Team nominations – FasterSkier.com

Getting to Know Fin Bailey: One of the Newest Members of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team

Ollie Swabey — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 19:31:02 +0000

New England’s Fin Bailey (SMST2 / University of Vermont) won his third consecutive JNs sprint title in the U20 Boys race. (Photo: Philip Belena)

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

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

New England’s Fin Bailey (SMST2 / University of Vermont) crosses the line, Alaska Cup in hand, to win the U20 Team Relay at Junior Nationals in Lake Placid, New York. (Photo: Phillip Belena)

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

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

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

A young Fin Bailey gets some style points with the grab. (Photo: Charles Swabey)

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

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

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

Fin Bailey Racing for SMS at a Bill Koch Youth Ski League race at Prospect Mountain in Woodford, VT. (Photo: Charles Swabey)

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

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

Finn Bailey racing alongside the author, Ollie Swabey from Williamstown, Mass., who will join the Bowdoin College Ski Team as a first year next month. (Photo: Charles Swabey)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fin Bailey and Jack Lange cool off in Little Hosmer Pond after a NENSA roller-ski race earlier this summer at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: Phillip Belena)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friends Jack Lange (Dartmouth), Wyatt Teaford (Bates) and Fin Bailey (UVM / SMST2) keeping it fun during a summer training session. (Photo: Courtesy Photo)

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

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

Lots of hard work has been logged and laughs had this summer in and around Stratton and Peru, Vermont. (Photo: Courtesy Photo)

2023 Cross Country World Ski Championships Team Announced

Chris Grover — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 21:57:43 +0000

U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced the 18 athletes of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team that will compete at the 2023 FIS Cross Country World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia, Feb. 22 – March 6, 2023.

Jessie Diggins (USA) competing in the 2021 FIS World Cross Country Ski Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. Diggins will be one of the team veterans leading the charge at the upcoming 2023 World Championships in Planica, Slovenia. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

The 2023 World Championships will take place in the Julian Alps at the Planica Festival Arena, a venue that features both cross country and ski jumping venues. Throughout the 12 days of competition, more than 2,500 athletes and staff members from more than 60 countries will be present.

“We are very excited to bring this group of talented athletes to the World Championships in Planica,” said U.S. Cross Country Program Director, Chris Grover. “We will be arriving at the World Championships with a lot of momentum after finishing the previous period of World Cup with multiple podiums and a ranking of third overall in the World Cup Nation’s Cup. We also will be bringing a very experienced and knowledgeable staff that is dedicated to helping these athletes achieve peak performances at the Championships. Planica has been one of our favorite venues over the years and we are really looking forward to coming back to the Julian Alps.”

Perennial contender, Rosie Brennan (USA) approaches the 2023 World Championships riding a wave of momentum that sees her ranked fourth in the current overall World Cup standings. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

For the women, three-time Olympic medalist and four-time World Championship medalist Jessie Diggins, who has landed on the podium seven times in the 2022-23 season alone, leads the women’s team. Along with Diggins are veteran Rosie Brennan, who had a career-best Tour de Ski finish in fourth place overall and several top-10 results; Julia Kern who has nine top-10 finishes this season alone; and Olympians Hailey Swirbul, Novie McCabe, and Sophia Laukli. New to the World Championship roster is young but talented athletes Alayna Sonnesyn and Sydney Palmer-Leger.

Teammates Ben Ogden and JC Schoonmaker after completing the Team Sprint in Beijing. They will be two of the young Americans representing the USA in the 2023 FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships in Planica, Slovenia. (Photo: Nat Hertz)

On the men’s side, Ben Ogden leads the charge. Ogden has found abundant success in the 2022-23 season, highlighted by a 13th-place finish at the Tour de Ski – the best-ever finish by a U.S. male. 2022 Winter Olympians Scott Patterson, JC Schoonmaker, Kevin Bolger, Luke Jager, and Gus Schumacher made the roster after finding their speed among the strong World Cup field. Zak Ketterson, Hunter Wonders, Johnny Hagenbuch, and David Norris will also travel to Slovenia; Patterson, Schumacher, and Wonders have consistently scored World Cup points throughout the 2022-23 season.

Planica will host six races, each playing to the various individual strengths of the U.S. team. The classic sprint on Feb. 23 will kick it off, followed by the men’s and women’s skiathlon on the 24th and 25th, the team sprint on Feb. 26, women’s 10k freestyle on Feb 28, men’s 15k on March 1, women’s 4x5k team relay on March 2, and the men’s 4x10k relay March 3. The World Champs will culminate with the 30k and 50k classic mass start on March 4 and 5.

All events will stream LIVE on the skiandsnowboard.live platform, with live commentary from five-time Winter Olympian Kikkan Randall and Chad Samela, who is known for his “HERE COMES DIGGINS” call at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Jessie Diggins and Team USA after her Olympic silver medal performance in the 30 k mass start skate in Zhangjiakou, China. American skiing is known for team unity and mutual support, traits likely to be on display at the 2023 World Championships in Planica, Slovenia. (Photo: NordicFocus)

2023 FIS CROSS COUNTRY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM

(Name, hometown, ski club/school, birthday, past World Championship teams)

*Denotes first World Championships team

Women

Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Ski Nordic Center; 12/21/88; 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021)
Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 8/26/91; 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021)
Julia Kern (Waltham, Mass.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 9/12/97; 2019, 2021)
Sophia Laukli (Yarmouth, Maine; University of Utah; 6/8/00; 2021)
Hailey Swirbul (Aspen, Colo.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center; 7/10/98; 2021)
*Novie McCabe (Winthrop, Wash.; Methow Valley Nordic Team/University of Utah; 12/15/01)
*Alayna Sonnesyn (Stratton, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School, 6/22/96)
*Sydney Palmer-Leger (Park City, Utah; Stratton Mountain School/University of Utah; 2/4/2002)

Men

Ben Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team/University of Vermont; 2/13/00; 2021)
Scott Patterson (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center; 1/28/92; 2019, 2021)
JC Schoonmaker (Tahoe City, Calif; Sugar Bowl Ski Team and Academy; 8/12/00; 2021)

Kevin Bolger (Minocqua, Wisc.; Sun Valley Gold Team; 4/11/93; 2019, 2021)
Hunter Wonders (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center; 8/7/98; 2021)
David Norris (Fairbanks, Alaska; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club; 12/12/90; 2019, 2021)
Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Winter Stars; 7/25/00; 2021)
*Luke Jager (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center/University of Utah; 1/17/00)
*Zak Ketterson (Bloomington, Minn; Team Birkie 4/2/97)
*Johnny Hagenbuch (Ketchum, ID.; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, 10/1/01)

COMPETITION SCHEDULE

2023 FIS Cross Country Ski World Championships—Planica, Slovenia

Thursday, Feb. 23

6:00 a.m. ET – Sprint Qualification, Classic, Men’s and Women’s

8:30 a.m. ET – Sprint Finals, Classic, Men’s and Women’s

Friday, Feb. 24

9:30 a.m. ET – 30k Skiathlon, Classic/Skate, Men’s

Saturday, Feb. 25

8:00 a.m. ET – 15k Skiathlon, Classic/Skate, Women’s

Sunday, Feb. 26

5:30 a.m. ET – Team Sprint, Skate, Men’s and Women’s

Tuesday, Feb. 28

6:30 a.m. ET – 10k, Skate, Women’s

Wednesday, March 1

6:30 a.m. ET – 15k, Skate, Men’s

Thursday, March 2

6:30 a.m. ET – 4x5k Relay, Classic/Skate, Women’s

Friday, March 3

6:30 a.m. ET – 4x10k Relay, Classic/Skate, Men’s

Saturday, March 4

6:00 a.m. ET – 30k, Classic, Women’s

Sunday, March 5

6:00 a.m. ET – 50k, Classic, Men’s

US World Junior Championship/U23 Teams Named Following Nationals in Houghton

Ben Theyerl — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 20:14:58 +0000

The 2019 U20 World Juniors 4 x 5 k relay first place team from the U.S. All the members of the 2019 team have qualified for U23 World Championships. (Photo: JWSC2019 / Mikaela Takala)

Following a record-setting number of athletes competing in the U.S. Nationals in Houghton last week— over 400 skiers from across the US made the trip to the Copper Country—US Ski and Snowboard has announced the selections for the US World Junior and U23 Championships, to be held in Whistler, British Columbia from January 28th-February 4th. Athlete selections have also been announced for the U18 Nordic Nation’s Cup Trip, to be held in Jyvaskyla, Finland February 17th-19th.

The sheer number of competitors at US Nationals, along with a continued trend towards more competition to make one of US Ski and Snowboard’s Development trips is a “sign that we’re continuing in the right direction,” said US Ski and Snowboard Cross Country Development Director Bryan Fish. “The showing from our U23 athletes on the World Cup to the number of U18 skiers that are competitive to make the [Nordic Nation’s Cup] trip is a sign of not only strength, but crucially, depth in our development system.”

Fish added that the competition at US Nationals—as well as diversity of clubs and regions where skiers are coming from—drives home a clear message: “If there’s one thing that we’re doing right [in US Skiing],” he said, “it’s that we’re working together.”

The 2023 Women’s Senior field rolls out during the 20 k Classic Mass Start. (Photo: FasterSkier)

U23 Team

FIS World U23 Ski Championships will take place in Whistler, British Columbia from January 28th-February 4th. The following skiers have qualified to compete in those championships:

Male	J.C. Schoonmaker (University of Alaska – Anchorage) Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars) Luke Jager (University of Utah) Zanden McMullen (APU Nordic Ski Center) John Steel Hagenbuch (Dartmouth College) Qualified but declined: Ben Ogden (University of Vermont/SMS T2)
Female	Sophia Laukli (University of Utah) Novie McCabe (University of Utah) Sydney Palmer-Leger (University of Utah) Anabel Needham (Michigan Tech.) Kendall Kramer (University of Alaska – Fairbanks)

JC Schoonmaker during this year’s Tour de Ski. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

World Juniors Team

The FIS World Junior Ski Championships will take place from January 28th-February 4th, 2023 in Whistler, British Columbia.

Male

Adrik Kraftson (Northern Michigan University)
Anders Weiss (Montana State University)
Max Kluck (Bridger Ski Foundation)
Jack Lange (Dartmouth College)
Jack Conde (Montana State University)
Qualified but declined: Tabor Greenberg (Green Mountain Valley School)

Alternates: Luka Riley (University of Colorado), Trey Jones (Steamboat Springs Winter Sport)

Female

- Samantha Smith (Sun Valley)
- Nina Schamberger (Summit Nordic Ski Club)
- Haley Brewster (University of Vermont)
- Ava Thurston (Dartmouth College)
- Rose Horning (Ski and Snowboard Club Vail)
- Hattie Barker (University of New Hampshire)
Alternates: Greta Hansen (Minneapolis Ski Club), Emma Reeder (Dartmouth College)

Gus Schumacher with US Ski Team D-Team Greta Anderson and Bernie Nelson following his win in the 10 k Classic at 2020 World Juniors in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. (photo: courtesy Greta Anderson)

The FIS World U23 Ski Championships are in North America! Thinking of going to watch the best skiers of tomorrow, today, in-person? Check out Whistler’s guide to Nordic skiing here!

U18 Nordic Nation’s Cup Team

The US delegation to the Nordic Nation’s Cup will compete in Jyvaskyla, Finland from February 17th-19th.

Male	Tabor Greenberg (Green Mountain Valley School) Benjamin Barbier (Steamboat Springs Winter Sport) Finegan Bailey (Stratton Mountain School) Owen Young (Alaska Winter Stars) Landon Wyatt (Bridger Ski Foundation) Davis Isom (Minneapolis Ski Club) Alternates: Murphy Kimball (Alaska Winter Stars), Justin Lucas (APU Nordic Ski Center)
Female	Samantha Smith (Sun Valley) Nina Schamberger (Summit Nordic Ski Club) Rose Horning (Ski and Snowboard Club Vail) Ally Wheeler (Casper Nordic) Sydney Drevlow (Loppet Nordic Race) Neve Gerard (Mt. Bachelor) Alternates: Lena Poduska (Jackson Hole), Delaney Jackson (Mt. Bachelor)

The U18 Nations Cup team poses with the flag in Otepaa, Estonia. Bottom row (from left to right): Annie McColgan (Mt Bachelor SEF), Kate Oldham (AVSC), Charlotte Ogden (SMS), Abigail Streinz (Craftsbury), Adriana Proffitt (Alaska Nordic Racing), Nina Seeman (SMS); Top row: Lane Myshrall (PCSS), Will Koch (SMS), Brian Bushey (GMVS), Michael Earnhart (Alaska Nordic Racing), Joshua Valentine (GMVS), Kai Mittelsteadt (Bridger SF). (Photo: Jane Mittelsteadt)

Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff for World Juniors/U23

Full Points List

Selection Criteria

The selection criteria for World Juniors, U23, and U18 are primarily based off objective criteria, with some room for subjective discretion based on the desire of US Ski and Snowboard to fill their FIS allotment for the competition – which currently stands at 8 athletes per gender for World Junior/U23 Ski Championships, with four starting spots/gender allotted for each race. The objective criteria is primarily based on results in three different competitions: 1) the World Cup, 2) FIS points, 3) US Nationals.

Full selection criteria can be found here.

Summary on how those three qualification different pathways work:

World Cup—A top 30 individual result during Period I of the World Cup (Ruka through Davos, this year) automatically qualifies an athlete for the World U23 or World Juniors team. This is a pathway primarily used by U23 athletes who are racing Period I of the World Cup.
FIS points—two results in FIS races that earn below 50 points for men, or 50 points for women, during the same period as Period I of the World Cup also serves as an automatic qualifier. This is also a pathway primarily used by U23 athletes, but one used by those who are on the SuperTour during Period I.
US Nationals—top two of three results at the 2023 US Cross-Country Ski Championships in Houghton, using the old World Cup point system (read how that works here), are counted towards the points total for selection. This pathway is primarily used by athletes qualifying for World Juniors. It is also the only pathway for athletes qualifying for the U18 Nordic Nation’s Trip.

US U23 Team member Sophia Laukli recently stepped onto a World Cup podium for the first time after cresting the Alpe di Cermis in 3rd place at the 2023 Tour de Ski. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

Selection Analysis

The selection criteria for U23 and World Juniors has not seen broad change for some time, but what has changed recently is just how many U23 skiers are now qualifying for the U23 Championships based on their World Cup results. Of the male contingent representing the US this year in Whistler, nearly the entire team qualified based off World Cup results, with Ben Ogden notably declining the spot he earned based on his seven top 30 individual results during the qualifying period this season. Gus Schumacher, JC Schoonmaker, and Luke Jager also qualified via the World Cup on the Men’s side, while Sophia Laukli and Novie McCabe did so on the Women’s side.

The fact that the best U23 athletes in the country are racing—and doing well—on the World Cup just reiterates something that US ski fans have been able to see for some time. This is an extraordinarily talented group of athletes able to compete at high levels at younger ages than previous generations of American skiers. That spells out progress for the US skiing development system, but what will follow from are implications on a domestic circuit that has typically centered around US Nationals as the primary means of qualifying for Junior World Championship teams. With a number of high-level skiers choosing to race in Houghton last week, it’s clear that Nationals still is an important part of the ski calendar, but this aspect of the competition is likely to be diminished as the US sees more skiers performing well on the World Cup.

