the Nordic community…and be part of the fascinating story that is being built in the United States with regard to cross-country skiing, and to continue the momentum of the success of the team, the national clubs, and Minneapolis’ spectacularly successful World Cup.”

Thanks to Kris Seymour for taking the time to speak with FasterSkier.

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 Minneapolis World Cup was a sensational success. Now, the announcement of the upcoming vote on Lake Placid as a host venue for a cross-country World Cup weekend has kindled hopes of another hugely enjoyable and exciting experience for North American fans. But it takes more than just hope and aspiration to be seriously considered to host a World Cup, and to actually land the big date takes even more. Earlier this month, FasterSkier looked at what it took to get the nod for Lake Placid from the United States Ski and Snowboard and FIS (International Ski Federation) perspective. But there’s another entire story from the venue’s perspective. Here’s a look at what folks in New York needed to do to get to the point where they are just one step away from being ratified as a World Cup site.

To start with, Lake Placid’s organization is structured very differently from that in Minneapolis. Lake Placid is already an international venue with facilities and government sponsored organizational structure in place to handle large events. Minneapolis was a much smaller venue organized mostly by volunteers and non-profits without an existing state agency to run the event.

To understand those differences—and what’s behind Lake Placid’s bid—FasterSkier spoke with Kris Seymour who is Nordic Program Coordinator overseeing recreation activities, sport development activity, and all of the endurance events that take place at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Lake Placid.

Seymour works for the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), a state agency dedicated to the management of Lake Placid’s Olympic facilities. ORDA is a byproduct of the Lake Placid Olympics of 1980 and 1932. Its mission statement is: “To create economic and social benefit in the Adirondacks and Catskills by operating year-round venues that provide recreational and athletic development opportunities, achieved through a commitment to continuous improvement and emphasis on environmental stewardship, fiscal responsibility, and the delivery of world-class programs and experiences to persons of all ages and abilities.” That’s a pretty broad mandate, but it’s the part about delivery of world-class programs and experiences that lays the foundation for ORDA going after big international events like the FIS World Cup.

Bringing a World Cup to Mt. Van Hoevenberg has been a long time coming. The last time there was a cross-country World Cup event in Lake Placid was in 1979 before the Olympics. “A really important part of our mandate is to go after high level national and international events,” said Seymour. “It’s pretty unique.”  Mt. Van Hoevenberg has hosted national and international events in bobsled, skeleton, luge, and cross-country (skiing). This September, it will expand to include International Cycling Union (UCI) World Cup Mountain biking. “For us the 2026 finale— the proposed races would be the last weekend of the season— in cross-country skiing has been a long time goal…and has also been one of our major accomplishments.”

Lots of Upgrades

Forty-seven years between visits is a long time, but that doesn’t mean ORDA has been waiting around just hoping that FIS will revisit the Adirondacks. “The goal (of a World Cup) has been longstanding, going back to the early 2000s,” said Seymour. “We knew that Mt. Van Hoevenberg needed to go through a revitalization and re-homologation period.” Given the venue’s location, this presented some additional hurdles. “We’re on state land, so the level of revitalization which needed to happen had regulatory and other environmental milestones which needed to be met. Those took a number of years. About 6-7 years ago Lake Placid was coming into a new era. Our governor at the time—Andrew Cuomo— was very interested in the revitalization of all of the Olympic venues in Lake Placid. He wanted all of those venues to be to international standards.”

It was the confluence of many factors that ultimately resulted in the World Cup bid. But the spark that led to the hosting fire was the World University Games coming to Lake Placid in 2023. “That event became the piece where the state of New York invested money into Lake Placid as both a community and invested in the Olympic venues for revitalization,” said Seymour. “This led to the creation of one venue at Mt. Van Hoevenberg which could host World Cup biathlon and cross-country. 2018 was the start of master planning for the World University Games which led to a closer look at how ORDA could create a single site for cross-country and biathlon. That’s when the process for becoming a World Cup venue really began. It’s when the benchmarking for the courses to hold a World Cup occurred. The process involved having FIS appoint an homologation inspector and designer (homologation is a big word which simply refers to the process and standards of having a course approved to meet FIS World Cup standards).”

Having an approved course for biathlon, Nordic combined, and cross-country presented challenges since the homologation standards are different. “It is achievable, which we did at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. We held the University games for cross-country, biathlon, and Nordic combined at the same venue, which isn’t typical. It was a pretty significant accomplishment to do all these events over a two week period. Bringing the world in…gave us the chance— in a pretty condensed amount of time— to gain a lot of experience by working with both the athletes and the international organizations.”

The longest loop on the homologated course is a five-kilometer section with small loops built around it as required for biathlon and cross-country. “We have future plans for expansion, but that’s a few years away.”

With all of the changes, Mt. Van Hoevenberg brings a lot to the table in addition to simply having an international level ski trail. “The infrastructure development has become a differentiator,” Seymour explained. “We built a lodge that’s over 50,000 square feet, there are facilities specific to recreation, sport development, competition, and event management. Inside that space is all of the room we need for timing and scoring as well as broadcasting and jury rooms. We looked at what FIS and the IBU (International Biathlon Union) required and created those permanently within the lodge. Having this level of infrastructure in place is a game changer for governing organizations and host venues.”

This means that to host future events, ORDA doesn’t have to build or bring in temporary structures and also has the space for other uses. “Those spaces also serve other important needs…such as using those spaces for meetings or social activities. It’s been really positive for us.” Also created during the rehabilitation was the establishment of permanent team areas for waxing. These meet FIS standards for heating and ventilation and are adjacent to the stadium through a tunnel. “We use those for everything from a high school race to family spaces.”

