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

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.

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.

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

After the 2018 Olympics, workers at the Minneapolis Parks and Rec Department had to start putting up posters in the old Theodore Wirth Park chalet to “Clean up your glitter.” Thousands of Minnesota high school cross country skiers who raced there were emulating Jessie Diggins’ famous race-day tradition. The glitter was making a mess, but in Minnesota’s ski-crazy Nordic community, that particular problem was a wonderful one to have. Swix pants and stray gloves dusted in pesky golden glitter-flakes only testified to more young skiers wanting to “Ski like Jessie.” After having watched her win Olympic Gold, they all had a shared idea of the world contained in that simple phrase.

Six years later—again in Minneapolis—Jessie Diggins would bring her glitter to the FIS Cross Country World Cup in Theodore Wirth Park, the first World Cup race held in the United States in over twenty years. What followed was a weekend that most witnesses would describe as “something special.” Twenty thousand American spectators attended a cross-country ski race in America, and on the second day an historic and improbable win from a young Alaskan named Gus Schumacher. It was the first World Cup win of Schumacher’s career, and the first for an American male skier in over forty years. In a banner winter for American skiers (Jessie Diggins winning her second World Cup Overall and seven American skiers finishing on World Cup podiums), Gus Schumacher’s win on home soil was a clearly an emotional apex.

Cut to last week, when the International Ski Federation (FIS) put out a fan vote on its Facebook and Instagram pages to award the “Best Distance Performance of the Year” from this year’s World Cup. Nominees included a predictable slate of Scandinavian stars—Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Frida Karlsson, Simen Kruger—but there was a distinctly American flavor to the list of nominees. Three different Americans, with three different performances, made the shortlist. Jessie Diggins was nominated for her early-season 10 k win in Gallivare, Sweden, while Sophia Laukli got a nod for her first World Cup win at the Alpe Cermis Hill Climb. The clear winner of the poll, though, was Gus Schumacher’s victory in Minneapolis.

The “Best Distance Performance of the Year” poll may have been little more than FIS plumbing social media engagement during the doldrums of spring. Even so, in this test of public opinion, Schumacher was the clear winner. That consensus may also be suggestive of more good things to come. As the weather warms, so does the prospect that Schumacher will earn more titles from even more lofty sources. He is likely to be on the shortlist for any kind of upcoming “Athlete of the Year,” or “Skier of the Year” award granted by ski governing bodies and media organizations. He certainly is on the shortlist at FasterSkier.

The extent to which those shortlists and awards shake out will be revealed in time. For now, this informal FIS award was a neat checkpoint smack dab in the middle of the offseason. Two months removed from the World Cup events in Minneapolis, the snow is gone from Theodore Wirth Park. The first blades of grass poking through the mud spell out a clear way forward to spring. It’s a nascent time; with it comes some nascent clarity on what exactly the Minneapolis World Cup—and Gus Schumacher’s win—mean to American skiing.

A look at the comments on the FIS Instagram post soliciting votes for “Best Distance Performance” reveals a unified front supporting Schumacher. The question of which individual World Cup performance stood out most to viewers and fans produced an outpouring from American skiers, World Cup champions, and Birkie Birchleggers alike. Some came to the comment section with heartfelt stories on what it was like to process the surprise win as Schumacher, himself, was processing it. How Schumacher started early with Bib 35, crossed the finish line with a 15 second lead, took his turn in the winners’ chair, and watched as every great champion of the sport crossed the finish line splitting seconds behind him until there was no other conclusion to reach: almost impossibly, Schumacher had won. Others came in with more emphatic exclamations: who should win the best performance of the year? “GUS!”

In short, Schumacher’s win in Minneapolis validated itself. If you watched it, you understood why it’s worth striving to do anything well. Why spend years building a ski community in Minneapolis, re-working and expanding a venue at Theodore Wirth Park as the Loppet Foundation did? Why combine the talents of countless individuals across the United States towards developing, of all things, cross country skiers? As Schumacher and his American teammates celebrated at the finish line, the answer became apparent: so that a skier like Schumacher could combine talent, drive, and passion in order to exceed even the expectations he set for himself. The defining characteristic of Schumacher’s win in Minneapolis, though, was Schumacher beaming in an interview immediately after. “I don’t know, this is just the best day ever!” he said.