One of the other unique aspects of the “trips” qualification this year is that the World U23/Junior Championships are in North America. Junior Worlds competitions so often are staged in Europe that US Ski and Snowboard has always designed its junior programming with that assumption, and with the goal of acquainting young American skiers with the travel and competition demands of competing in a primarily European sport. With Whistler being an exception to the rule for World Juniors, the U18 Nordic Nation’s Cup (to be held in Jyvaskyla, Finland) is the sole opportunity for young skiers to head to Europe to compete. It’s also worth noting that this U18 trip did not happen last year, as the Nordic Nation’s Cup was part of the wave of COVID cancellations that interrupted the European calendar last January.

Those two factors have combined to produce an unusually high number of World Juniors skiers choosing to either also race the U18 Nordic Nation’s Cup or race the Nordic Nation’s Cup instead of going to World Juniors in Whistler. That could strike some as odd at first, but there is plenty of individualized thought affecting when and where U18 skiers that are already qualifying for World Juniors should be first getting international experience, and how to balance individual goals with more domestic goals, such as doing well at Junior Nationals, in a way that captures their desires and goals in the sport.

The U.S. women’s relay after taking a historic third in the 4 x 3.3 k relay at 2017 Junior World Championships on Sunday at Soldier Hollow in Midway Utah, with (from left to right) Hannah Halvorsen, Julia Kern, Katharine Ogden, and Hailey Swirbul. (Photo: U.S. Ski Team/Tom Kelly)

1/16/23 Correction: A previous version of this article reported Ben Ogden’s club as just Stratton Mountain School T2. Ogden is also a part of the University of Vermont Ski Team.

2022-23 U.S. Cross Country Team Announced

FasterSkier — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:41:51 +0000

By Tom Horrocks

October, 17 2022

(Left to right) Cross Country Program Director Chris Grover, Kevin Bolger, Scott Patterson, Gus Schumacher, Luke Jager, and head coach Matt Whitcomb all return to the 2022-23 U.S. Cross Country Team to kick off the season next month in Ruka, Finland.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard is proud to name 22 athletes to the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team for the 2022-23 season. The 2022-23 team includes those active athletes who qualified based on the published selection criteria in the prior season.

“Over the course of the year, the coaching staff has been continually impressed by the dedication, professionalism, and preparedness of this amazing group of athletes, and we’re so excited to see what they can do this season,” said U.S. Cross Country Team Directory Chris Grover.

Three-time Olympic medalist Jessie Diggins, and two-time Olympians Rosie Brennan and Scott Patterson return to lead the team into the 2023 World Championship season. Joining Diggins, Brennan, and Patterson on the A Team are 2022 Olympians JC Schoonmaker, Julia Kern, Novie McCabe, and Ben Ogden.

The B Team includes 2022 Olympians Hailey Swirbul, Sophia Laukli, Gus Schumacher, Kevin Bolger, and Luke Jager. John Steel Hagenbuch and Hunter Wonders move from the D-Team to the B Team, and Zak Ketterson re-joins the national team program as a member of the B Team for the 2022-23 season. Finn O’Connell joins the B Team for the first time after finishing fourth in the overall 2021-22 SuperTour standings, which included nine individual top-10 results.

The 2022-23 Development Team includes returning team athletes Sydney Palmer-Leger – the 2020-21 NCAA Champion – and Zanden McMullen. New Development Team athletes include Samantha Smith – who recently represented Team USA at the U-17 Women’s Soccer World Cup in India – Will Koch, Michael Earnhart, and Walker Hall.

The 2022-23 FIS Cross Country World Cup season is scheduled to kick off with races in Ruka, Finland Nov. 25-27. The 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships are scheduled for Feb. 21 through March 5 in Planica, Slovenia.

2022-23 U.S. Cross Country Team
(Hometown; Club; Birthdate)

A TEAM
Women

Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Ski Nordic Center; 12/21/88)
Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 8/26/91)
Julia Kern (Waltham, Mass.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 9/12/97)
Novie McCabe (Winthrop, Wash.; Methow Valley Nordic Team/University of Utah; 12/15/01)

Men

Ben Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team/University of Vermont; 2/13/00)
Scott Patterson (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center; 1/28/92)
JC Schoonmaker (Tahoe City, Calif; University of Alaska Anchorage/Sugar Bowl Ski Team and Academy; 8/12/00)

B TEAM
Women

Sophia Laukli (Yarmouth, Maine; University of Utah; 6/8/00)
Hailey Swirbul (Aspen, Colo.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center; 7/10/98)

Men

Kevin Bolger (Minocqua, Wisc.; Sun Valley Gold Team; 4/11/93)
John Steel Hagenbuch (Ketchum, Idaho; Sun Valley Gold Team; 10/1/2001)
Luke Jager (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center/University of Utah; 1/17/00)
Zak Ketterson (Bloomington, Minn; Team Birkie/Northern Michigan University; 4/2/97)
Finn O’Connell (Bozeman, Mont.; Bridger Ski Foundation; 6/26/1998)
Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Winter Stars; 7/25/00)
Hunter Wonders (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center; 8/7/98)

DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Women

Sydney Palmer-Leger (Park City, Utah; Sun Valley Gold Team/University of Utah; 2/4/2002)
Sammy Smith (Boise, Idaho; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 9-22-2005)

Men

Michael Earnhart (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center; 8-11-2002)
Walker Hall (Winthrop, Wash.; Methow Valley Nordic Team/University of Utah; 6-11-2002)
Will Koch (Peru, Vermont; Stratton Mountain School T2/University of Colorado; 2-21-2002)
Zanden McMullen (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center/Montana State University; 5/31/2001)

Cross Country Coaches and Staff

Cross Country Program Director: Chris Grover
Head Coach: Matt Whitcomb
World Cup Coach: Jason Cork
D Team Coach: Kristen Bourne
Development Team Coach: Greta Anderson
Cross Country Sport Development Manager: Bryan Fish
Cross Country Sport Coordinator: Adam St. Pierre
Cross Country Communications Manager: Tom Horrocks

Service Staff

Head of Service: Oleg Ragilo
World Cup Service: Bjørn Heimdal
World Cup Service: Tim Baucom
World Cup Service: Eli Brown
World Cup Service: Chris Hecker
World Cup Service: Karel Kruuser

2022-23 FIS World Cup Schedule
2022-23 National Nordic Foundation SuperTour Schedule

Follow the U.S. Cross Country Team:
Instagram: @usskiteam
Facebook: @usskiandsnowboard
TikTok: @usskiandsnowboard
Twitter: @usskiteam

Q&A with New Faces on the U.S. Ski Team: Will Koch

Ella Hall — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 15:51:56 +0000

U.S. Ski & Snowboard recently announced its U.S. Ski Team nominations for the 2022-23 season. Of the 22 athletes named to the team this season, six were not on the previous year’s roster, either newly named or renamed: Michael Earnhart, Walker Hall, Zak Ketterson, Will Koch, Finn O’Connell, and Sammy Smith.

To help fans get to know these new(er) faces, FasterSkier is doing a series of interviews, providing insights into the factors that have contributed to development, progress, and growth for these athletes last season. In this installment, we talk with Will Koch following his nomination to the U.S. Ski Team on its D-Team.

Koch grew up in Vermont and is now a member of the University of Colorado Ski Team, where he will be entering his junior year this coming fall. Son of Olympic Silver-Medalist, Bill Koch, Will began his racing career in the New England program named after his father (the Bill Koch League) and attended high school at Stratton Mountain School.

During the 2019/20 ski season, Koch qualified to compete at the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland where he earned a bronze medal in the 10 k classic. In 2022, racing at World Juniors in Lygna, Norway Koch finished 13th in the 10 k classic, 15th in the skate sprint, and anchored the 4×5 k relay team, helping to secure bronze for Team USA.

Ella Hall/Faster Skier: Can you give us a little introduction, where are you from? When did you start skiing? What was your relationship with skiing growing up?

Will Koch: I’m from Peru, Vermont, which is a tiny little town in Southern Vermont, just like 80 people as a population. And I’ve been living there since I was two years old. I got into skiing when I was super young, because my dad was a professional ski racer, Bill Koch. So I actually started skiing before I was even able to walk – nine months old on a beach in Hawaii was my first time on skis. Since then, I’ve just been pretty much training.

I grew up in a really vibrant ski community: starting as a youth, then Stratton Mountain School for my high school years, and now I’m at University of Colorado at Boulder. And this is my first year on the [U.S. Ski Team]. So that’s super exciting.

A young Will Koch hitting his stride in a junior race. (Courtesy photo)

FS: As the daughter of a three-time Olympian I can maybe relate to the potential challenges of being the child of a successful ski racer… so acknowledging that, can you talk a little bit about your dad’s role in your skiing career?

WK: I definitely get that question quite a bit about like, you know, is it stressful or pressure to have your dad being like, Olympian and everything. Honestly, I think that my dad does a really good job of not having expectations for me, which is really nice. My dad totally recognizes that skiing is awesome and everything, but that there’s a lot more to life than skiing at the same time. He’s very much left the coaching to my actual coaches, but at the same time, he’s always there to give advice when I want it.

He’s obviously like, been there, done that with everything that I’m given going through in terms of skiing, so I think it’s really inspiring to have a person like that always around when I need it, but it’s really awesome that it doesn’t feel like a burden. It’s really an opportunity.

Will Koch competing at a junior race in New England (Courtesy photo)

FS: How was the transition from high school at Stratton Mountain School (SMS) to college skiing at the University of Colorado (CU)? Both in terms of training but also general life changes? What drew you to CU?

WK: One of the biggest reasons that I wanted to go out west for college was that I loved the mountains out west. And I also really liked the people out there. I think they’re super open and fun. I also think that being at a PAC 12 conference school comes with certain advantages as far the resources available in the athletic departments. On top of that, I think CU had a really top level nordic team compared to certain schools that I was looking at. So those were all factors that made me want to go out there, and I definitely never regretted that choice once I was up there. I’ve been loving it for my two years, it’s a lot of fun. [There’s] a really good mix on the ski team, I think, of having fun, but also being serious about training.

I’d say, as far as training, transitioning from high school to college one difference was the altitude. When I first went up to altitude in Boulder, and was training up there, I really thought that I could just keep doing exactly the same volume and workouts that I was doing in Stratton. But I put myself in a little bit of a hole when I first got out there, and then learned from that and realized that it’s a little more taxing on the body. But once I dialed it back, training wise, I was able to get some real fitness benefits from the altitude. Now that I’ve been out there for two years, I was able to have a really good fitness year this past season and [make] kind of a breakthrough in my skiing. I think part of that is being in altitude and building fitness with a really strong team.

In general, I found that the college schedule allowed me to have more flexibility in terms of when I trained and it’s easier to do two sessions a day in college compared to high school, just because you spend a little bit less time in the classroom. You have a little more flexibility in how you structure your day.

The junior men’s podium for the 2022 Senior Nationals 15k interval start classic in Soldier Hollow: Alexander Maurer (CU) took the win ahead of Walker Hall (UU) in second and Will Koch (CU) in third. (Photo: John McColgan)

FS: By my count you’ve been on five different international racing trips, including the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). What were some of the highlights from those experiences, particularly in terms of how they supported your development and goals?

WK: Yeah, of all the international trips I’ve been on, definitely the Youth Olympics stands out as the coolest one and the most memorable. YOG is pretty different from World Juniors, in terms of it’s a fair amount less intense, I would say and more about having fun. And yet, even though it’s less intense, it’s the same level of competition, either way, you’re up against the best people in the world.

I think that’s what I really loved about the Youth Olympics, it was fun to win the medal there and everything, but it was also mainly just a really cool experience. That was my first time meeting people from a lot of different countriesI still have my friends from Kazakhstan and Australia from the Youth Olympics, which I love. And, of course, that was also before COVID was really a thing, that was also a time when we were able to do a little bit more socializing on international trips.

I think that those [international] trips are really crucial in development, just to really see that next level of competition that you’re going to be up against, and to really see that every second counts. In the Youth Olympics race where I got my bronze, it was two seconds between me and second place, and I was about five seconds from being back in eighth place. It was just ridiculous how tight it was. That just kind of goes to show how you really need to be thinking about getting those small gains where you can, and that the rest of the competition in the world is out there doing the same thing.

FS: So you’ve just been named to the U.S. Ski Team D-Team, can you reflect on how that feels and maybe what is most exciting to you about this opportunity?

WK: It’s definitely pretty validating to be named after being kind of on the edge for a few years now. It’s exciting. At the same time, though, it’s also basically almost the same training group that I’ve been training with for years, now that me, Walker [Hall] and Michael [Earnhart] are all on there.

Being at my first US Ski Team camp (in Bend), I was kind of looking around, and I was like, Hey, this is really not that different from NTG, three years ago, when we all first made that. So it’s really cool to see how we all progress together. I’d say, making the team, it’s nice and everything, but it’s also really just one more step in development that we’re all taking together, which is really fun.

At World Juniors in Lygna, Norway- a psyched American team congratulates anchor Will Koch, securing bronze in the U20 4×5 k relay. (Ella Hall photo)

FS: What are some of your goals for the upcoming ski season?

WK: I would love to make a debut on the World Cup if that worked out. It’s obviously a really competitive scene right now for Team USA to make it there, and getting picked is by no means guaranteed. I think that’d be a really good next level experience to have. I’d also like to get on the podium at NCAA’s.

FS: Sounds like you made it out to Bend for the annual spring U.S. Ski Team camp there, and now are you back with SMS. What does the rest of your summer/fall look like?

WK: For the rest of the summer, I will be in Stratton training with the SMS T2 team. It’s pretty exciting, because we should have a lot of really fast guys on the US Ski Team coming out here to join our training group, which I think will be awesome, having grown up in Vermont, to get to show a bunch of people how we do it over here. I’ll be here until mid-August and then go back to Colorado and start school and training with the CU Ski Team.

The 2021/2022 SMS T2 Team. Back row (l – r): Ian Torchia, Ben Ogden, Bill Harmeyer, and Will Koch; front row: Alayna Sonnesyn, Julia Kern, head coach Pat O’Brien, Lina Sutro, Katharine Ogden, and Jessie Diggins. (Photo: SMS T2 Blog)

Q&A with New Faces on the U.S. Ski Team: Walker Hall

Rachel Perkins — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 15:14:16 +0000

Walker Hall was named to the 2022-23 U.S. Cross-Country D-Team. (Photo: U.S. Ski & Snowboard)

To help fans get to know these new(er) faces, FasterSkier is doing a series of interviews, providing insights into the factors that have contributed to development, progress, and growth for these athletes last season. In this installment, we talk with 20-year-old Walker Hall, who was named to the D-Team this season. Hall grew up immersed in the Methow Valley cross-country ski community and is now entering his sophomore year at the University of Utah.

While the Methow has produced a number of outstanding skiers, including Brian Gregg, Erik Bjornsen, and Sadie Bjornsen Maubet, Hall could find inspiration even closer to home. His mom, Leslie, skied in three Olympic Games between 1988 and 1994, and her best friend and training partner post-professional racing soon became two-time Olympian Laura McCabe, once both women relocated to Winthrop, WA. Still close friends, Walker and Novie McCabe are just six months apart in age, and began tagging along from their infancy on their moms’ training and outdoor endeavors. Both athletes, now U.S. Ski Teammates, developed on the Methow Valley Nordic Team, coached by their mothers.