Lake Placid also took visionary steps to make itself appealing for large international events by creating a plug-and-play technology footprint for broadcasting. “One of the biggest things we did—which isn’t done by a lot of our contemporaries—is we established a dedicated broadcast, I.T., and scoring system,” Seymour explained. “Throughout the trail network we have over 20 media pedestals. Each has power, data, and fiber. When T.V. comes to the event, Mt. Van Hoevenberg is literally a plug-and-play; they don’t have to lay miles of cable. This became a big differentiator (compared to other venues). If we didn’t have that, broadcast has to come in a week early. Instead, they can show up a couple of days before the event which saves everyone money.” This permanent infrastructure has eliminated the need for most cable runs. “All of the pedestals are linked to a server room, so everything is plug and play to make it easy for broadcasters. This technology support is viewed very favorably by international organizations. This infrastructure played a big role in Mt. Van Hoevenberg being approached by UCI to be a World Cup Mountain bike host.”

Additional infrastructure upgrades were also needed to deal with the always-present issues driven by climate change. Snowmaking is now an important consideration for venues; Lake Placid is no exception. Before revitalization projects began, Mt. Van Hoevenberg didn’t have snowmaking. It was an enormous undertaking to add snowmaking to the facility. “We created a reservoir site of just over 3,000,000 gallons, that’s within the trail network, we have a snowmaking pumphouse feeding the course. Every 60-80 feet is an air and water hydrant with high efficiency snow guns. In the stadium there are three fan guns. After completion it was recognized by FIS as one of the most capable and powerful systems on the planet. There are five kilometers of snow making, and all of the competition loops sit within those five kilometers. Additionally, there’s another kilometer of snowmaking in the warmup loop. Since adding snowmaking, despite the significant weather challenges, Lake Placid hasn’t had to cancel any races in the last four seasons.”

While snowmaking is becoming a baseline requirement for an international venue, Lake Placid may have a leg up on other venues for other reasons when it comes to ski conditions. “Looking at climate models, Lake Placid is fairly well poised for cold temperatures. We should still—through the middle of the century—have significant cold windows.”

Four years ago, ORDA began serious conversations with Stifel U.S. Ski Team Program Director, Chris Grover, and head coach, Matt Whitcomb, about hosting an event. The idea of timing a World Cup at Lake Placid to intersect with the career arc of current U.S. team stars was a natural consideration. “That became a conversation—of certain windows—with the season finale being an obvious window,” said Seymour. “We’re not assuming that anyone is retiring after the Olympics, but recognizing that for some athletes, that is a time…it was identified as a perfect window for the rising stars and the more experienced parts of the team—potentially on home soil—to be able to shine…in front of what’s expected to be a robust crowd.”

Please return to FasterSkier for Part II of our interview with Kris Seymour to learn more about what it took for Lake Placid to rise to the level of being a World Cup host venue.

The finalized selection criteria for the 2025 Trondheim Nordic World Championships and the 2024-25 World Cup have been approved by the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee and can be found here:

https://usskiandsnowboard.org/sport-programs/criteria

You’ll notice the selection methods are the same as in recent past seasons.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the criteria, please reach out.  My contact info is below.  I wish everyone a productive and fun summer of training.

Sincerely,

Chris Grover

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Program Director

chris.grover@usskiandsnowboard.org

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.

In part one of our interview with U.S. coach, Matt Whitcomb, about Bend spring training camp he told us about training regimens and the team building approach. In part II, Whitcomb talks more about training in Bend and wider ranging topics.

Aiming To Be The Best in the World

A big point of focus at training camp from the team perspective is the standings in the Nation’s Cup. “One of the things that’s sort of a rallying cry for us is the quest to finish in the top three in the Nation’s Cup scoring,” said Whitcomb. “There’s a lot of energy surrounding our Nation’s cup scoring when we talk about our team culture document: team goals that we can rally around. We’ve finished fourth for the last two years. (Losing to Finland in the last weekend for two consecutive years.) This is something that ten years ago we weren’t even discussing. The fact that we’re even in a discussion to be in the top three represents a massive change over the course of the last decade. That’s something we’re very proud of; to be competing on equal ground with the Scandinavian nations, often beating them. In a great year we used to be sixth. Now we know we are often in the top three, we just haven’t finished there by season’s end. That’s a big goal of ours. While we do have a way to go, in particular against the Norwegian men, and the Swedish women, we can see the pathway to becoming the best ski nation in the world. We have the numbers of athletes to accomplish this, we have the number of coaches and clubs. It’s all there. Each of us needs to take a couple of small steps forward, and we’ll be that much closer. But these are levels that we haven’t felt as being tangible targets; now they are. Now that we can see it, we can see the pathway to becoming the best cross-country skiing nation in the world. I think in the near term, on the scale of a decade…the changes that have happened over the last decade…if they happen again, we’ll be in contention for (best in the world). We feel that’s a place we can now actually go, and target.”

But to do well in the nation’s cup, team USA will have to strike a difficult balance of putting forth the best team while also resting athletes who need it. “There are times when we are not starting our best relay team because we are trying to preserve the long term goals of (individual) athletes. But all the athletes on the team respect any athlete’s need to sit out an event. They all know how hard it is.”

The Next Generation

Whitcomb has noticed a generational shift of sorts with new team members. “The athletes arriving now (for camp) on the development team, they are more professionally prepared, have better technique, and overall are better trained (than they used to be),” whitcomb explained. “The athletes on average are training 100 hours more (per year) than they were ten years ago. We have surveys that we have taken over the years, so we know the training volume has grown, along with that, the level of coaching has grown. We have so many great coaches peppered throughout the country that we didn’t always have.” Whitcomb sees the long term impact of this change. “It gives us more belief in the future of our program, and our ability to compete against the best in the world.”