It took a crowd of 20,000 fans raising their voices along the sides of a Minneapolis ski trail to propel Schumacher toward his unlikely victory. In doing so, the crowd—and Schumacher, himself—revealed the power of what collective energy harnessed in the right individual can do.

Of course, among the FIS “Best Distance Performance” nominees there were two other Americans who delivered the lesson just the same. Jessie Diggins in Sweden was incredible. Sophia Laukli on the Alpe, sublime. Why though, when asked to make the hard choice, did so much of US Skiing latch onto Schumacher? The difference must’ve been found in the venue: Minneapolis, a community versed in sports, versed in the sport of cross-country skiing, and versed in the lessons that sport teaches. For a weekend in February, Minneapolis was a conduit for community spanning an entire continent. Minneapolis ski fans could uniquely recall Jessie Diggins from her time starting out in Afton through to the present day when she epitomizes what skiing can teach you about life: Olympic moments, World Cup triumphs, and all the highs and lows in between.

The testament to Gus Schumacher’s win in Minneapolis, then? This summer, there are sure to be even more young skiers at practices, at camps, pursuing the challenges of cross country skiing.  Theodore Wirth Park may still be the place you need to clean up your glitter, but in places throughout our Nordic community young athletes will give voice to a dream to “Ski like Gus.” That day in Minneapolis will flash in their memories, and a smile will cross their faces. “Best Distance Performance of the Year” for certain. And, by all indications, for a whole lot longer too.

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

Sophia Laukli likes to keep busy. That is an understatement. Her non-stop, year round ski and running schedule keeps her trotting across the globe to pursue racing on dirt and snow. In part I of FasterSkier’s interview with Laukli, she spoke with us from Japan about her current injury, defending the trail running world title, and her commitment to skiing.

Laukli is coming off the best ski season in her career, but she doesn’t always see her results in such a positive light. “It’s easy to forget about the best races of the year,” she said. “Especially in the World Cup when you’re racing so much. The last few races of the year I was definitely bummed out and then I started to think back, even thinking of Minneapolis. I was 15^th there, I was not psyched, but then I realized last year if you were 15^th , you would have been over the moon. It’s funny how our expectations shift so quickly. I didn’t have a lot of time to reflect at the end of the season, but it was pretty cool to compare everything to one year before. That was pretty insane of a jump. Quite a bit of room for improvement, but that’s an exciting thing to end the year on and focus on for next year. In general, it was quite a jump, and that doesn’t always happen. It was very motivating.”

Training Changes: Keep Easy Workouts Easy

So, what accounted for Laukli’s performance leap? She gives much credit to joining team Aker Daehlie. “I think it’s (her improvement) a combination of a lot of things. Another year under the belt; but a lot it has to do with my move to Norway and working with a new coach. This was the first really strong coaching relationship I’ve had; it was very collaborative. Before that, it was bouncing around with various coaches and it’s hard to build a strong relationship which leads to improvement.”

There were, however, additional specific training changes which Laukli can point to which aided her improvement. “I changed quite a bit of my training in the summer, and I had a lot more fun. Because I had a base in Norway, I got to go home quite a bit (during the ski season) so I wasn’t so exhausted mentally which made the racing more enjoyable.” There were a couple of specific training changes which she employed, and one was an increase in her double poling training. “I had never done strict double pole training sessions before. It wasn’t so much for improving double poling itself, but how that improvement transitions to skating and ski strength. Also, a lot of technique work. Also, my intervals were the same thing each week. Having a standard interval set to compare to and improve on.”

Her summer training mirrors Aker Daehlie’s philosophy of polarized training: make easy days very easy and make hard days hard. “What I do is definitely zone one. A lot of very very easy training. I’ve noticed that when easy training is too hard is when you struggle the most. It’s been a funny realization in the running world. A lot of runners I run with are beyond confused with how slow I run in training. My training is successful when I’m specific about it, so on easy days it’s very very easy and I’m able to go much harder on intervals.”

Changes to Team Aker Daehlie and Looking Forward

Laukli’s team has undergone some recent changes with its leader Knut Nystad announcing his departure. But Laukli doesn’t think it will affect her. “I’ve had discussions about what that means, but it won’t change a whole lot (about how it affects me).