Methow Valley Nordic Team coaches and Olympians Laura McCabe (left) and Leslie Hall (right) bring Novie and Walker, now U.S. Ski Teammates, along for their training and outdoor endeavors. (Courtesy photo)

In this interview, Walker reflects on some of the other influential experiences – and setbacks – that contributed to a breakout season in 2021-22. Hall won the junior men’s 10 k during the 2022 U.S. Cross-Country Championships in Soldier Hollow, and finished in the top-five in a third of his RMISA races, including a podium performance in Sun Valley. Earning his first spot on the World Junior team, Hall competed in both the 1.2 k freestyle sprint and the 30 k skate individually, and was a contributing member of the U20 bronze medal winning relay team.

– Walker’s sister, FasterSkier assistant editor Ella Hall, contributed to these questions

FasterSkier / Rachel Perkins: You grew up in the Methow Valley, which has a strong legacy within its cross-country ski community and the number of athletes who grew up there and went on to ski professionally. But in your situation, you and Novie McCabe are only about six months apart, and your families are super close and it sounds like you both did a fair amount of tagging along for both of your moms’ training as kids. Can you talk a little bit about your introduction to skiing and what your relationship with the sport was like growing up?

Walker Hall: From as early as I can remember, probably as soon as I was capable of going on skis, that’s when I started – me and Novie both. Regardless of what we were doing, it was mostly outdoor activities, whether that was hiking or climbing or just spending time outside. Our moms would take turns, like one would take care of us while the other went and did some training or a long run or something. So I felt like I got a good training base just from everything I did outside, and started off skiing really young, and it’s always been a big part of my life.

Leslie Hall, with a young Novie McCabe and Walker Hall, share a lifelong love of the outdoors that has developed into successful ski racing careers. (Courtesy photo)

FS: I also noticed you also listed your mom as one of the most influential people in your life in your U.S. Ski Team bio, and I know she was one of your coaches with the Methow Valley Nordic Team (MVNT). Can you say more about that?

WH: She coached [MVNT] up until just this last year – she retired last season. Basically when she was done racing [professionally] and once my parents moved to the Methow in the late ’90s, she really developed the program there.

So she’s been coaching for a really long time, and she had a lot of experience. She coached when my sister was skiing, so I grew up doing what [Ella] did because she’s four years older. My mom was able to give me the support and advice and guidance that is crucial for being good at skiing, and she was not too overbearing or anything, so I think she was just a really good influence on my ski career.

FS: That type of relationship seems important – not being overbearing, but really sharing in a mutual love of the sport. Is that something that you have felt within the Methow community and within your own family?

WH: I’ve definitely felt a lot of support from different people in the Methow, whether it’s my mom or Laura [McCabe] or other people in the ski community there. I’ve always gotten the support that I’ve needed and been pushed when I needed to be, and never felt too much pressure or anything, so it’s been really good for my career in skiing.

Long-time Methow Valley Nordic Coach and 3x Olympian Leslie Hall with the members of the U18/U20 relay at 2019 Junior Nationals in Anchorage, all of whom skied for MVNT. From left to right, Travis Grialou, Garrett Butts, and Walker Hall. (Courtesy photo)

FS: Fast-forwarding a bit, in high school, you spent six months in Meråker, Norway during your junior year, and it sounds like that was a pretty formative experience for you – you had a really positive experience with that program, and the coach, and made some good friends/training partners. Can you share more about how that came about and what your time was like there?

WH: It came about because Ella did a very similar [program] her junior year; she also went to Meråker, but she went for a shorter period of time. But as I got older and learned more about the sport and the people within the sport, it seemed like Norway was the place to be to really improve and learn. Our family had some connections in that area because Ella had been there.

Once I was there, it was definitely a lot different. Coming from the Methow where there’s really not many – there’s a lot of skiers, but it’s such a small area that you’re sort of in your own little bubble. So going to Norway and just seeing the ski culture there and learning a lot about training and what the Norwegians like to do [was really beneficial], because they obviously have a really good method for juniors or whatever age you are in ski racing. I had good coaches, good training partners, and good support there as well. So I definitely learned a lot and sort of knew what I had to do when I got back to really take skiing to the next level.

FS: Was that at a sports academy? Were you going to school also?

WH: It’s actually a public high school, or it’s funded by the government, but it’s a sports school [called the Meråker videregående skole]. So we would train in the mornings until maybe 11, and then shower, eat lunch, go to class for three hours or so, and then maybe train in the afternoon. That was what it was like most days, then on the weekends, it was more on your own because it’s a school program, not a club. When we would go to races – which I didn’t go to too many races – we would go with a local club.

FS: Your sister said that the experience also inspired you to take Norwegian lessons after returning home and that you’re “decent” now. Is this true?

WH: When I was there, I definitely didn’t know that much [Norwegian]. There were two other non-Norwegian students that I took some Norwegian lessons with, just what the school provided, but I definitely never really spoke that much while I was there. I wanted to keep learning and improving [after I got back], so I’ve studied on and off since then. I’m alright at it – I’m pretty conversational, I would definitely not say I’m fluent. But it’s a fun way to stay connected with my friends over there, and some of my teammates at the University of Utah are Norwegian too, so that’s been cool.

Hall also explained that his classes in Meråker were in Norwegian, but since the group size was small, and both his teachers and classmates were helpful, he was able to get by without being fluent in the language.

FS: After graduating high school in 2020, you had planned to go back to Meråker for a gap year, but COVID got in the way of that, and plan-B ended up including a lot of time training on your own in the Methow. Can you talk about that experience and how you adjusted?

WH: I had been planning to go back to Norway, but everything was so strict with COVID [at that point], they were not letting anyone in, basically. So I was just at home and I kept trying to figure it out so that I’d be able to go over there, but it just kept not working. I kept trying, but eventually, I was just at home the whole time.

I was going to races in the winter but it definitely was not an ideal situation for me because I was doing a lot of training on my own, which, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to train on your own, but for me personally, it’s a lot easier for me to train with other people. It’s a lot more motivating, and long term, it’s a lot better to train with other people so you don’t plateau. But I just focused on racing and kept working hard and it wasn’t the worst in the end. That year was alright, but it wasn’t ideal.

Walker Hall trains with the University of Utah team in Fall 2021. (Courtesy photo)

FS: Kind of on the other end of the training group spectrum, for collegiate racing, you originally committed to Dartmouth, but later were offered a spot that opened up at the University of Utah, and made the switch as Utah had been your first choice.

WH: Yeah. Basically, I had planned on going to Dartmouth, and then COVID hit, and it was looking like life at Dartmouth with COVID was going to be a lot different than before. I had been talking to Utah [during my senior year], and they had been saying ‘oh, you should take a gap year and then we’d probably like to take you.’ So there was also a chance that I was not going to take a gap year and just go to Dartmouth, but then when that gap year happened and I got offered a spot at Utah, I just knew that that was going to be the better choice for me.

Last summer before I went to Utah, I came up here to Anchorage for most of the summer, so I was training with a lot of my future teammates. There was a big group of people up here and a good amount of Utah skiers were here, so it was a good way to prepare and it was a really good experience. There’s just such good training up here during the summer. And the winter, I’m sure.

FS: And what does that look like? Are you working with a coach or under a certain program? And how have those experiences being in Anchorage for the summer been valuable for you?

WH: I train with APU when I’m up here. That’s a really solid group to train with, coached by Erik Flora, who I really like and I’ve learned a lot from. It was a really good experience coming up last summer, and I knew I wanted to come again this summer. There’s just a lot of really hardworking people that push me and help me hit big hours, so I think it’s a good place for me to be during the summer.

FS: Going back to University of Utah – what appealed to you about that program? And what was your experience like in that first season of collegiate racing?

WH: There’s a lot [that appealed to me about it.] I knew a lot of the people on the team, and I knew it was such a strong team. I had actually been down there a couple times – or I had been in Park City for ski camps and [races], and I visited Novie for a couple of weeks [during her freshman year at Utah] and really liked it. Me and Novie have always done similar training and whatnot, so I figured if she was liking it a lot down there, then it was a good place for me also.

And I really liked the coaches. I talked a bit with Miles Havlick and Frederick [Landstedt], and I really liked what I’d seen from those guys. Since I’ve been there, it’s been a really good fit.

Xavier Mckeever in bib 10 (CAN) and Walker Hall in bib 14 (USA) head up “waffle hill” in the early stages of the men’s 30 k mass start during the 2022 Junior World Ski Championships in Lygna, NOR. (Photo: Ella Hall)

FS: World Juniors in Lygna was your first international trip, and it sounds like you had some bad luck with racing at US Nationals and/or been really close in prior years. What do you think came together for you this season to make that trip? And what were some of the highlights of that World Juniors experience in terms of how it supports your development and goals?

WH: Yeah. In previous years – maybe the past three years or so for this year – there were like two years where I was just coming off of sickness going into nationals, so I never really had the races that I wanted there, and I never ended up making any of those international trips. Which, honestly, I would have liked to go on the trips, but it never really bothered me too much – it wasn’t like demoralizing or anything – because I felt like I knew the level that I was at and that on a given day I could be as good or better than any of the trip. So it was never really too much of a bummer for me. But this year, I wanted to make it on the trip to World Juniors, and I had goals for the races at World Juniors too, it wasn’t just the trip there was the end goal. But just making it definitely felt good, and I had a really good Nationals this year, which was awesome since that’s pretty much the first time that’s happened for me.

I was super happy that the races were in Norway because I just love spending time there, and we got to do our pre-camp in Hafjell, which is right near Sjusjøen, and I’ve spent some time there – it’s [some of] the best skiing in the world. So that was super fun. And I really liked a group of guys and the entire team and staff that was there, so it was a really good experience.

FS: From the outside, it seems like you took a pretty big step forward this past year, which maybe can be attributed to having such a strong group to train with at University of Utah, or some more direction after a tough gap year. In looking back over this year, what are some of the factors that you think allowed you to take those steps forward and what were some of your personal highlights from the season? And those personal highlights do not necessarily need to be a race result, just an experience that stands out to you.

WH: I think the main factor was really taking my training to the next level. Especially over the summer [in Anchorage] and then carrying that through the fall in Utah. I was just training with a really strong group, and really pushing myself, and doing [types of training] that I hadn’t really done in the past. So definitely, a good part is thanks to that. And then also, I’ve had a lot of different experiences over the years and learning from those helps to channel some better results.

As for my highlights – this last season, I was just proud of the way that I trained and was smart with my training, and I didn’t overdo it. And it seems like it’s often hard to put together a good season like your freshman year of college because it’s such a big adjustment. So I was happy that I was able to have a solid season for the most part while going through such new experiences in my first year in college.

Walker Hall stands atop the podium in Soldier Hollow after winning the junior 10 k mass start freestyle during the 2022 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships. (Photo: John McColgan)

FS: What are your goals heading into next winter?

WH: It’s gonna be my first year not being a junior, so honestly, I don’t have too many specific goals. But I’d definitely love to race in my first World Cup this year, and just keep improving. On the college circuit, hopefully, get a bunch of podiums in RMISA. And just keep learning from my teammates and pushing with the team at Utah.

FS: Last question for you: with making the D-Team, can you share what that means to you and what you’re excited about in terms of the support and opportunity that opens up for you?

WH: It’s always seemed like probably the biggest step you can make in U.S. skiing is actually making the ski team, so it feels really good to have achieved that. I’m just now realizing the amount of support that means that I’m able to get, so I’m just taking advantage of that and learning from my other teammates on the team – taking advantage of the different opportunities that it grants me, and just enjoying the ride. But I’m definitely thrilled to have made the team.

Two Years In, the BSF Pro Team is on the Rise: An Interview with Head Coach Andy Newell

Rachel Perkins — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 10:24:56 +0000

In the spring of 2020, the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF) launched a new professional racing team, led by Andy Newell, who spent nearly two decades on the U.S. Ski Team as a staple and leader of the American men’s program. Launching early in the pandemic, the BSF Pro Team had few opportunities to show their strength in the first race season, but they came on strong in 2021-22. During U.S. Nationals in Soldier Hollow in January, the BSF Pro Team had at least one athlete in the top-10 in each race, except the men’s 30 k skate, with podium performances by Mariah Bredal in the 10-kilometer classic (3rd) and Logan Diekmann (2nd) in the 1.3 k skate sprint.

After growing up in Vermont and developing as a skier at the Stratton Mountain School, and later training with the SMS T2 elite team through most of his professional career, Newell moved to Bozeman, MT in 2018 with his wife and former SMS T2 teammate Erika Flowers, who had grown up in Bozeman and taken a job there. Both at a transitional point in their ski careers, Newell would continue to pursue World Cup skiing for another two seasons, while Flowers continued to train with her sights more focused on domestic racing.

Inside the wax cabin, Andy Newell prepares skis for his athletes during the 2022 U.S. Cross-Country Championships in Soldier Hollow, UT. (Photo: Arlin Ladue / BSF Pro Team)

Over the last four years, this transition has seen Newell race his final World Cup events and officially leave professional ski racing behind, only to launch and support the thriving BSF Pro Team, alongside his online coaching business, Nordic Team Solutions. In this interview, which took place on Friday, June 3rd, Newell provides insights into this transition from athlete to coach, while also adding behind-the-scenes details of getting the Pro Team off the ground. He also speaks to the challenges of elite training groups, their role in supporting the trajectory of U.S. skiing at the international level, and what’s in store for the BSF crew this summer.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

FasterSkier/Rachel Perkins: Starting with the timeline, in the spring of 2018, both you and Erika started to transition to ‘retirement-lite‘. And at that point, you were already talking about doing some coaching and working in athlete development. Is that when you guys moved to Bozeman? And from there, what was the evolution of your relationship with the BSF program?

Andy Newell: Well, I was actually still on the U.S. Ski Team in 2018, but we did move to Bozeman that year. I was still racing essentially full time, but at that time I started a business, Nordic Team Solutions, and with that, I launched a summer training program where I was coaching college kids, so summer of 2019 was my first year where I was kind of stepping more into a formal coaching role. Which for me felt natural because I’ve always kind of participated in and loved the whole training camp vibe.

Growing up at Stratton, Sverre [Caldwell] always had these amazing summer camps for juniors that I participated in my entire life. And then, as I became an older athlete and a U.S. Ski Team athlete, I would actually help with some of these training camps as well. And then in my years with the U.S. Ski Team, I had this program that I started calling “speed camps,” which a lot of people might remember. We would host these free clinics around the country that would coincide with the U.S. Ski Team training camp. Basically we would reach out and have a bunch of juniors come and join us for an afternoon of rollerskiing and agility courses and fun stuff like that.

So to me, it felt like a natural progression to take that a step further – once I launched the Nordic Team Solutions business, where I was running the website, to then pair that with a summer college training group. So my first year here in Bozeman, I actually ran that group independently from BSF… so I was actually not part of BSF in that first year of 2019. I was planning to race some World Cups, did race some World Cups in 2019-20, and then COVID put a quick end to our season when we were getting ready to race in Quebec and Minneapolis.

I had planned on those being my final World Cup races as a professional, to go out racing in Quebec and in Minneapolis and had spent all year preparing for those specific races. And sure enough, they were canceled. So it was like, ‘Surprise! You’re officially retired now.’ And at that point is when I signed on with Bridger Ski Foundation to be the elite team coach.

BSF Pro Team athlete Hannah Rudd races the classic sprint qualifier during a post-U.S. Nationals SuperTour event. (Photo: Arlin Ladue / BSF Pro Team)

FS: The announcement of your hiring went out in April 2020 – which kind of feels like a lifetime ago, but it also seems like it would have been a somewhat challenging time to launch a new elite team. Was the foundation already there with the BSF program or was this the onset of the elite team program?