With a new class of younger athletes coming in, there are new challenges and new expectations. “At this age change happens very quickly, it can happen over the course of a camp. A lot of the athletes are skiing better by week two.”

Along with the heightened abilities of new athletes is also the challenge of dealing with increasing team success. Last year was one of the best ever—if not the best­—for U.S. cross-country. Does it create a different level of pressure? “As we’ve improved as a nation, we’ve also improved under pressure,” Whitcomb said. “We’ve learned to utilize the pressure as an asset and resource, we see it as a privilege. On a race day when an athlete is dealing with nerves, you can reframe it and acknowledge to them that they have this privilege of doing something important; it’s not necessarily a negative source of energy. At this time of year pressure is fun and motivating.”

The Bend Chill

Bend is also unique because of its more relaxed atmosphere. “There’s a different tone in our October camps where we’re training at a higher level, we’re training big hours, we’re doing specific time trials,” said Whitcomb. “There’s a layer of stress that doesn’t exist at Bend. An example is we had an athlete get sick (in Bend). He stayed in his room to recover and protect everyone else’s health, but people weren’t really that stressed. That’s a different story on the World Cup where you try to avoid these germs at all costs.”

Ogden’s Status

For world-class endurance athletes, illness is often an issue around which accommodations must be made; Ben Ogden’s presence and performance at the camp was a relief to the team. Ogden is returning from a case of mononucleosis he contracted toward the end of last season that kept him out of the Minneapolis World Cup. Fans will be happy to hear that he is doing well. “Ben is training at a very high capacity,” said Whitcomb. “We are still being careful. We’re probably asking him how he’s feeling more than the other athletes. We want to make sure we’re not starting too early. He’s had a wonderful medical team around him since his diagnosis. I feel like he’s in the place where he’s training at nearly full capacity, and I say nearly just because it’s May, and I don’t know if anybody is training at full capacity just yet.”

World Cup Developments

Whitcomb is also looking forward to changes which will have to be addressed during the upcoming World Cup season. One of the big changes is FIS’s decision to raise the maximum altitude at which races can be held. Whitcomb doesn’t see that as much of a problem for the American team. “For Americans, I think that’s actually and advantage,” he said. “We tend to race pretty well at altitude because we naturally have more experience at altitude. All of our best athletes throughout the year will be training at an altitude event. That’s not the case for (other countries). I feel like this is something we excel at. I welcome it. We need to be able to access more venues (for snow); I think it’s a good change.”

Whitcomb also shared his thoughts on the potential of Lake Placid, New York, hosting a World Cup. “This is great news. Minneapolis is no longer a one-off amazing experience; it’s a legacy event. The Europeans had such a great experience in Minneapolis that I think we’ll draw a full compliment of World Cup athletes.”

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.

May 4^th through the 17th marked the return to the unofficial start of serious cross-country ski training for Team USA with their annual return to Bend, Oregon for their spring camp held at Mt. Bachelor. Over the years, Bend camp has become a rite of passage for Stifel U.S. Ski Team members who enjoy Mt. Bachelor’s unique ability to provide excellent snow conditions late into the spring on a reliable basis, and enjoy summer like weather while in the valley below. Skiing in shorts and t-shirts is a great way for the team to get back on snow while having a little bit of fun. It’s a low key atmosphere; a little more laid back than camps closer to race season.

Bend’s reliable spring snow has made it the venue of choice for many North American teams. Not only is the U.S. cross-country team in attendance, but also in Bend this spring are the U.S Biathlon Team and Craftsbury Green Racing Project team. According to Mt. Bachelor cross-country director, Sydney Powell, those teams will be joined by members of the U.S. and Canadian Para Nordic teams, some members of the Canadian biathlon team, and several other North American Nordic teams.

FasterSkier had the opportunity to speak with Team USA coach, Matt Whitcomb, for updates on what was going on in Bend, and to get the inside scoop on early season training.

This spring, Bend has lived up to its reputation as a skiing paradise. “Conditions have been great,” Whitcomb said. “When we arrived, we had two days of winter, the first day was below freezing and the second day was right around zero (Celsius) and still snowing. Waxing was a challenge, which is what we hope to run into. We need work skiing, waxing, and training in these tricky conditions. Since then, it’s been bluebird conditions; freezing overnight then warming during the day; universal and red klister all day.” The waxing fine tuning is carried out by coaches since the team is unable to have their regular season waxing support. In addition to Whitcomb, the World Cup coaches present included Chris Grover, Kristen Bourne, and Jason Cork. Also present were Greta Anderson and Brian Fish. Rounding out the group is strength coach, Tschana Schiller. Schiller sets up strength training sessions known as “garage training.”

There was an excellent turnout; 22 of 27 Team USA members attended for all, or part, of the camp. And joining this year’s camp was Swedish star Emma Ribom (friend of JC Schoonmaker). Having prominent visitors from foreign teams has also become a tradition of Bend camp.

The Format

Each day at Bend camp provides unique opportunities. “Every day is different,” Whitcomb said. “But the general plan is we ski in the morning, load up the vans at 7:30, and we’re skiing by 8:15. This is after we’ve gotten together and watched a little World Cup video to set the tone, and do a little visualization. We ski for 2-3 hours, not an incredible amount of volume this time of year. This camp is particularly early this year, the way it fell on the calendar, so we’re being a little more conservative. Then in the afternoons we do dryland training, running, roller skiing, biking, or doing strength training. The goals are getting a jumpstart on our fitness and strength and motivation to kick us off into another training year. Also, every hour we can log on snow is a very valuable hour for us. We do emphasize individuality. If there’s a workout that doesn’t work for an athlete, we work with them, if someone misses an interval session because they’re tired, we’ll run a separate one for them later in the week. We’re very flexible.”