For the next ski season, Laukli hopes to continue to build upon her past improvement. “I always set the goal of having more consistent top results and moving up in Overall results instead of pinpointing races. Getting more top tens and having that be more of a norm is a super cool achievement. In the Tour de Ski, I’ll always be thinking about the hill climb.” But there’s work ahead for her to move up in the Tour de Ski standings. She has been candid that Sprinting just isn’t in the cards for her. “Improving a few seconds in Sprinting can help a lot in the Overall. If I put a little bit of focus on strength it would help with the Overall. I don’t think a top thirty in a Sprint is a realistic goal, but not having such a massive time back is a first step.”

Dealing With Adverse Press Coverage

Laukli is still a little disconcerted about some adverse press coverage which followed her last season after a statement she made on a podcast about enjoying having an active social life and enjoying the party scene. The European press quickly picked up on it, and there were headlines splashed across European papers about Laukli’s partying habits. When asked if she felt she was treated fairly Laukli responded that, “I was definitely a bit shocked with how what I said was twisted.” She continued that “it was quite the learning experience because I was trying to portray this message in a podcast that for me it’s important to have a social life and have a life outside of running and skiing. Because I’m competing 12 months a year, I need a place where I can totally distract and not have to think about sport, and for me, that’s having a normal social life. The way that message got taken and put into all these articles…I had a hard time reading them and eventually stopped, because this is not what I said. This is sometimes how the press works and I have to be careful. In a way, they didn’t take it out of nowhere, but the way it was twisted was pretty unfortunate, and for me I want to be seen as a respectable athlete, and that was my biggest fear and frustration. There were little snippets from here and there put together that made it sound worse, but it wasn’t all fabricated. I need something outside of training racing and sports, going out and being able to put skiing and racing aside temporarily; this is an outlet.” Laukli was disappointed that she was portrayed as partying to excess. “It’s hard to be off the rails and also be competing at this level. The only message I want to send is that training and racing doesn’t have to be everything. For me, it’s important to express that and have more to my life than just that.”

For Sophia Laukli she will continue what she sees as the symbiotic relationship between being a professional runner and professional skier. Though her path may be unconventional, so far, her results confirm her career choices. For Laukli, the longer the race the better, and the more career challenges; well, that’s just fine also.

FasterSkier thanks Sophia Laukli for taking the time from her busy schedule to talk to our reporter while she was traveling in Japan.

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

Sophia Laukli likes to keep busy. The 23 year old Maine native is coming off her best season as a professional skier. After a grueling four month World Cup season which included a trip to North America, and back to Europe, she still hadn’t had enough skiing. A post World Cup 30-kilometer Freestyle race as part of the Norwegian National Championships was just too tempting a target to pass up. For Laukli, the longer the race, the better; and Freestyle better than Classic. So, a 30-kilometer Freestyle would be the bespoke frosting on her World Cup cake.

So, on March 23^rd Laukli lined up with the best skiers that Norway had to offer and showed them why when it comes to distance Freestyle, she’s always a serious threat. Laukli finished second, ahead of Norwegian stalwarts Astride Oeyre Slind, Heidi Weng, and Margrethe Bergane. The only woman to beat her: Therese Johaug. Yes, she’s back. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, she doesn’t appear to have lost a step. Johaug beat the best Norway could throw at her by almost three minutes. But Laukli was philosophical about finishing second and recognized the context of the race. “That race was definitely for fun,” she said. “And it was an Individual 30-k skate race; I don’t think there’s any race that is better for me than that. I was very excited with my results. Everyone was kind of expecting it (Johaug’s performance). It’s highly likely that she’ll be coming back, so I guess we’re just going to go back to this life (Johaug winning races by minutes). But I had to think about it a minute, because the last time I was racing her, I would have been 10 minutes back. It sucks to be three minutes back, but I guess I’ll take what I can get. We want to race the best, but it’s tough to go back to a ski circuit where one person is winning everything. I’m under the impression that the motivation for her comeback is the World Championships being in Trondheim, Norway.” But Johaug won’t have an open highway to World Cup distance gold. Laukli is also gunning for the World Championships next season where the distance race will be an Individual Start 50-kilometer Freestyle race on the last day of competition. A race tailor-made for her. “We’ll see if anyone can take her (Johaug) down. I’m excited for that race, for sure.”

It’s a long way off and a lot can happen between now and then, but a showdown between an American upstart and an imposing veteran who dominated distance racing unlike anyone ever has is an enticing teaser.