AN: There was an elite team in 2018, but it disbanded because the coach, Rogan Brown, went on to [coach at Denver University], and there were only a handful of athletes here in Bozeman at the time. So in 2019, there was no elite team tied in with BSF, and then in 2020 when I was hired, it was essentially my job to kind of relaunch this program, and to make it a successful program.

There’s no reason why BSF should not have a successful elite team. The Bridger Ski Foundation has been around for over 70 years. It’s very well established here in Bozeman; we have a great pool of young athletes that participate in the youth skiing program – hundreds of athletes.

Andrew Morehouse was signed on as the new nordic director in 2019, and then I came on in 2020. And we shared a vision that, in order [for BSF] to be a premier club, we should have an elite team. And then basically, I had free reign to kind of do what I wanted, which I’m super grateful for – that BSF has kind of given me the ability to choose the team makeup the way I see is best, and to choose how I run the program.

We work closely with the juniors and Andrew Morehouse and the youth programs in town, so I very much have taken the model that I learned growing up at Stratton and tried to implement that here in Bozeman.

At that point [in 2020], I basically just got on the phone and started calling some different athletes that I had met or worked with through NTG camps. The US Ski Team in 2018 and 2019 would hire me to come to NTG camps or development team camps – that was part of my business as well – so I started reaching out to different athletes and mentioning to them that we were going to start a new team here in Bozeman. So I was able to recruit nine athletes initially to come to the team, which was great.

Here’s a preview of the 2021-22 BSF Pro Team. Note that one of the original 2020-21 athletes, Leah Lange, stepped back from her racing career after the team’s first season to begin coaching in Big Sky, MT.

BSF Pro Team athlete Finn O’Connell welcomes his teammate to the line during the U.S. Cross-Country Championships in Soldier Hollow, UT. (Photo: Arlin Ladue / BSF Pro Team)

FS: Can you say more about getting the team off the ground?

AN: So we launched [the Pro Team] in 2020 in the midst of COVID, which – there were so many unknowns and unique circumstances to try to convince these athletes to move to Bozeman and train here in the midst of all that was going on. And we essentially only had very unofficial racing our first season of 2020-21. Kind of a mismash of some official races, some non-official. But in hindsight, it was a nice opportunity for us to just build a team and spend a lot of time training with one another.

When you name a team like this as a coach, you have no idea what type of team culture or team vibe there’s going to be – you’re bringing all these different athletes from different colleges or different programs around the country. You want to create a team that really acts and feels like a team and you have no idea what type of form that’s going to take. So in hindsight, to have that COVID year where we just spent a lot of time training with one another, building the team here in Bozeman, was nice to lay that foundation so that we could have what was a very successful season last year in 2021-22.

FS: You’ve still got Nordic Team Solutions going on also. Has your work there shifted in any way and how do you balance your time between both of those?

AN: It has shifted in that, my first few years with NTS, I would actually hire [myself] out and go to more training camps. As I mentioned, I would help the U.S. Ski Team out with some of their NTG camps, or I would be hired by a club to go do a two or three-day training camp with them. And that has pretty much stopped, because my priority time-wise is with the BSF Pro Team. So I don’t travel so much for any other coaching duties, I mostly just travel to training camps with the BSF Team and work with them here in Bozeman.

But I do still run the website, which is a great resource for training information for ski clubs, high school coaches, college coaches, or any individual that’s looking to learn more about training. I still run that [program] on a weekly basis and in published training plans and right strength plans for various individuals.

BSF Pro Team athletes (l-r) Hannah Rudd, Mariah Bredal, and Erika Flowers celebrate Bredal’s third place finish in the 10 k classic during the 2022 U.S. Cross-Country Championships in Soldier Hollow, UT. (Photo: Arlin Ladue / BSF Pro Team)

FS: In terms of Bozeman: you spent most of your career based in Vermont, though Erika has roots in Bozeman. How have you found that setting for leading this Pro Team and what are your thoughts on the training environment there?

AN: The environment for training is fantastic here in Bozeman; we have access to mountains, access to a long season of skiing. We’re just an hour and a half away from West Yellowstone where we often have early FIS races, or we’re within driving distance of Sun Valley, Canmore, all these other places that historically have early-season racing. The rollerskiing is quite good here and there’s already a great support network within the Bridger Ski Foundation community.

What is tough, with any elite team, is the fundraising aspect. I actually rebranded it as a Pro Team for a reason, because I want these athletes to be not scraping by, but to be actually making money while pursuing their dreams of being an Olympic-level racer. I think they deserve that, and I think that’s what all professional skiers deserve in the U.S.

But it’s taken us some time to get there, and we’re not there yet. Fundraising is a huge part of my job on a yearly basis; we essentially have to fundraise from scratch all the money that it’s going to cost to travel around the country, or travel to Europe with these athletes who are making World Cup or World Championships. All the wax, all the hotels, all the logistics – all of that falls on a single program budget, basically.

And I think there’s a huge potential for that in Bozeman. Bozeman is one of the fastest-growing towns in the U.S. and there are a lot of new businesses here, so I think our fundraising potential is huge. But given the fact that we started in COVID, and we’ve only been here for two years, we’re still trying to figure that piece out. And so that’s a place where we still have room to grow.

And I would encourage anyone out there who’s reading this to realize the importance of these pro teams that we have in the country… We have Stratton, we have Craftsbury, we now have the Birkie Team, we have Sun Valley. And these clubs are essentially responsible for the development of the US Ski Team. This is the club model that we have adopted. Now, you know, it’s now been 30 years since we’ve, more or less, adopted this model. And we’re not getting any money from the U.S. Ski Team to develop these athletes. These clubs are and are all self-funded. APU is a little different since it’s tied in with the university.

Unless you have a massive endowment or some other amazing bankroll that I am not familiar with, these pro teams and elite teams are fundraising their entire budgets on a yearly basis. Every single year, you have to raise the amount of money to send these [athletes] to these races. And that’s challenging, but it’s a hugely important piece of our development, because we wouldn’t have the U.S. Ski Team that we have now – we wouldn’t have the depth or the success on the U.S. Ski Team level – if we didn’t have these clubs as feeder programs. So I think it’s important that people help support these teams.

BSF Pro Team athletes Lauren Jortberg and Logan Diekmann earn their first World Cup starts in Lahti, FIN in Mar. 2022. (Photo: BSF Pro Team)

FS: Looking back over the last few years, what are some of the indicators of success that you look at in identifying what’s going well for the program? And what are some of your objectives in terms of heading into the next few seasons?

AN: That’s a great question. The goal we have here with the Pro Team is international success, and that means I don’t bring someone onto the BSF pro team [whose only] ambitions are racing SuperTour and winning the Birkie, although those are amazing achievements. Those are, for sure, stepping stones in our development. But my goal is to put people on the U.S. Ski Team, and to qualify people for World Championships and Olympics.

So international success is what we strive for, and that’s how we measure our season, and how folks are doing. Last year alone, we had three athletes achieve their first ever national podiums in Soldier Hollow. We actually qualified four different athletes for World Cup, although two of them – Finn O’Connell and Mariah Bredal – did not get to start there because they were canceled. But both Logan Diekmann and Lauren Jortberg started their first ever World Cups, which is great. We finished the year with Logan Diekmann as the overall sprint champion on the SuperTour. Finn O’Connell was the second best ranked distance skier on the SuperTour, and he also qualified for the U.S. Ski Team [as a B-Team member]. So for us, that was a solid year, and I was very proud of the way the team performed and much of the team, if not half the team, was able to have personal bests and be called up for some type of international racing, whether that was through World Cup or Opa Cup, and that’s exactly what you know I want to do. That’s my mission: to get these kids into those big international races and have them perform well.

FS: Can you speak a little bit about the depth of the team, too? Momentum seems like an important thing with elite or pro teams. Just having that critical mass of athletes that are on the same level, or have similar objectives. Is that something that you’re seeing with the BSF crew?

AN: Yeah, absolutely. I think the phrase ‘critical mass’ is for sure something that you see with these pro teams. I mean, it’s hard to deny the Jessie Diggins/Julia Kern effect that Stratton has right now. That’s a huge draw to their program.

I think, for us, considering we started with zero members of the U.S. Ski Team on our pro team, and now we have one B-Team member – I’ve just been really excited with our success so far and how the team has stayed driven and motivated and helps push one another. That’s why I do this job – I love the team environment. That’s what I lived in my entire life; I was on the U.S. Ski Team from when I was 18 years old until I was almost 36 years old.

So the concept, the feeling of being part of a team, where people are genuinely supportive of one another you share in the training process and learning process, and you’re pushing one another, that’s the most valuable and successful scenario you can have. So I’ve been glad that we’ve somehow been able to find that nice mix of motivated individuals that genuinely get along and have fun with one another, and are able to travel the country and have put together successful race weekends.

The BSF Pro Team out for a rollerski during a June 2022 camp in Lillehammer and Sjusjøen, Norway. (Photo: BSF Pro Team)

FS: Last program question: what’s new and what’s on deck for this summer? You mentioned that you guys are heading to Norway. What other summer/fall camps or projects are you guys working?

AN: [Starting with the team roster:] so far this year, we’ve added Sarah Goble to our squad squad. She’ll be a new athlete with us next year. We also have her brother Reid Goble on the team, who has been great. I think those two have a ton of potential.

We did lose Lauren [Jortberg] to Stratton – and you know how these clubs work, it’s a very friendly exchange. I’m sure we’ll find ways to collaborate, and that’s honestly what I find a lot of value in is elite teams collaborating with one another. Last year, we did a bunch of training camps with Sun Valley [Gold Team]. We joined Stratton and Sun Valley in Lake Placid training camp. We did some camps in the Midwest where we’ve had overlap with some Birkie athletes. And so I’ll continue to do that this year.

We are scheduled to go to Norway next week for a two-week camp where we’ll be in Sjusjøen for five days, and then on Sognefjellet ski fields for five days. We’ll try to overlap with some fast foreign skiers while we’re there and try to learn from some folks over there, and we’re bringing a handful of college skiers with the Pro Team as well on that trip. After that, we’ll be back here in Bozeman for the main summer training block and that’s when we do our BSF college training group as well. That runs through the end of June and into the first week of August.

So we have a solid six-week block of training here in Bozeman, which has been the staple of the BSF program the last couple years – having this really competitive college training group. It’s been so fun to see that program grow and see the success of the college training group. The first year with BSF, we had folks like Sophia Laukli on the team, and so many talented individuals. It was great to see them develop here in Bozeman and then have such amazing seasons that winter. So we’ll continue that program where for six weeks we’ll have a team of 12 collegiate athletes that join the Pro Team on daily training all the way through August.

After the summer training group ends, we’re planning to head to the Midwest for another training camp, like we did last year. We try to get to low-altitude in August. Right now we’re looking at Marquette as our training destination, and we’ll try to collaborate with Team Birkie on some sessions out there. And then we’ll be going to Park City camp in October, like we always do, to join the many clubs from around the country and the U.S. Ski Team for their [fall] camp. And then we’ll probably get on snow early here in Montana or in BC as the snow flies.

FS: How much crossover is there between the collegiate group that you have joining in the summer and the Montana State University (MSU) program?

AN: Historically there are not many MSU kids that stay in town [over the summer]. This year I think we have two MSU kids in the college training group, so that’s great. If there are MSU athletes in town, we try to prioritize them to get them onto the team to keep them within the community. But a lot of college kids go home, whether it’s Alaska or back east or the Midwest. But we do have some good crossover and I have a good relationship with Adam St. Pierre and the university. We use their facilities all the time – we just did a round of testing on the rollerski treadmill at MSU – so it’s handy to have those types of resources nearby.

Logan Diekmann bites his medal after finishing second in the US SuperTour standings in the classic sprint in Whistler, BC during Canadian Nationals/US SuperTour finals in Mar. 2022. (Photo: BSF Pro Team)

FS: I know you’ve also got the Jim Bridger Trail Run coming up this summer, and there is a new rollerski race component. Can you share more information on that?

AN: We’re doing our first ever Jim Bridger Rollerski Race at the end of July, which is paired with our annual trail run. I’ve been working with the town of Bozeman to shut down a city block behind where the MSU campus is, and we’re going to be hosting a crit-style rollerski race on the weekend in downtown Bozeman.

We have prize money for that, and we’re getting some great sponsors on board. So that’ll be a cool event.

FS: Can you also talk about how that event supports the BSF Pro Team?

Yeah, absolutely. Like I mentioned, we as a Pro Team essentially need to raise $150,000 each year just to get the [athletes] to all the races and try to cover their expenses. That is a travel budget, a wax budget, everything – and that needs to be raised on an annual basis. For us, the Jim Bridger Trail Run is one of our biggest fundraisers.

It’s an incredible amount of work. It’s a weird part of my job to be a coach, but also an event organizer. There’s a lot of weird things that go into being a ski coach. But, if we can make the Jim Bridger event big and successful, we can actually raise a lot of money for our budget. So that’s why we put so much attention and effort into it. It’s also a good chance for us to partner with local sponsors to raise money for the Pro Team, because all proceeds from these events go directly to the Pro Team.

So historically, it’s just been a trail run, but this year I wanted to add a rollerski event for a couple reasons. One: I think it’s a huge development tool for BSF. We have so many talented youth skiers in this town. I want them to kind of be exposed to this type of high-level rollerski racing that we see in Europe. We see it all over Norway and Sweden and Germany; we need to have high-level rollerski races here in the U.S. So my secondary goal is to have this be an annual thing, where people know there’s going to be a quality rollerski race that’s super exciting to watch, fun to participate in, there’s going to be prize money and sponsors, so we can make it an annual thing and have it tied in with all the different clubs throughout the West. I’m hoping teams from Sun Valley, Park City, and all over the West will bring their athletes here to compete in this rollerski race on July 30th in downtown Bozeman.

FS: And they’re staggered, right? So people could do both theoretically?

AN: Exactly. The rollerski race is on Saturday, running races are on Sunday. The running race is 10 miles, but we also have a 5k option for the younger kids. And we have U16, U18, U20 and open class for the rollerski race. Swix and Salomon are sponsors of the event, and we’ll be getting a race rollerski fleet from Swix, so these are going to be matched rollerskis for the open men and women, so it’s going to be a legit rollerski race.

We’re hoping to livestream it too. TBD on that, but check the BSF Facebook page for live streaming.

(Press Release) FOURTEEN PARA NORDIC ATHLETES NOMINATED TO 2022 PARALYMPIC TEAM

FasterSkier — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 01:51:06 +0000

Oksana Masters crosses the finish line of a race in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

By Kristen Gowdy | Jan. 31, 2022, 6:02 p.m. (ET)

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – Following a stellar world championships performance that saw Team USA earn 13 medals in Para Nordic disciplines, U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing today announced the six women, seven men and one guide who have been nominated to compete at the Paralympic Games Beijing 2022 in March.

Veteran athletes will lead the way in Beijing as Team USA looks to build on the 16 Paralympic medals won at the Paralympic Games PyeongChang 2018. Headlined by multi-time Paralympic medalists Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky), Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Illinois) and Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kansas), the athletes nominated to the 2022 team sport a combined career total of 21 Paralympic medals. Of the 14 athletes, nine have previous Paralympic experience while five athletes will make their Paralympic debut.

“We have many athletes who thrive in these high-stakes competitions, who know what it means to represent Team USA as a Paralympian,” Eileen Carey, director of U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing, said. “We are looking to them, as well as our experienced coaching staff, to lead the newer athletes into Beijing 2022. We are motivated by the combination of experience and the high quality of our Paralympic rookies as a testament to the growth and bright future of our program; their success this Paralympic quad has shown us that we can reach new heights in March.”