There are many ingredients that go into making a good training camp. “One of the goals is that we set the stage for what our new team looks like,” said Whitcomb. “We get together in a room several times a day to eat and train. Some athletes are brand new. Every year this team feels entirely different…even if you exchange just one athlete, the dynamic feels different. This camp is really about setting the tone for what the new team is going to represent.”

Building Team Culture

The American squad is now well known for its team approach, but it doesn’t come by accident. “One of my favorite meetings of the year that we have is what we call our team culture meeting,” said Whitcomb. “We ask ourselves three questions, talk about them and build a document we can reference the rest of the year to remember at the beginning of the season what we intended to build.

Whitcomb shared the secret sauce of the content of the three question approach. The first question is: “What are we proud of as members of the U.S. ski team, as ambassadors for U.S. skiing? So, it will be things like we’re proud of the community we’re part of, which was in our face in Minneapolis.”

“The second question is: “If we wanted to, how would we wreck our team culture? That’s a fun one. Rather than calling ourselves out on things we don’t do well, we can talk about things we know will destroy the fabric of the team, like being late, creating cliques, being lazy, not having each other’s backs.”

“The last question is: “What are our action items; what are we going to do as a team? An example of that is we want to do one community event per camp. Another example is we want to review this document several times through the year, to make sure we’re on track.”

This type of candor can present a challenge for new members. “We don’t ever say that we want everybody to participate…just because not everybody is comfortable speaking in a group that they’re adjusting to for the first time. But generally, everybody does participate with something spoken. But simply to be present is to participate.”

The message of what skiers take home is different for everyone. “The one baseline concept I hope they get is a new level of confidence knowing that they have this other team, the national team, that has their backs that they are a part of and connected to. Also, individually we have worked on technical and training concepts that they can bring home to apply to their training.”

The American Way

The U.S. team’s approach to camp is different than many other countries. Since the American system is decentralized, the athletes also work with their own clubs when not training with the national team. “It’s no problem for a lot of these athletes to accomplish all of the training that they need to be able to sustain a great season in Europe, or at World Juniors,” said Whitcomb. “But at the end of the day, in particular for World Cup athletes, you’re not going to be spending that time with your club program. You need two teams. We are proud to be a decentralized program that depends on its clubs as important partners. This is an additional resource. It’s really necessary for an American athlete to have two teams…to have a club program and national team. If we’re not a connected group, we won’t perform well in Europe. We’re on the road for too long in too tight of quarters not to have team cohesion be a critical focus.”

Please return to FasterSkier for part II of our interview with Matt Whitcomb for more insight into the Bend/Mt. Bachelor training camp when he will discuss the team’s goals, integrating a new generation into the team, trying to be the best in the world, World Cup issues, and an update on Ben Ogden.

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 smash success of the Minneapolis World Cup, a question being asked by American cross-country fans was whether Minneapolis was a one trick pony, or would we see other World Cup events in the United States? That question was partially answered when it was announced that Lake Placid is on its way to being a host venue for a World Cup in 2026. While it’s not official yet, the groundwork has been laid; barring any last minute complications with FIS (International Ski Federation), we should see World Cup racing in Lake Placid, New York, toward the end of March 2026.

To get the details of what it took to get to this point from the perspective of FIS and United States Ski and Snowboard—and to get a clearer view of what remains to be done—FasterSkier spoke with United States cross-country Program Director, Chris Grover. It has been a long journey from the first seed of the idea of having a World Cup in Lake Placid to getting to the point where it’s almost a done deal.

To start with, it is not completely accurate to say that Lake Placid has been selected to host the FIS World Cup in 2026. It is correct to say that they are significantly past the initial stages—having been approved by the FIS cross-country committee—and close to the finish line. “In the last round of meetings, the cross-country committee (within FIS) has approved the rough calendar for 2025/26,” said Grover. “The general process is that about two years in advance we’re nailing down the venues.” But the tentative calendar still must be approved by the FIS council when they meet in early June. “We expect it to be approved, generally there isn’t much pushback on things like calendars. After it’s approved, it’s pretty much set for Lake Place for 2026. We are expecting and planning on going to Lake Placid in 2026.”

But the work to achieve FIS compliance doesn’t end with the vote. “With every new venue, the FIS staff will want to inspect the venue…they might come over as soon as this summer.”  According to Grover, FIS will not only inspect the course, but they will also consider things such as lodging, wax cabin locations, banner locations, and television planning. Grover doesn’t see problems arising, “Lake Placid is an experienced venue that is used to hosting big international events, and they’ve been doing World Cups in other disciplines like luge and ski jumping.” To prove that point, Mt. Van Hoevenberg—located within the Lake Placid complex—is hosting the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) cross-country cycling World Cup this fall, which will add to their experience.

The March 2026 World Cup program is anticipated to have three races. While the format won’t be finalized until next spring, Grover expects that there will be one day of Sprinting, and two days of Distance racing. He doesn’t think it is likely that there will be team events such as relays. So that means the race format will probably come down to a Sprint, a 10 k race, and a 20 k race.

Grover emphasized the momentum of building off Minneapolis’ success. This was demonstrated when an athlete survey was conducted by Julia Kern (USA) and Jimmy Clugnet (GBR)—the two FIS athlete representatives—where almost 100 athletes were surveyed as to what their favorite venue of the year had been. Minneapolis won by a landslide. Over 90 percent of athletes also voted yes when asked about coming back to the U.S. after the 2026 Olympics.

There was also wide spread international support for another North American World Cup from FIS officials. “It was almost unanimously supported in the sub-committee where the voting took place,” said Grover. “The vote was 17 to 1 to go to Lake Placid, so there’s huge support, in part due to the success of Minneapolis.”