After her second place finish, Laukli’s competition season wasn’t over. Shortly after the Norwegian Championships, she packed her bags and began work—only three days later—at her second job that pays most of the bills: being a professional trail runner.

Last year, Laukli dominated the professional worldwide trail running circuit, handily winning the Golden Trail Race series. Laukli shocked the running world by using her world class endurance talent and innate running ability to pummel the best trail runners in the world. At the end of the season, she was crowned the new queen of dirt racing when she won the Overall title.

Running Stumbles—Change in Plans

The transition to running did not go smoothly for her this year, and Laukli may have to miss the two races she had planned on doing in Asia this month. Her original schedule had her racing in Japan April 20^th, and China on April 27^th. But things are not likely to go as planned. “I finished the last ski race (the Norwegian national championships), and three days later did a running camp with no preparation: not my greatest decision. I tried to implement more running during the whole ski season so (transitioning to running) wouldn’t be such a shock. I now realize that running on treadmills and roads doesn’t prepare me well for trail running. I have some tendonitis issues in my knee. It’s a lot of pain running. So doing a race is the last thing I need to do. The race is three days out (as of this writing on April 17^th ), and I can’t really walk correctly. Last year I managed it better because I wasn’t racing until June, but this year I wanted to do the two races in Asia. I might have had a little too much belief in myself. In order for this not to be a real injury I might need to skip these two races.” Laukli acknowledged that she had the same issue last year following a running camp after the ski season, but she had time to rest last year and everything recovered fine. This year the schedule she had set didn’t afford that opportunity.

Her overuse injury has forced her to tweak her schedule. “Now the next race for me is the end of May, Zegama-Aizkorri, in Spain (42-kilometers with over 2,700 meters elevation gain). So, I’ll go home after this, take 5-10 days of other training. Then in June there’s Marathan Du Mont Blanc (which Laukli won last year). Then I’ll do Sierre-Zinal (which Laukli also won last year). The tradeoff for not doing these races in Asia is that I’d have to go back to the U.S. (in the fall) and do those two races (Headlands 27K and Mammoth 26K), which I was hoping to not have to, because it’s nice to not have to race in the fall.

Still a Skier Who Runs

Despite this setback, Laukli is undaunted about continuing as a two sport professional athlete. “So far all it means is that I need to trial and error a bit more in how I need to prepare,” she said. “So, for next year I know what I need to focus on, and I’ve decided that I’m not going to try and race in April. I don’t see being a two sport athlete changing.”

But now that Laukli is the defending champion of the Golden Trail series, there’s a new challenge waiting for her. Last year she was a bit of an unknown—or at least a wildcard—but this year she’s the defending champion with a bullseye on her back. “I’m definitely a little bit more stressed. I definitely like being a nobody and having no pressure. In the running world in particular they are very vocal about ‘oh, you’re supposed to win.’ That’s how it works when you start to do well in this sport. But it’s a good problem to have.”

Despite being a professional two sport athlete, she still sees herself as primarily a skier. “Skiing is still the priority. It’s sometimes hard—I’m much more successful at running, maybe I should commit to that? But the way I’ve combined the two now, is honestly making me more successful in both, so I don’t see a motivation to change. In skiing, there’s a lot more ambition there (for her). I’ve been skiing forever, and constantly improving on the World Cup. I find more reward in that than in my running, even though I’m more successful on paper in running. But financially, it’s running that pays the bills. From a financial point, running is providing much more and, in a sense, it’s financing skiing. But that was an after-the-fact thing. I didn’t know running had all this money. It means I can now fully commit to being an athlete because running can now support my skiing. My ski training is supporting my running from the physical standpoint.”

Please return to FasterSkier for Part II of our conversation with Sophia Laukli.

“We were kicking a lot of names around,” said Diller. “I think many people know that the von Trapp family settled in America after their escape from Austria. They opened a famous cross-country ski resort—the Trapp Family Lodge—that has been enjoyed by generations of cross-country skiing enthusiasts. We wanted someone who could convincingly carry the role of a leading man but was also believable in the role as an avid skier. We thought about Iivo Niskanen, Alexander Bolshunov, Petter Northug. They’ve all got the thick accent, the piercing eyes, the classic skiing chops . . . but none of those guys can sing!”