A 10-time Paralympic medalist and recently crowned 10-time world champion, Masters is set to make her sixth Paralympic appearance. After winning double gold in Para-cycling at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, Masters has continued her success on the snow, earning a medal in every world cup competition in which she has competed, as well as five medals at the recent Lillehammer 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships. In Lillehammer, the multi-sport phenom earned her ninth and 10th career world championship titles and will look to put an exclamation point on her already historic 2021-22 season on the world’s biggest stage.

Gretsch, who is putting together a world-class resumé herself this season, also won gold in Tokyo in paratriathlon. She led Team USA in Lillehammer with three world championship titles and also added a silver as she looks to repeat the double gold she won in PyeongChang. The 13-time world championship medalist is headed into Beijing as a heavy favorite in the biathlon discipline, having won both titles in the Para biathlon events in which she competed in Lillehammer.

A six-time Paralympic medalist and retired Navy SEAL, Cnossen earns his third Paralympic team nomination in 2022. All six of Cnossen’s Paralympic medals came in PyeongChang, where he dominated in both cross-country skiing and biathlon. Cnossen is at his best on the Paralympic stage, where he will look to repeat his success come March.

Paralympic silver medalist Jake Adicoff (Sun Valley, Idaho) will team up with longtime friend and guide Sam Wood (Harpswell, Maine) to lead the U.S. in the men’s visually impaired class for his third Paralympic appearance. After taking several years off following his podium performance in PyeongChang, Adicoff accepted an invitation to join the team for a training camp last February, and hasn’t faltered since. He and Wood enter Beijing as one of the top podium contenders in the men’s visually impaired field. The duo have been putting together Adicoff’s best racing of his career, having recently combined for three medals – one of each color – in Lillehammer.

Paralympians Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minnesota) and Josh Sweeney (Glendale, Arizona) round out the men’s sitting class for Team USA. Pike, who recently won his second career world championship medal, a silver in the men’s individual biathlon, makes his sixth career Paralympic team. Also a prolific wheelchair racer and marathoner, Pike is peaking at the right time, having been in the podium mix in nearly all of his races this season. He is seeking his first career Paralympic medal in Beijing.

Sweeney, meanwhile, makes his first Paralympic team in Para Nordic skiing, having transitioned to the sport following a 2014 Paralympic gold medal appearance in sled hockey. The 2014 Pat Tillman Award for Service winner and retired U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant picked up skiing through the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

The final sit skiers on the 2022 roster, Erin Martin (Seattle, Washington) and Lera Doederlein (San Diego, California) are set for their Paralympic debuts. A former rock climber, Martin found Para Nordic skiing after sustaining a T4 spinal cord injury while climbing. She is also a registered nurse care manager who has served during the COVID-19 pandemic. Doederlein, meanwhile, also competes in sled hockey and Para-cycling. At just 18 years old, Doederlein, who was adopted from Russia, has found a mentor in the Ukraine-born Masters.

Standing skiers Grace Miller (Palmer, Alaska), Ruslan Reiter (Manchester, Maine) and Dani Aravich (Boise, Idaho) also bring Paralympic experience to the team. Miller and Reiter competed in PyeongChang, where Reiter’s best finish was seventh in the cross-country mixed relay, while Miller finished 10th in the 15-kilometer cross-country skiing race. Aravich made her Paralympic debut as a track and field athlete in Tokyo and along with Masters, Gretsch and Pike, will compete in her second Paralympic Games in six months.

Making their first Paralympic appearances and rounding out Team USA’s roster is standing skier Drew Shea (Vienna, Virginia), and visually impaired athlete Max Nelson (Mahtomedi, Minnesota).

Relatively new to Para Nordic skiing, Shea recently moved to Bozeman, Montana, to pursue the sport competitively with Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, his club team. A rising star in the sport, the 17-year-old Nelson made history as a high school junior last year when he became the first visually impaired Nordic skier to win an individual conference title in Minnesota.

The Paralympic Games begin on March 4, and Para Nordic skiing competition kicks off on March 5. Following record-breaking coverage of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, NBC has announced a historic broadcast schedule for its Winter Paralympic programming, which features more than 230 hours of coverage across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, the Olympic Channel, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports App. NBC’s scheduled programming also includes the first-ever Winter Paralympic Games primetime coverage.

For media requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.

2022 U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Paralympic Team

Women:

Dani Aravich, women’s standing

Lera Doederlein, women’s sitting

Kendall Gretsch, women’s sitting

Erin Martin, women’s sitting

Oksana Masters, women’s sitting

Grace Miller, women’s standing

Men:

Jake Adicoff (with guide Sam Wood), men’s visually impaired

Dan Cnossen, men’s sitting

Max Nelson, men’s visually impaired

Aaron Pike, men’s sitting

Ruslan Reiter, men’s standing

Drew Shea, men’s standing

Josh Sweeney, men’s sitting

(Press Release) 2022 Junior, U23 World Championships Cross Country Teams Announced

FasterSkier — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 22:19:20 +0000

By U.S. Ski & Snowboard

January 25, 2022

U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced 24 athletes to represent the United States at the FIS Junior & U23 World Cross Country Championships Feb. 22-27 in Lygna, Norway.

“Following a year filled with constant changes, I am so pleased to see a team fielded with such depth among our roster,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Cross Country Development Coach Greta Anderson. “We have several spots on this team that were declined because of athletes who are headed to the Olympic Games next week. This progress speaks volumes about our upcoming athletes’ ability not only to adapt but to thrive in uncertain environments and seize opportunities when they present themselves. We are taking this team to Norway, the ‘homeland’ of skiing, and cannot wait to see what they can do at the Championship.”

The following athletes have been selected to represent the United States at the upcoming FIS U23 and Junior World Nordic Championships.

Zanden McMullen races a skate pursuit in Ruka, Finland in November, 2021. (Photo: NordicFocus)

U23 World Championship Team

Women

Abigail Jarzin (University of Utah/Salt Lake City, Utah)
Lucinda Anderson (University of New Hampshire/Golden Valley, Minnesota)
Anabel Needham (Michigan Tech University/Houghton, Michigan)
Rena Schwartz (Dartmouth Ski Team/Middlesex, Vermont)
Novie McCabe (University of Utah/Winthrop, Wash.) **
Sophia Laukli (University of Utah/Yarmouth, Maine) **

Men

Zanden McMullen (Montana State University/Anchorage, Alaska)
John Steel Hagenbuch (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation/Ketchum, Idaho)
Noel Keeffe (University of Utah/Steamboat Springs, Colorado)
JC Schoonmaker (University of Alaska Anchorage/Tahoe City, Calif.)**
Benjamin Ogden (University of Vermont/Landgrove, Vermont)**
Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars/Anchorage, Alaska)**
Luke Jager (University of Utah/Anchorage, Alaska)**

Sydney Palmer-Leger races a sprint qualifier in Davos in December, 2021. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Junior World Championship Team

Women

Sydney Palmer-Leger (University of Utah/Park City, Utah)
Kate Oldham (Aspen Valley Ski Club/Carbondale, Colorado)
Nina Seemann (Dartmouth Ski Team/Craftsbury, Vermont)
Nina Schamberger (Summit Nordic Ski Club/Leadville, Colorado)
Samantha Smith (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation/Sun Valley, Idaho)
Annie McColgan (University of Vermont/Bend, Oregon)

Men

Finn Sweet (University of Vermont/Waterbury, Vermont)
Will Koch (University of Colorado/Peru, Vermont)
Michael Earnhart (APU Nordic Ski Center/Eagle River, Alaska)
Brian Bushey (University of Utah/Waitsfield, Vermont)
Walker Hall (University of Utah/Winthrop, Wash.)
Alexander Maurer (University of Colorado/Anchorage, Alaska)

** – Denotes a ‘Decline’ of their respective spot on the team roster due to scheduling conflicts between the Olympic Winter Games & NCAA Regional Championships

(Press Release) Rémi Drolet and Olivia Bouffard added to Beijing 2022 cross-country skiing team

FasterSkier — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 22:43:38 +0000

CANMORE (January 21, 2022) – Team Canada will now have five women and four men on the cross-country skiing start line as Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt and Rémi Drolet are heading to Beijing for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.) and Drolet (Rossland, B.C.) were the final two athletes nominated by Nordiq Canada to the Canadian Olympic Committee after an additional two quota spots were handed down to Canada by International Ski Federation (FIS) following a reallocation process.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Remi and Olivia to test themselves on the ultimate stage while having the opportunity to realize their Olympic dream,” said Stéphane Barrette, Chief Executive Officer, Nordiq Canada. “Gaining two additional quota spots allows Nordiq Canada to deepen our high-performance program by having more athletes on the start line competing against the world’ best.”

Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt striding into a skiathlon time trail at Sovereign Lake on January 23rd, 2022. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

The 29-year-old Bouffard Nesbitt, who is a former National Ski Team member, was named first alternate for Canada’s cross-country ski team after placing second in the skate-sprint qualifier before going onto finish third in the head-to-head heats at Nordiq Canada’s Olympic Trials earlier this month.

“Getting this confirmation was a huge moment for me and, quite honestly, overwhelming validation of years of hard work,” said Bouffard Nesbitt. “This journey has required patience and persistence through a lot of ups and downs, but the belief this was possible never wavered. I am so grateful to all of those who have invested in me. It was the most amazing feeling to call all of those people and tell them we made it happen. I’m so grateful. I’m so happy and I’m going to race my heart out with the team in Beijing for all of Canada.”

Drolet, one of the top young prospects in the Canadian men’s program, earned his alternate spot following a second-place finish in the 15-kilometre classic cross-country ski race at the Trials. The 21-year-old Drolet skied the anchor leg of Canada’s historic silver medal-winning relay team at the 2020 Junior World Ski Championships.

Rémi Drolet races the 50km freestyle during the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

“When I found out I would be getting an Olympic spot I was overjoyed, and it was incredibly relieving,” said Drolet. “Making it to Beijing has been a dream goal of mine for the past four years so it feels amazing to have achieved it. Having this opportunity at this point in my career is encouraging for me to see what I am capable of and I want to use this a steppingstone to reach a strong international level in the next few years.”

FIS distributes quota spots to each country based on international rankings. If the top nations do not use all of their qualified spots at the deadline, those spots are then reallocated to the next highest-ranking nation.

Bouffard Nesbitt and Drolet round out the Olympic cross-country ski team which was announced on January 13.

The athletes nominated are:

Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse, Yukon)
Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.)
Cendrine Browne (Saint-Jérôme, Que.)
Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.)
Remi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.)
Laura Leclair (Chelsea, Que.)
Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.)
Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.)
Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.)

Cross-country skiing events will take place February 5 to February 20 (Day 2 to 16) at the Zhangjiakou Cross Country Centre.

Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organizations.

The latest Team Canada Beijing 2022 roster can be found here and the qualification tracker can be found here.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Chris Dornan, Communications Advisor for Nordiq Canada

C: 403-620-8731

E: hpprchris@shaw.ca

Tara MacBournie, Team Canada’s Cross Country Skiing Media Attaché

C: 647-522-8328

E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca

Josh Su, Team Canada’s Press Operations Lead
C: 647-464-4060
E: jsu@olympic.ca

(Press Release) U.S. Ski & Snowboard Nominates Cross Country Team Roster For Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

FasterSkier — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 21:29:55 +0000

PARK CITY, UTAH (January 20, 2022) — U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced today its nominations for the U.S. Olympic Cross Country Team to represent Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 from February 4-19, 2022. Nominations are to be confirmed by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee when it formally announces the U.S. Olympic Team.

Fourteen athletes were nominated to Team USA, including the 2018 Olympic gold medalist and defending World Cup overall and distance champion Jessie Diggins, and two-time World Cup winner Rosie Brennan. Brother and sister Caitlin and Scott Patterson, both 2018 Olympians, are also nominated to return to the Games. The 10 remaining nominated athletes will be competing in their first Olympic Winter Games.

Jessie Diggins on her first podium of the season after finishing 2nd in the freestyles sprint in Lillehammer www.nordicfocus.com © Modica/NordicFocus.

“We are incredibly excited to be welcoming so many athletes to their first Olympic team,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Director Chris Grover. “We’ve been watching this American talent emerge at World Juniors for the past five seasons, and now these very same athletes that have brought home so much hardware are populating the Olympic team. Beijing will be such a valuable experience for them as they progress towards being medal contenders at the highest level. We are also lucky to have the experience, leadership, and professionalism of athletes like Jessie Diggins and Rosie Brennan to show these young athletes what it takes to be successful at this level.”

Athletes were selected based upon World Cup results, World Cup rankings, SuperTour results, and the recently completed U.S. Cross Country Championships.

The 2022 Olympic Winter Games will feature 12 cross country events, including four individual events for both men and women and two team events for each gender, including the team sprint and the team relay. At each Olympics, disciplines swap between freestyle and classic techniques. For example, Diggins and Kikkan Randall won the freestyle team sprint at the 2018 Games—the first-ever Olympic gold medal for the USA in cross country skiing. The team sprint hosted at the 2022 Games will be held in the classic technique.

JC Schoonmaker was the top U.S. qualifier in the Davos sprint, placing 5th. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

Cross country kicks off the 2022 Games with its first medal event, the women’s 15k skiathlon on Saturday, February 5. The event features two 7.5k legs, with the athletes skiing the classic technique for the first 7.5k, then switching to the freestyle technique for the second 7.5k. The men will compete in the 30k skiathlon on Sunday, February 6— a 15k classic followed by 15k freestyle. The complete Olympic cross country program is listed below.

2022 U.S. OLYMPIC CROSS COUNTRY TEAM

(Name, Hometown; Birth Date; Club; Past Olympics)

Women

Jessie Diggins, Afton, Minnesota and Stratton, Vermont; 8/26/91; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team (Olympics: 2014, 2018)
Rosie Brennan, Park City, Utah; 12/2/88; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center (Olympics: 2018)
* Julia Kern, Waltham, Massachusetts 9/12/97; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team
* Hailey Swirbul, El Jebel, Colorado; 7/10/98; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center
* Sophia Laukli, Yarmouth, Maine; 6/8/2000; University of Utah
* Novie McCabe, Winthrop, Washington; 12/15/2001; Methow Valley Nordic Team
* Hannah Halvorsen, Truckee, California; 2/19/1998; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center
Caitlin Patterson, Craftsbury, Vermont; 1/30/90; Craftsbury Green Racing Project (Olympics: 2018)

Putting together another highlight weekend in Davos, Rosie Brennan skis to 4th in the 10k individual start skate. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Men

* JC Schoonmaker, Tahoe City, California; 8/12/2000; University of Alaska Anchorage
* Kevin Bolger, Minocqua, Wisconsin; 4/11/93; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation
* Ben Ogden, Landgrove, Vermont; 2/13/2000; University of Vermont / Stratton Mountain School Elite Team
* Luke Jager, Anchorage, Alaska; 1/7/2000; University of Utah/Alaska Pacific University
* Gus Schumacher, Anchorage, Alaska; 7/25/2000; Alaska Winter Stars
Scott Patterson, Anchorage, Alaska; 1/28/92; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center (Olympics: 2018)

*Denotes first-time Olympian

Scott Patterson skis to 14th in the World Championship 30k skiathlon in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Watch Team USA compete on the networks of NBC throughout the Olympics, February 4-20, 2022.