That enthusiasm will surely be tested when the tentative schedule will make athletes decamp from the last weekend of racing in Europe, travel the next day on Monday, and race in Lake Place the following weekend, March 20-22nd. There will not be a week off like there was this last winter when the World Cup traveled to North America.

The impetus for having another U.S. World Cup came in part from U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “The idea of doing something in the spring of 2026 was something that our C.E.O., Sophie Goldschmidt, asked. We floated the idea to Lake Placid and asked if they would look at it. They really dug into it…and they came back this winter and said they figured out how they could do it.”

An often overlooked benefit of having a World Cup race on home soil is the increase in team size that comes with it. The benefit—the “host nation’s groups quota”—would mean additional starters for  the U.S. “We will have a full start field, 12 men and 12 woman that can start each race,” said Grover. “It gives the most opportunity to the most U.S. athletes. I expect we’ll have a team size there of probably 35-40 athletes, when you take Sprint, Distance, men, women into account.”

Unlike last winter when the World Cup visited Canada and the U.S., this time it will be strictly an American affair with no Canadian stop. Grover attributed this to the Scandinavian venues already on the calendar. “It’s pretty locked in that in the spring you’re going to be in Lahti, Oslo, and one Swedish venue, usually Falun. That block is traditional in the long term planning.”

Grover hopes that trips to North America will now be part of the regular schedule. “We’re already starting discussions with Canada about 2028. Whatever happens with the FIS games in 2028…could make that more difficult.” But scheduling difficulties go beyond potential conflicts with the nascent FIS games. “There are more places that want to have World Cups than we have weekends in the calendar.”

It wasn’t lost on Grover that the timing of the Lake Placid weekend could be historical. “It will be a celebration of what we hope will be a successful winter Olympic games a few weeks before,” he said. “It may end up being the last World Cup for some of our key athletes. Nothing is written in stone, but there is a possibility of it being the last World Cup for (long time athletes). If that happened on home soil…it would be incredible. We’ve had that on our radar screens for a while now.” The long term athletes he is referring to are Jessie Diggins and Rosie Brennan. Diggins has already stated her intent to ski at least through the 2026 Olympic season. Brennan has been a little more ambiguous and seems to be taking more of a year to year approach. No one knows for sure when either woman will take their final bow on the World Cup stage, and clearly there is a lot of speculation involved. But if it did turn out that 2026 was the end of the ski trail for two American icons, what a great sendoff it would be.

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.

Skiing is an activity divided into seasons of the year: summer is when fast skiers are made; winter leaves us feeling like it went by all too fast; spring is for politics.

This week in Park City, the annual US Ski and Snowboard (USSS) Congress meets to discuss broad-based visions for the future of US Skiing, and to hammer out the necessary logistics that make the sport go ’round. New rules and initiatives are discussed, while some of the best minds in US Skiing mesh the International race calendar, US Skiing development pipeline, and the predicament of predicting where the snow will be in December to create the US Skiing calendar for the next season.

Here’s a couple of highlights from Days 1 and 2 of the USSS Congress:

Lake Placid to Host 2026 World Cup Finals

In an interview earlier this spring, Stifel US Ski Team Head Coach, Matt Whitcomb,  expressed that one of the appraisals from the success of the 2024  Loppet Cup in Minneapolis was a question: “Which US ski venue is next?” On Tuesday, Lake Placid answered that call. The former Olympic venue tucked within New York’s Adirondack Mountains has a tentative agreement with the International Ski Federation (FIS) to host World Cup Finals at the end of the 2026 World Cup season.

Lake Placid’s long-term development toward the 2026 World Cup Finals is a phenomenon to note. A decade ago, Lake Placid looked to re-develop its core competition venue at Mt. Van Hoevenberg accessing funds from the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA). The result was a set of world-class ski courses that double-up as challenging rollerski trails in the summer. Since then, Lake Placid has hosted a SuperTour in 2022, World University Games in 2023, Junior Nationals this March, and recent bid looks to have them hosting Spring Nationals in 2025. With Lake Placid’s organizers having taken taken every opportunity to fine-tune facilities and gain experience, the current bid to host World Cup Finals makes good sense.

There are sure to be logistical challenges. Snow conditions in late March can be fickle in the East. The village of Lake Placid offers very different logistical challenge compared to metro-area Minneapolis. If any American winter sports venue has a track record of success with international competition, though, it’s Lake Placid and it’s century-long legacy of international and Olympic events.

SuperTour 2024-25: Alaska for Nationals, and a Couple of Trips to Birkie-land

SuperTour scheduling was discussed on Wednesday, with much of the tentative scheduling revolving around implications for Trondheim World Championship qualifying and the realities of supporting a domestic circuit for resource-limited pro athletes and clubs. One thing is certain: the US Cross-Country Ski National Championships will take place the first week of the New Year in Anchorage, Alaska. With a trip to Alaska already set in stone, the need to balance out the regional race schedule in the lower 48 followed.

Cable, Wisconsin—home of the American Birkebeiner—appears set to host the SuperTour opener before Christmas while the Birkie, itself, is on the SuperTour calendar as it was in years prior to last season’s North American World Cups. The possibility of adding a sprint race to the Birkie block of SuperTour races in February was discussed (a concept previously explored by the Birkie with its Elite Sprints), but that is pending discussions with the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation (ABSF) and is unlikely to feature next season.

The tentative SuperTour schedule thus far:

• Cable Opener, December
• US Nationals, January
• Bozeman, February
• The Birkie, March
• Spring Nationals, Lake Placid.