Diller continued that “I skied cross-country at Middlebury College and had hoped that I could someday meet Klaebo. I happen to have a condo in Park City, Utah and had a chance encounter with Klaebo through a mutual friend when Klaebo was training there. We met up for a cup of coffee and had a very enjoyable conversation about lots of things—skiing and non-skiing. I mentioned in passing that we were developing the sequel and asked him who he thought would be a good leading man. I already had in mind someone athletic, and a retired skier seemed like the perfect fit. I never in a million years expected what happened next. He told me that he was actually a very good singer, thought he could pull it off, and that he needed a good diversion from his training. At first, I thought he was joking, but right there in the coffee shop he knocked out a few bars of Edelweiss. I was blown away—almost moved to tears. I offered him the role on the spot. He’s got the physical presence, and the singing ability. I think the world will be shocked by how good he is going to be; he’s got a real shot at winning a Crystal Globe and Academy Award in the same year!”

“We’re going to keep the accurate history of Captain von Trapp as an Austrian and Klaebo certainly can pass for that. His accent may not be perfect, but he will certainly be more authentic than Christopher Plummer ever was. Not to knock Chris, he was a tremendous legendary actor and a singular talent, but they weren’t really too concerned about authenticity in the original. Our story is going to be truer to actual events: grittier, bolder. It’s important for us to have someone who is convincing physically.”

“Klaebo’s presence will allow us to pursue the storyline beyond the von Trapp’s time in Austria (that portrayed in The Sound of Music) into their challenges building a cross-country ski resort near Stowe, Vermont. It’s a part of the story I’m excited to share with people. And who better than Johannes Klaebo to depict cross-country skiing on the silver screen!”

Klaebo is already an entrepreneur, so expanding into the movies shouldn’t be that much of a reach. His hair care product company is already successful, and the Norwegian clearly has a long term plan for life after skiing.

Touchstone also has the details worked out for who will be put in the unenviable position of replacing Julie Andrews in the role of Maria von Trapp. Diller acknowledged that they are in final talks with Lady Gaga to play the key role. “She already proved herself as a real screen presence in A Star is Born. I think she would be a tremendous Maria. We have an agreement in principle and just have to work out details. I think the on-screen pairing of Klaebo with Lady Gaga will be an unimaginably great experience for audiences. I’m thinking Bogart-and-Bacall level of chemistry.”

The first draft of the script is already done, and filming is expected to begin next summer on location in Austria and Norway. It will be significantly modernized to address more realistic themes than the original ever could. “Lady Gaga will bring a smoldering sensuality to Maria that was never possible in the original. Klaebo and Gaga are both open to doing unclothed scenes, but we haven’t worked out the details on that yet. If you think about it, the physicality between Maria and Captain von Trapp was never explored in the original, so this is something we feel audiences will appreciate. It will bring emotional tension and a contemporary feel to the entire production.”

“I can share with you that there is a very different ending in store for Rolfe— the delivery boy who betrayed the von Trapps. He will meet a very spectacular and fitting demise. This is not going to be a G-rated film.  We’re guessing that it will be rated PG-13, maybe R, but we think the contemporary themes will be an upgrade that the story richly deserves.”

For those who are surprised by Klaebo’s singing abilities, they shouldn’t be. “I’ve been singing since I was a young boy,” said Klaebo. “I grew up with music in the house and had considered a career in music before my skiing career ever began. I used to sing at family gatherings all the time. In fact, at one point I was a strong candidate for the Eurovision contest, but I gave it up once I became serious about skiing. It’s not a big stretch for me, I often sing to myself on long training skis. There are a couple of other guys on the Norwegian team who are also musically talented. Amundsen plays a great stand-up bass, and Even Northug has an awesome countertenor like you wouldn’t believe. At one point we were thinking of putting together a group called the Klister Connection, or Klisterfools, but it just never came together. We were all too busy, I really regret that not happening.”

The idea of baring it all on the screen doesn’t faze Klaebo. “If it’s integral to the story line I’m ok with it. I’m really looking forward to this next step in my career and especially doing scenes with Lady Gaga; clothes on or not. She’s pretty awesome.”

Ski fans can’t wait to see how Klaebo turns out as Captain von Trapp; as usual, it’s never a good move to bet against him.