Follow the team throughout the Beijing Olympics:

Instagram @usskiteam

Facebook @usskiandsnowboard

TikTok @usskiandsnowboard

Twitter @usskiteam

QUOTES

Jessie Diggins

“I’m honored and excited to be representing my country once more as a member of the 2022 Olympic team! This will be my third Olympics and I’m so proud of all the hard work and dedication from all our athletes to make this team. I’m also incredibly thankful for the support from so many people who have helped me prepare for the Games! I won’t be racing for just myself out there.”

Julia Kern

“I am very excited to be named to the Olympic team, it is a dream come true! I believe the team we are bringing is really strong and will do great things at the Olympics. It takes a massive support system to get there and I am extremely thankful for all of the people who have been a part of this journey.”

Rosie Brennan

“I am honored to be representing Team USA in another Olympic Games. I am very excited to be on this team and to be in a place where we can fight with the best. I am looking forward to getting there and getting the races started.”

Hailey Swirbul skis to 6th place in the 10k individual start skate in Davos. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Hailey Swirbul

“More than anything, I feel honored to represent my country on the world stage at the Olympics. I have dreamed of the opportunity to do this since I was a kid and it hasn’t totally set in for me yet! I think it won’t feel real to me until we actually arrive in Zhangjiakou. I am really looking forward to finishing my preparations knowing I am ready to fight with everything I have out on the race courses. Going into my first Olympics, I’m not sure what to expect, but I am going to try to stay true to myself and do what I know how to do!”

Novie McCabe

“I am super excited! The Olympics have always been the dream and it’s surreal to have actually made the team! Going into this season I was very uncertain of what it would hold, but it’s been full of so many great experiences and it’s pretty hard to believe that I also get to go to the Olympics. Just overall, I’m feeling quite happy about things and very thankful for everyone who has helped make all of it possible!”

Sophia Laukli

“I’m so so excited. It’s pretty incredible to actually be named to the Olympic team and I still haven’t fully wrapped my mind around it. Even just a year ago, the Olympics seemed far-fetched, so it feels pretty surreal. That being said, I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity. It’s definitely a proud moment and I’m looking forward to the whole experience and learning a lot from it, and I especially can’t wait to see what the U.S. team can do this year!”

Caitlin Patterson

“I’m very excited to be heading to my second Olympic Games! The U.S. is bringing a strong group of cross-country athletes and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do!”

Hannah Halvorsen

“All of my emotions are on overload. I am beyond proud, beyond grateful, and beyond excited and honored to be on the 2022 Olympic Team.”

JC Schoonmaker

“I’m super pumped to be named to my first Olympics! Pretty crazy feeling. It’s still kinda hard to believe it! Can’t wait to get over there, enjoy the experience and race the best I can!”

Kevin Bolger

“It’s every kid’s dream come true. It’s something I’ve been shooting for and dreaming of for a long time. And to be able to call my family and give them the news is just as satisfying as getting the news myself—they are just as much a part of this journey as anyone. So now making the team is the last stepping stone to my ultimate goal and that is to return from Beijing with the result I want! And I couldn’t be more excited about the men’s team I get to travel there with. It goes without saying the men’s team is putting up big results on the World Cup, and now I think we can expect some big results at the Olympics! Time to go have some fun!”

Ben Ogden leads teammate Luke Jager up the first climb during the quarterfinal of the classic sprint in Ruka. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Ben Ogden

“I’m really excited to be named to the Olympic team. Growing up in southern Vermont, I have been inspired by Olympians my whole life, and becoming one myself has always been a dream. I am excited to race hard and have some fun in China.”

Gus Schumacher

“I really have to stop and give myself some credit because it’s a lifelong dream coming to fruition, but at the same time my goals keep coming, and just making the team isn’t the end of the road. I wanna race fast! But overall I’m very excited for the opportunity to represent the U.S. on the highest level in my sport.”

Luke Jager

“This is a dream come true for me! I remember being a little kid watching Kikkan (Randall) and Andy (Newell), Simi (Hamilton), and crew at the Olympics and getting so fired up. Feels pretty crazy to get to be here now a few years later with my best friends. I feel so thankful for all the people that have worked so hard over the years to help us get here!”

Scott Patterson

“Races at the 2022 Olympics have been on my goal list for a long time. I’m excited to return to the Olympics and build on the successes I had in 2018. We have a strong contingent of U.S. athletes and I look forward to being a part of it!”

2022 Olympic Winter Games Cross Country Schedule

Saturday, Feb. 5

Women’s 15k Skiathlon

Sunday, Feb, 6

Men’s 30k Skiathlon

Tuesday, Feb. 8

Men and Women’s Freestyle Sprint

Thursday, Feb. 10

Women’s 10k Classic

Friday, Feb. 11

Men’s 15k Classic

Saturday, Feb 12

Women’s 4x5k Relay

Sunday, Feb. 13

Men’s 4x10k Relay

Wednesday, Feb. 16

Men and Women’s Classic Team Sprint

Saturday, Feb. 19

Men’s 50k Freestyle Mass Start

Sunday, Feb. 20

Women’s 30k Freestyle Mass Start

Jessie Diggins celebrates a podium effort with team sprint partner, Julia Kern, who anchored the team to 2nd place in Dresden, GER. (Photo: NordicFocus)

About U.S. Ski & Snowboard

U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders in 2021, competing in seven teams; alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, nordic combined and ski jumping. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Tom Horrocks

U.S. Cross Country Team Olympic Press Officer

tom.horrocks@usskiandsnowboard.org

(Press Release) USA Nordic Sport Nominates Nordic Combined Team Roster For Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

FasterSkier — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 23:13:32 +0000

PARK CITY, UTAH (January 19, 2022) — USA Nordic Sport announced today its nominations for the U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined Team that will represent Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Nominations are to be confirmed by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee when it formally announces the U.S. Olympic Team.

Athletes to Watch
The team will be headlined by three-time Olympian Taylor Fletcher, who looks for his first Olympic podium. Fletcher’s top finishes at the Olympics include a sixth-place finish in the Team Large Hill/4x5km competition at the Sochi Games in 2014, along with a 20th place finish in the Large Hill/10km Individual competition and a 33rd place finish in the Normal Hill/10km in Sochi. Fletcher will be joined by Ben Loomis, a one-time Olympian who will also be looking for his first Olympic podium. At the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, Loomis carded a 10th place finish in the Team Large Hill/4x5km competition, 40th in the Large Hill/10km Individual competition and 41st in the Normal Hill/10km Individual competition.

Taylor Fletcher competes in Val di Fiemme in January, 2022. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Selection Process
The selection process for nordic combined includes results from both domestic and international competitions. The first spot on the U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined Team is decided by the winner of the Olympic Trials event in Lake Placid, New York on December 25, 2022. Additional spots were selected based on athletes’ results at both the FIS World Cup and Continental Cup levels during this winter’s qualification period.

Olympic Competition Schedule
Nordic Combined has an action-packed schedule at the 2022 Games. The first of three medal events kick off on Wednesday, February 9, with the Individual Gunderson Normal Hill/10km competition, followed by the Individual Gunderson Large Hill/10km on Tuesday, February 15. The final event –Team Gunderson Large Hill/4x5km – is scheduled for Thursday, February 17.

2022 U.S. OLYMPIC NORDIC COMBINED TEAM
(Name; hometown, birthday; club; past Olympics)

Taylor Fletcher, Steamboat Springs, Colorado; 5/11/90; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (Olympics: 2010, 2014, 2018)
Ben Loomis, Eau Claire, Wisconsin; 6/9/98; Flying Eagles Ski Club (Olympics: 2018)
Jasper Good, Steamboat Springs, Colorado; 5/10/96; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (Olympics: 2018)
*Jared Shumate, Park City, Utah; 3/6/99; Park City Ski and Snowboard
*Stephen Schumann, Park City, Utah; 3/14/00; Park City Ski and Snowboard

*Denotes first-time Olympian

Watch Team USA compete on the networks of NBC throughout the Olympics, February 4-20, 2022.

Ben Loomis competes in a World Cup in Val di Fiemme, Italy in January, 2022. (Photo: NordicFocus)

FOLLOW THE TEAM

Instagram: @usanordic

Facebook: @USANordic

Twitter: @usanordic

ATHLETE QUOTES:

Taylor Fletcher
“Getting named to my fourth Olympic team after winning the Olympic Trials is a big motivation for me. As the veteran athlete of the U.S. Nordic Combined Olympic Team, I want to make the most of this Olympics with my best results. Knowing that my spot is secure will allow me to focus on training and competition to make sure I am in the best form going into Beijing 2022. The Olympics are always a big focus and have been since I started the sport many many years ago. I feel confident I can go there and have my best results yet. We will have a young team but a team for the future, which is very exciting. Look out for nordic combined in the coming weeks!”

Ben Loomis
“I am extremely proud to have been named to the 2022 Olympic Team. It will be a true honor to represent both USA Nordic and the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program in Beijing. Amongst the current state of COVID-19, it will be great to bring the world together in a safe manner and showcase what the Olympics are all about. I couldn’t be more excited to have a team of both experienced Olympians and athletes heading to their first games alongside me in Beijing.”

Jasper Good
“I am incredibly honored and excited to be named to the 2022 U.S. Olympic Team. Representing Team USA at this Games means even more to me as a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP). The support and camaraderie I have gained from WCAP have helped me reach new levels. It will be an honor to represent the U.S. with this added factor. I am really excited about how much progression our team has made and can’t wait to perform with my team in Beijing!”

Jared Shumate
“I am honored to be selected to represent the USA at the 2022 Olympics. It has been a goal of mine since I was a kid to compete at the Olympics, and I am overjoyed to officially be selected to my first Olympic team. I feel like I have made some big steps forward in the last few months, including scoring my first World Cup points in Predazzo, Italy, which qualified me for the team, and I am looking forward to keeping the momentum going into Beijing! I’m excited to compete with the rest of my teammates at the highest level of sport and am looking forward to experiencing my first Olympic Games, even though COVID is making these games a bit different than previous years. In the weeks leading up to the Olympics, the goal is to stay healthy and train hard!”

Stephen Schumann
“I’m beyond excited for the opportunity to represent the USA at the upcoming Olympics in Beijing. It has been a dream of mine to compete at the Olympics since I first stepped on a ski jump at 5 years old. To think that the dream I had as a little kid is coming true 16 years later is surreal, and the fact that I get to do it with some of my best friends makes it so much better. I could not be more excited! Thank you so much to everyone who has believed in me and helped me get to this point through all the setbacks and hard times; it wouldn’t have been possible without you. Now, time to buckle down and polish things up before heading to Beijing!”

Jasper Good jumps in a December, 2021 World Cup competition in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: NordicFocus)

COACH QUOTES:

Nick Hendrickson – Men’s Nordic Combined Team Director
“With the nomination of our 2022 Olympic Team, I am extremely excited to have every one of these athletes selected to represent the USA in Beijing. I am proud of each individual for their accomplishments throughout the qualification process, but I am most proud of the teamwork that has been invested behind the scenes to raise our competition level. Collectively, our team is composed of four-time Olympic veterans, two-time Olympians, as well as first-timers; we have a lot of both experience and opportunity in this group of talented guys. The team momentum that we have at the moment is contagious and we can’t wait to keep it rolling into Beijing!”

###

About USA Nordic
USA Nordic is the national leadership organization for Nordic combined and ski jumping in the United States, providing support and guidance to the nations’ clubs and coaches while overseeing the national elite teams. More information can be found at usanordic.org or its social media channels @usanordic.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Riley Elliott
Nordic Combined/Ski Jumping Olympic Press Officer
riley@usanordic.org

(Press Release) Canada’s Beijing 2022 Cross-Country Skiing Team Announced

FasterSkier — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 18:42:58 +0000

CANMORE (January 13, 2022) – Nordiq Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced the four women and three men who will form Canada’s cross-country skiing team nominated to compete at Beijing 2022. Two Olympic veterans will lead a new generation of cross-country skiers loaded with potential into the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

The athletes nominated are:

Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse, Yukon)

Cendrine Browne (Saint-Jérôme, Que.)

Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.)

Laura Leclair (Chelsea, Que.)

Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.)

Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.)

Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.)

Erik Braten (Oslo, Norway) has been nominated as the national coach.

The seven athletes qualified for Team Canada based on meeting the criteria outlined in Nordiq Canada’s Internal Nomination Procedures for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Those who did not pre-qualify through their performance on the World Cup circuit earned their spots through results at the Cross Country Ski Trials, held January 6-11 in Canmore, Alta.

“This is a talented group of athletes who are coming into these Games replete with veteran leadership and first time Olympic team members who are confident and driven to deliver results on the ultimate sporting stage,” said Stéphane Barrette, Chief Executive Officer, Nordiq Canada. “This group has represented Canada at all levels of the sport internationally and are now anxious to demonstrate their potential at the Olympic Games, which will serve as the ultimate benchmark in their continued development. I have complete confidence they will be fully prepared to achieve our team goals and their personal goals.”

Cendrine Browne and Dahria Beatty will each make their second straight Olympic appearance where they will be joined by longtime World Cup teammate, Katherine Stewart-Jones, to lead a promising group of young athletes. The trio of Canadian women have been steadily progressing up the international rankings over the last quadrennial.

“I’m really excited to be heading to my first Olympics. It is something I’ve always wanted to accomplish, and it is crazy that it is finally here,” said Katherine Stewart-Jones, who was the lone woman to pre-qualify for nomination prior to Nordiq Canada’s Olympic Trials. “I’m very excited about our whole team. We’ve made a lot of progress over the last few years, and I’m looking forward to showing the world what we can do.”

Laura Leclair, who will also make her Olympic debut, rounds out the Canadian women’s team after coming off a strong Trials where she won the freestyle sprint race.

All three Canadian men – Antoine Cyr, Graham Ritchie and Olivier Léveillé – earned their Olympic spots based on strong results on the World Cup circuit over the last two years. The 23-year-old Cyr had two top-12 finishes on the circuit this year. Ritchie, also 23, locked up his spot with a top-20 and a top-30 result, including a career-best 17th-place finish on the World Cup circuit the past two seasons. Cyr and Ritchie teamed up to finish seventh in the team sprint at the 2021 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

“Today is a dream come true and my whole focus now is on getting ready for the Olympics,” said Cyr. “I have worked very hard and kept believing. I’m super happy. Hopefully, I can represent the maple leaf well by throwing down some good races.”

Léveillé, a rookie on the senior circuit, is the youngest member of the Canadian squad at 20 years old. The two-time medallist at the FIS World Junior Ski Championships punched his Olympic ticket with a 17th-place finish on the World Cup circuit earlier this season.

Due to the increased risks associated with the ongoing pandemic, Nordiq Canada also nominated four alternates (two women and two men): Rémi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.); Russell Kennedy (Canmore, Alta.); Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.); Jasmine Drolet (Rossland, B.C.)

Team Canada has won three Olympic cross-country skiing medals: Beckie Scott (Gold – Salt Lake City 2002); Chandra Crawford (Gold – Turin 2006); and Beckie Scott and Sara Renner (Silver – Turin 2006).

“Welcome to Team Canada!” said Catriona Le May Doan, Team Canada’s Beijing 2022 Chef de Mission. “The men and women who make up the cross country team are an inspiration to all of us. Their grit, determination and sheer training volume is incredible, and this team is no different. With trailblazers like Beckie Scott and Alex Harvey, Canadian cross-country skiers have continued to challenge on the international circuit, and we will be cheering these athletes on as they wear the maple leaf in Beijing.”

Cross-country skiing events will take place February 5 to February 20 (Day 2 to 16) at the Zhangjiakou Cross Country Centre.