USSS Coach Development Makeover

Discussions have been in the works for a couple years surrounding a re-vamp of the USSS Coach Development model. Looming changes have been aimed at making coach certification through the governing body a requirement, with USSS L100 certification becoming a requisite standard for all coaches whether professional or volunteer. The aims are clear: create a more definitive national credential while focusing national coach development around the same concepts.

In response to those goals and intentions, USSS unveiled plans to implement its new Sport Education Academy (SEA) in the 2024-25 season. The SEA comes not only with a re-vamped curriculum, but also a new L100 requirement for all USSS coaches, and subsequently, a new pricing model. The requirement for L100 means that all current USSS coaches now will have to maintain L100 certification (if currently held), or enroll to work towards L100 certification this season. With that requirement comes a new subscription model, of which practically all coaches will need to enroll in the gold at $100/year ($80/year this season).

The pitfalls in implementing and enforcing such policies are many. Currently, buggy USSS software hinders many coaches’ attempts at online training, education, and certification. A shortage of Coach Developers (required to obtain L100 certification) drastically limits the scheduling of requisite training events in many regions of the US. Few local teams have the resources to pay for the training and certification of volunteer coaches, many of whom work only a few hours a week. Those combined challenges have been enough to delay for years the implementation of changes to coaching certification policies. It remains to be seen how these newly-implemented policy changes will be received by the American ski community.

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.

Last week, the International Ski Federation (FIS) held its annual spring meeting. Among the topics were finalizing next year’s calendar and fine tuning of some of the sport’s rules. All actions taken at the meeting are still subject to ratification by the FIS Council; but failure to ratify is unlikely, and the proposed calendar and changes will likely be put into practice.

The upcoming race season will be broken up into four different Periods, plus the World Championships, which will be held in Trondheim, Norway.

Ruka, Finland, Lillehammer, Norway, and Davos, Switzerland, will host races for Period One. Some different race formats to watch for in Period One will be a 20-kilometer Skiathlon in Lillehammer—one of three Skiathlons next winter—and a Team Sprint in Davos.

Period Two is entirely the Tour de Ski; with an eye on making the Tour more sustainable, it will all be in Italy: Toblach and Val di Fiemme. FIS also promises to “re-evaluate” the Tour over the next several years but hasn’t given any specifics about what that means. So, anything from schedule tweaking to host venues to scoring could be on the table. This year there will be seven races over nine days, with some competition in Val Di Fiemme taking place on the new 2026 Olympic courses.

Of special note for this coming Tour is that the sixth day of competition will be another 20 k Skiathlon. The Skiathlon is a fan favorite but an organizers’ challenge with added complexity needed for a transition area and preparing Classic and Freestyle courses for the same race.

Period Three will begin 12 days after the Tour ends with stops in Les Rousses, France; Engadin, Switzerland; Nove Mesto, Czech Republic; and Falun, Sweden.

After Period three, attention shifts to the World Championships which start February 26^th, ten days after period three ends. The World Championships conclude March 8^th and 9^th with a 50-kilometer Mass Start men’s and women’s Freestyle on each date, with the women’s race held on the last day of competition. Excluding qualifiers, there will be six different races contested, which will include another Skiathlon. Many of the men’s and women’s races will be held on separate days to help the athletes rest. The U.S. women’s team will have its calendar circled for Friday, March 7^th, the day for the 4 x 7.5 -kilometer relay, as the U.S. team will try to solve the heretofore unbreakable code of finding the podium in a World Championship relay.

Period Four picks up on March 15^th—only six days after the World Championships end—with racing in Oslo, Norway; Tallinn, Estonia; and concluding in Lahti, Finland. The last day of the season will be March 23^rd when the 50 k Classic Mass Start will be held. Quite the way to end the season.

But the 800 pound gorilla on the schedule is what isn’t there. The weekend of March 15^th will be in Oslo, Norway for what most fans would expect to be the iconic Holmenkollen 50-kilometer. But the venerated 50-kilometer race is gone!  After much consternation surrounding this move, FIS did not see fit to change its mind and eliminated the most prestigious individual race in cross-country. It will be replaced with a 10 k Freestyle Interval Start and a 20 k Classic Mass Start race. FIS’s rationale for this decision is to avoid too heavy a physical toll on the athletes with two consecutive 50 kilometer races (Holmenkollen coming after the World Championships). Suffice to say that there is not universal approval of this decision.

Rule Fine Tuning

One of the more impactful rules adjustments was changing the maximum elevation at which races can be held. The maximum elevation threshold was increased to 2,000 meters (about 6,550 feet). This change reflects the new reality that, to ensure quality snow conditions, increases in elevation are necessary. This change will affect all future Olympics, World Cups, World Championships, and Junior World Championships. The previous maximum height had been 1,800 meters (about 5,905 feet). A 650 foot elevation increase is pretty significant at this level of competition and could affect racing outcomes.

Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss any part of another exciting season of racing.

The story of how Colby College became the Mules traces back to years of listless play from their football team, before a season in which the team suddenly became one of the best in New England. That led the Sports Editor at the student newspaper, The Colby Echo, to remark that instead of “black horse” to win their conference, Colby was suddenly a “white mule.” A couple of creative undergrads took the cue, sourced the rural environs around Waterville, Maine, and the next weekend, a real live mule patrolled the Colby sideline.

A century later, the story seems allegorical for the story of Colby nordic skier Jack Young. The Jay, Vermont native and Colby Junior spent his winter chasing down World Cup starts as one of the country’s best sprint prospects. Then, in his first World Cup start, Young quickly put together a memorable performance in Canmore where he qualified for the skate sprint heats in 11^th place. In retrospect, it pointed to the potential of American skiers to leverage the relative home-field advantage of a rare North American World Cup tour into expectation-defying results. A week later, Gus Schumacher won in Minneapolis. Black horse to white mule-type stuff.