This article was written and published April 1, 2024. (Happy April Fool’s Day) 

Jessie Diggins should not need an introduction at this point, but for anyone who needs a quick reminder: This episode of the Devon Kershaw Show features the best American cross-country skier of all time. Diggins has three Olympic medals to her name, a gold from the last World Championships and, most recently, a crystal globe she was awarded a few days ago as the past season’s overall World Cup champion. Diggins joins us for a conversation about racing and her life as a professional athlete.

A note: This episode includes some frank discussion about eating disorders. If this is something you or someone in your life is struggling with, we suggest taking a look at Project RED-S, which stands for Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. Their site has athlete-focused information and references if you’re trying to find help. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders has a Helpline you can call at 888-375-7767 from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Central Time, and you can text HOME to 741741 if you’re in a crisis. And the Alaska Eating Disorders Alliance has an informative video that features Diggins and retired Olympic cross-country skier Holly Brooks.

You can reach Devon and Nat at devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. Thanks for listening.

Reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated. Apologies for the tardiness of this episode, but we’re back with a wrap from Falun, the last World Cup weekend of the season. It’s just Devon and Nat kicking it old school again here, but we’ll return soon with some guests. Seriously.

Send us your 2025 predictions, Russian troll comments and Gjøran Tefre memes: devon@fasterskier.com and nat@fasterskier.com. Thanks for hanging out with us for the whole World Cup season.

This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

The long road that is the World Cup cross-country season came to an end today. And, like all good road trips, something special should be waiting at the end of that road. Today in Falun, that something special for Jessie Diggins (USA) was the chance to take home her second Overall Crystal Globe. Diggins had already wrapped up the Distance Globe, but the Overall trophy is the icing on the cake; the dream of every professional cross-country skier.

While Diggins had not mathematically clinched the Globe before the race, her 75 point lead over Linn Svahn (SWE) was healthy enough that all she really needed to do today was keep Svahn in sight as she progressed across the 20-kilometer Mass Start Freestyle race.

There were potentially 130 points available to the winner. If Svahn took all of them—including all of the 30 bonus points—and Diggins didn’t take any bonus points, Diggins could finish 13^th and still win the Crystal globe. But the odds of Svahn taking home every point were very long.

For Diggins, today would mark the conclusion of a season that began without expectations. Over the summer, Diggins was very candid regarding her struggles and expressed that she didn’t know what to expect coming into the new ski year. But, from early domination in Finland and Sweden to winning the Tour de Ski, she demonstrated the needed consistency to win the big prize. The Overall victory would add another impressive line to her already lengthy resume.

Diggins was not content to mathematically eliminate Svahn. It was clear from the start of the race that Diggins was going all out, intent on winning. She pushed the entire race to take the Crystal Globe in emphatic fashion by winning today’s race. It was an exclamation point marking the end of a season filled with highlights. Heidi Weng (NOR) finished second, and Anne Kjersti Kalvaa (NOR) was third.

“It was really emotional as I was out putting glitter on,” said Diggins. “Today my only goal was to have the most fun, and I really did. I wanted to finish with nothing left . . . when I do that, I can walk away proud. I wanted to make the techs proud so they could see I was skiing a gutsy race. Now I’m ready to go home.” She later added that, “I’m really proud of how this season ended, but I’m more proud of my team for being there for me. It’s been a lot of ups and downs … It’s been a hard year, and that’s why it’s so special that we got through it together.”

Diggins acknowledged that this has been the hardest part of the season. “I’ve felt a lot of pressure to show that I’m ok,” she said. “I have put pressure on myself to keep working hard to be ok. It’s not easy when your brain is kind of a messy place sometimes and you feel that the whole world is watching you figure it out.”

As for today’s race: “I just wanted to make it hard,” she said. “I wanted to push hard and leave it all out there, and know that I crossed the finish line having skied with a lot of guts; and I had great skis, the wax techs nailed it today.” But there was more to her season than securing the Crystal Globe. “Minneapolis was the highlight of my career,” Diggins said. “It was the coolest World Cup I’ve ever been a part of. It was so cool hearing from all of the athletes how much they loved it, and how special it was for our country.”

For Svahn—even though the improbable didn’t happen, and she finished second in the Crystal Globe hunt—it was still a season worth celebrating. After a breakout year in 2021, injury sidelined her from World Cup racing for almost two years, a stressful and challenging period. Now she had pressed Diggins to the limit, and this season she emphatically declared that she is back; that, alone, is worth celebrating.