The latest Team Canada Beijing 2022 roster can be found here and the qualification tracker can be found here.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Chris Dornan, Communications Advisor
Nordiq Canada
C: 403-620-8731
E: hpprchris@shaw.ca

Tara MacBournie
Team Canada’s Cross Country Skiing Media Attaché
C: 647-522-8328
E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca

Josh Su,
Team Canada’s Press Operations Lead
C: 647-464-4060
E: jsu@olympic.ca

Olympics Preview: Team Quotas, or, Why as Few as Five American Men Could be Going to Beijing

Gavin Kentch — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 14:04:16 +0000

Rosie Brennan charges over the line to finish 6th in a cold individual start classic race in Ruka, meeting the objective standard for Olympic qualification for the first of several times this season. (Photo: NordicFocus)

It’s always tough to make the Olympic team. It got tougher this year, due to smaller quotas for all nations interacting with some math that is disadvantageous to the American men.

If you just want the executive summary of this article, here it is: The maximum team size, for any nation’s nordic team for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, is eight athletes per gender. If the Games started tomorrow, the Americans would be able to send a total of eight women to Beijing, up to five of them sprinters. They would only be able to send five men, no more than four of them sprinters; it seems likely, but not guaranteed, that the latter figure will soon increase to six men total, with the same four-sprinter maximum. The eight-athlete quota for the American women will not decrease.

You would be justified in closing this tab now and heading off to start drafting form charts for the American Olympic squad and arguments for your favorite athletes. If you’d like an explanation behind the math, a brief history lesson, and/or some parameters for your speculation, then read on.

Jessie Diggins celebrates with fans after finishing in Lillehammer, where her podium finish in the skate sprint gave her the objective standard for Olympic qualification for the first of several times this season. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

The quota system: Theory and practice

The system under which different nations may send different numbers of cross-country athletes to the 2022 Olympics is controlled by a dense, but logical, document promulgated by FIS, which may be found here. It has been interpreted in graphical form in this somewhat more user-friendly Wikipedia article.

Briefly put, the qualification system assigns one quota spot to any nation with at least one athlete racing at least year’s World Champs who met a minimum standard of international competitiveness. It then assigns the next tranche of quota spots in a manner consistent with how well a nation’s athletes did on the World Cup last year. Finally, remaining quota spots are allocated, in an iterative distribution, in a manner that similarly rewards nations with better performance in last year’s World Cup season.

The process proceeds independently for each gender, even within the same country, which is why the American women currently have the full eight spots, and the American men only five: The women ranked higher than the men in last year’s World Cup standings, which inures to their benefit in this year’s Olympic quota “standings.”

Step one: Each nation (or, most precisely, each National Olympic Committee, or NOC) that had at least one athlete notch a result below a specified FIS-point cutoff in at least one race at 2021 World Championships or U23 Championships gets one quota spot for this year’s Olympics. This standard is 300 FIS points, for men, or 330 FIS points, for women.

As a reminder, lower FIS scores indicate a more competitive race, and the lower an athlete’s FIS points the better their ranking relative to another athlete. For example, Jessie Diggins scored 8.17 FIS points for her second-place finish in the 10k skate in Davos, while winner Therese Johaug (NOR) scored 0.0.

Going back to the 300/330 standard, this is not a particularly rigorous standard to meet; this reporter could likely have obtained a result worth less than 300 points at the 2021 World Championships.* At the December 5th SuperTour in Duluth, MN, all but two athletes in the men’s 10k skate race earned fewer than 300 FIS points, despite finishing as much as +8:36 behind winner Zak Ketterson. The two athletes who earned over 300 points hailed from Israel and Venezuela, and were born in the 1970s; each finished more than 20 minutes behind the winner.

With that perspective, each of the professional athletes on the U.S. Ski Team has more than met this standard, to put it mildly. Log one quota spot each for the American men and women.

Ben Ogden (far right) racing in a heat of the classic sprint at World Championships in Oberstdorf this February. His 11th place in qualification, slightly over eight seconds back from Klæbo, was worth 53.98 FIS sprint points. (photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

Step two: Each country gets an additional number of quota spots based on where its athletes ranked for their cumulative overall performance in last year’s World Cup (“Nation Ranking for OWG”). The American women were third in these standings last year; the American men were ninth.

Nations ranked 1–5 on this list get an additional four quota spots in step two; nations ranked 6–10 get three. So that’s now up to five spots for the women (1 + 4), and four for the men (1 + 3).

(Also in step two, nations ranked 11–20 get two quota spots, then nations ranked 21–30 for men, and 21–33 for women, get one quota spot.)

Step three: Now it gets slightly complicated. Take those spots previously allocated in steps one and two. Subtract that from the total of 148 quota spots per gender (less a guaranteed minimum of four per gender for the host country, China, as necessary). Allocate the remainder according to the following metric (screenshot from FIS quota document):

So, for example, the third-ranked American women got one quota spot in Round 1 (up to six total), then another in Round 2 (seven total), and another in Round 3 (eight total, the maximum possible).

The men were ranked ninth, so they got nothing in Round 1. They received an additional quota spot in Round 2, bringing them up to five total (1 + 3 + 1). And that’s… all for the time being. If the Olympics started tomorrow, the American women would have eight quota spots, and the American men would have five. Sorry, 165 out of 170 Olympics-eligible American men.

Step four: Not all nations fill all their start spots. The Americans in 2014 are one example of this, as discussed in the history section below. If a nation declines to fill all its quota spots, or wants to but is unable to do so with qualifying athletes (e.g., an athlete has more than 300 FIS points on the January 17, 2022, distance list, or incurs an anti-doping violation), then unused quota places will be reallocated to the next eligible nations, in accordance with the distribution list at the bottom of this page. The American men are currently first in line to receive the next spot that becomes available in the reallocation process. If substantial reshuffling occurs, the American men also have spot no. 16 on the reallocation list, which would bring them up to seven quota spots total.

Timing: FIS informs National Olympic Committees of their final quota numbers on January 17. NOCs must confirm how many allocated quota places they will use on January 17 or 18.

Over the next two days, January 19 and 20, a certain amount of expedient reshuffling occurs: “FIS to reallocate all unused quota places and NOCs to confirm within 12 hours,” the FIS quota document states.

Entries are due to Olympic race organizers on January 24. The first cross-country race at this year’s Olympics is the women’s skiathlon on February 5.

Canada’s Rémi Drolet skis to 39th in the World Championships 15k/15k skiathlon in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

What about Canada?

Our neighbours to the east, if you live in Alaska, or to the north, if you live in the Lower 48, currently have four quota spots for women and three for men. They are currently in sixth position on the reallocation list, for the women, and fourth, for the men, for any new spots that become available. Canadian ski fans will be hoping to receive at least a quota spot for a fourth male athlete in Beijing so that they can field a relay team.

Some historical comparisons

The baseline quota size, and the number of athletes the U.S. Ski Team has taken relative to this quota, have varied over the years. Across the last three Olympiads, for example:

In 2018 (Pyeongchang), the American nordic team had a total quota of 20 athletes. They filled this quota, taking nine men and 11 women.
In 2014 (Sochi), the quota was 17 athletes. The U.S. Ski Team did not fill this quota, instead taking seven men and seven women, citing visa restrictions that limited the amount of staff available and a desire to take only competitive athletes to the Olympics. The Americans’ three unused quota spots were reallocated to other nations.
In 2010 (Whistler), the American quota was initially seven athletes at the start of the 2009/2010 World Cup season, but was later expanded to eight, then ten, and ultimately to 11 athletes in the months leading up to the Olympics. A 22-year-old sprinter named Simi Hamilton was the 11th and final American athlete taken.

APU’s Tyler Kornfield (126) leads his APU teammate Eric Packer (118) to the line in the men’s 30 k classic mass start at 2018 U.S. Cross Country Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. Packer probably missed objective qualification to the Olympics by the difference between first and second in this race, 0.8 seconds over 30 kilometers. (photo: Gavin Kentch)

Team naming tends to evoke impassioned responses within the relatively insular American nordic skiing community, where many fans of the sport have a direct connection to athletes who were or were not named to the team, and where Olympian status is often widely valued above all else.

Ask supporters of, say, Eric Packer their thoughts on his not being named to the team in 2018, arguably due to Annie Hart being named instead. However, a spot on a team does not guarantee starting in an Olympic event. As Hart was selected as a sprinter on one of the world’s deepest sprint teams, she attended the first few days of the Pyeongchang Games, then flew home without starting any of the races. Meanwhile, the American men started two athletes primarily known as sprinters, Andy Newell and Reese Hanneman, in the 4 x 10-kilometer relay, and a third, Tyler Kornfield, in the 15 k and 50 k.

Or ask supporters of Sylvan Ellefson/Matt Liebsch/Caitlin Gregg/Kate Fitzgerald/take your pick if they think “their” athlete should have filled one of those last three spots in Sochi instead of being left home. They’ll probably have thoughts on this. Indeed, the 31 reader comments preserved on the bottom of this 2014 FasterSkier article give a sense for the depth of this sentiment among American ski fans.

Instagram screenshot from @crosscountryskimemes earlier this week.

Some guidelines for speculation

Step one of team naming, discussed at length above, is how many spots are available to fill. Step two, previewed here, is which athletes are taken to fill those spots, and what criteria are used to choose them.

With regard to step two, the first version of the U.S. Olympic team will not be named until January 17 or 18, 2022, and is potentially subject to revision depending on results of the reallocation process, so take this entire section with a grain of salt. Also keep in mind that there are multiple World Cup races yet to come.

Nonetheless it is possible to say, with reference to the selection criteria, that if the American Olympic team were named as of Monday of this week (December 27, one day before the start of the Tour de Ski), Rosie Brennan and Jessie Diggins would certainly be on it: Both have met the objective standard of qualification via a top-8 result in specified races. Julia Kern, Hailey Swirbul, Hannah Halvorsen, and Sophia Laukli would likely be on the team, for the women, and JC Schoonmaker, Ben Ogden, Kevin Bolger, Luke Jager, and Gus Schumacher, for the men: All are currently* (*as of December 27, before the Tour de Ski races began) in the top-50 sprint or distance World Cup standings, under a slightly modified USSS scoring list that discards points earned in relays, team sprints, or Dresden in accordance with the “excluded points” language of the criteria document.

Julia Kern (USA) follows Coletta Rydzek (GER) in the semi-final rounds in the Lenzerheide sprint, en route to a fourth-place finish in the final that gave her the objective standard for Olympic qualification. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Again, these standings are very much subject to change between now and January 17; this is just a snapshot from the start of this week. [One update: For example, Kern met the objective qualification standard with her fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s skate sprint in Lenzerheide.] There will be three scoring distance races during the Tour de Ski (the final climb does not count), and two more at the January World Cup weekend in Les Rousses, France, before Olympic selections are made. Plus some sprints. Not all athletes will contest all races. These things are definitely subject to change.

High-performing athletes from next week’s U.S. Nationals races, and other athletes not otherwise captured by the criteria, may also be named to the team, depending upon overall team size, quota spots available, and the exercise of discretion. Domestic athletes relying on their performance at U.S. Nationals for potential team naming are on the bottom of the totem pole for Olympic selection, in the sense that this selection method is number four out of four, and comes into play only “Should there be any remaining quota slot(s) after Selection Methods Nos. 1-3 above have been applied … .”

Turning to the Olympic races themselves, which could bear on the makeup for discretionary selections to fill any remaining quota spots, there are three pure distance events in Beijing: the 10/15 k interval-start classic, the 15/30 k mass start skiathlon, and the 30/50 k mass start freestyle. There is one pure sprint event, the, well, skate sprint.

The classic team sprint has “sprint” in its name, but it is seeded based on either an athlete’s sprint or distance points, depending on which is better. This seems telling, and U.S. global championship medalists in this event include the skilled generalists Diggins and Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, plus late-career Kikkan Randall was a top-10 World Cup distance skier, so, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

JC Schoonmaker leads the Americans in qualifying for the second weekend in a row, qualifying in 15th in Lillehammer earlier this season. (Photo: NordicFocus)

The men’s relay, 4 x 10 k, certainly feels like a distance event, but the women’s relay is only 4 x 5 k, so maybe it’s a little less so. But putting a pure sprinter on the scramble leg in Pyeongchang didn’t lead to a medal on the day (though it still was the American women’s best Olympic finish in the relay), so maybe it’s a distance event after all? But maybe also the U.S. men are stronger in sprint than in distance right now, as witness the four athletes listed above who would qualify off of the sprint rankings (Schoonmaker, Ogden, Bolger, and Jager), versus only one for distance (Schumacher), so it looks like there’s going to be some “sprinters” on that men’s relay team regardless of how you classify it?

Bottom line, the U.S. has four start spots per race, six races over two weeks, a total of 24 start spots per gender. Bringing eight women, and assuming for the moment equal distribution, yields three starts per athlete. (This ignores the fact that someone like Diggins could, and likely will, start all six races and be a contender in each.) Bringing six men, mutatis mutandis, yields four starts per athlete, which is a higher workload.

The American women’s best distance skiers, Brennan and Diggins, are currently also their best sprinters. There may be less overlap for the men, though with an exquisitely young team athletes’ strengths are still being refined from week to week as their cumulative World Cup experience swiftly accrues. Do you strive for four starters in every race, across all races and genders, or do you aim to maximize your chances of medaling by putting more contenders in fewer races, potentially leaving some start spots unfilled as athletes tire over a high-stress two-week race period. You have only six athletes to pull this off for the men, maybe as few as five, and most of them may be only 21 years old. Start your speculation now.

Qualification system for XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022, cross-country skiing

Qualifying for the Olympics is hard. So is keeping it a secret. (Nat Herz, Anchorage Daily News, February 2018)

The Cross-Country Olympic Criteria, in the Context of U.S. Winter Sports (FasterSkier, June 2017)

The Other Side of U.S. Nordic Olympic Team Naming: Decisions, Emotions and Everything in Between (FasterSkier, January 2014)

* This isn’t just a throwaway remark. I’m typically around 25% back from World Cup skier Scott Patterson in local skate races. 25 percent back from Patterson in the 15 k skate in Oberstdorf would have yielded a time of 45:13.4 – dead last, unsurprisingly for a random 39-year-old in a global championship race, but also good for 270 FIS points. My point is not that I’m a particularly good skier – I’m not; ask me about fighting to avoid DFL in local Junior Nationals qualifying races – but rather that this is not a particularly stringent standard relative to what is generally viewed as the pinnacle of human athletic achievement.

For comparison’s sake, the infamous Dominican Olympic nordic skiers Gary di Silvestri and Angelica Morrone likewise notched sub–300 FIS point results in the run-up to the 2014 Olympics. Their ski results in Sochi were treated here; their coach, J.D. Downing, shared his side of the story here. Neither athlete finished a race in Sochi.

(Press Release) US Biathlon Names Rosters for Early-Season Camp and Races

FasterSkier — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 19:47:43 +0000

This press release, written by Bill Kellick, was originally posted at TeamUSA.org.

Oct. 27, 2021, 8:47 a.m. (ET)

(NEW GLOUCESTER, MAINE) – US Biathlon has announced the roster for the Pre-World Cup On-Snow Camp in Obertilliah, Austria, as well as the roster for the first two IBU Cup competitions of the 2021-22 season.

The Pre-World Cup Camp will begin November 11 with athletes joining National Team Coaches Armin Auchentaller and Vegard Bitnes for on-snow training ahead of the first BMW IBU World Cup races in Oestersund, Sweden, beginning November 27.