Earlier this month, as the buds of spring emerged on Colby’s Mayflower Hill campus, Jack Young’s performance proved to earn him a nomination to the D-Team of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team. He is the first Colby skier to receive a nomination while still enrolled at the small college of 2,200 undergraduates in Central Maine.

Young’s Colby College affiliation stood out among a nominee sheet that includes storied collegiate ski programs with more Team USA alumni in their history than one can count: University of Vermont, Dartmouth College, University of Utah, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and University of Alaska-Anchorage, among others. Young qualified for the team via objective criteria requiring him to be ranked in the top 175 skiers in the World in his birth year, a standard that speaks to his accomplishments as an athlete, and his embracing of a Colby College ski-culture that revels in the role of offbeat outsider.

A Whole New World…Cup

When Young woke up on the morning of his World Cup race in Canmore, he was focused on feelings more than results. “Once I got a World Cup bid, my complete focus changed to getting to the place that I race best, which is not just physically being rested, but in a place where I have carved out the space in my mind to just get excited to ski race.” When he finally got to ski the sprint qualifier, that feeling transformed into something like euphoria, “I hit the top of the course, and all I was focused on from there was riding the wave I got from imagining that moment and reaching it,” he said. “I didn’t have a thought of where I might stack up in the field. I think that’s when the qualifier fell into place for me.”

As Young crossed the line, where he was stacking up in the field came into view for everyone; it simply astounded. “[American] Murphy Kimball was in the finish corral and was cooled down enough to be processing what the announcers were saying, which I wasn’t, and he heard ‘Jack Young, in 11^th,’ and just immediately looked at me. So I stare back for like three seconds of silence, and then he just gives me the biggest hug ever. I started to get it then.”

Young had just started to process his achievement as others looked on with a mixture of awe and dis-belief. “My sister texted me asking if the result on the FIS App was correct.” His Colby teammates, camped up in Hanover, New Hampshire at the EISA Dartmouth Carnival also quickly got in contact. “They were like, it’s not just us that’s excited for you, EVERYONE here is excited.”

Meanwhile, Colby Head Coach Tracey Cote, was spelling it out in even more plain terms. In response to a text that said, “Mules in the Heats,” her response was an exuberant, “HOLY S***!” For Cote, the moment was a culmination of what she has always coached towards: not just an athlete reaching a goal they’ve worked at for years, but doing so in a way that reflected the unique intersection that happens when an athlete brings the character qualities they hold as a person to performing in the ever-complex sport of nordic skiing. “He started thinking about wanting to qualify for the World Cup in the summer,? said Cote. “And from that point forward, everything he did in training and life was centered around this goal.”

Looking back, Young sees Cote’s philosophy as key to his preparations to excel at the sport’s highest level. “She will always say, ‘[at Colby] we coach skiers, not just skiing’ and I think it took me a little bit to understand that,” said Young. “But I look at Canmore, and I think about how I was prepared to ski as well as I did. It wasn’t just because my training was good. It wasn’t just that I was physically rested. It was because I went in trusting that if I carried myself how I know I can carry myself, ski how I know I can ski, things would fall into place. I don’t get that without Tracey, or my teammates working everyday towards a culture that empowers that.”

To Cote, Young’s results on the World Cup and throughout the season were evidence of his personal capacity to be “exceptionally collaborative.”

“We meet constantly to talk about how we can incorporate what he needs into the team training and when he just needs something different,” said Cote. “I have so much respect for skiers who can achieve incredible results while also lifting up their teammates. Not every top-level skier can do this, but I have been lucky to coach a few in my career and Jack is definitely one!”

Cote and Young also have cued in on Young’s profile as a skier acting as a litmus test for the team-forward culture at Colby. The NCAA circuit in which Colby competes has traditionally been focused on distance-only racing. Young, who earned his World Cup bids on his sprinting ability, has needed to create a training and racing calendar that can look very different from that of his Colby teammates.

“The coolest thing about training at Colby is that in any given workout, one of our guys can do something special,” said Young. “I hope that in a sprint workout, guys like Zach [Nemeth] can push themselves off me, and in a distance workout, I learn a lot from Zach, and the others too.”

Still, there are times when Young strays to keep sharp for sprinting. “He is so intentional about not disrupting the team culture,” says Cote. “Everyone understands when Jack does a different workout.” Young too, has seen it as a would-be weakness that’s turned into a key strength for the Colby team. “The thing about our season is that we have all fall as a team to work out any tension around individualized plans,” Young explained. “When we hit winter, we’re all in lockstep, the whole team, and better for it.”

The process of creating a team culture comes with a necessary constraint in NCAA skiing that Young looks at as a continuing opportunity. “The reality is the team is different every year, because you lose guys to graduation, and you have freshman that come in. Which again, [what you] try to do is turn what might be a weakness into a strength. Every fall, we’re looking to create a team that’s going to work best for that season.”

With that challenge of creating a culture ahead of him for one more year, Young eagerly anticipating the opportunity. “I get to bring the World Cup experience back, that’s exciting.”

For Young, that’s the triumph of his sprint qualifier just as much as his “welcome to the Big Leagues” moment that came in his sprint heat at Canmore. In a heat with eventual World Cup champion Harald Oestberg Amundsen (Norway) and World Championship sprint medalist Jules Chappaz (France), he was competitive, but eventually lost ground in the final surge. “I’d talked [the heat] over with the US Team coaches, and we both agreed with it being my first time going in and trying to stay relaxed, [but] the reality of those World Cup heats is that being ‘relaxed’ per se means still jockeying for a good position so that when the heat goes…and they GO…you can react quick enough to adjust to the pace.”