Diggins’ victory wasn’t the only result making it a glorious day for American cross-country: Rosie Brennan delivered a solid performance, finishing 10^th. Novie McCabe was 11^th, Sophia Laukli finished 17^th, Sydney Palmer-Leger was 23^rd, and Haley Brewster was 32^nd. Julia Kern did not finish.

The top Canadian skier was Liliane Gagnon who finished 53^rd. Sonjaa Schmidt did not finish.

Women’s 20 k Freestyle Mass Start

Diggins led the pack of 63 women out of the stadium on a perfect bluebird day in Falun, a stark contrast to yesterday’s setting of mixed precipitation and horrible conditions. Today was beautiful, and the conditions were lightning fast. The Falun course presents a unique set of challenges as it has a very difficult climb that skiers would navigate four times today.

Diggins pressed the pace from the start, followed closely by Heidi Weng (NOR). By the time the pack reached the 2.5-kilometer mark, Diggins had backed off slightly and Frida Karlsson (SWE) went to the front. Svahn was still with the front group, only 6.4 seconds off the lead.

The first time bonus was coming at 5.8-kilometers; the first test in the Diggins-Svahn duel. As the pack approached the bonus line, Diggins reasserted herself and went back into the lead. Diggins easily crossed the bonus line first and took 15 bonus points; Svahn did not receive any. Diggins’ lead now surged to 90 points. Any slim hope that Svahn might have held out just evaporated.

Even though she now had firm control of the Crystal Globe, Diggins did not back off, continuing to lead the pack through the 6.8-kilometer mark. Half a kilometer later the lead pack had reconsolidated and Victoria Carl (GER) was now out front. Carl’s lead was short lived as Sophia Laukli (USA) surged to the front. The Falun course is perfectly suited for Laukli: not only is it a distance that suits her but, with four large climbs, it matches her climbing abilities, as well. During Laukli’s surge, Diggins dropped back to 10^th, but was still in the middle of the lead pack. More importantly, Svahn sat behind her in 13^th.

Halfway through, it was Karlsson’s turn to go back to the front where she joined Laukli and Weng. Ebba Andersson (SWE) also joined the leaders. Jockeying for the lead in the front row of racers continued, while Diggins sat smartly in ninth place with Svahn skiing right beside her. But Diggins was not content to sit in the middle of the pack, and at 12.5-kilometers shot back into the lead with the next bonus mark coming up at 15.8-kilometers. If Diggins scored more bonus points at the next line, it would put an end to any chance which Svahn might have had.

Diggins quickly surged to the front and positioned herself perfectly for the next bonus section. While Diggins was shooting toward the front, there was bad news for Karlsson, who fell during a collision and broke a pole. The delay cost her significantly. She ultimately had to exchange poles twice and it put her off the back of the lead group.

Diggins was clearly on mission and skiing well as the pack approached the bonus point line. Once again, Diggins took the maximum15 points. Svahn did not get any points, and that sealed the deal as Diggins’ Overall lead was now 105 points. Diggins now only had to finish the race to take the Crystal Globe. But Diggins did not appear content to simply win the Globe, she was fighting hard to win the race and take the Crystal Globe in style. She continued to press from the front and broke the race wide open as only Weng and Kalvaa could hang with Diggins. She had established a four second lead over the chase group and was looking to press her advantage.

With one-kilometer to go, Jonna Sundling (SWE) managed to close the gap and join the lead group to make it four racers out front. Then Diggins put in a ferocious turn of pace and ramped up to full sprint speed, using the downhills to stretch her advantage. She had dropped Sundling and only Weng and Kalvaa were still with her.

Diggins continued to pull away on the downhills, like she has her entire career. Weng and Kalvaa gamely hung with her, but Diggins was determined to take the victory. As they entered the stadium, it was a three-way sprint to the finish, but Diggins was able to pull away and take the victory. Weng followed across the finish line second and Kalvaa was third.

Diggins answered all doubters as Svahn finished 26^th, over a minute back. Diggins clearly demonstrated that she is the best in the world and is able to rise to the occasion unlike anyone else. It was a dramatic victory which emphatically answered any questions about who was the best.

Women’s 20 k Freestyle Mass Start RESULTS