The women’s roster is led by 2022 Olympic Team qualifiers Susan Dunklee (Craftsbury, Vt./Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USBA), Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/USBA), 2018 Olympian Joanne Reid (Grand Junction, Colo.), Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, Wis./National Guard Biathlon Team & USBA) and Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash./Craftsbury Green Racing Project).

Susan Dunklee racing to 8th in Nové Město’s sprint. (Photo: NordicFocus)

The men’s roster includes two-time Olympians Leif Nordgren (Hinesburg, Vt./National Guard Biathlon & USBA) and Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H./National Guard Biathlon & USBA). They will be joined by Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Team Crosscut & USBA), Jake Brown (Saint Paul, Minn./Craftsbury Green Racing Project & USBA) and Vasek Cervenka (Grand Rapids, Minn./National Guard Biathlon & USBA). Brown is pre-qualified for the World Cup team.

The final roster for the first two BMW IBU World Cups of the season will be announced at the end of the camp.

Named to the Team USA roster to compete at the IBU Cup events in Idre, Sweden (Nov. 25-28) and Sjusjoen, Norway (Dec. 1-4) are Chloe Levins (Rutland, Vt./USBA), Hallie Grossman (South Burlington, Vt./Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and Lina Farra (Heber City, Utah/National Guard Biathlon Team) on the women’s team, and Max Durtschi (Ketchum, Idaho/Team Crosscut & USBA), Vincent Bonacci (Salt Lake City, Utah/Team Crosscut & USBA) and Luke Brown (Saint Paul, Minn./Team Craftsbury Green Racing Project).

Leif Nordgren during the IBU World Cup 4 x 7.5 k relay in Ӧstersund, Sweden in December, 2019. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Eight Canucks Ready to Head to Europe for Period 1 of World Cup Cross-Country Ski Racing Action (MEDIA RELEASE)

FasterSkier — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 20:13:09 +0000

CANMORE, Alta.—Eight Canadians are readying themselves to head to Europe in the coming weeks to open the highly-anticipated Olympic and Paralympic season while bringing the maple leaf to the World Cup cross-country skiing start line.

Nordiq Canada will send a dynamic group of four women and four men who are determined to climb up the international rankings in the first three weeks of World Cup action before returning to Canada for the holiday break followed by the 2022 Olympic and Junior/U23 World Championship Ski Trials set for the Canmore Nordic Centre, January 6-11.

Olympians Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse) and Cendrine Browne (Saint-Jérôme, Que.) will be joined by National Teammates Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.) and Maya MacIsaac-Jones (Athabasca, Alta.) on the women’s start line. The four Canadian women have been making steady progression and regularly posting results in the top-25 over the last year.

Russell Kennedy (Canmore, Alta.) who competed at the 2018 Olympics before guiding Brian McKeever at the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang will lead a young men’s team loaded with potential. Kennedy will be joined by Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.) and Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) who were both seventh in the team sprint at the 2020 World Ski Championships. Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.), who was just the third Canadian ever to win an individual cross-country ski medal at the Junior World Championships last year when he finished third in the 10-kilometre skate-ski race, will take his first strides into the senior ranks.

Selection announcement and synopsis can be found here.

Katherine Stewart-Jones during the 10 k skate in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: NordicFocus)

“This is a determined group of athletes who have earned the opportunity to represent Canada and compete on the elite stage of our sport through their impressive results over the last year,” said Joel Jaques, high-performance manager, Nordiq Canada.

“This group has represented Canada at all levels of the sport internationally, and are now anxious to demonstrate their potential during this important season which will serve as the ultimate benchmark in their continued development. I have full confidence they will be fully prepared to achieve our team and their personal goals.”

The majority of the Canadian Team will depart, November 18, to compete in the following races prior to the holiday break:

November 26-28 – World Cup, Ruka, Finland

November 26-28 – Norway Cup, Gålå, Norway (Graham Ritchie, Dahria Beatty, Maya MacIsaac-Jones)

December 3-5 – World Cup, Lillehammer, Norway

December 11-12 – World Cup, Davos, Switzerland

December 18-19 – World Cup, Dresden, Germany

Nordiq Canada will hold a media availability with Canadian Team athletes participating in the Frozen Thunder Training Camp at the Canmore Nordic Centre, November 2, in advance of their departure to Europe.

Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para-nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at https://nordiqcanada.ca.

Remi Drolet and Russell Kennedy racing for Canada in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Photo: NordicFocus)

2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games Selection Criterion and Athlete Petition Form

Chris Grover — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 15:40:55 +0000

Dear Cross Country Community,

You can find the link to the finalized 2022 Beijing Olympic Selection Criterion here:

https://usskiandsnowboard.org/sport-programs/criteria/olympic-winter-games-cross-country-criteria

Thanks to all of you who provided feedback during the construction of the criteria; your input was very helpful.

New this year, any athletes who would like to be considered for a discretionary selection must complete a Petition Form. The form can also be found at the above link, but here are two direct links as well, first for minors and second for adults:

Minor Athlete Petition Form: https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=e80c4503-2c7d-4e35-93bb-897c580f2b93&env=na3&acct=6fe3eeaf-e05d-4691-b23e-0fe542c0389f&v=2

Adult Athlete Petition Form: https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=6967fbfa-b6ea-4e6f-90d9-0ff8fc32fde1&env=na3&acct=6fe3eeaf-e05d-4691-b23e-0fe542c0389f&v=2

Here is the wording of the requirement that is in the criterion:

Petition by Athlete Process:

Any athlete who does not meet the objective criteria in Selection Method No. 1 and No. 3 and has indicated a potential for Olympic success (as outlined in Selection Method No. 2 above) may file a petition for the right to be selected. Athletes may request the Selection Committee’s consideration through Selection Method No. 2 (i.e., by discretionary selection) and Selection Method No. 4 by submitting a petition in writing using the petition form available on https://usskiandsnowboard.org/crosscountry and must state the specific injury, illness, unusual circumstance, or other rationale, and/or the performances to be considered and the circumstances surrounding the need to petition. The petition should be emailed to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard President & CEO (tiger.shaw@usskiandsnowboard.org) before 5:00 PM Mountain time on January 12, 2022. All petitions received will be provided to the Selection Committee by January 12, 2022 for their review and final decisions to be made by January 17, 2022. Athletes who submitted a petition will be informed of the Selection Committee’s decision in writing by January 17, 2022.

Please make special note of the Jan. 12 deadline. As the criterion states, this petition also includes any athletes attempting to qualify for the team via Selection Method 4 (i.e. SuperTour racing).

Please feel free to call me any time with any questions you might have.

Chris Grover

Cross Country Program Director

U.S. Ski & Snowboard

+1 435 640 8545

chris.grover@usskiandsnowboard.org

Twenty-Three Athletes Nominated to 2020-21 Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team (Press Release)

FasterSkier — Mon, 04 May 2020 17:57:53 +0000

U.S. Ski and Snowboard Press Release

U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team nominations for the 2020-21 season. Nominations include those active athletes who qualified based on published selection criteria in the prior season.

“The 2021 U.S. Cross Country Team has more depth than any team in modern American cross country ski racing history,” said Davis U.S. Cross Country Team Program Director Chris Grover. “From our seasoned veterans who will be focused on bringing home hardware from the 2021 FIS World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, to the members of the Development Team, who can nearly all boast having at least one World Junior Championships medal, this team offers so many ways to win. Athletes in this group have systematically broken down every barrier in cross country performance that traditionally blocked American athletes, including World Junior gold, to World Championships gold, to Olympic gold.”

The 2020-21 team is highlighted by an experienced group of World Cup, World Championship and Olympic Winter Games athletes, including Olympic gold medalist, Jessie Diggins and 2020 FIS Junior World Championship double-gold medalist Gus Schumacher.

The 2020-21 team also includes the largest D Team squad ever nominated with 11 athletes, including members of the gold-medal winning 2019 and 2020 FIS Junior World Ski Championships men’s relay team: Luke Jager, Ben Ogden, and Johnny Hagenbuch. The D Team also includes all four members of the silver-medal winning FIS Junior World Ski Championships women’s relay team: Kendall Kramer, Sydney Palmer-Leger, Novie McCabe and Sophia Laukli.

“The strength of the 20- 2021 U.S. Cross Country Team speaks to the commitment and professionalism of the community that has helped these athletes achieve excellence,” Chris said. “Our coaches’ education system, the stability and quality of our development preparation projects, and the dedication and knowledge of our club and school coaching partners has been instrumental in helping these athletes succeed internationally.

“The big steps forward over the last two decades have happened via community collaboration and pulling in the same direction,” he continued. “Together, we’ve created a truly American solution that meets the needs of our culture and our geography.”

Athletes nominated to the team are scheduled to open the season in with their first training camp in Park City, Utah (pending COVID-19 considerations).

Each athlete accepting the nomination to U.S. Ski Team receives world-class program support, along with access to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Center of Excellence, as well as athletic benefits including an elite coaching, sport science, sports medicine, and high performance staff, and education opportunities.

An official Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team announcement will be made in the fall.

2020-21 Cross Country Nominations

(Hometown; Club; Birthdate)

A TEAM

Women

Sadie Maubet Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 11/21/89)

Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 12/21/88

Sophie Caldwell (Peru, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 3/22/90)

Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 8/26/91)

Julia Kern (Waltham, Mass.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 9/12/97)

Hailey Swirbul (Aspen, Colo.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 7/10/98)

Men

Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 5/14/87)

B TEAM

Women

Katharine Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School/Dartmouth College; 11/17/97)

Men

Kevin Bolger (Minocqua, Wisc.; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 4/11/93)

Scott Patterson (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 1/28/92)

Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Winter Stars; 7/25/00)

Logan Hanneman (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 6/2/93)

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Women

Hannah Halvorsen (Truckee, Calif.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 2/19/98)

Novie McCabe (Winthrop, Wash.; MVNT; 12/15/01)

Kendall Kramer (Fairbanks, Alaska; NSCF-FXC; 6/25/02)

Sydney Palmer-Leger (Park City, Utah; Sun Valley Ski Ski Education Foundation; 2/4/2002)

Sophia Laukli (Yarmouth, Maine; Middlebury College Ski Team; 6/8/00)

Men

Johnny Hagenbuch (Ketchum, Idaho; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 10/1/2001)

Luke Jager (Anchorage, Alaska; APU/University of Utah; 1/17/00)

Noel Keeffe (Steamboat Springs, Colo.; SSWSC/University of Utah; 8/24/99)

Ben Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School/University of Vermont; 2/13/00)

JC Schoonmaker (Tahoe City, Calif; Auburn Ski Club; 8/12/00)

Hunter Wonders (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 8/7/98)

Nordiq Canada Announces National Senior Development Team (Press Release)

FasterSkier — Fri, 01 May 2020 16:17:27 +0000

Alpine Insurance Alberta World Cup Academy Team Announcement 2019-2020 (Press Release)

Jason Albert — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 12:00:13 +0000

For Immediate Release

Alpine Insurance Alberta World Cup Academy Team Announcement

Press Release

June 11, 2019

Canmore – The Alpine Insurance Alberta World Cup Academy is proud to announce our new team for the 2019-20 season.

Comprised of two formal training groups, one in Calgary and one in Canmore, the 2019-20 team is the most diverse group of athletes to date. Led by six national team members, Emily Nishikawa, Dahria Beatty, Elizabeth Elliott, Benita Peiffer, Matthew Strum (biathlon), and Nathaniel Mah (nordic combined) and numerous medalists from last year’s Canadian Nationals, this also is one of the deepest. “There is a lot to be excited about going forward,” says Chris Jeffries, High Performance Program Director. “Last year saw a great group of U20 athletes join our university program in Calgary, which bodes well for the future. This year we have had a few very successful U25 athletes, Maya MacIsaac-Jones, Sadie White and Annika Richardson, join our Canmore program, skiers to keep an eye on for the World Cup Finals in Canmore, March 2020.”

“We have seen a lot of changes in our programming over the last few years, and this year’s team more than ever signals the positive direction these changes are taking us,” explains Greg Manktelow, Vice President of the Alberta World Cup Society. “Our athlete group is diverse and extremely talented, making it very exciting and motivating for all of us as we look ahead to not only this winter, but our athlete dream goals of representing their country at the 2022 and 2026 Olympics. We feel like we have taken some major steps towards creating a more sustainable program for our athletes, sponsors and partners. We know the work is just beginning, but we are building excitement of where we are going, and it makes it a lot easier to find new and innovative ways to help our Canadian skiers and athletes dream big.”

Last year saw the biggest changes at the Academy to date with the arrival of the inaugural group of University athletes in Calgary. This new direction was a major step forward, providing athletes the flexibility and support needed to pursue post-secondary studies and their sport goals concurrently. “Last year we took a major leap of faith opening the doors in Calgary in August for the first time. The education/sport path has been a major gap in our Canadian system for a long time, one that we are excited to help close”, explains Jeffries. “We saw successes both in the classroom and on the race course. The smiles on the faces of our athletes last year highlighted the balanced approach we strived to achieve.”

Joining the Academy staff for this year will be coaches Anneke Winegarden and Julia Ystgaard. Anneke is in her 2^ndyear of a master’s program in the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Calgary and worked with the team last year. Julia is from Norway and is doing a year in the Kinesiology department at the University of Calgary as part of her studies in Oslo.

Training for the 2019-20 season is well under-way in Canmore for those local athletes. The core university group will be arriving back in the Bow Valley for a training camp August 23 to the 31 before starting classes at the beginning of September. The racing season kicks off November 30^thfor the team at the Sovereign Lake ski club near Vernon, BC.

Team List

Women

Dahria Beatty (Sr National Ski Team) – Whitehorse Nordic Ski Club

Emily Nishikawa (Sr National Ski Team) – Whitehorse Nordic Ski Club

Elizabeth Elliott (Jr. National Ski Team) – Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club

Benita Peiffer (Jr. National Ski Team and Sr Biathlon Development Team) – Whistler Nordic Ski Club

Laurence Dumais – Fondeurs-Laurentides

Beth Granstrom (B.C. Ski Team) – Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club

Hannah Jirousek (Yukon Ski Team) – Whitehorse Ski Club

Paige Latta – Sovereign Lake Nordic

Maya MacIsaac-Jones – Rocky Mountain Racers

Annika Richardson – Hollyburn Ski Club and Lappe Nordic

Amanda Thomson (Yukon Ski Team) – Whitehorse Ski Club

Sadie White – Big Thunder Ski Club

Men

Nicolas Bennett (NWT Ski Team) – Yellowknife Ski Club

Mathieu Bilodeau (2016 Olympic Racewalker)

Nate Gerwing – Rocky Mountain Racers

Michael MacIsaac-Jones – Rocky Mountain Racers

Nathaniel Mah (National Nordic Combined Team) – Altius Nordic Ski Club

Thomas Manktelow – Canmore Nordic Ski Club

Nicholas Randall (Ontario Ski Team) – Big Thunder Ski Club

Matt Strum (Sr National Biathlon Development Team) – Canmore Nordic Ski Club

“The Alpine Insurance Alberta World Cup Academy has been the development centre where several generations of top Canadian cross-country skiers have honed their skills before being named to the National Ski Team. Our athletes have represented Canada at the Olympics, the Nordic World Championships and on the world cup circuit. Thanks to the support being provided by Alpine Insurance, we will continue to be “THE PLACE” for the next generation of our best developing cross-country skiers.”

Media Contact:

Nancy Richard, Business Development Manager

Phone 403-585-0503

Email Address: nrichard@albertaworldcup.com