Young sees the experience as a necessary learning ground, and knows what to adjust going forward. “I can’t wait to bring that back to training,” he said. “The idea that when you enter a World Cup heat, everyone thinks they can be in the top two in that heat. To me, that’s an attitude I need to have, and I want all my teammates to have too.”

Cote has no doubt those new lessons will combine with Young’s steady leadership. “He’s been a leader sine the day he stepped foot on our campus and always brings a level of positive and competitive spirit that infuses confidence into his teammates.”

A Match Made in Waterville, Maine

The success Young had this season may seem like the result of a serendipitous match with the Colby program. But for longtime observers, Young’s nomination to the Stifel US Ski Team is the logical outgrowth of a program built steadily over generations.

All great programs bear traces of their leaders. For Colby, that’s found in Tracey Cote, who has served as Head Coach for 27 seasons. Cote (née Theyerl—note the non-coincidental author’s byline of this article) grew up in the small Wisconsin village of Elkhart Lake, an hour and a half into the hills north of Milwaukee. Tracey and brother Ted took their first ski strides in the Schultz family cornfield behind their modest home on the outskirts of Elkhart Lake, and continued on into American Birkebeiners of the 1970’s. Her beginnings in the sport were literally out on the back forty.

Starting out skiing in the Kettle-Moraine forest was a far cry from the traditional skier development centers across the United States. Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah High School certainly was not a ski academy. Fifteen miles west of Sheboygan wasn’t Aspen. Where Cote learned to ski, she learned to love skiing alone. When she did ski with others, it was a family affair. Those two elements continued through Cote’s own collegiate career at Northern Michigan University, her taking on the Colby program in its first year as a Division I ski program in 1997, and through NCAA Championship qualifiers, NCAA All-American finishers, World Junior Championship qualifiers, and now, a US Ski Team member. Her coaching is driven by a desire for every Colby skier to intensely pursue their own competitive skiing goals, while maintaining the perspective to intensely pursue relationships with their teammates, and the sport, that makes everyone feel supported. That’s a close approximation to the “team culture” often spoken about by Young and Cote. “Any one skier’s success is a success for everyone.”

That guiding principle has never come at the expense of letting some of Cote’s own background and quirks shine through. “Tracey will talk a lot about is how training is often a process of avoiding mistakes, more than finding a silver bullet,” says Young. “And that often translates into letting her athletes train on the terms that work best for them.

For years, Cote’s athletes have come from backgrounds in cycling, soccer, basketball, football, and even more esoteric pursuits. She also has a penchant for recruiting skiers who come from out-of-the-way talent centers, and keep to unconventional paths in the sport. The Colby program’s first World Cup skier under Cote came earlier this year when alumni Erin Bianco, who currently skis for Bridger Ski Foundation out of Bozeman, Montana, made her first World Cup starts in Oberhof, Germany. Bianco qualified for her first World Cup sprint heats on the same day Young put in his performance at Canmore. When Cote recruited the Iron Range, Ely, Minnesota native though, Bianco was out of skiing, running at St. Olaf College. Bianco transferred to Colby and became an NCAA All-American.

Further back, the Colby’s program milestones have been linked to out-of-the-way stories of success. Colby’s first All-American, Olivia Amber, came from the small outpost of Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, where she and her sister constituted the entirety of their high school team. Colby’s most dominant skier during Cote’s tenure, Zane Fields, was a Woodstock, Vermont skier who came direct from that state’s high school league. The program’s first World U23 Championship qualifier, Andrew Egger, was a sprint specialist who was concurrently enrolled in Officer Training School for the US Marine Corps.

They all have come to Waterville, a post-industrial New England mill town in central Maine where they found an out-of-the-way approach to pursuing the sport at the highest level. Cote and Colby have made sure those skiers have all the resources to do so. A decade ago, Colby partnered with the town of Waterville to revive and expand an abandoned quarry, Quarry Road, down the hill from campus into a homologated 5 k course with snowmaking. Two years ago, Colby opened a $200 million-dollar athletic center boasting a full support staff, and arguably the best waxing facilities in the East. For Cote, there was a clear direction in the investments: “It’s made us an attractive place to support a collegiate ski career.”

All of which sets up to point towards an understanding of why Jack Young has not just excelled as a skier, but excelled as a Colby skier. Young has been nordic skiing since he was a little kid in Jay, Vermont’s Bill Koch Youth League (BKL). He didn’t connect with the sport competitively though until relatively late, joining up with the nearby Craftsbury Ski Club in high school. By then, he was more known around Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom as his high school’s starting quarterback than as a top junior skiing prospect.

He found success, becoming a Vermont State Champion skier five times over. However, he still went relatively under the radar to the college coaches casting a recruiting net over a national pool of skiing talent. In short, Young was a bit of an outsider going into college. Which made him the type of skier with whom Cote has had success in her tenure.

Young admits that his current list of accomplishments is something that he didn’t even fathom at this time last year. “This season was a sequence of things that just kept going,” he said. “I didn’t take that for granted, but I did have to learn to take it. You go from dreaming of winning a SuperTour qualifier, then you do it like I did in Anchorage, and then you start piecing things together from there. Oh, I could make the World Cup. Oh, I made the World Cup…things like that. I guess the US Ski Team is that too.”

His nomination to the Stifel U.S. Ski Team is something that both he, and the program he comes from, see as the realization of the groundwork laid over the course of decades. “I’ve always loved skiing,” he said. “But really I think the difference has been that I learned to love the competition and training aspect of skiing. When I was a kid in the BKL, it wasn’t on the forefront of my mind to compete on the world stage. Now it is.”

In Jack Young, the skier, there’s a parable for a program. No longer the black horse, with Young, the Colby mules are kicking on.